U.S. rejects call to first address Korean workers' wage issue in defense cost talks: official

The United States has officially opposed a proposal for a separate deal to fund wages for South Korean workers in the US Forces Korea (USFK), Seoul's top negotiator in the allies' defense cost-sharing talks said Saturday.    During the latest talks in Los Angeles, South Korea had pushed for the proposal, as thousands of the workers face furloughs that could start on April 1 absent the cost-sharing deal, called the Special Measures Agreement (SMA).    "We proposed a me

DefenseMarch 21, 2020

Missing helicopter crew member found dead at crash site

A man who went missing after a helicopter crash in the southeastern city of Ulsan was found dead Friday, the local fire service said. The civilian helicopter carrying two crew members on a mission to deliver water to contain a wildfire hit a mountain valley and fell into a reservoir at around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. The captain survived by holding on to a tree but his assistant went missing. The assistant's body was discovered near the wrecked chopper, at the bottom of the reservoir, at aro

Social AffairsMarch 20, 2020

S. Korea, US to continue combined exercises in adjusted manner: defense minister

South Korea will continue to stage planned combined exercises with the United States in an adjusted manner, though an annual springtime drill was postponed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, Seoul's defense minister said Friday. The springtime exercise, named the Combined Command Post Training (CCPT) 20-1, had initially been planned for early March, but the allies decided late last month to postpone it due to concerns over the COVID-19 situation. It was the first time that joint exercis

DefenseMarch 20, 2020

Daegu reports another cluster infection at nursing hospital

Another cluster transmission of the novel coronavirus has been reported at a nursing hospital in Daegu, the epicenter of the outbreak in South Korea, city officials said Friday. A total of 57 people at the hospital, including medical staff and patients, have tested positive for the COVID-19 over the past three days, according to the officials. On Wednesday, two nurses at the hospital were confirmed to have been infected. Eight additional cases were reported on Thursday and 47 more cases on Fr

Social AffairsMarch 20, 2020

ADB postpones meeting in S. Korea amid coronavirus fears

The Asian Development Bank’s upcoming annual meeting, originally slated to be held here in May, will be postponed to September in light of the coronavirus spread, according to ADB and the South Korean government. “As COVID-19 continues to spread around the globe, (ADB and Korea) have agreed to postpone the 53rd ADB Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors from the originally planned May 2-5 to Sept. 18-21,” the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a release. “We p

EconomyMarch 20, 2020

Court accepts injunction request by Woori Financial head against reprimand

A Seoul court on Friday accepted an injunction request by the head of Woori Financial Group against the financial watchdog's reprimand over improper selling of derivatives-linked products that caused investors to incur massive losses. The Seoul Administrative Court's decision removed hurdles for Woori Chairman Sohn Tae-sung's bid to win approval for his second term during its general shareholders' meeting scheduled for next Wednesday. Sohn filed the request early this month seeking to suspend

Social AffairsMarch 20, 2020

Moon to Swedish PM: S. Korea to share experience on coronavirus response

South Korean President Moon Jae-in told Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven on Friday that his government is willing to share its experience and clinical data related to the COVID-19 pandemic with the Scandinavian country. During a 20-minute telephone conversation, which took place at Lofven's request, Moon stressed the importance of concerted efforts by the international community to combat the crisis, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok. "The COVID-19 incident is a chal

Foreign AffairsMarch 20, 2020

7 in 10 foreign residents say ‘racism exists’ in S. Korea

A Muslim woman had her hijab forcibly taken off by a stranger on the street. A refugee got laughed at upon visiting a local community center. An ethnic Korean student from China was told she was doing her master’s degree here just to find a husband. These are only a few of the discriminatory acts that foreign residents and North Korean defectors here have experienced, showed a survey conducted by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea. According to the survey of 310 foreign resi

Social AffairsMarch 20, 2020

Shinhan Investment CEO steps down over Lime scandal, derivatives misselling

Shinhan Investment CEO Kim Byung-cheol resigned on Friday, taking responsibility for the brokerage’s role as a key sales channel for now-frozen Lime Asset funds and derivatives that caused huge losses for investors. “In order for the company to win back customer trust and get back on track to normalize business, it would be right for me to take responsibility and step down,” Kim said during the company’s board meeting, according to Shinhan. “I have been delayin

MarketMarch 20, 2020

South Korea's coronavirus death toll reaches 100

The death toll from the novel coronavirus in South Korea reached 100 on Friday, about a month after it reported the first death. Two elderly patients infected with the virus died in the southeastern city of Daegu, hit hardest by the Covid-19 outbreak. The deceased were a 86-year-old woman, who had suffered from stroke for six years and a 92-year-old man with a history of diabetes, cerebral infarction and arrhythmia. 　 About 60 others are critically ill, including a 26-year-old, health autho

Social AffairsMarch 20, 2020

Officials, experts divided over impact of S. Korea-US currency swap deal

While the financial authorities on Friday welcomed the $60 billion bilateral currency swap deal signed between South Korea and the US the previous day, some experts voiced concern that it may be too soon to rejoice because it is not yet clear what impact it will have on the market. The deal is the first of its kind since the 2008 global financial crisis and will remain in effect for six months, unless both parties decide to extend. “The $60 billion Korea-US bilateral currency swap wil

MarketMarch 20, 2020

Green Climate Fund head office reports second COVID-19 case

A second staff member at the Green Climate Fund, a global institution based in Incheon, South Korea, has tested positive for the new coronavirus after attending a board meeting in Switzerland. The patient, who hails from Zambia, returned from Geneva on March 16 and tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. It is the second COVID-19 case at the headquarters of the United Nations-affiliated institution so far. On Wednesday another staff member, a Canadian who also attended the Geneva meetin

Social AffairsMarch 20, 2020

2.7 magnitude quake hits southeastern region

A 2.7 magnitude earthquake hit the southeastern county of Sancheong, about 360 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Friday afternoon, the Korea Meteorological Administration said. The quake occurred at 4:02 p.m., 13 kilometers east-southeast of Sancheong in South Gyeongsang Province, at a depth of 9 km, according to the KMA. The epicenter was 35.39 degrees north latitude and 128.01 degrees east longitude, the agency said. "The earthquake was felt in the areas near the epicenter," the age

Social AffairsMarch 20, 2020

Daniel Dae Kim addresses xenophobia after testing positive for coronavirus

Korean American actor Daniel Dae Kim, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, spoke on social media about his coronavirus testing experience and xenophobia. On Friday, Kim posted a 10-minute video on Instagram announcing that he had tested positive and spoke about violence toward Asians stemming from xenophobia. He had also tweeted on Monday against ongoing acts of racism in the US. Kim, known for his roles as Kwon Jin-soo in “Lost” and Dr. Jackson Han in “The Good Doc

PeopleMarch 20, 2020

Residents of special disaster zones to be excluded from annual reserves forces training

South Korea said Friday that it had decided to exempt residents of the “special disaster zones” in the southeastern part of the county from reserve forces training this year. The exemption covers those who reside or work in Daegu, Gyeongsan, Cheongdo and Bonghwa, the Ministry of Defense said. “We decided to exempt reservists of the designated area from training sessions for the reserve forces this year for early recovery of economic damages and stabilization of local commu

DefenseMarch 20, 2020

NK media outlets criticize Seoul’s plan to jointly seek UNESCO listing of DMZ

North Korea’s media outlets criticized the Cultural Heritage Administration’s plan to seek UNESCO listing of the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas jointly with North Korea, according to local news outlets on Friday. The response from the North Korean news outlets came after the CHA on March 11 announced having the DMZ recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of its projects for 2020. The CHA said it intended to submit a tentative list to UNESCO in conjunction with

CultureMarch 20, 2020

Seoul stocks rebound 7% on currency swap deal with US

South Korean stocks rebounded sharply on Friday as investors were buoyed by the currency swap deal between Seoul and Washington, snapping a freefall of seven consecutive sessions. The Korean won was also sharply up against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index soared 108.51 points, or 7.44 percent, to close at 1,566.17. Trading volume was high at 807 million shares worth 10.4 trillion won ($8.41 billion), with gainers far outpacing losers 824 to 68. The combined marke

MarketMarch 20, 2020

Huawei donates 200,000 masks to Korea to help combat COVID-19

Huawei Korea said Friday that it has donated 200,000 face masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Half have been delivered to the Korea Association of Welfare Institutions for Persons with Disabilities, and the rest went to the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education, according to the company. The masks will be distributed to local students when schools start the new semester after the current delay. On March 6, Huawei Korea donated a total of 200 million won ($160,550) to support the

IndustryMarch 20, 2020

Olympic flame gets muted welcome in Japan as Games doubts grow

HIGASHIMATSUSHIMA (AFP) -- The Olympic flame arrived in Japan to a scaled-down welcoming ceremony Friday as doubts grew over whether the Tokyo Games will go ahead on schedule with the coronavirus pandemic causing chaos around the world. As the flame, enclosed in a special lantern, landed on a charter flight, a Japanese Olympic Committee member broke ranks to call for a postponement and Olympics chief Thomas Bach admitted "different scenarios" were under consideration. "Of cours

Olympic GamesMarch 20, 2020

Vice FM holds conference call with six countries over coronavirus response

First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Sei-young held a conference call with his counterparts from six countries Friday, including the United States and Japan, to discuss ways to cope with the new coronavirus outbreak. The talks, arranged at the US' request, were joined by US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba and Secretary Frances Adamson of Australia and the vice foreign ministers of New Zealand, India and Vietnam -- Mark Sinclair, Harsh Shringla an

Foreign AffairsMarch 20, 2020