South Korean swimming stars Park Tae-hwan and An Se-hyeon were named honorary ambassadors for the 2019 world championships Wednesday. The organizing committee for the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships, which take place in Gwangju, 350 kilometers south of Seoul, unveiled Park and An as their goodwill ambassadors. Park is the only South Korean swimmer to win an Olympic medal. He captured th...

The opinions of residents around the construction site of two nuclear power reactors will be counted with the same weight as those of other citizens when deciding whether to continue or scrap the project, officials said Wednesday. Residents have demanded that their opinions be given added weight in the survey to determine the fate of the Shingori-5 and Shingori-6 reactors under construction in t...

Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers has picked up a no-decision against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the same club that knocked him around just a week ago. Ryu held the Diamondbacks to just one earned run on three hits in six innings at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Tuesday (local time). He left the game with the score tied at 1-1 and remained at 5-7 for the season. Ryu lowered his ERA from...

South Korea plans to give rice to developing nations after it joins an international food assistance convention as part of its ambition to stabilize the local rice supply and help the needy around the world, the farm ministry said Wednesday. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said it is preparing steps to join the Food Assistance Convention, expecting parliamentary approval for ...

South Korean and Japanese military chiefs on Wednesday affirmed close bilateral cooperation against North Korea in phone talks. South Korea's Defense Minister Song Young-moo and his counterpart Itsunori Onodera shared the view that the North's sixth nuclear test is a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a grave challenge to the international community, according to Song's minis...

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea jumped 10 percent last month compared to a year earlier on robust demand for German and Japanese vehicles, industry data showed Wednesday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles rose to 17,547 in August from 15,932 a year earlier, the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association said in a statement. The three best-selling models were...

Samsung Electronics Co. saw its share of China's cellphone market drop in the second quarter as more Chinese customers preferred cheaper local brands over its high-end devices, a report said Wednesday. According to the report by the Korea International Trade Association, Chinese customers owned 48 million Samsung cellphones as of end-June, making the company the sixth-largest player in the world...

Police said Wednesday they arrested three South Koreans and one Korean-Chinese national for making illegal transactions using personal data allegedly taken from ATMs by a North Korean hacker. The National Police Agency said it has detained the four suspects, including a 29-year-old man, only identified by his last name Cho, and sent the case to the prosecution. They are suspected of buying some...

The chief of Kumho Asiana Group said Wednesday the airline-to-construction conglomerate will consider asset sales in China to help turn around its tiremaking affiliate after the deal to sell it collapsed. In March, China's Qingdao Doublestar signed a 955 billion-won ($844 million) contract with the creditors led by the state-run Korea Development Bank to buy a 42.01-percent stake in South Korea'...

VLADIVOSTOK -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Russian President Vladimir Putin called for efforts to stop North Korea from making any further provocations Wednesday, calling it the most urgent challenge facing their countries and the rest of the world. "President Putin and I agreed that resolving the North Korean nuclear issue at the earliest date possible is the most important task," th...

South Korea's economic recovery pace remains weak and feeble due mainly to the prolonged slump in private consumption, a state-run think tank said Wednesday. "Signs of a slowdown have stabilized on the production side, but the overall economy is not showing hints of a steady recovery,"the Korea Development Institute said in its monthly evaluation of the country's economic conditions. "The improv...

South Korea and Thailand have agreed to double the number of designated airlines on their bilateral routes as Seoul tackles declining travel demand from China, the transport ministry said Wednesday. At the aviation talks held in Busan, 450 kilometers south of Seoul, Koo Bon-hwan, director general of the Aviation Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation, and his Th...

Boy band EXO's repackaged edition of its hit album "The War" conquered Apple iTunes album charts in over 30 countries, according to its agency Wednesday. EXO's "The War: The Power of Music," released on Tuesday, climbed to the No. 1 spot on 33 iTunes album charts, including in Spain, Japan, Indonesia, Russia and Hong Kong as of Wednesday, S.M. Entertainment said. Other nations included Finland, ...

South Korea said Wednesday that it is closely monitoring possible radiation traces from North Korea's latest nuclear test, as a post-test tremor occurred due to a collapse in an underground tunnel at the test site. Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told lawmakers Tuesday that North Koreans living near the Punggye-ri nuclear site could have been exposed to radiation after the detonation. Baik...

South Korean stocks traded lower late Wednesday morning on overnight losses from Wall Street coupled with the rising concern over North Korean provocations. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 6.99 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,319.63 as of 11:20 a.m. Carmakers lost ground, with Hyundai Motor Co. falling 2.17 percent and its sister Kia Motors moving down 3.81 percent. Hyundai Mo...