South Korea's daily COVID-19 cases reached yet another record high Friday, as the country grapples with the rapid spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant with a new nationwide virus response system set to come into force. The country reported 16,096 new COVID-19 infections, including 15,894 local cases, raising the total to 793,582, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily count broke the record for the fourth consecutive day, spiking from 8,570 on Tues

South Korea's industrial output increased by the most in 11 years in 2021 due largely to a low base effect and robust exports, data showed Friday, in a sign that the country's economy has extended recovery momentum. Industrial output increased 4.8 percent in 2021 from the previous year, a turnaround from a 1.2 percent on-year fall in 2020, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the largest growth since 2010, when industrial output gained 6.5 percent. Service output, onc

Japan is in "final consultations" internally to press ahead with a plan to recommend a local gold and silver mine as a candidate for UNESCO world heritage despite South Korea's strong opposition, according to a news report Friday. The Japanese government is nearing a decision to recommend the Sado mine in Niigata Prefecture, where thousands of Koreans were forced into hard labor during the 1910-45 colonization of the peninsula, as a candidate for the 2023 world heritage site, just day