SEOUL, March 21 (Korea Bizwire) — The finance ministry said Friday it will ease restrictions on duty-free alcohol purchases for local tourists visiting the southern resort island of Jeju. Under the revised regulations, the current two-bottle limit will be removed, while the overall allowance remains at up to 2 liters of duty-free alcoholic beverages, with [...]
SEOUL, March 20 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea has formally confirmed its ratification of a U.N. agreement on the sustainable use of marine biological diversity, becoming the first East Asian country to do so, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Thursday. South Korean Ambassador to the U.N. Hwang Joon-kook deposited an instrument of the ratification for the [...]
SEOUL, March 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean government has unveiled a comprehensive plan to protect its steel industry from mounting trade risks, including the recent 25% tariff imposed by the Trump administration in the United States and an influx of low-cost Chinese steel. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on Wednesday [...]
SEOUL, March 19 (Korea Bizwire) — A new government survey has revealed that the number of non-professional foreign workers holding E-9 visas in South Korea now exceeds 300,000, with the vast majority employed in the mining and manufacturing industries. Statistics Korea released its “2024 Survey on Immigration Status and Employment – Foreign Residents by Visa Status” [...]
SEOUL, INCHEON & BEIJING, March 18 (Korea Bizwire) — A standoff between South Korean and Chinese maritime authorities has erupted in the West Sea’s Provisional Measure Zone (PMZ) near Ieodo, after South Korea attempted to investigate an unauthorized steel structure installed by China. According to government sources, on February 26, South Korea dispatched the Onnuri, a [...]
WASHINGTON, March 17 (Korea Bizwire) — A U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) laboratory contractor employee was terminated after attempting to board a flight to South Korea with export controlled information on nuclear reactor design software, a report showed Monday. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) terminated the person during the reporting period from Oct. 1, 2023 through [...]
SEJONG, March 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun is set to meet with the governor of Alaska next week in Seoul and discuss Seoul’s possible participation in the gas pipeline project in the U.S. state, diplomatic sources said Tuesday. Ahn plans to hold a face-to-face meeting with Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, [...]
SEOUL, March 17 (Korea Bizwire) — Acting President Choi Sang-mok on Monday instructed the government to engage with the United States to prevent any adverse impact on energy cooperation following Washington’s designation of South Korea as a ”sensitive” country. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the previous Joe Biden administration made the designation in January [...]
SEOUL, March 14 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Steel Co. said Friday it has shifted to an emergency management mode in response to growing challenges, including the recent imposition of steel tariffs by the United States and an ongoing strife with unionized workers. The company announced that all executives have taken a 20 percent pay cut effective Thursday, [...]
SEOUL, March 14 (Korea Bizwire) — In Mongolia, where liver cancer rates are the highest in the world, a 15-year partnership with a South Korean hospital has enabled 300 patients to receive life-saving liver transplants without leaving their country. Asan Medical Center in Seoul announced on March 13 that its program to establish living-donor liver transplantation [...]