Page 3 - South Korea Economy

South Korea's SK Group considers asset sales, mergers as part of overhaul

The group, best known for its chip firm SK Hynix , has become bloated over the past decade and its electric vehicle battery unit has lost billions of dollars

Fire at South Korea battery plant claims 16 lives, five individuals missing

Live TV footage showed firefighters spraying the damaged steel and concrete building

North Korea'a Kim hails Russia tie as Putin reportedly plans a visit

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed the country's expanding relationship with Russia on Wednesday, as reports suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin will soon visit the country for his third meeting with Kim. Military, economic and other cooperation between North Korea and Russia have sharply increased since Kim visited Russia last September for a meeting with Putin. The US, South Korea and their partners believe North Korea has supplied artillery, missiles and other conventional weapons to Russia to support its war in Ukraine in return for advanced military technologies and economic aid. Kim has been pushing to boost partnerships with Russia and China in a bid to strength his regional footing and launch a united front against the United States. During their September meeting at Russia's main space launch site, Kim invited the Russian president to visit North Korea at a convenient time, and Putin accepted. On Wednesday, Kim sent Putin a congratulatory message commemorati

S Korea oppn leader Lee indicted over funds transfer to North Korea

"I am not that foolish," Lee said last year, calling the charges against him "fiction" as a court denied a warrant for his arrest

South Korea's Prez Yoon heads to Central Asia for talks on energy, minerals

Yoon will visit Turkmenistan with the first lady for a state visit before heading to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

South Korea to detail tax incentives aimed at supporting chip industry

The government will also release next month detailed measures to support the country's semiconductor industry

Prosecution appeal begins for Samsung chief Jay Y Lee over 2015 merger case

Prosecutors are appealing against a February ruling that found Lee not guilty of all charges including accounting fraud and stock manipulation

South Korea plans $7.3 billion program to support semiconductor industry

The move comes as the US government is pressing allies including South Korea to further tighten restrictions on China's access to semiconductor technology

CSuisse may face $36 mn fine over S Korea short-selling, says local daily

The notice was sent to the South Korean and Singaporean units of the bank

South Korea's PM, top officials offer to resign after election defeat

South Korea's prime minister and senior presidential officials offered to resign en masse on Thursday, after their conservative ruling party suffered a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections. The results of Wednesday's elections were a huge political blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol, likely setting back his domestic agenda and leave him facing an intensifying political offensive by his liberal opponents during his remaining three years in office. Prime Minster Han Duck-soo and all senior presidential advisers to Yoon, except those in charge of security issues, submitted their resignations, according to Yoon's office. It didn't immediately say whether Yoon accepted their resignations. Executive power in South Korea is heavily concentrated in the president, but the prime minister is the No. 2 official and leads the country if the president becomes incapacitated. Yoon said he will humbly uphold the public sentiments reflected in the election outcome and focus on improving people's

Big Oppn win in S Korean parl election poses setback to President Yoon

South Korea's liberal opposition parties appeared set to win a landslide victory in Wednesday's parliamentary election, vote counts showed, a result that could make conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol a lame duck for his remaining three years in office. With most of the votes cast counted, the main opposition Democratic Party and its satellite party appear to have won a combined 175 seats in the 300-member National Assembly. Another small liberal opposition party was expected to win 12 seats under a proportional representation system, according to South Korean media tallies. Yoon's ruling People Power Party and its satellite party were projected to have obtained 109 seats. The final official results were expected later Thursday. But the outcome means the liberal opposition forces would extend their control of the parliament, though they will likely fail to garner the super majority of 200 seats that gives them legislative powers to pass bills vetoed by a president and even impeach

S Korea elections: Voters to decide President Yoon Suk Yeol's fate

The record-high turnout for early voting has garnered the attention to whether the final turnout would exceed 70%

S Korea launches 2nd military spy satellite as tensions with N Korea rise

South Korea has launched its second military spy satellite into space, days after North Korea reaffirmed its plan to launch multiple reconnaissance satellites this year. The Koreas each launched their first spy satellites last year North Korea in November and South Korea in December amid heightened animosities. They said their satellites would boost their abilities to monitor each other and enhance their own missile attack capabilities. South Korea's second spy satellite was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday evening local time, which was Monday morning in Seoul. South Korea's Defense Ministry said in a statement that the satellite was successfully separated from a rocket. It said it will check whether the satellite functions properly via its communications with an overseas ground station. Under a contract with SpaceX, South Korea was to launch five spy satellites by 2025. South Korea's first spy satellite launch on Dec. 1 was made from California's ...

North Korea fires intermediate range missile into S Korea's eastern waters

North Korea on Tuesday test-fired a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile toward waters off its eastern coast, South Korea's military said, adding to a series of weapons demonstrations that have raised tensions in the region. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from an area near the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, but it did not immediately confirm how far the weapon flew. The North had said last month that it tested a solid-fuel engine for its new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile as it tries to expand its arsenal of weapons aimed at remote US targets in the Pacific, including the military hub of Guam. It was the North's first known launch event since March 18, when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a live-fire drill of artillery systems designed to target South Korea's capital. Japan's coast guard shared an assessment of the country's Defense Ministry that the missile has already landed but still urged caution for vessels .

South Korea's production of semiconductors rises by most in 14 years

The memory-chip market that underpins South Korea's semiconductor industry is notorious for its boom-and-bust cycle

Why is South Korea hosting a 'Summit for Democracy', all you need to know

This year's summit agenda focused on digital threats to democracy, including misinformation, artificial intelligence, and deep fakes

South Korea deploys military, public doctors to strike-hit hospitals today

Twenty military surgeons along with 138 public health doctors will be assigned to 20 hospitals for four weeks, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said at a meeting on Sunday

N Korea responds to S Korea-US military training with artillery firing

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised artillery firing drills aimed at boosting combat readiness, state media reported Friday, days after his country vowed to take corresponding military steps against the ongoing South Korean-U.S military trainin g that it regards as an invasion rehearsal. Thursday's drills involved frontline artillery units, whose weapons place Seoul, the South Korean capital, in their striking range, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. Kim said artillery units must take the initiative with merciless and rapid strikes at the moment of their entry into an actual war, KCNA said. North Korea's forward-deployed long-range artillery guns pose a serious security threat to Seoul, a city with 10 million people which is about 40 to 50 kilometers (25 to 30 miles) from the border with North Korea. North Korea's Defense Ministry said Tuesday it would conduct unspecified responsible military activities in response to the annual South Korea-U.S. military

South Korea regulator likely to sanction Meta over online marketplace

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) had investigated possible violations of the country's e-commerce law and had sent an examination report to Meta late last year, reports say

South Korea's fertility rate, which is world's lowest, drops to fresh low

The total number of births in South Korea stood at 230,000 in 2023, a 7.7 per cent decrease and another new low for the country, which has a population of about 50 million people