A local court on Thursday decided against broadcasting live opposition leader Lee Jae-myung's upcoming sentencing hearing for allegedly suborning perjury. The Seoul Central District Court said it decided against broadcasting the sentencing scheduled for next Monday after considering the "legal benefits." Lee of the main opposition Democratic Party is set to be sentenced on charges of suborning a secretary of a former Seongnam mayor to make false court testimony in his favor in a 2

Politics Nov. 21, 2024

Lotte Group, one of South Korea's largest conglomerates, on Thursday refuted concerns of a liquidity crisis, stating its total assets, including deposits, reached 139 trillion won ($99.4 billion) as of last month. The group's assets include 37.5 trillion won worth of shares, real estate valued at 56 trillion won, and disposable deposits of 15.4 trillion won, according to a statement. The clarification came in response to rumors suggesting Lotte may face a liquidity crisis due to challe

Industry Nov. 21, 2024

The South Korean baseball league will hand out its regular-season MVP award and the top rookie prize, among other trophies, in an annual ceremony next week. The Korea Baseball Organization said Thursday that the 2024 KBO Awards ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Lotte Hotel World in Seoul. Leaders of major hitting and pitching categories will receive trophies, and the league will also recognize top defensive players at each position for the second annual KBO Fielding Award. The ceremo

Baseball Nov. 21, 2024

SK hynix said Thursday it has started mass production of the industry's first triple-level cell-based 321-layer NAND flash memory chips. NAND flash memory is a non-volatile memory storage medium widely used in memory cards, USB drives, solid-state drives (SSDs), and smartphones for general storage and data transfer. It stacks memory cells vertically and is categorized into single-, multi-, triple-, and quadruple-level cells. SK hynix announced that it has become the world's first suppl

Technology Nov. 21, 2024

South Korea's exports increased 5.8 percent on-year in the first 20 days of this month, driven primarily by strong global demand for semiconductors and ships, data showed Thursday. Outbound shipments reached $35.6 billion in the Nov. 1-20 period, compared with $33.8 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports shed 1 percent on-year to $34.8 billion during the period, resulting in a trade surplus of $800 million, the data showed. In October,

Industry Nov. 21, 2024

The US House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill Wednesday to reauthorize and update the 2004 North Korean Human Rights Act aimed at promoting rights and freedom in the reclusive state. The House endorsed the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act in a 335-37 vote, raising hopes of filling the legal void left by the expiry of the reauthorization act in 2022. First adopted in 2004, the North Korean Human Rights Act is periodically updated and reauthorized. The House bill has been s

Foreign Affairs Nov. 21, 2024

South Korea's exports increased 5.8 percent on-year in the first 20 days of November, data showed Thursday. Outbound shipments reached $35.6 billion in the Nov. 1-20 period, compared with $33.8 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports shed 1 percent on-year to $34.8 billion during the period, resulting in a trade surplus of $800 million, the data showed. In October, exports rose 4.6 percent on-year to $57.5 billion, the 13th straight mont

Economy Nov. 21, 2024

South Korean actor Song Joong-ki has announced the birth of his second child, a daughter, in Rome. "A beautiful princess was born very healthy," Song wrote on his official fan cafe Wednesday, sharing a black-and-white photo of his newborn daughter's hand. "I will take good care of my family here before returning to the filming set." The 39-year-old actor married former British actress Katy Louise Saunders in January 2023 and welcomed a son in Rome in June of the same yea

Television Nov. 21, 2024

South Korean stocks opened a tad lower Thursday as investors remained cautious following US chip giant Nvidia's earnings report. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 3.75 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,478.54 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, US stocks ended mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.32 percent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.11 percent before Nvidia released its quarterly report after the bell. Nvidia reported third-quarter earnings that

Market Nov. 21, 2024

North Korea and Russia have signed a protocol on expanding cooperation following their committee meeting on economy, science, and technology in Pyongyang, the North's state media reported Thursday. The two sides signed the agreement Wednesday after holding the 11th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for Cooperation in Trade, Economy, Science, and Technology the previous day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Yun Jong-ho, the external economic relations minister of

North Korea Nov. 21, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol arrived in Seoul on Thursday from an eight-day trip to Peru and Brazil where he sought to expand global solidarity against the deepening military cooperation between North Korea and Russia. Yoon attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima and then traveled to Rio de Janeiro to join the Group of 20 summit. In Lima, Yoon met with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to reaffirm their commitments to trilateral security cooperati

Foreign Affairs Nov. 21, 2024

A UN General Assembly committee on Wednesday passed a resolution on North Korean human rights for the 20th consecutive year, calling for the UN system to address the North's "grave" situation "in a coordinated and unified manner." The Third Committee handling human rights and social affairs adopted by consensus the resolution, which expressed concerns over the North's declaration not to pursue reunification with South Korea and called for repealing practices and law

Foreign Affairs Nov. 21, 2024

South Korea's largest umbrella labor union and the farmers' association held a massive rally in central Seoul on Wednesday against the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, causing traffic congestion, officials said. An estimated 6,000 members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the general association of national farmers, simply known as Junnong, staged a joint rally in downtown Seoul, lashing out at the Yoon government for causing economic hardships for farmers and the p

Social Affairs Nov. 20, 2024

South Korean stocks extended their winning streak to the third straight day Wednesday as investors awaited the third-quarter earnings of US AI chip giant Nvidia. The local currency remained unchanged against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) added 10.34 points, or 0.42 percent, to close at 2,482.29. Trade volume was moderate at 400.3 million shares worth 7.7 trillion won ($5.53 billion), with gainers closely outpacing losers 435 to 420. Foreigners and individ

Market Nov. 20, 2024

Gen. Kang Shin-chul, the deputy commander of the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command, was set to depart for the United States on Wednesday to discuss ways to improve the allies' combined defense posture, according to the CFC. Kang's trip, which runs through Nov. 28, will begin by laying flowers at a monument dedicated to those who served in the 1953-53 Korean War and involve visits to institutions, including the US Department of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CFC said in

Politics Nov. 20, 2024