South Korean companies spent more on labor costs last year than two years ago despite a fall in their sales, with export industries bearing a heavier burden in salary payments, industry data showed Wednesday. CEO Score, which follows business performances of major corporations, analyzed 334 firms whose data were available for 2014 and 2016 for comparisons. Results showed that their total sales ...

The ratio of long-term unemployed people to the total jobless in South Korea reached an 18-year high in July, data showed Wednesday, as companies were reluctant to offer quality jobs amid uncertainties over their future. The long-term unemployed numbered 180,000 in July, accounting for 18.7 percent of the total jobless and marking the highest figure since 19.7 percent for September 1999, shortly...

South Korean shares opened higher Wednesday as a bitter verbal war between the United States and North Korea seems to have eased. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 19.03 points, or 0.82 percent, to 2,353.25 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Most large caps traded mixed with market kingpin Samsung Electronics adding 2.8 percent. Top automaker Hyundai Motor fell 0.35 percent...

Veteran football coach Kim Hak-bum was appointed as the new leader of the last-place club in the top South Korean football league Wednesday. Gwangju FC in the K League Classic announced Kim will be their new head coach, though they didn't disclose details of the contract. Kim will succeed Nam Ki-il, who offered to resign Monday in the midst of the club's poor season. Gwangju are dead last in th...

The South Korean men's handball team defeated Iran Tuesday to win an international competition in Seoul, and Tunisia took second place. South Korea scored a victory of 33-22 over Iran in the last match of the 12th Seoul Cup Handball at SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in the capital city. In the three-day competition in which three countries -- South Korea, Tunisia and Iran -- participated, South ...

President Moon Jae-in will hold a press conference this week to personally answer questions on various issues that will likely include North Korea's recent provocations and military threats that are causing serious concerns of a possible armed conflict in the region, officials from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday. Moon's first press conference as president will start at 11 a...

South Korea's credit default risk has hit an 18-month high amid saber-rattling between the United States and North Korea over the latter's weapons program, data showed Wednesday. The credit default swap (CDS) premium for South Korean foreign exchange stabilization bonds with a five-year maturity reached 70 basis points as of Monday, the highest level since 71 basis points on Feb. 25, 2016, accor...

Offshore investors remained net buyers of South Korean stocks for the eighth consecutive month in July, with their stock holdings exceeding 600 trillion won ($526.4 billion) for the first time, official data showed Wednesday. Foreign investors boosted their holdings of local stocks by a net 579 billion won in July to 605.7 trillion won, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service....

The North Korean government continued to punish those engaging in religious practices last year, with executions, torture and other abuse, the US State Department said in an annual report Tuesday. In the 2016 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, the department reconfirmed human rights abuses the North has long been accused of, including its denial of the right to religious freedom. ...

The United States continues to be interested in dialogue with North Korea, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday, as the two sides appeared to tamp down escalating tensions over the regime's nuclear and missile programs. Tillerson made clear, however, that the ball is in North Korea's court. "We continue to be interested in finding a way to get to a dialogue but that's up to him," he to...

North Korea's foreign ministry said Tuesday that now is not the appropriate time to discuss the fate of US citizens the country is holding. The ministry announcement, released by the Korean Central News Agency, stressed the circumstances surrounding the present North Korea-US relations as not conducive to negotiations. Both countries have been ratcheting up their war of words, with Pyongyang an...

South Korea's government said Tuesday that it will provide 100 billion won ($87.6 million) in special credit guarantees to young entrepreneurs that are setting up new companies and hiring workers. The plan made possible by the passage of the extra budget through parliament last month, is being pushed forward by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and aims to create good jobs by launching competit...

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a symbolic offering Tuesday to a controversial war shrine in Tokyo to mark the 72th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, according to Japanese media reports. But he is likely to refrain from visiting the Yasukuni Shrine apparently in consideration of diplomatic relations with neighboring countries, especially South Korea and China, Kyodo News ...

South Korean artificial intelligence speaker manufacturers are scrambling to lock in consumers that are critical for boosting their competitiveness moving forward, industry watchers said Tuesday. SK Telecom, the country's largest mobile operators, and Naver Corp., the top Internet portal operator here, have recently unveiled half-price and free speakers as part of a promotional event to win over...

South Korea's top two carmakers said Tuesday that they have set up an advanced vehicle-road communication system as part of their broader plan to advance autonomous driving technology. Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. said they have incorporated the so-called vehicle to everything system on a 14-kilometer stretch of road with seven intersections in Hwaseong, south of Seoul. The companies ...