South Korea's military procurement agency on Friday approved a plan to upgrade an indigenous howitzer used by ground and marine forces. The approval by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) allows the mass production of an upgraded K-9 Thunder 155mm self-propelled howitzer from next year, according to the agency. The project aims to improve the automatic fire control system, loc...

South Korean pop singer Rain is working on a new EP record and plans to release it in November, according to his company Friday. "Rain plans to briefly visit the U.S. in September and will later focus on producing the album to put it out in an EP format in November," a representative at Rain Company said. The most recent work released by the singer, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, was "Rain Ef...

Global rating appraiser Standard & Poor's on Friday reaffirmed its long-term sovereign rating on South Korea at AA, with its outlook also remaining stable, despite the heightened geopolitical tensions on Korean Peninsula. solider "S&P Global Ratings affirmed its 'AA' long-term sovereign credit rating" on South Korea, the agency said in its latest release. "The stable outlook on Korea reflects ou...

South Korea's professional Nexen Heroes baseball club are set to face a change in their ownership structure after they lost a trial against a US-based businessman on Friday. The Heroes filed a lawsuit claiming that it doesn't owe a debt to Hong Sung-eun, chairman of the Atlanta-based real estate developer Rainier Group, but the Seoul High Court dismissed the ball club's appeal and upheld the low...

The government will begin expanding the mandatory discount of mobile phone fees starting next month, the ICT ministry said Friday, amid fierce opposition from local mobile operators. The discount rate of monthly mobile phone rates provided by the country's leading telecoms firms -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. -- will be raised from the current 20 percent to 25 percent starting Se...

One Army solider was killed and six others were injured Friday in an explosion during an artillery firing drill, the military said. The blast occurred at an Army shooting range in the border town of Cherwon at 3:00 p.m. Seven servicemen were taken to a hospital and one died during treatment, an Army officer said. "An unidentified explosion took place during the drill, injuring some people," sa...

South Korean stocks fell Friday, hit by a sell-off by institutional investors. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index declined 3.3 points, or 0.14 percent, to close at 2,358.37. Trade volume was moderate at 195 million shares worth 4.05 trillion won ($3.54 billion). The local stock market opened lower, tracking a loss on Wall Street overnight ...

Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon pledged Friday to remove barriers and regulatory blocks so that entrepreneurs can easily start their own business and lead the country's innovative growth. Visiting the Tech Incubator Program for Startup Town in southern Seoul, Kim said he intends to double the TIPS-related budget for next year and establish more than 70 "Creative Labs." Innovative growth is one o...

The new chief of South Korea's Red Cross said on Friday he hopes to have talks with his North Korean counterpart as soon as possible to discuss the resumption of humanitarian projects. Park Kyung-seo, president at the Korean Red Cross, made the remark at his inauguration ceremony as North Korea has kept mum toward Seoul's earlier offer made in July for talks to arrange reunions of separated fami...

South Korean construction companies' domestic orders rose nearly 15 percent on-year in the first half of the year on a robust housing market and increased fiscal spending, a trade group said Friday. According to the Construction Association of Korea, local builders clinched orders worth a combined 79.3 trillion won ($69.5 billion) in the January-June period, up 14.8 percent from the same period ...

South Korea and China have made big strides in ties over the past 25 years. The Cold War foes have become "strategic cooperative partners." Trade has surged more than 30-fold with human exchanges up nearly 70-fold. Each is among the other's most favorite tourism destinations. However, the quarter-century anniversary of diplomatic ties is in no celebratory mood, as geopolitics are returning with ...

China has emerged as South Korea's No. 1 trading partner after their diplomatic relations were normalized in 1992 with their bilateral trade volume skyrocketing over 33 times in the past 25 years, industry data showed Friday. The trade volume between the two soared to $211.4 billion in 2016 from $6.4 billion in 1992. It far exceeded $109.7 billion in trade with the United States and $7.18 billio...

South Korea's growing economic dependence on China has made it increasingly vulnerable to risks, including Beijing's retaliation for Seoul's decision to deploy a US anti-missile system and an economic downturn in the Chinese economy. The dilemma over how to manage both economic and political relations with China is deepening 25 years after Seoul and Beijing established diplomatic relations. Acc...

South Korea on Friday condemned a recent terror attack that killed more than 10 people in Spain, expressing its support for global efforts to root out terrorism. On Thursday (local time), a van rammed through a square in central Barcelona crowded with tourists, killing at least 13 people and injuring some 100 others. Two suspects have been arrested so far, with the IS claiming responsibility for...