SEJONG -- Korean businesses, including those in the manufacturing and service industries, saw the index for their retail sales decline sharply last month despite brisk industrial output, state data showed Thursday. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki also commented on the weakening sentiment index over private consumption, picking negative factors like bolstered quarantine aga...

Music as a new endeavor “Show Me The Money” discovered a gem and built the rapper into a star. But surprisingly, Jo Gwangil said music was something he had never dreamed of. “I’ve always wanted to be a StarCraft gamer. I actually participated in some competitions. But the company suddenly halted its service, and my dreams went up in smoke,” he said. “I questioned myself about what I wanted to d...

Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition party, on Thursday denounced the anti-corruption agency for checking phone logs of his family and dozens of lawmakers from his party. The day before, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials came under fire over revelations that it had checked phone logs of hundreds of people, including the People Power Party’...

BEIJING , Dec. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, SENSORO, an IoT and artificial intelligence unicorn company from China , announced the release of a new ESG solution brand named "SENSORO SOLUTION". The program aims at climate monitoring, ecological protection, livelihood improvement, animal welfare, garbage classification and other applications. Its smart city benchmark case has been built ...

Imported commercial car sales in South Korea surpassed 200,000 units again this year despite an automotive semiconductor shortage, an industry association said Thursday. According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, imported commercial car sales for the January to November period this year increased 3.6 percent from the same period last year, selling a total of 252,242 ...

The Fair Trade Commission Chairperson Joh Sung-wook discussed how to regulate online platform monopolies with Cedric O, French secretary of state for the digital transition and electronic communications, officials said Thursday. The two representatives found the need to revise the law and regulations to establish order in the digital market in response to tech giants abusing their market power a...

Hyundai Motor Co. said Thursday it will suspend one of its seven domestic plants next month to prepare for the production of electric vehicles. Hyundai Motor will halt the Asan plant from Jan. 3-28 to upgrade the facilities before beginning production of EVs next year, the company said in a regulatory filing. The company plans to resume operations of the 300,000-unit-a-year Asan plant, which pr...

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to dominate news in 2021, impacting all areas of life from the economy to politics. Hopes of vaccines ending the pandemic were quashed, and daily caseloads around the world soared to new highs. The year also saw an unexpected wave of Korean popular culture, surges in stock markets, deaths of old dictators and rise of new, and intensifying rivalries on the global s...

Fuel cell batteries, which work as the engine in the combustion model, is a core part of fuel cell EVs. The third-generation fuel cell battery that was being developed was unveiled in September, with the carmaker touting a 30 percent reduction in volume and two to three times higher capacity and durability compared to the previous version. But cost became an issue as the carmaker sought to secu...

The South Korean stock market finished the final session of the year with lackluster trading Thursday as investors took to the sidelines amid a lack of market-moving events. The local currency gained ground against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 15.64 points, or 0.52 percent, to finish at 2,977.65. Trading volume was a bit slim at about 454.04 millio...

“I don’t want to do a movie that shows bromance anymore. I don’t know why I keep getting a role that involves bromance,” he joked. Cho then spoke about what it was like to work with one of the stars of the Oscar-winning “Parasite.” “I thought of him as a cute chirping chick, but if you have seen the movie you would know that he has grown. You can find out what masculine charm really is through ...

Though the first episode with Yoo’s narration was aired Tuesday, a debate is still raging over the issue on the program’s official website. “Snowdrop” is not the first drama to come under pressure for its depiction of history. SBS drama “Joseon Exorcist” was canceled after just two episodes over perceived historical inaccuracies and distortions. Meanwhile, some believe that viewers’ actions can...

Upbeat corporate earnings and robust retail demand set the key benchmark Kospi and junior Kosdaq on track for their best year since trading began on the exchange decades ago. The stock market, which will open Monday after a three-day break, saw the Kospi hitting a record high of 3,305 on July 6, while the Kosdaq soared to trading around 1,000, a first in 20 years. The Kospi closed at 2977.65 on ...

A taxi driver died Thursday after he drove his car through a wall on the fifth story of a Homeplus supermarket in Busan and fell to the ground. Seven people were injured and 12 cars were damaged, police said.

An Army service member suffered an injury in a land mine explosion near the inter-Korean border Thursday, an official said. The detonator of the Claymore directional anti-personnel mine exploded at the front-line Army base in Yanggu, 175 kilometers northeast of Seoul, when the troops were inspecting their equipment. The soldier is currently receiving medical treatment, although the official sai...