President Moon Jae-in and the leaders of major parties issued a joint statement Wednesday condemning North Korea's provocations and calling for a peaceful resolution of the nuclear standoff. In a show of bipartisanship, they announced a five-point agreement after their meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, also reaffirming they would not let another armed conflict occur on the Korean Peninsula. President M...

The South Korean government said Thursday that it will make a concerted effort to stimulate a new tourism boom in a bid to support the local industry, which has been hit hard by a protracted diplomatic row between Seoul and Beijing over the stationing of a US missile defense system here. The number of Chinese visitors has beyen on a sharp decline since the Beijing government imposed a ban on sel...

A government panel on Wednesday withheld its decision over whether to approve a controversial project to build a cable car on a mountain range on the country's east coast, officials said. The project calls for a 3.5-kilometer-long cable car system to be built in the southern region of Mount Seorak in Yangyang, some 215 kilometers east of Seoul. Activists protest against (left) and for (right) t...

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday called for bipartisan efforts to deal with North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile provocations, calling it an urgent task to ensure not only peace but also the country's economic growth. "As you know the security condition is very serious. We are greatly concerned that the peace and safety of our people may be threatened due to conditions that we may have l...

Reigning FedEx Cup champion Justin Thomas has committed to South Korea's first PGA Tour event next month, the organizers said Wednesday. Thomas, who won the Dell Technologies Championship en route to capturing the overall FedEx Cup title, will compete in the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges, which will be played from Oct. 19-22 at the Club at Nine Bridges on Jeju Island. Thomas, 24, had four victories dur...

South Korea's top envoy to Ethiopia will be dismissed from his post over sexual harassment allegations, the foreign ministry here said Wednesday. The government's disciplinary board decided to relieve Ambassador Kim Moon-hwan in mid-September and notified the ministry of its decision on Tuesday, according to official sources. (Yonhap) The ministry conducted its own probe in July into allegatio...

Members of K-pop band BTS said Wednesday they were deeply moved by their first-ever entry into the Billboard Hot 100 chart, tipping their hats off to fans for support, according to its agency Wednesday. On Tuesday, BTS' latest song "DNA" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100, the American music publication's main music chart, at 85th, backed by 5.3 million first-week US streams and 14,000 downloads. ...

South Korea’s Olympic body said Wednesday 11 athletes have been selected as recipients of a scholarship from the International Olympic Committee. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee said its 11 candidates for the Olympic Solidarity Commission’s scholarship program all received approval from the IOC. The selected athletes will receive $365 per month until Aug. 31, 2020, and will also get financ...

South Korea's key rate is below neutral levels, a monetary board member said Wednesday, in the latest signal that the country's central bank could move to raise interest rates going forward. Shin In-seok, a member of the BOK monetary policy board, made the assessment in a meeting with reporters, noting that the BOK's monetary policy is accommodative. Earlier this month, BOK Deputy Governor Jeon...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday that his government will continue to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea despite growing tensions over its nuclear and missile provocations. In a meeting with some 200 leaders of the presidential advisory council at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, Moon insisted that peace is made rather than given or found. "Over the past 10 years, th...

South Korean stocks ended lower Wednesday as foreign investors offloaded local stocks amid tensions between North Korea and the United States. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 1.75 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,372.57. "Foreign investors sold large-cap tech stocks in the face of persistent North Korean risks," said Kim Ye-eun, an an...

South Korea and the United States began working-level defense talks in Seoul on Wednesday on North Korea and pending alliance issues. The two-day Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue meeting, the 12th of its kind, got under way amid sharp military tensions on the peninsula over North Korea's provocations. Agenda items include policy coordination against the North's nuclear and missile programs,...

An elderly South Korean victim of Japan's wartime sexual slavery paid a visit to a US Embassy office Wednesday and asked for help in efforts to get Tokyo to offer an official apology and compensation for the atrocity, activists said. In particular, the 91-year-old victim, Kim Bok-dong, also stressed during her meeting with a US diplomat at the embassy office in Namyeongdong in central Seoul that...

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit South Korea this week to discuss ways to resolve North Korea's prohibited nuclear weapons development, the foreign ministry here said Wednesday. During his visit from Thursday to Saturday, Director General Yukiya Amano will meet with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha to discuss the North Korean issue and cooperation between the IAEA and...

South Korean exports are expected to remain solid in the fourth quarter despite a slowdown in the pace of growth, the country's trade promotion agency said Wednesday. The leading export index for the October-December quarter stood at 59.7, slowing down from 63.9 in the previous quarter, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said in a statement. "KOTRA's leading export index declined as Ja...