Financial authorities plan to unveil a revised method for the sale of state-funded Woori Bank next month in their move to recoup taxpayers’ money, regulatory officials said Monday. Market attention is again focused on the coming announcement of the Public Fund Oversight Committee, after the agency successfully completed the sale of the now-defunct Woori Financial Group’s stock brokerage unit and...

With the hot stock debut of Fitbit, a maker of popular wearable fitness-tracking devices, the spotlight shone on its CEO and cofounder James Park, a 38-year-old Korean-American. In its first day of trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, the company’s stock surged more than 50 percent to $30.40 a share from its initial price of $20 during regular trading hours. More than 40 million sha...

In Korea’s moribund literary scene, novelist Shin Kyung-sook has been almost the only source of excitement. With a growing international profile, the author of 2011 New York Times bestseller “Please Look After Mom” seemed to be Korea’s best shot at producing a world star, like what Murakami Haruki is for Japan. Shin’s seemingly unassailable reputation here, and perhaps her fledgling global care...

NEW YORK ― Property tycoon Donald Trump, one of America’s most flamboyant and outspoken billionaires, threw his hat into the 2016 race Tuesday for the White House, promising to make America great again. The 69-year-old long-shot candidate ridiculed the country’s current crop of politicians as “stupid” and vowed to take on the growing might of China in a speech launching his run for the presidenc...

KT, the nation’s No. 2 telecom carrier, has shown renewed vigor recently under the leadership of chairman and CEO Hwang Chang-gyu, who took office in January last year. For more than a decade, KT has been a fast follower behind SK Telecom, which played a leading role in creating key consumer and technological trends in the telecom industry. Although the state-run KT was privatized in 2002, a de...

Widely considered one of the top hospitals in South Korea, Samsung Medical Center is now being blamed for spreading Middle East respiratory syndrome in the country. As of Monday, 72 cases occurred within its premises in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, accounting for nearly half of the 150 Korean cases of the disease. The outbreak in the hospital alone is enough to rival United Arab Emirates, the wor...

NEW YORK ― Hillary Rodham Clinton formally kicked off her presidential campaign on Saturday with an enthusiastic embrace of her potential to become the first woman to win the White House, asking supporters gathered at her first major outdoor rally to join her in building an America “where we don’t leave anyone out, or anyone behind.” With the downtown New York skyline and new World Trade Center ...

LAUSANNE ― FIFA has handed over computer data to Swiss police investigating the 2018 and 2022 World Cup votes and suspended bidding for the 2026 tournament as it remained at the center of a football corruption storm. Brazilian legend Zico, meanwhile, became the first person to officially declare himself a candidate to take over football’s scandal-tainted world governing body from Sepp Blatter. ...

A crisis began escalating at Daewoo International ― the trading and overseas resource development arm of POSCO ― Wednesday following rumors that CEO Jeon Byeong-eal would quit in protest of the parent firm’s asset restructuring plan. POSCO officials declined to comment in the day, saying they would issue a statement after a decision regarding his status was made. According to industry sources, ...

Seoul City Mayor Park Won-soon’s latest response to Middle East respiratory syndrome appears to have given him an opportunity to demonstrate his capacity as a competent administrator and a potential alternative to the incumbent presidency that has struggled to control public fears over the MERS outbreak. Park on Tuesday met Rep. Moon Jae-in, the leader of main opposition New Politics Alliance fo...

Hammered over lax quarantine, the Health Ministry’s Middle East respiratory syndrome control tower belatedly released the details of must-know facts to prevent the spread of the dangerous disease on Sunday. The disease had claimed the lives of five by Sunday since the first carrier was diagnosed on April 20, according to the government report. The Health Ministry also reported 14 fresh cases of ...

South Korean billionaire Chung Mong-joon’s possible bid to run for FIFA’s top job sparked speculation here Thursday that the world football body’s former vice president could use the high-profile contest to escape his political obscurity in Korea. Chung ― a seven-term lawmaker, FIFA vice president from 1994 to 2011 and former chairman of South Korea’s conservative party ― said Wednesday he was m...

A sense of crisis is escalating at Hyundai Motor as sales by the nation’s largest carmaker fell in its two biggest overseas markets ― China and the U.S. ― in May. Shares of Hyundai Motor plunged 10.36 percent to 138,500 won ($124.8) on Tuesday, affected by lackluster sales at home and abroad. The stock hit a four-year low. On Monday, Hyundai Motor said its domestic and overseas sales fell 8.2 p...

Health and Welfare Minister Moon Hyung-pyo is on the hot seat after Middle East respiratory syndrome hit the country late last month, leaving two dead and hundreds under quarantine as of Tuesday. The disease’s steady spread sparked criticism that health officials were ill-prepared. The government’s decision to keep secret the list of hospitals holding MERS patients worsened public anger. The con...

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jay-yong on Monday attended the award ceremony for the Ho-Am Prize, Samsung Group’s most important annual award, on behalf of the owner family for the first time. Keen attention was paid to the Samsung heir’s appearance because representing the family at the event appeared to be one of the final steps to taking to the throne at South Korea’s largest conglome...