South Korea will begin its annual meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week on the country's overall economic situation as well as the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the finance ministry said Monday. An IMF team, led by Martin Kaufman, Korea missions chief at the Washington-based organization, will hold a video conference with the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Tuesday...

Amid mounting criticism over Kakao executives forging a block deal to sell massive stakes they received as stock options, the IT giant’s next CEO stepped down voluntarily on Monday, leaving the company‘s management ethics in question. Ryu Young-joon, the appointee for Kakao’s next CEO, expressed his will to resign amid escalating criticism over the mass sale of his Kakao Pay shares, the IT giant...

Bruneian vocalist Bila Junaidi performed five songs with the band the Stars, while Cambodian singer-songwriter Kesorrr took to the stage with powerful performances with other artists, including the five-member dance group D-Man. Korean boy band N.Flying also excited K-pop fans with their songs “Flowerwork,” “Video Therapy,” “Stand by Me” and “Songbird.” Vietnamese pop star My Anh performed multi...

Presidential nominee Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party vowed to raise the wage of enlisted soldiers to 2 million won a month, following the vows of his rival Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party made weeks earlier. The campaign promise draws discussions on its administrative and financial feasibility, following calls from the past for the government to assure at lea...

President Moon Jae-in called for senior aides to do everything possible to employ anti-epidemic measures against the spread of the omicron variant, saying it is only a matter of time before the omicron becomes the dominant strain in South Korea. While emphasizing the government's urgency in coping with the omicron, Moon convinced people the nation could overcome the highly transmissible variant ...

A total of 20 North Koreans who defected to the South have migrated to other countries over the past five years, the Ministry of Unification said Monday. The living conditions of North Korean defectors here have drawn keen attention, especially since a defector who fled the North in late 2020 reportedly crossed the heavily-fortified inter-Korean border again earlier this month to return home. "...

A campaign pledge by ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung has sent jitters through the finance sector as he vowed to hand the nation’s financial watchdog stronger legal authority to side with consumers when settling disputes with insurers. The ruling party’s presidential election campaign committee on Friday announced that Lee seeks to ban insurers from not conceding to orders from ...

South Korea consumers were found to be more satisfied with local goods and services on average last year than their peers in the US, Japan and Singapore, according to the National Consumer Satisfaction Index annually published by the Korea Productivity Center. The index -- an indicator of not only user satisfaction but economic performance of companies, government agencies and the macroeconomy a...

SEJONG -- South Korea has surpassed the average of members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in gross domestic product per capita, for the first time, data showed Monday. According to the French-based organization, Korea ranked 18th among the 38 members in GDP per capita with $45,363 in 2020. This exceeded the estimate of the OECD average at $45,182, while the nation h...

South Korea ranks ninth in the world in defense technology, but the country needs “intensive” and “strategic” investments in the research and development of space weapons, where it lags far behind other military powers, the government-run military technology agency said Monday. The Korea Research Institute for Defense Technology Planning and Advancement (KRIT) released the “Defense Science & Tec...

To deal with a possible testing crisis driven by an omicron surge, South Korea says it would give people at higher risk PCR tests first, while lower priority people take at-home rapid antigen tests. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said the country’s COVID-19 diagnosis system, which so far has only used the highly accurate PCR tests, may start using the rapid antigen tests for less urgent case...

The influence of global OTT platforms was once again proven with Netflix original series “Squid Game” supporting actor Oh Young-soo‘s win at the 79th Golden Globes on Monday. International successes like Oh’s are increasingly likely in the near future as more Korean actors have started working on projects targeting global audiences. Many big-name stars are choosing to appear in Netflix’s origin...

Oh Young-soo, who played player No.1 in Netflix’s South Korean megahit “Squid Game,” directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, took home the best performance by a supporting actor in a series, limited series, or television movie trophy at the 79th Golden Globe Awards, becoming the first Korean actor win at the awards organized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Oh was nominated in the category along...

People’s Party presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo has rapidly gained on his ruling and main opposition rivals in recent weeks, as he is appearing to absorb voters peeling away from People Power Party’s Yoon Suk-yeol. Ahn came out on top in a Realmeter poll of 3,042 people released Monday in a hypothetical alliance with the main opposition party. The poll, requested by local media outlet Oh My ...