Hundreds of cars trapped on coastal highway amid heavy snow

CHUNCHEON -- Hundreds of cars were trapped on some parts of a highway along the east coast Monday as heavy snowfall caused a traffic gridlock, the road authority said.    Gangwon Province received about 10 centimeters of snowfall earlier in the day, which caused many cars returning from a three-day holiday to be stuck on the snow-covered Donghae Expressway, according to Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC)'s regional office.    Monday is Independence Movement Day, a South Korean n

Social AffairsMarch 1, 2021

Ex-Startups Minister Park Young-sun wins ruling party's ticket for Seoul mayoral election

Former Startups Minister Park Young-sun on Monday won the ruling Democratic Party‘s ticket to run in the Seoul mayoral by-election next month. 　 Park, also a former four-term lawmaker, was declared the winner of the party primary against sitting four-term lawmaker Woo Sang-ho for the April 7 mayoral election, according to the voting results. 　 Park won an overwhelming 69.56 percent of the ballots cast by voters in and outside of the party over the phone and the internet for four days to M

PoliticsMarch 1, 2021

Small rallies held in Seoul amid coronavirus concerns

Some conservative groups went ahead with small street rallies in Seoul on Monday to denounce the Moon Jae-in administration amid concerns about the spread of COVID-19. On the rainy day, the 102nd anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement against Japan's colonization of Korea, more than 10 members of a group staged a rally at around 11 a.m. in front of Gwanghwamun in the city center. The group, which calls itself Freedom Korea National Defense Corps, had applied for approval of the gathe

Social AffairsMarch 1, 2021

Moon says South Korea ready for talks with Japan to mend ties

President Moon Jae-in on Monday reaffirmed his willingness to mend ties with Japan long strained over wartime history and trade, saying issues of the past should not drag down the forward-looking cooperation between the two neighbors. “Our government is ready to sit down and have talks with the Japanese government anytime,” he said in his speech at a ceremony marking the 102nd anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement. “I am confident that if we put our heads togeth

Foreign AffairsMarch 1, 2021

Navy urged to spell out W2tr weapon project

South Korea’s Navy saw its yearslong dream come true on Feb. 22, when the Ministry of National Defense approved a plan to build the nation’s first light aircraft carrier by 2033. But experts say that the Navy could do better to assure the skeptics opposing the 2 trillion-won ($1.8 billion) project.  First discussed in 1996, the project is strongly backed this time by a united Navy, with its chief appealing to the public that the weapon would help South

DefenseMarch 1, 2021

COVID response blocks N. Korea aid efforts: US State Dept.

The US State Department said North Korea’s border shutdowns to combat the pandemic are preventing the country from receiving outside help from humanitarian aid groups. “These severe measures have significantly hindered the efforts of humanitarian organizations, UN agencies, and other countries to deliver aid to those most in need after they received swift exemptions from the 1718 Committee,” the State Department told Voice of America on Sunday The statement came in response t

North KoreaMarch 1, 2021

Ahn Cheol-soo wins 1st round of primary for Seoul mayor candidacy

Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the minor opposition People's Party, cleared the first hurdle Monday in his bid to become a single candidate of South Korea's opposition bloc, critical of the Moon Jae-in administration, for the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election. He won a primary with Keum Tae-sup, a former lawmaker who left the ruling Democratic Party (DP), the outcome of which was decided by a public opinion poll. The two had two rounds of formal debates ahead of the two-day survey last week on their

PoliticsMarch 1, 2021

Confirmed cases remain in mid-300s; around 21,000 vaccinated

As the third wave of the pandemic continues, the number of new confirmed cases remain in the mid-300s, while more than 21,000 doses of vaccines have been administered as of Monday. The government’s central response team said Monday the number of new COVID-19 cases increased by 355 to 90,029 as of midnight. The figure declined by one from the previous day, staying in the 300s for the second consecutive day apparently due to the number of inspections having decreased over the weekend. O

Social AffairsMarch 1, 2021

Japanese collaborators sued over real estate assets

The South Korean government has started a legal challenge to confiscate 11 land properties from descendants of four Japanese collaborators, the Ministry of Justice said Monday. The ministry said it filed complaints with the Seoul Central District Court and the Seoul Western District Court on Friday to take back 85,094 square meters of land valued at 2.68 billion won ($2.4 million) from descendants of those on the list of pro-Japan collaborators announced in 2007. The four collaborators, named

Social AffairsMarch 1, 2021

[Newsmaker] Cardinal Cheong Jin-suk hospitalized

Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, the former Catholic archbishop of Seoul, has been hospitalized since Feb. 21, the office of the Seoul archdiocese said Sunday. The 90-year-old Catholic leader was admitted to the Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital days after reporting pain, but he can converse, the office said in a statement. The cardinal has refused to be put on life support, and had signed papers in 2006 to donate his organs and corneas upon his death. Days after h

Social AffairsMarch 1, 2021

S. Korea to roll out prototype of first homegrown fighter jet next month

South Korea will showcase a prototype of the country's first indigenous fighter jet in April, the arms procurement agency has said. Jung Kwang-sun, heading the KF-X program at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, said the planned rollout event will be a "landmark moment" for the country and the aerospace industry. "After working only with the blueprint so far, we will now have something we can actually see and test whether what we have been studying actually works,&q

DefenseMarch 1, 2021

Moon says S. Korea ready to talk with Japan anytime, urges separation of history with future-oriented ties

President Moon Jae-in stated Monday that South Korea is ready to talk with Japan anytime for stronger cooperation, separate from longstanding disputes over shared history, as it would also be helpful to the trilateral partnership with the United States. "The South Korean government is always ready to sit down and have talks with the Japanese government. I am confident that if we put our heads together in the spirit of trying to understand each other's perspectives, we will also be able to

PoliticsMarch 1, 2021

New virus cases in 300s for 2nd day, cluster infections still worrisome

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed below 400 for the second straight day Monday, but health authorities remained alert over a continued rise in cluster infections ahead of the start of the spring school semester. The country reported 355 more COVID-19 cases, including 338 local infections, raising the total caseload to 90,029, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The tally was lower than the 356 recorded Sunday and 415 on Saturday. The fall in new cases l

Social AffairsMarch 1, 2021

Nation marks subdued Independence Movement anniversary amid pandemic

South Koreans commemorated the 102nd anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement with smaller, subdued commemorations Monday as the nation is battling the coronavirus pandemic. The national holiday is usually observed with large ceremonies, processions and performances remembering the months of popular uprisings against Japan's colonial rule (1910-45), which started in Seoul on March 1, 1919. About 2 million people participated in the protests across the county and more than 7,500 were

Social AffairsMarch 1, 2021

DP, government to allot W9.5tr for 4th relief funds

The ruling Democratic Party and the government agreed Sunday to allot 19.5 trillion won ($17.3 billion) for the country's fourth round of COVID-19 relief assistance. The agreement was made during a tripartite meeting of the DP, the government and Cheong Wa Dae, attended by DP Chairman Rep. Lee Nak-yon, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and Kim Sang-jo, the presidential chief of staff for policy. The upcoming aid package will be funded by an extra budget bill worth 15 trillion won, with the remaini

PoliticsFeb. 28, 2021

Cardinal Cheong Jin-suk hospitalized due to ailment

Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, former Catholic archbishop of Seoul, has been hospitalized due to deteriorating health conditions, according to Catholic insiders Sunday. Cheong, 90, was recently admitted to a hospital and was receiving treatment, according to the sources familiar with the cardinal's situation. He has reportedly managed to overcome critical, life-threatening situations on multiple occasions. Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, the current archbishop of Seoul, has reportedly noti

Social AffairsFeb. 28, 2021

[News Focus] Korea’s working-age population falls to 23-year low

SEJONG -- The percentage of working age population in South Korea fell to its lowest level in more than two decades, in the wake of continuously falling births and an ageing population, latest data showed. The nation has seen a gradually declining number of newborns since the 1990s and an ongoing entry of baby boomers -- people born between 1955-1963 -- to the senior population, which started in January 2020. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety

Social AffairsFeb. 28, 2021

Govt. plans sale of land lots confiscated from Japanese collaborators

The veterans affairs ministry said Sunday it plans to prioritize selling 148 land lots confiscated from former pro-Japanese collaborators to better compensate the sacrifices made by Korean independent activists and their families. The ministry said it has selected the pool of land with relative high practical utilization from among the 855 total land lots it controls that were previously owned by Japanese collaborators. When combined, the land designated for priority sales covers some 3.29 mil

PoliticsFeb. 28, 2021

[Newsmaker] Child abuse can now lead to death penalty in South Korea

South Korea is strengthening punishment for child abuse amid a growing number of cases, with the recent revision of a child abuse law now making the death penalty a possibility. On Friday lawmakers passed a bill at the plenary session of the National Assembly to revise a law dealing with penalties for child abuse, making it possible for child abusers to be convicted of murder even if they did not intend to cause death. The amendment, called the Jeong-in Act, is named after a 16-month-old gir

Social AffairsFeb. 28, 2021

S. Korea, US near deal on sharing troop costs

South Korea and the United States are close to inking an agreement that could settle a prolonged dispute over how they should share the cost of maintaining 28,500 US troops here, the Wall Street Journal said Friday. The two allies, whose talks have continually fallen apart since September 2019 because of differences over how much of the burden Seoul should shoulder, are reportedly set to sign a five-year accord. Seoul would pay about $1.3 billion in the fifth year, almost half the cost of stat

DefenseFeb. 28, 2021