North Korean leader Kim Jong-un cast his ballot in local elections held over the weekend to pick new deputies for local assemblies of provinces, cities and counties across the nation, state media reported Monday, with voter turnout recorded at almost 100 percent. Kim visited a polling station set up in South Hamgyong Province on Sunday and voted for candidates who ran in the elections in the region, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. North Korea's local elections are held

North Korea Nov. 27, 2023

Seoul shares opened higher Monday amid decreased volatility on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 4.77 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,501.40 in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Friday, US stocks closed mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.33 percent and the tech-heavy NASDAQ down 0.11 percent. The volatility index, Wall Street's fear gauge, hit the lowest since January 2020 at 12.46 as market participants expected the Federal Reserve is near the

Market Nov. 27, 2023

Terry Venables, the former manager of England's national soccer team and clubs including Tottenham Hotspur and Barcelona, has died aged 80 after an illness, his family said on Sunday. "We are totally devastated by the loss of a wonderful husband and father who passed away peacefully yesterday after a long illness," the family said in a statement. (Reuters)

Soccer Nov. 26, 2023

China's health ministry on Sunday urged local authorities to increase the number of fever clinics as the country grapples with a surge in respiratory illnesses in its first full winter since easing COVID-19 restrictions. The spike become a global issue last week when the World Health Organization asked China for more information, citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases. China and the WHO have faced questions about the

World News Nov. 26, 2023

Holiday shoppers in the U.S. are seeking out the best deals and strategically nabbing the deepest discounts ahead of Cyber Monday, according to data from retailer websites aggregated by third parties. Cyber Monday, as the first Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday has become known as merchants step up online promotions, is set to be the biggest online shopping day of the year in the United States. Strong online traffic on Black Friday demonstrated a notable pattern of shoppers putting time and

World Business Nov. 26, 2023

South Korea, the United States and Japan jointly conducted naval drills in waters south of the Korean Peninsula on Sunday to bolster their defense posture against North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats, the South's Navy said. The joint exercise took place in southeastern waters off Jeju Island involving the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, which has been docked at a naval base in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The South Korean Navy's Ae

Defense Nov. 26, 2023

The monthly average of Chinese travelers visiting South Korea remained far below pre-pandemic levels, despite China's reopening from COVID-19 restrictions and resumption of group tours, data showed Sunday. Around 144,000 Chinese nationals visited South Korea per month on average this year, according to the data released by the Hyundai Research Institute. The tally was about one-third of the monthly average of 416,000 recorded from 2017 to 2019, when the Chinese government had banned group t

Social Affairs Nov. 26, 2023

In a dramatic turn of events on the final day of the regular season, Gimcheon Sangmu FC earned a direct promotion to the top division in South Korean football on Sunday. Gimcheon defeated Seoul E-Land FC 1-0 to finish atop the K League 2 tables with 71 points and secure a spot in the top-flight K League 1 for 2024. Kim Hyeon-ug's 37th-minute goal stood as the winner. Gimcheon, a military club made up of players fulfilling their mandatory service duties, were relegated after the 2022 season

Soccer Nov. 26, 2023

South Korea's manufacturing confidence rose for the first time in four months in December, thanks to solid signs of recovery in global demand for semiconductors, a poll showed Sunday. The professional survey index for the manufacturing sector's business conditions came to 100 for next month, up from 97 for this month, according to the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade. A PSI reading above 100 means optimists outnumber pessimists. The survey was conducted earlier this

Economy Nov. 26, 2023

Foreign Minister Park Jin held bilateral talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Busan on Sunday, hours before the two were set to meet trilaterally with their Japanese counterpart. The talks came days after North Korea said it launched a military spy satellite and successfully placed it into orbit, after two botched launch attempts in May and August, respectively. In response, South Korea scrapped part of a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction accord. In a tit-for-tat, North Kore

Politics Nov. 26, 2023

Japan has decided to support South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in the southeastern city of Busan, a local media report said Sunday, as the voting for the mega event is set to take place this week. The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun said Tokyo has made the decision in consideration of President Yoon Suk Yeol's continued efforts to improve long-frayed ties between the two countries. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had reportedly notified his will to support Busan's

Politics Nov. 26, 2023

Samsung Electronics Co. has been making its final pitch for Busan's bid to host the 2030 World Expo with displays in Paris, company officials said Sunday. Samsung has displayed a message of support for the southeastern port city's expo bid across billboards at various places in France's capital, including Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, major shopping areas and tourist attractions, according to the officials. Samsung has also put up a giant advertising post promoting its latest f

Companies Nov. 26, 2023

North Korea called for residents to cast their ballots and "fulfill their duties as members of the republic" as the reclusive regime was set to hold its first local elections featuring more than one candidate Sunday. Pyongyang was set to hold local elections to pick new deputies for local assemblies of provinces, cities and counties across the nation. In what appeared to be an intention to introduce competition in the election system, some constituencies fielded two candidates. Under t

North Korea Nov. 26, 2023

Foreign Minister Park Jin held bilateral talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa in Busan on Sunday, ahead of the trilateral gathering involving their Chinese counterpart. In the talks with Kamikawa, Park was expected to discuss ways to move the bilateral relations forward amid a thaw in the ties after South Korea decided to resolve the issue of compensating Korean forced labor victims during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula without asking for contributions f

Politics Nov. 26, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol returned home Sunday from a trip to Europe that took him first to Britain for a state visit and then to France for a final campaign to bring the 2030 World Expo to Busan. Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee paid a four-day state visit to London on the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations and received a ceremonial welcome featuring a carriage procession to Buckingham Palace and a state banquet hosted by King Charles III. The visit produced a new bilateral agreement, call

Politics Nov. 26, 2023