Yonhap News Summary: Samsung Profit Surges, USFK Troop Drawdown Not Discussed, Economic Data Improves

SEOUL -- South Korea and the United States are not discussing drawing down the 28,500-strong U.S. forces stationed in Korea, a Seoul defense ministry official said Thursday, after U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration is weighing a possible reduction of American troops in Germany.

Trump said in a social media post that the U.S. is "studying and reviewing" the possible reduction of troops in Germany, with the decision possibly to be made "over the next short period of time."

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SEOUL -- South Korea's industrial output, retail sales and facility investment all rose from a month earlier in March, official data showed Thursday. It marked the first time since last September that all three indicators posted on-month growth.

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SEOUL -- Uncertainty over the future path of U.S. monetary policy under the next Federal Reserve chair, Kevin Warsh, has increased further amid rising oil prices and inflation, the Bank of Korea said Thursday.

"Overnight at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), opinions within the Fed were significantly divided, and inflation driven by rising oil prices was emphasized," BOK Senior Deputy Gov. Ryoo Sang-dai said during a meeting to review market conditions.

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SEOUL -- Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday its first-quarter net profit surged more than fivefold from a year earlier, driven by robust demand for high-end memory chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

Net profit for the three months ended March jumped to 47.22 trillion won (US$31.8 billion) from 8.22 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a press release.

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CHANGWON -- On the assembly line at the Changwon plant of GM Korea Co., vehicle frames of Trax Crossover models move in a slow but steady pace, rising and lowering automatically to meet workers at just the right height.

Nearby, advanced robot arms install tires in one continuous motion while more than 600 industrial robots carry out welding work with perfect consistency.

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WASHINGTON -- U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday described North Korea's menacing nuclear program as "the lesson" to learn, as he defended the U.S. military operation against Iran, which a Pentagon official said has cost an estimated US$25 billion.

Hegseth made the remarks during a House Armed Services Committee hearing, stressing that Iran's strategy to build nuclear weapons mirrors that of North Korea, as he pointed out that like Pyongyang, Tehran had been building a "conventional shield" of missiles to double down on its nuclear program.