South Korean shares advanced for a third straight session Tuesday amid investors' speculation that central banks in major economies may tone down their monetary tightening after weak economic data from China. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 5.58 points, or 0.22 percent, to close at 2,533.52 points. Trading volume was moder...

SEJONG -- South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday it plans to focus on how to swiftly address damage to victims of unfair business acts, rather than punishing companies, in an effort to overhaul its law enforcement procedures. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) also said in a policy briefing to President Yoon Suk-yeol that it plans to take stern actions against tech giants' abuse of their ma...

INCHEON -- A university freshman indicted on charges of attempted rape and murder of a female schoolmate is said to have confessed to pushing the victim off a campus building, judicial officials said Tuesday. The 20-year-old student of Inha University in Incheon, west of Seoul, is accused of attempting to rape the victim and causing her to fall to her death from the campus building on July 15. ...

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Tuesday called for a new disaster response system to cope with climate change, as the heaviest rainfall in decades battered Seoul and its surrounding areas last week. "Due to climate change, unprecedented disasters have frequently occurred," Han told a Cabinet meeting, emphasizing the need to come up with a new response system to deal with natural disasters caused ...

South Korean online lender K-Bank said Tuesday it posted the strongest performance for any first half on increased interest revenue. K-Bank's first-half net income stood at 45.7 billion won ($34.9 million), far beyond the 22.5 billion-won annual net profit of last year and marking the highest first-half earnings since its launch in 2017, the bank's data showed. The online lender attributed the ...

The SSG Landers, fresh off yet another productive week, are in the midst of a potentially historic season in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). On Saturday, they became the first team to reach the 70-win mark this year by beating the Doosan Bears 8-2. The next day, they edged out the Bears 5-4 in extra innings, thanks to Choi Jeong's go-ahead solo home run in the top of the 10th. With five ...

Lawmakers from South Korea and Japan will visit Washington later this week as part of a US State Department invitation program, where they are expected to discuss various pending issues, including strengthening trilateral cooperation, officials said Tuesday. The South Korean participants are National Assembly Vice Speaker Chung Jin-suk, Reps. Kim Seok-ki and Kim Jung-jae from the ruling People P...

With matches from the three-day weekend in the books in South Korean football, both a team pursuing an elusive title and another trying to avoid relegation next year have some much-needed breathing room. Ulsan Hyundai FC defeated reeling Daegu FC 4-0 on Saturday, with goals by four different foreign players. The list included their recent acquisition from Hungary, Martin Adam, with his first in ...

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell below 100,000 for the second consecutive day Tuesday, but the number of seriously ill patients hit about a four-month high amid the continued spread of a highly contagious omicron subvariant. The country added 84,128 new COVID-19 infections, including 463 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 21,502,164, according to the Korea Disease Control a...

North Korea on Tuesday urged its people not to let their guard down against COVID-19, having claimed victory last week in its fight against the pandemic. On Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un convened a national meeting, reviewed the virus situation and ordered the lifting of the country's "maximum emergency anti-epidemic" measures, three months after the nation reported the first confirm...

LG Chem Ltd. said Tuesday it will build two production facilities in the US state of Illinois with a US food processing company to produce a biodegradable plastic widely used in food packaging. Under the two joint ventures with Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), an agricultural food processor and biosolution company, they will build a facility to annually produce 75,000 tons of polylactic acid (P...

South Korean shares opened a tad higher Tuesday led by tech advances, tracking overnight US gains, despite woes over China's economic slowdown. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had added 7.57 points, or 0.3 percent, to trade at 2,535.51 points as of 9:15 a.m. Stocks got off to a solid start despite weaker-than-expected economic data from China, the country's top trading p...

The United States strongly supports South Korea's efforts to restart dialogue with North Korea and denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, a state department spokesperson said Monday. Department Press Secretary Ned Price also said the U.S. will continue to closely work with Seoul to that end. "We strongly support the ROK's aim to open a path for serious and sustained diplomacy with Pyongyang," Price...

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlighted the importance of the US-South Korea alliance on Monday, while congratulating the Asian ally on its national day. "On behalf of the United States of America, I send my kindest regards and congratulations to the Republic of Korea and the South Korean people as you celebrate your National Day," the top US diplomat said in a released st...

WASHINGTON -- Nearly nine out of every 10 South Koreans hold a favorable view of the United States, the second highest rating among 17 countries surveyed, a poll showed Monday. It also showed more than 80 percent of South Koreans think the US is a reliable partner. In the poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, a Washington-based nonprofit think tank, 89 percent of South Koreans surveyed sai...