Kia Motors Corp. said Thursday it expects to swing to an operating loss in the second half of this year due to declining sales and huge one-off costs. In the first half, the affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co. already suffered a 44 percent on-year decline in operating profit to 786.8 billion won ($695 million) largely affected by sharp sales declines in China amid bilateral diplomatic rows. As it pl...

Transactions among affiliates of South Korea's large business groups fell slightly in 2016 compared to a year earlier amid government pressure to root out unfair practices, the country's corporate watchdog said Thursday. A total of 152.5 trillion won ($134.7 billion) worth of inter-affiliate deals by units of 27 conglomerates were made last year, down 7.1 trillion won from a year earlier, accord...

A group of 10 US Democratic senators has urged US President Donald Trump to quickly fill major posts in charge of Korean affairs that have been vacant for months, given escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, a US broadcaster reported Thursday. The senators made the demand in a joint letter Friday, saying it is very worrisome that the posts are still vacant despite the tensions, Voice of Am...

SK Telecom Co. said Thursday it successfully tested its self-driving automobile on the highway, taking a step closer toward the development of a full autonomous vehicle. South Korea's No. 1 mobile carrier said its self-driving automobile ran 26 kilometers earlier in the day with an average speed of 47 km/h from Seoul to Suwon with two passengers on board. The maximum speed of self-driving cars ...

South Korean shares traded lower late Thursday morning driven by losses in auto and steel shares. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 5.58 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,406.62 as of 11:20 a.m. Automakers traded bearish with industry leader Hyundai Motor losing 1.41 percent and its sister affiliate Kia Motors declining 1.28 percent. No. 1 steelmaker POSCO surrendered 2.62 perce...

The top court on Thursday found a former head of the state-run Korea Development Bank guilty of slandering Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin. The Supreme Court upheld the lower court's defamation conviction of Min Euoo-sung and a 5 million won ($4,412) fine. Min was sued by Shin and Lotte for telling reporters in October 2015 that Shin Kyuk-ho, the chairman's father and the group founder, was ...

The government said Thursday it will carry out thorough tests to check for pesticides, antibiotics, agricultural chemicals and residual medicines before issuing egg farms a state-administered food safety certification. The move comes amid growing public anger over the recent discovery that 28 egg farms out of the 52 that violated the level of permissible pesticide residue had received Hazard Ana...

South Korea said Thursday that the Federal Reserve's decision to trim its balance sheet is likely to have a limited impact on Asia's fourth-largest economy. "I don't think the Fed's decision will have a big impact on the domestic financial markets," Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol told reporters at the BOK headquarters in central Seoul. He said the decision is in line with market expectations, a...

The head of the Financial Supervisory Service said Thursday the regulator seeks to build an innovation-friendly financial environment to help the growth of the financial technology industry. Choe Heung-sik, governor of the FSS, made the remarks during a conference in Seoul to debate how best the financial industry can cope with challenges in uncertain times. "Fundamental change is under way in ...

Medals to be awarded at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics were unveiled Thursday, with the Korean alphabet hangeul as their motif. Presented at a ceremony simultaneously held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City with President Moon Jae-in in attendance, gold, silver and bronze medals, designed by local industrial designer Lee Suk-woo, feature hangeul consonants on their bodies. ...

JEJU -- More tourists will likely visit Jeju Island during the 10-day Chuseok holiday, which largely takes place in early October, than the same period last year, industry sources said Thursday. The spike in visitors comes despite the sharp drop in the number of Chinese tourists due to a diplomatic row between Seoul and Beijing. People will soon be able to enjoy a longer holiday than usual for ...

South Korea will provide financial assistance and an insurance package for local companies suffering from losses in China due to anti-Korean sentiment and regulatory hurdles, the trade ministry said Thursday. Korean companies in automotive parts, cosmetics and foods have faced tougher customs checks in China after Seoul deployed an advanced missile defense system on its soil against North Korea,...

South Korea's defense ministry has delayed the creation of an Army command tasked with mobilizing reserve forces, officials said Thursday. The move is in line with the Moon Jae-in administration's wider plan to reform the nation's 625,000-strong troops confronting North Korea's 1.1 million armed forces. Early this year, the ministry announced a plan to establish the new unit, named the Mobiliza...

Poland and Austria vowed to cooperate closely with South Korea to implement United Nations Security Council sanctions on North Korea, denouncing the communist nation's continued provocations, the foreign ministry in Seoul said Thursday. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met with Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski and Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz in New York on We...

LG Electronics Inc. on Thursday expressed confidence in the photo-taking features of its new flagship V30 smartphone, and said it is committed to making the best camera modules for smartphones. LG Innotek Co., an electronics parts maker under LG, told reporters touring its factory that nearly two-thirds of the production procedures of its camera modules were allocated to testing performance. It ...