Samsung Electronics Co. maintained its top global smartphone maker title in June and July, data showed Thursday, with China-based Huawei Technologies Inc. rising to No. 2 for the first time ever on a monthly basis. According to the data compiled by Counterpoint Research, Samsung Electronics accounted for more than 20 percent of the world's smartphone market in the two-month period, holding onto ...

The United States does not plan to withdraw from its free trade agreement with South Korea for now, a report quoted sources as saying Wednesday. According to Inside US Trade, the White House assured key lawmakers that it would not push forward on its earlier plan to weigh termination of the five-year-old pact known as KORUS. Last week, there were reports that President Donald Trump had instruct...

Hundreds of protesters clashed with police who tried to clear the way for the deployment of four more rocket launchers of a US missile defense system early Thursday. The clash occurred as police were attempting to disperse about 400 residents from their community center near the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense base in Seongju, some 300 kilometers south of Seoul. Dozens of residents and poli...

Ford Motor Company, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation and BMW will recall faulty parts in more than 1,000 vehicles sold in South Korea, the transport ministry said Thursday. Ford will recall 626 Lincoln MKZs and eight Fusion sedans manufactured in 2013 to replace faulty door latches. Mitsubishi issued a recall for 606 Outlander SUVs made between 2008 and 2012 due to a potential problem with the fro...

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon abruptly called off a lunch meeting with the press planned to mark his 100th day in office Thursday amid violent clashes between police and villagers in a southeastern town over the deployment of additional launchers for the US THAAD missile defense system. Lee's office sent members of the press corps a mobile phone text message Thursday morning that the press meeting ...

LG Group, which has been aggressively expanding its presence in the vehicle components sector, made clear it is not moving to build electric vehicles (EVs), industry sources said Thursday. "We are not even considering manufacturing a complete vehicle," an LG Group official stressed. Industry watchers have been speculating that LG Group may jump into car production as its affiliates recently exp...

Four more interceptor launchers for a US missile defense system entered a southern military base Thursday after clashes between police and protesters that resulted in dozens of injuries. The arrival of the launchers and other equipment came some 14 months after Seoul and Washington decided to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to Seongju, some 300 kilometers south of S...

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis assured his South Korean counterpart that any North Korean threat to the allies will be met with a "massive, effective, and overwhelming" military response, his spokesperson said Wednesday. During a phone call Tuesday, Mattis and South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo discussed North Korea's sixth and most powerful nuclear test conducted over the weekend. ...

U.S. President Donald Trump has said talks with North Korea are off the table for now, the White House said Wednesday, after Pyongyang conducted it sixth and most powerful nuclear test. Trump made the remark during a phone call with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday during which the leaders discussed Sunday's test of what North Korea claimed was an H-bomb that can be mounted on a lon...

Four more THAAD rocket launchers will be installed this week at the US missile defense base in South Korea, the Ministry of National Defense announced Wednesday. It said the US Forces Korea will position the launchers at its new base in Seongju, some 300 kilometers south of Seoul, on Thursday. The move comes after North Korea's recent string of ballistic missile and nuclear tests. The ministry...

South Korean financial firms are expanding sponsorship for athletes competing in the upcoming 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, industry sources said Wednesday, as they seek to improve their brand image while contributing to the better performance of the home team. One of the major financial companies supporting athletes is KB Financial Group, which sponsored now-retired figure skating star Kim ...

Seoul and Barcelona, global tourist destinations, will jointly seek a solution to their common problem of "overtourism," described as residents' inconvenience due to too many visitors, at a forum in the South Korean capital later this week, a city official here said Wednesday. "The two sides will discuss the issue by studying cases of Seoul, Barcelona and Indonesia at the 2017 Seoul Internationa...

The mother and two sisters of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong have recently visited him at a detention center, legal sources said Wednesday. The Samsung heir was sentenced to five years in prison on Aug. 25 for giving 43 billion won ($38 million) in kickbacks to ousted President Park Geun-hye's confidante in return for government backing for his succession scheme. Hong Ra-hee, th...

South Korea's tax-to-GDP ratio needs to surpass the 35 percent mark by 2060 to meet the government's social welfare-related spending plan, a local think tank said Wednesday. The report by the Korea Economic Research Institute comes as the ruling Democratic Party proposed hiking up tax rates for the super-rich and top-earning conglomerates to help finance the Moon Jae-in administration's welfare ...