South Korea confirmed nine more cases of contagious variants of the new coronavirus on Monday, bringing the variants' total caseload to 27, as health authorities remain vigilant against the possibility that highly transmissible new variants could spark another uptick in virus cases here. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the nine people were confirmed to have been inflected with the virus variants over the past week. Of them, four arrived in South Korea from Britain, t

North Korea’s former acting ambassador to Kuwait has been living with his family in South Korea for at least a year, a local newspaper reported Monday. The diplomat, Ryu Hyun-woo, was the North’s acting chief of mission in Kuwait in 2019, when he defected to the South with his family, who the source said had motivated him to defect in hopes of a “better future.” If true, it is the second time a ranking official from Pyongyang has defected to Seoul since 2012, when Nort

Kakao Bank, South Korea’s leading Internet-only bank, said on Monday that it is hiring more than 100 employees in its push to ramp up digital innovation.  The lender said it plans to hire experienced talent in eight areas -- financial IT development, risk management, business development, service plan, compliance, audit, and customer services -- in the first half of the year. After the latest talent hunting, the company’s headcount, which currently stands at 937, will exceed 1

Unification Minister Lee In-young on Monday stressed the need to find a flexible solution to the upcoming joint military exercise between Washington and Seoul, to prevent further flare-up of cross-border tensions.  Lee underlined four areas that need to be taken into account when deciding whether to hold the combined military drills, which has long irked Pyongyang. The four factors are: COVID-19, the Tokyo Olympics, the US’ lack of an established policy on the Korean Peninsula, and

Party vows monthly basic income, mandatory parental leave for both parents

Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., a mid-sized shipyard here, said Monday that it has won a 80.2 billion won ($73 million) order to build two petrochemical carriers for a European company. The deal calls for the shipyard to deliver the vessels by March next year, the company said in a regulatory filing. Hyundai Mipo Dockyard is a listed unit of Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., the subholding company of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co. Korea Shipbuilding, which has three shipbui

Korean startup’s technology meets Amway’s global product lineup

Daewoong Pharmaceutical said Monday that it plans to conduct a clinical phase 3 trial for its drug targeted at preventing COVID-19. 　 The company received an approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to begin the last stage of clinical trials for the drug, Foistar, on Friday. “Foistar is convenient to administer as oral medication. Its mechanism is expected to work best in the early phase of viral replications. As the drug would hold efficacy against viral mutations, we hope it

While global travel has come to a virtual standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people have turned to buying goods directly from overseas retailers last year, a delivery service company said Monday. According to Malltail Korea Center, which offers parcel forwarding services for Korean consumers who purchase goods directly from overseas sellers, the number of orders made in 2020 through their platform jumped by about 71 percent from the previous year. Malltail said purchase data also showe

Local media content-related stocks have soared at a fast clip, backed by rising demand for over-the-top services and growing expectations for Korean entertainment to strengthen its global foothold, data showed Monday. Studio Dragon, a major local TV drama production firm, saw its shares climb 19.76 percent this year, from 92,600 won ($83.85) marked at the closing of Dec. 30 to 110,900 won touched during intraday trading Monday. The stock hit its second-highest closing of 109,200 won on Friday,

South Korean golfer scores 8-under 64 on Sunday to win first PGA title since 2017

Tmon, Olive Young and Shinsegae ramp up online efforts before gift-giving season

South Korea’s market watchdog Financial Supervisory Service is slated to order local banks that sold the problematic funds structured by Lime Asset Management to compensate investors who were victims in the massive fraud, officials said Monday. Lime Asset has been under an FSS probe since July 2019 for having concealed huge losses and inflated investment returns to keep its customer base. It suspended fund redemption worth an estimated 1.6 trillion won ($1.4 billion). The dispute arbit

The labor income gap among wage earners in South Korea worsened last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a government report showed, despite narrower disparities in disposable income under the Moon Jae-in administration. The Gini coefficient -- a measure of income inequality within a population -- went up slightly to 0.306 last year when calculated on the basis of hourly labor income, according to a report from the Korea Employment Information Service. The report was based on employment data fr

Financially troubled SsangYong Motor Co. said Monday it will cut its employee wages in half in January and February as it struggles with mounting costs amid lackluster sales. In a recent message to employees, SsangYong Motor President and CEO Yea Byung-tae said the decision was part of "desperate measures" amid a sharp decline in sales. In 2020, its vehicle sales fell 19 percent to 107,324 units from 132,799 the previous year. SsangYong Motor's lineup consists of the flagship G4 Rex