As expected, the spending patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed drastically, according to a report by Hana Institute of Finance under Hana Bank. Credit card use at travel agencies, airlines and duty-free shops dropped most significantly while overall online shopping spending surged during the first three months of the year. Among offline markets, less were spent at large retail stores and department stores, while spending at convenience stores and supermarkets increased. Purchas

While fears of the novel coronavirus have emptied movie theaters in South Korea, esports fans are given a rare opportunity to watch a "League of Legends" (LoL) tournament on the big screen. CGV, a multiplex chain run by entertainment giant CJ Group, said Monday it will live stream the upcoming 2020 Mid-Season Cup of LoL starting Thursday at its 24 theaters across the country. The four-day tournament features four top LoL teams from South Korea and China each to be held online due t

South Korea reported 16 more cases of the new coronavirus Monday as health officials are trying to break the chain of transmission tied to cluster infections in Seoul's nightlife district of Itaewon. The new cases, with three coming from overseas, raised South Korea's total coronavirus caseload to 11,206, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). Itaewon has emerged as a new hotbed for COVID-19 after a 29-year-old man tested positive for the virus on May 6 foll

　South Korean households spent an average of 2.45 million won ($2,003) per month in 2019, data showed. 　In 2018, South Korean households spent an average 2.53 million won, but an annual comparison may be inappropriate because Statistics Korea changed its method of compiling the data last year, the statistics agency said. 　Expenditures on food and nonalcoholic beverages came to 333,000 won last year, accounting for 13.5 percent of the total, according to the data. 　Expenditures by four-me

There are few things as consistent in South Korean baseball in 2020 as this: Jose Miguel Fernandez getting a base hit, or two, for the Doosan Bears. As we move slowly out of the "small sample size" territory, Fernandez, the Cuban hitting machine, is batting a robust .500 (36-for-72) after 17 games in this Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season. He had 13 hits in 24 at-bats last week, which included his third four-hit game of the season Saturday against the Samsung Lions. No other

South Korean shares opened higher Monday on hopes of a new coronavirus vaccine. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 6.16 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,976.29 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Optimism grew after a US bio firm, Moderna, again reported positive test results from its candidate vaccine. Such reports from the US firm sparked a global stock market rally last week. Large caps traded mixed. Market kingpin Samsung Electronics lost 0.21 percent, and No. 2

WASHINGTON -- US National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien renewed calls Sunday for North Korea to give up its nuclear program if it wants to have a "great economy," after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a key party meeting to discuss bolstering nuclear deterrence. In his first public appearance in about three weeks, Kim presided over a session of the Workers' Party's Central Military Commission to discuss "new policies for further increasing the nuclear war deterrence,"

How much more stimulus can the Chinese economy take? It’s a question of crucial importance after Beijing unveiled its 2020 economic policy plans Friday. China’s 4 trillion yuan ($562 billion) stimulus package in the wake of the global financial crisis paved the way for its transformation over the past decade. In the 2000s, the country was a low-cost assembly room for the world’s supply chains. Now it’s an increasingly confident middle-income power, with a burgeoning c

In April 2011, Donald Trump, then considering a run for the presidency the following year, said he had sent investigators to Hawaii to check out rumors that President Barack Obama wasn’t born there, but in Kenya, which would disqualify him for the presidency. His investigators, Trump declared, “cannot believe what they’re finding.” I can find no record of Trump being challenged on this outlandish claim at the time. In the fall of 2016, Trump, as the Republican presidenti

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Police fired tear gas and water cannon at thousands of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters who gathered Sunday against a controversial security law proposed by China, in the most intense clashes for months. As the demonstrators and police were facing off in the semi-autonomous financial hub, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi insisted in Beijing that the proposed law must be imposed "without the slightest delay". The planned legislation -- expected to ban treason, su

BEIJING (AFP) -- The United States is pushing relations with China to "the brink of a new Cold War", China's foreign minister said Sunday, rejecting Washington's "lies" over the coronavirus while saying Beijing was open to an international effort to find its source. Keeping up the worsening war of words with Washington over the pandemic and a Beijing move to tighten control over Hong Kong, Wang Yi said the United States had been infected by a "political virus" com

The music video of K-pop boy band BTS' "Fake Love" has drawn more than 700 million clicks on YouTube, the band's management agency said Sunday. The lead track of BTS' 2018 release "Love Yourself: Tear" surpassed the 700 million mark at around 6 p.m., according to Big Hit Entertainment. This is the group's third music video to hit this number of views on the global video-streaming site, after "DNA" and "Boy With Luv." (Yonhap)

South Korean LPGA stars Ko Jin-young and Park Sung-hyun split the prize money in their charity skins game Sunday. World No. 1 Ko and the third-ranked Park each claimed 50 million won ($40,300) in the skins game organized by Hyundai Card at Sky 72 Golf & Resort in Incheon, just west of Seoul. The winnings will be donated to charities of the players' choices. Ko made a lengthy birdie putt at the 18th hole to win 10 million won at stake there and pull even with Park. Before the match, the tw

Schools to allow partial attendance