They weren't supposed to be this good. By several measures, the Hanwha Eagles have been among the best pitching teams in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) this season. They own the second-lowest ERA with 3.31 and second-lowest walks and hits per nine innings (WHIP) with 1.24. Their starting pitchers have collectively the best ERA in the league at 2.23. In terms of opponents' on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS), the Eagles have been the stingiest with .674. And no team has served up few

Baseball May 19, 2020

The South Korean Buddhist community on Tuesday canceled the Lotus Lantern Festival slated for next week due to growing concerns over the recent resurgence of the novel coronavirus infections in the country. "No one can predict whether new cluster infections will happen again, regarding the recent nightclub-linked cases," the Association of Korea Buddhist Orders, whose members include the country's biggest Jogye Order, said in a press conference in Seoul. "We made the decision af

Social Affairs May 19, 2020

Two talented South Korean film directors are set to make their directorial debut in Hollywood, which is seemingly opening its doors to the colleagues of Oscar-winning Bong Joon-ho. Director Jang Joon-hwan will direct the English-language remake of his 2003 science-fiction cult movie "Save the Green Planet!," with a script written by Will Tracy, according to CJ ENM. CJ ENM, which is behind the family satire "Parasite" that won four Oscar trophies, including best picture, wi

Film May 19, 2020

Individual investors are flocking to direct stock investment, choosing to bet on their own picks over brokerage houses' funds, data showed Tuesday. Outstanding margin loans came to 9.95 trillion won ($8.14 billion) as of Friday, up 10.1 percent from a month ago, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA). Margin loans refer to those that retail investors take out from brokerage houses to invest in stocks. A rise in outstanding margin loans usually points to

Market May 19, 2020

SEJONG -- Home transactions in South Korea sank more than 30 percent in April from the prior month due to tougher property rules and the coronavirus impact, government data showed Tuesday. The number of homes changing hands nationwide stood at 73,531 last month, down 32.3 percent from the previous month, according to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Yet the figure was up roughly 29 percent from the same month a year earlier, when housing transactions were ane

Economy May 19, 2020

The foreign ministry called in a senior Japanese diplomat on Tuesday to lodge a protest after Tokyo's latest annual diplomatic book repeated territorial claims to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo. Kim Jung-han, director general for Asia and Pacific affairs at Seoul's foreign ministry called in Hirohisa Soma, a senior official from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to express regret over the book's content and urge for Tokyo to retract the claims. Soma walked into the ministry building a

Foreign Affairs May 19, 2020

South Korea said Tuesday it has developed a new test kit for the African swine fever (ASF) that can pave the way for the country to speed up its battle against the fatal animal disease and reduce its dependency on imported tools. The state-run Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency has completed the development of a kit that can test acute forms of ASF, under the cooperation with the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology and Korea University. The country, which has been depen

Economy May 19, 2020

INCHEON -- The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Incheon traced to an infected private academy instructor at the center of the port city's latest outbreak of cluster infections have increased by eight to 25, the municipal government said Tuesday. The latest victims include a Chinese couple who used a taxi driven by a 66-year-old man who contracted COVID-19 after driving the instructor in Incheon, about 50 kilometers west of Seoul, on May 4, the government said. The Chinese couple, aged

Social Affairs May 19, 2020

Four nurses working at Samsung Medical Center have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, authorities said Tuesday, raising concerns over the first infection involving health workers at a major hospital here. Four nurses working at the cardiothoracic and ob-gyn operating rooms in the hospital in southern Seoul tested positive on Monday and Tuesday, local government officials said Tuesday. Of the 277 patients and hospital workers who must be checked for the virus, 265 have undergone screen

Social Affairs May 19, 2020

Schools finally reopen Wednesday for high school seniors after a spate of delays due to safety concerns over the novel coronavirus. The planned school reopening for high school third graders will proceed as scheduled, 79 days after the original semester start day of March 2, the education ministry said. But it will proceed in a limited fashion: Classes will be shortened and no extracurricular activities will be allowed. Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae said during a briefing Tuesday that classe

Social Affairs May 19, 2020

The global TV market shrank nearly 16 percent in the first quarter of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, with only South Korean makers reporting slight growth, a market tracker said Tuesday. Worldwide TV shipments stood at 43.29 million units in the January-March period, down 16.4 percent from a year earlier, according to Omdia, formerly IHS Markit. TCL and other Chinese TV manufacturers saw their sales dip 14.4 percent to 15.13 million, with those of Sony and other Japanese players tu

Economy May 19, 2020

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) has merged with its sister party, cementing its mega-majority status for the National Assembly's new term, according to the National Election Commission (NEC) on Tuesday. The DP and the Platform Party, a satellite party that the ruling party created as an election strategy for the April 15 parliamentary elections, submitted a declaration of their merger to the NEC a day earlier. Approving the declaration, the NEC officially announced the merger the same day. U

Politics May 19, 2020

South Korean health authorities were put on edge again on Tuesday as yet another cluster case looms, at a major hospital in Seoul, following mass infections tied to nightclubs and bars in the nightlife district of Itaewon. Four nurses working at Samsung Medical Center, one of the country's five major general hospitals, were confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19, and more related cases are likely to come as transmission routes are unknown, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Con

Social Affairs May 19, 2020

어머니와 다툰 20대 아들이 어머니의 포르쉐 차량을 망치로 부수다 현행범으로 체포됐다. 광주 남부경찰서는 특수재물손괴 혐의로 A(20)씨를 불구속 입건했다고 19일 밝혔다. A씨는 전날 오전 1시 30분께 광주 남구 주월동 한 아파트 주차장에서 어머니의 포르쉐 차량 보닛 부분을 망치로 때려 망가뜨린 혐의다. A씨는 어머니와 다퉈 감정이 좋지 않은 상황에서 술을 마시고 이러한 일을 벌인 것으로 드러났다. A씨의 망치질을 목격한 시민의 신고로 출동한 경찰이 A씨를 현행범 체포했다. 가족이 절도·사기 등 재산 범죄를 저질렀을 경우 형을 면제하는 '친족상도례'가 있지만, 재물손괴 혐의는 적용을 받지 않아 A씨는 형사처벌을 피하기 어렵게 됐다. 경찰은 A씨를 상대로 정확한 사건 경위를 조사하고 있다. (연합뉴스)

한국어판 May 19, 2020

A meeting of national Olympic organizations set to take place in Seoul this fall has been postponed to next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) and the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) jointly announced on Tuesday that the 2020 ANOC General Assembly, scheduled to be held Nov. 25-26 this year in Seoul, will instead take place in 2021. "ANOC and KSOC mutually agreed that given the current global pandemic and wide-spread res

More Sports May 19, 2020