The announcement of fresh US sanctions against North Korea might deal a blow to Seoul’s attempts to revive diplomacy with Pyongyang, experts said Sunday. The US on Friday declared extensive sanctions and visa bans on human rights grounds against officials and entities in eight countries, including China, Russia, Myanmar, Bangladesh and North Korea. The action, coinciding with international Hu...

The preferential treatment led Hyundai Motor to keep its distance from LG Energy Solution. For its third batch of batteries for E-GMP electric vehicles to be launched starting in 2023, Hyundai Motor in February selected SK Innovation and China’s CATL as suppliers, ditching its second-batch vendor LG Energy Solution. An LG Energy Solution official explained to The Korea Herald that the recall cos...

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won himself will personally explain to South Korea’s antitrust watchdog his reasons why his 253.3 billion won ($214.4 million) stock purchase four years ago was legitimate, and not a sweetheart deal. According to the Fair Trade Commission Sunday, the head of the nation’s third-largest conglomerate is scheduled to voluntarily appear before the antitrust regulator on Wed...

An increasing number of public officials are leaving to join the cryptocurrency industry almost without restriction, Rep. Roh Woong-rae of the ruling Democratic Party said Saturday, urging tighter rules on their post-public service employment. According to data compiled by the lawmaker, a Grade 5 official at the Financial Service Commission, the nation’s top financial regulator, recently quit to...

BNY Mellon, one of the oldest US banks, plans to downsize its South Korean operations and withdraw its financial investment business, sources said Sunday. It is one of many foreign financial institutions that have lost interest in Asia’s fourth-largest economy in recent years. According to industry sources, Korea’s policymaking Financial Services Commission recently approved BNY Mellon Seoul bra...

Health and beauty store chain CJ Olive Young plans to go beyond brick-and-mortar retail and transform itself into an “omnichannel platform” that connects e-commerce with offline retail, ahead of its plans to go public next year. “No one inside the company defines Olive Young as a health and beauty store. We see our brand as an omnichannel platform,” Olive Young CEO Koo Chang-geun said at a press...

The South Korean economy is expected to expand 2.8 percent on-year in 2022, slower than this year's projected 3.9 percent growth, amid weaker private consumption and global demand, a local think tank said Sunday. The projection by the LG Economic Research Institute (LGERI) is lower than that by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of 3.3 percent and the 3.0 percent estimate by both the Organiza...

President Moon Jae-in left for Australia on Sunday for a four-day state visit at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The two nations are expected to discuss economic, technology and defense cooperation. It is the first time since 2009 that a South Korean leader has visited Australia as a state guest. Moon is the first foreign leader to visit the country since the pandemic...

Deputy Trade Minister Jeong Dae-jin plans to visit Washington this week for talks on supply chains of key materials and steel tariff issues, the trade ministry said Sunday. During the three-day visit starting on Monday, Jeong will have a series of meetings with officials of the White House, the Commerce Department, the US Trade Representative office, Congress and major think tanks to boost coope...

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol said Sunday he will seek to revise a law designed to filter out illegally filmed content from major internet platforms amid criticism the measure amounts to censorship. A revision to the Telecommunications Business Act and a related law went into effect on Friday, requiring large internet platforms with annual sales of 1 billion won or the num...

MAMA also invited some of the biggest names in entertainment to present the awards, including stars Lee Jung-jae and Ha Sung-tae of the sensational Netflix series “Squid Game,” actor Song Joong-ki, singer-actor Rain and members of Girls’ Generation, Tiffany Young and Choi Soo-young. Organizer CJ ENM joined hands with Apple Music this year to incorporate the streaming platform’s data as part of t...

The South Korean baseball club Lotte Giants hired former major league backstop Gerald Laird as their new catching coach on Sunday. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) team said Laird, 42, will be replacing Hank Conger, who recently joined the Minnesota Twins as first base and catching coach following two seasons with the Giants. Laird played 13 seasons in the majors for five franchises, inclu...

The British-Belgian teen pilot Zara Rutherford has made a stop in South Korea during her bid to become the youngest woman to fly solo around the world. The 19-year-old landed at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul Saturday afternoon, after flying in from Vladivostok, Russia, in her ultralight plane Shark. She began her 51,000-kilometer journey in August from Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport i...

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 7,000 for the second consecutive day Sunday, but critical cases hit an all-time high again, deepening concerns over medical capacity amid the continued spread of the new omicron variant. The country added 6,689 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total caseload to 517,271, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Daily ...

A rusty railroad abandoned in Seoul brings back old memories and warm nostalgia. Hang-dong Railroad, located in Guro-gu, Seoul, is a 4.5-kilometer track drenched with a vintage atmosphere, with traces of train stations and destination signs left here and there. Lined with deep greenery and green barley, the 62-year-old railway is now one of the most beloved places for Seoulites to go and reflec...