President Moon Jae-in ordered his defense chief Wednesday to launch a special probe into a military crackdown against the 1980 pro-democracy protests in Gwangju, specifically to verify whether the then military junta considered a possible air strike. "President Moon today ordered Defense Minister Song Young-moo to launch a special probe regarding recent media reports that an order had been deliv...

South Korea is not considering reopening the joint industrial park in North Korea's Kaesong, at least for now, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday, dismissing news reports that suggested the possibility. "We want to clarify the issue because it may send a wrong message not only to our people but also those in other countries," a Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters. The report...

LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday it will release its premium home appliances in more overseas markets, starting with the United Arab Emirates and Australia this month. The South Korean tech giant said the Signature home appliances will reach out to Russia in September and Italy in October as well, eventually to around 10 new countries by the end of this year. In line with the move, LG said it...

UIJEONGBU -- Former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook was released from prison early Wednesday after finishing up a two-year sentence for taking an illegal political donation. Han, prime minister from 2006 to 2007, was put behind bars in 2015 after the Supreme Court convicted her of accepting about 900 million won ($793,301) in illegal political funds from the head of a local construction company. ...

The number of heavy debtors in South Korea stood at about 3.9 million people in June, a report showed Wednesday, reflecting growing potential for default risks among desperate borrowers. The number of debtors who have borrowed money from more than three financial institutions has been on a steady rise. It stood at 3.38 million in 2013, 3.47 million in 2014 and 3.65 million in 2015. According to...

South Korean retailers are lowering the prices of their egg products amid a decline in demand due to safety concerns sparked after eggs from local farms were found to be contaminated with banned chemicals, industry sources said Wednesday. E-Mart Inc., the country's largest discount store chain operator, said a carton of 30 eggs will be cut by 500 won ($0.44) to 6,480 won. Homeplus Co., another ...

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 12.22 points, or 0.52 percent, to 2,367.22 in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Tuesday (US time) The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.90 percent to 21,899.89 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ climbed 1.36 percent to 6,...

South Korea's main stock market has seen a surge in the number of listed financial companies over the past decade, with the minor bourse posting a sharp rise in listings of chipmakers and pharmaceutical firms, data showed Wednesday. According to the data by the Korea Exchange, financial companies listed on the country's major bourse numbered 116 as of the end of July, up 59 from 10 years earlier...

South Korean wrestler Ryu Han-su has claimed a gold medal at the world championships, as he washed away his painful memories of last year's Olympics. Ryu topped the men's Greco-Roman 66 kilograms at the 2017 World Wrestling Championships in Paris on Tuesday (local time) after beating Mateusz Bernatek of Poland 2-1 in the final. This was Ryu's second gold medal at the worlds after earning his fir...

South Korea's exports to Vietnam surged nearly 50 percent in the first seven months of 2017, customs data showed Wednesday, an increase that is likely to put the Southeast Asian country among the top three shipment destinations for locally made goods. According to Korea Customs Service, exports to Vietnam for the January-July period totaled $26.95 billion, up a sharp 49.8 percent from the same p...

Non-performing loans at South Korean banks fell 0.13 percentage point in June from three months earlier, as banks bolstered efforts to clear bad debt, official data showed Wednesday. Bad loans held by local banks reached 21.8 trillion won ($19.2 billion) at the end of June, or 1.25 percent of total lending, according to the quarterly data by the Financial Supervisory Service. Bad loans extended...

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday he is pleased North Korea has refrained from provocations and hopes it is a signal of the regime's willingness to hold talks "sometime in the near future." Tillerson took time out of a press briefing on the US strategy for Afghanistan to acknowledge that North Korea has exercised restraint since the UN Security Council imposed new sa...

WASHINGTON -- The United States on Tuesday announced new sanctions on 16 entities and individuals, mainly from China and Russia, for their alleged ties to North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The designations complement a recent UN Security Council resolution sanctioning North Korea for its two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July. They are all based in China and Russia with the e...

ROME -- North Korea said it won't cease developing nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles as they were "justifiable" choices for self-defense, a North Korean envoy said on Tuesday. "The measures taken by the DPRK to strengthen its nuclear deterrence and develop intercontinental rockets is justifiable and a legitimate option for self-defense in the face of such apparent and real threats,” ...

South Korea and the United States reached no agreement on possible amendments to their free trade pact, Seoul's top negotiator said Tuesday. The U.S. demanded that Seoul and Washington quickly begin negotiations on amending the free trade agreement (FTA), citing a spike in its goods trade deficit with South Korea after the pact went into effect, Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong said. Still, South ...