President Yoon Suk-yeol called Tuesday for bold measures to reform public institutions and cut back their growing debts. Yoon issued the call during a Cabinet meeting, saying the debts of public institutions have soared over the past five years to reach 583 trillion won ($452 billion) as of the end of 2021. "Public institution reform is a task that cannot be delayed any further," he said, lamen...

South Korea was preparing Tuesday to launch its homegrown space rocket Nuri in the second attempt to put satellites into orbit, a critical mission for the country's space program. The 200-ton Nuri is set to blast off from the Naro Space Center in the country's southern coastal village of Goheung at around 4 p.m., the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said. The state-run institute plans ...

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said K-pop superband BTS will continue to serve as a public relations ambassador for South Korea's bid to host the World Expo in 2030 in the southern port city of Busan, despite the septet's decision to suspend group activities. Han is on a visit to Paris to attend a general assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), which is an intergovernmental body...

Hanwha Solutions Corp., a chemical and energy unit of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group, said Tuesday it has won a deal to provide hydrogen tanks to global energy firm Shell PLC in the United States. Hanwha Cimarron, its wholly-owned US subsidiary, will be supplying the Neptune hydrogen tanks, as Shell is pushing to participate in a project led by California to build 1,000 hydrogen charging...

President Yoon Suk-yeol suggested Tuesday his administration could investigate the 2019 repatriation of two North Korean sailors, saying many people have questions about the then government's decision to send them back. Yoon was referring to the repatriation of two North Korean sailors who tried to defect to South Korea after allegedly killing 16 fellow crew members on a fishing boat, which happ...

South Korea's exports fell 3.4 percent in the first 20 days of June from a year earlier due mainly to fewer working days, and its trade deficit widened on higher global energy costs, customs data showed Tuesday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $31.28 billion in the June 1-20 period, compared with $32.4 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. The f...

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed below 10,000 for the 12th day Tuesday, marking a steady decline in the virus curve amid the slowdown in the omicron spread. The country added 9,310 new COVID-19 infections, including 76 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,289,373, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The latest tally is more than double the previous da...

Seoul shares opened slightly higher Tuesday, after the market slipped by more than 2 percent the previous day on concerns that a recession in the global economy may come amid faster-than-expected monetary tightening in major economies. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 2.62 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,393.65 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Monday, the index slum...

South Korea's central bank said Tuesday it expected inflation to grow at a faster pace than previously anticipated and possibly hit the highest level in 14 years for this year as price pressures are mounting from rising demand and a tight supply. In an apparent forward guidance, Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Rhee Chang-yong said the central bank will carry out its monetary policy with a priority on p...

The government on Tuesday vowed to relax regulations on loans for "jeonse" home rentals and to raise tax deduction rates for monthly rental contractors in a move to help ease financial burdens on tenants and stabilize the housing market. Under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's first package of measures on the property market, the government also pledged to reform the presale price cap scheme im...

North Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases remained below 20,000 for the third consecutive day, according to its state media Tuesday. More than 17,250 people showed symptoms of fever over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing data from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters. It did not provide information on whe...

For a few months now, South Korean swimmer Hwang Sun-woo, still just 19, has been carrying the weight of a nation thirsty for a new star in the pool. And with aplomb and poise rare for athletes his age, Hwang has delivered. The country and the rest of the swimming world got their first glimpse into Hwang's considerable promise at last year's Tokyo Olympics. A fuller version of the still-improvin...

South Korean teen swimmer Hwang Sun-woo has captured the silver medal in the men's 200m freestyle at the world championships, becoming only the second swimmer from the country to reach a podium at the biennial event. Hwang finished his race in 1:44.47 at the FINA World Championships in Budapest on Monday (local time) for his first career long course world championship medal. It was a new South K...

Lotte Chemical Corp. said Monday it is pushing to build an electrolyte solvent factory overseas with a US-based chemical company as it seeks to bolster its battery components business. It signed an agreement with Sasol Chemicals LLC, the American unit of South African petrochemical firm, Sasol Ltd., last week to conduct a feasibility study on the envisioned project, with either the US state of L...

South Korea has postponed its decision on the possible adjustment of electricity fees for the third quarter, the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said Monday. KEPCO had planned to announce the government's decision Tuesday, a day after being informed by the government on electricity rates for the July-September period. But the government put off the decision, as "discussions among m...