Israel has agreed to four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in the fighting in northern Gaza to bring humanitarian aid in, get civilians out of harm's way and facilitate the release of hostages, a White House official said Thursday. John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, made the announcement that the pauses would begin Thursday -- a move that he said followed an "awful lot of engagement," including a series of talks between President Joe

Foreign Affairs Nov. 10, 2023

South Korean author Han Kang won a prestigious French literary award Thursday with her novel "I Do Not Bid Farewell." The 2021 book was named the winner of the Prix Medicis award for foreign literature. The Prix Medicis, founded in 1958, is among the top literary awards honoring works of fiction in France. The foreign literature category was added in 1970 to recognize books published in translation. Han had also been nominated for the Prix Medicis with "Greek Lessons" in 2017

Books Nov. 9, 2023

Twelve Labs, South Korea's generative artificial intelligence (AI) startup, unveiled its video language foundation model Thursday in a bid to take the lead in the hyperscale large language model market. The model, named Pegasus-1, can accurately summarize long videos into a text and have a chat about the video with its users, offering 61 percent higher performance compared with the existing most advanced video language model, according to Twelve Labs. The company said Pegasus-1 has been tra

Economy Nov. 9, 2023

Lotte Chemical Corp. said Thursday it swung to a net profit in the third quarter from a year earlier due mainly to narrowed losses in the basic chemicals business division. Lotte Chemical shifted to a net profit of 32.77 billion won ($25 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30 from a net loss of 31.07 billion won in the same period last year, the company said in a statement. "On top of reduced losses in the basic chemicals division, the bottom line was buoyed by increased sales of high-

Industry Nov. 9, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol called Thursday for imposing tough punishments on illegal private lenders who charge interest rates of thousands of percent, saying it is the state's duty to protect ordinary and vulnerable citizens from such "vicious criminals that suck the blood of the weak." Yoon made the remarks during a meeting on illegal private financing, which was attended by some 30 people, including victims of the practice, workers at a victims' call center, and government an

Politics Nov. 9, 2023

Prosecutor General Lee One-seok on Thursday slammed the main opposition Democratic Party for proposing a motion to impeach two active prosecutors on corruption charges, saying the party is out to protect its leader. Lee told reporters outside the Supreme Prosecutors Office building in Seoul that the DP is trying to intimidate the prosecution in retaliation for its probe into allegations surrounding DP leader Lee Jae-myung. "If they are trying to impeach prosecutors because they don't l

Politics Nov. 9, 2023

South Korean ended slightly higher Thursday as foreign investors and institutions snapped up shares following a two-day losing streak. The local currency rose against the greenback. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 5.46 points, or 0.23 percent, to close at 2,427.08. Trading volume was moderate at 388.8 million shares worth 7.13 trillion won ($5.44 billion). Losers, however, outnumbered gainers 444 to 432. The Kospi remained in negative terrain in the morning session with mixe

Market Nov. 9, 2023

South Korea's national debt issued inched down to fall below the 1,100 trillion-won ($838.5 billion) level as of end-September on the repayment of government bonds, though the fiscal deficit logged an on-month growth, data showed Thursday. The country's debt as measured in outstanding state bonds came to 1,099 trillion won in September, down 10.4 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. From the end of last year, the figure rose by 66.1 trill

Economy Nov. 9, 2023

The agriculture ministry said Thursday it will step up monitoring of food sector prices, as part of the government's efforts to tame inflation. To that end, the ministry said it will appoint personnel to monitor the prices of 28 key food items. "Prices of agricultural and fishery products are showing signs of decreasing since the end of October, but there are still hurdles, including deteriorating weather conditions and the outbreak of an animal disease," Vice Agricultural Ministe

Economy Nov. 9, 2023

With the Korean Series against the LG Twins knotted at one game apiece, the KT Wiz will turn to their American ace Wes Benjamin trying to win their first home game in the best-of-seven set Friday. The Twins will send homegrown right-hander Im Chan-kyu to the hill, as they look to steal a game on the road. The Wiz won the opening game of the series 3-2 on Tuesday at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. Then on the following day, the Wiz opened up a 4-0 lead after the first inning before the Twins ra

Baseball Nov. 9, 2023

South Korean stocks opened flat Thursday as investors took to the sidelines gauging the Federal Reserve's future rate policy in the wake of the country's short selling ban. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 0.04 point, or 0.00 percent, to 2,421.58 in the first 15 minutes of trading. US stocks closed mixed overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.12 percent and the Nasdaq Composite rising 0.08 percent, as investors largely sat on the sidelines while

Market Nov. 9, 2023

South Korea's agricultural ministry said Thursday it has vaccinated 99.5 percent of cattle in the country against lumpy skin disease. The authorities have inoculated more than 4.05 million out of the country's 4.08 million cows so far to protect them against LSD, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The government launched the intensive vaccination campaign last month after reporting its first-ever case of LSD on Oct. 20 under the plan to vaccinate all catt

Social Affairs Nov. 9, 2023

The new US special envoy for North Korean human rights made an overture for dialogue with the recalcitrant regime Wednesday, after Pyongyang accused her of "distorting and slandering" its rights records. Ambassador Julie Turner made the call, underscoring that the North Korean rights records have been "well documented" as highlighted in the 2014 report by the UN Commission of Inquiry on the situation in the reclusive country. "I would welcome the opportunity to have a co

North Korea Nov. 9, 2023

Foreign Minister Park Jin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken were set to hold talks Thursday on North Korea, alliance, regional and global issues, amid concerns over expanding military cooperation between the North and Russia. The talks come after revelations that the North provided Russia with a large amount of munitions and weapons for use in the war in Ukraine under an arms deal apparently reached at a rare September summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President V

Foreign Affairs Nov. 9, 2023

Unionized workers of Seoul Metro, the operator of Seoul subway lines No. 1-8, will stage a strike starting Thursday in protest of the company's manpower reduction plan, officials said Wednesday. The labor union has threatened to take the collective action after the company announced a plan to reduce its workforce by 2,212, or 13.5 percent, by 2026 to overcome its chronic deficit and normalize management. The labor and management of the company, run by the Seoul city government, have held ro

Politics Nov. 8, 2023