Page 22 - South Korea

Samsung workers to strike in S Korea on July 8-10, says union official

The union wants a more transparent system for bonuses and time off, and wants the company to treat it as an equal partner

In a first, North Korean officials seen wearing lapel pins with Kim's image

For the first time, North Korean officials have been seen wearing lapel pins with the image of leader Kim Jong Un, another sign the North is boosting his personality cult to the level bestowed on his late dictator father and grandfather. North Koreans are required to wear pins over their hearts which for decades bore images of either the country's founder, Kim Il Sung, or his son Kim Jong Il, or both. The existence of pins dedicated to Kim Jong Un had not been verified until state media published photos on Sunday showing officials wearing his pins at a ruling Workers' Party meeting. The pins are part of a state-sponsored mythology surrounding the Kim family which treats Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il like gods. They are memorialised with numerous statues across North Korea, their birthdays are two of the country's main holidays and their portraits are hung in all homes and offices. Few question current leader Kim Jong Un's hold on power, but few images honouring the 40-year-old have be

South Korea's SK Hynix plans to invest $75 billion on chips through 2028

SK Hynix's HBM chips are optimised for use with Nvidia Corp.'s artificial intelligence accelerators

Biden's shaky debate has overseas allies steeling for Trump's return

Joe Biden's supporters had hoped the debate would erase worries that he was too old to serve, but several lawmakers, analysts and investors also said the event had given Trump a boost

US, Japan, and S Korea vow cooperation to boost security, economies

The meetings were decided by the countries' leaders at an August summit at Camp David

Hyundai to pay $40mn fee to banks advising on India IPO, 2nd biggest payday

Hyundai Motor's India unit this month filed for regulatory approval for a listing, which could be the nation's biggest and will see the South Korean parent raise around $2.5-$3 billion

Suspected North Korean hypersonic missile exploded, says South Korea

A North Korean ballistic missile test on Wednesday likely ended in failure, South Korea's military said, days after the U.S. deployed an aircraft carrier for a new trilateral military drill with South Korea and Japan. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that North Korea launched a ballistic missile from its capital region around 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday. It said the missile was launched toward the North's eastern waters, but the launch was suspected to have ended in failure. It gave no further details like whether it assessed the North Korean missile likely crashed on the ground or exploded in mid-air. Japan's Defense Ministry said earlier Wednesday that it also detected a suspected ballistic missile by North Korea. The North's reported launch also came hours after South Korea said North Korea floated huge balloons likely carrying trash across the border for a second consecutive day. South Korea's earlier threatened to retaliate with anti-Pyongyang front-line ...

S Korea's Incheon airport briefly shuts down runways due to trash balloons

One balloon landed on the tarmac near passenger Terminal 2 and the three runways at Incheon were temporarily shut down

S Korean authorities order battery maker to halt ops over deadly fire

The fire at unlisted battery maker Aricell on Monday was one of the deadliest industrial accidents in recent years

S.Korean battery maker apologises for deadly fire, says complied with rules

The fire on Monday, which began at a factory with 35,000 lithium batteries, produced thick smoke that spread quickly

N Korea launches more trash balloons; South calls it 'irrational'

South Korea threatened on Tuesday to restart anti-Pyongyang frontline propaganda broadcasts in the latest bout of Cold War-style campaigns between the rivals after North Korea resumed its trash-carrying balloon launches. On Monday night, North Korea floated huge balloons carrying plastic bags of rubbish across the border in its fifth such campaign since late May an apparent response to South Korean activists flying political leaflets via balloons. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called North Korea's balloon activities a despicable and irrational provocation. In a speech marking the 74th anniversary of the start of the 1950-53 Korean War, Yoon said Tuesday that South Korea will maintain a firm military readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocations by North Korea. South Korea's military said North Korea floated about 350 balloons in its latest campaign, and about 100 of them eventually landed in South Korean soil, mostly in Seoul and nearby areas. Seoul is about 40-50

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

North Korea has resumed balloon launches likely to drop trash: Seoul

The launches came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a major defence deal that observers worry could embolden Kim to direct more provocations

Fire at South Korean battery unit kills 22, mostly Chinese migrant workers

A fire likely sparked by exploding lithium batteries swept through a manufacturing factory near South Korea's capital on Monday, killing 22 mostly Chinese migrant workers and injuring eight, officials said. The fire began after batteries exploded while workers were examining and packaging them at the second floor of the factory in Hwaseong city, just south of Seoul, at around 10:30 am, fire officials said, citing a witness. They said they would investigate the cause of the blaze. The dead included 18 Chinese, two South Koreans and one Laotian, local fire official Kim Jin-young told a televised briefing. He said the nationality of one of the dead couldn't be immediately verified. In the past few decades, many people from China, including ethnic Koreans, have migrated to South Korea to seek jobs. Like other foreign migrants from Southeast Asian nations, they often end up in factories or in physically demanding and low-paying jobs shunned by more affluent South Koreans. Kim also one .

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

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

'Commerce ministry in talks with South Korea to upgrade existing FTA'

With talks to upgrade the existing free trade agreement (FTA) moving forward between India and Korea, the department of commerce is engaging with different ministries, including heavy industries, steel, and chemicals, to prepare the offer list, an official said. Preparation of the list is part of the negotiations, which are underway, for the upgrade of the existing FTA between the two countries, dubbed as comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA). The agreement was operationalised in January 2010. So far, 10 rounds of talks have been concluded. The official said both sides have exchanged the request list and "are working on the offer list" and for that the commerce ministry is holding discussions with different ministries, including steel, heavy industries, textiles, chemicals and petrochemicals. India has sought greater market access for certain products such as steel, rice, and shrimp from South Korea with a view to boost exports of these goods, the official added. Ind

Russia-North Korea pact may dent China's influence, but its sway undeterred

Experts say China's leaders are likely fretting over potential loss of influence over North Korea after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the deal this week

Russian ambassador summoned in South Korea as tensions rise with North

South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the country's new defense pact with North Korea on Friday, as border tensions continued to rise with vague threats and brief, seemingly accidental incursions by North Korean troops. Earlier Friday, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a vague threat of retaliation after South Korean activists flew balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border, and South Korea's military said it had fired warning shots the previous day to repel North Korean soldiers who briefly crossed the rivals' land border for the third time this month. That came two days after Moscow and Pyongyang reached a pact vowing mutual defense assistance if either is attacked, and a day after Seoul responded by saying it would consider providing arms to Ukraine to fight Russia's invasion. South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun summoned Russian Ambassador Georgy Zinoviev to convey Seoul's stance on the deal ...

S Korea fires warning shots as North Korean soldiers make third incursion

South Korea's military said Friday that it had fired warnings shots the previous day to repel North Korean soldiers who temporarily crossed the rivals' land border for the third time this month. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said several North Korean soldiers while engaging in unspecified construction work on the northern side of the border briefly intruded the military demarcation line that bisects the countries at around 11 am Thursday. The South Korean military in response broadcasted a warning and fired warning shots, to which the North Korean soldiers retreated. The joint chiefs didn't immediately release more details. South Korea's military has said it believes the previous two border intrusions this month weren't intentional as the North Korean soldiers have retreated after the warning shots and the North has not returned fire. The South's military says it has been observing increased North Korean construction activity in frontline border areas since April, such as ...

S Korean group flies anti-N Korean propaganda leaflets across the border

A South Korea activists' group said Friday it again flew large balloons carrying anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets toward North Korea, adding to a campaign that aggravated animosities between the rivals and prompted a resumption of Cold War-style psychological warfare along their border. The South Korean civilian group, led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, said it floated 20 balloons attached with 3,00,000 propaganda leaflets, 5,000 USB sticks with South Korean pop songs and TV dramas, and 3,000 US dollar bills from the South Korean border town of Paju on Thursday night. Pyongyang resents such material and fears it could demoralise front-line troops and residents and eventually weaken leader Kim Jong Un's grip on power, analysts say. After previous leafletting by Park's group and other South Korean activists, North Korean launched more than 1,000 balloons that dropped tons of trash in South Korea, smashing roof tiles and windows and causing other property damage. In ...