Plan to remove force as rape conviction requirement axed within hours after ruling party backlash

The six members of girl group Momoland decided to leave their agency MLD Entertainment after their exclusive contract expired after seven years, said the company on Friday. The group debuted in 2016 as a seven-member act with album “Welcome To Momoland.” It has released a number of hit songs including “Bboom Bboom” that fronted its 2018 album “Great!” In 2017, two members joined before leaving i...

NIS raid of umbrella labor union rekindles debate

진행자: 최정윤, Naomi Ng 1. ‘Zero-COVID’ is over. Why are Chinese still protesting? 기사 요약: 중국 ‘제로 코로나'가 끝났음에도 중국인들이 계속해서 시위하는 이유는? [1] China’s strict “zero-COVID” policy ended last month, but the movement of defiance against Chinese President Xi Jinping continues. *defiance: 반항, 저항 [2] On Lunar New Year’s Eve on Saturday, a small group of Chinese people gathered near the Embassy of China in Seoul ...

Korean contract manufacturer Samsung Biologics' earnings in 2022 hit all-time high, mainly because its biopharmaceutical unit was included in the consolidated financial result after a full acquisition early in the year. Its sales almost doubled to 3 trillion won ($2.4 billion) from 1.56 trillion won in 2021, according to its regulatory filing on Friday. It logged 983.6 billion won in operating p...

S. Korean automaker sets target to sell 3.2m units worldwide in 2023

LG Electronics said Friday its operating earnings for the fourth quarter dipped more than 90 percent from a year earlier on slumping demand for home appliances coupled with global economic difficulties. The consumer electronics giant reported an operating profit of 69.3 billion won ($56.1 million) for the October-December period, down 90.7 percent from the same period a year prior, the regulator...

After the difficulties of the pandemic, soaring utility prices push small, neighborhood bathhouses to the brink of extinction

KT&G, South Korea's dominant tobacco and ginseng company, rolled out an aggressive mid-term business plan Friday to bolster its investment and sales in an apparent move to fend off a campaign launched by a Singapore-based activist fund. Under the plan, the company will invest a total of 3.9 trillion won ($3.1 billion) until 2027 with it businesses focused three areas -- next generation tobacco a...

The number of arrests in South Korea in connection with online drug trades reached 3,092 in 2022, a more than 20 percent increase from the previous year, data showed Friday. The number of packages seized, however, declined from 957 to 657 over the same period, according to data revealed during a vice ministerial pangovernmental meeting held in Government Complex Seoul. Since the total weight of...

Battery maker on track to qualify for US Inflation Reduction Act’s EV incentives

Ruling to unseat Cho unless acquitted in higher court