S. Korea's daily virus cases exceed 3,000 for first time

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases on Saturday exceeded 3,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic as people returned home from the Chuseok holiday. The country reported an all-time high number of daily cases for the second consecutive day by adding 3,273, including 3,245 local infections, raising the total caseload to 298,402, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Saturday's daily caseload jumped 839 from the previous day's record high of 2,43

Social AffairsSept. 24, 2021

Seoul to fund up to W10b for groups sending aid to Pyongyang

South Korea on Friday decided to provide up to 10 billion won ($8.51 million) to civilian organizations that are carrying out aid projects for North Korea, as the government seeks to engage the North through humanitarian assistance.  Under the decision approved during a civilian-government committee on inter-Korean exchanges, the Unification Ministry set aside up to 10 billion won to support civilian group-led projects that tackle nutrition and health conditions for vulnerable groups in No

North KoreaSept. 24, 2021

Seoul, Tokyo ministers meet, but remain apart over wartime history

The top diplomats of South Korea and Japan met for talks on Thursday and restated differences on wartime history that have been at the center of a bilateral feud, but agreed to resolve the issue and improve their soured ties.  South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, held talks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Their meeting came as the neighbors are mired in a protracted row over problems stemming from

Foreign AffairsSept. 24, 2021

Man indicted for killing two women while under surveillance

The prosecution on Friday indicted a 56-year-old man on charges of killing two women while he was under a location monitoring program for sexual offenses. The suspect named Kang Yoon-seong turned himself in to the police in southern Seoul on Aug. 29 and confessed to murdering two acquaintances for money issues. According to investigators, he killed one woman while wearing an electronic ankle bracelet and slew the other while on the run after cutting off the device. The Seoul Dongbu District P

Social AffairsSept. 24, 2021

[FULL TRANSCRIPT] Moon holds rare inflight news briefing

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday held a rare inflight news briefing on his way back home after wrapping up a packed five-day trip to New York and Hawaii. In his fifth and final keynote speech as president at the UN General Assembly, he reiterated his push for the declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice, not in a peace treaty. “I think there is a lack of understanding about an end-of-war declaration. It’s not a peace treaty but the st

North KoreaSept. 24, 2021

Virus tally records new daily high after Chuseok holiday

Chuseok outbreak worries became a reality as the number of newly-confirmed COVID-19 cases reached a record high of 2,434 Thursday after millions were on the move during the three-day holiday earlier in the week. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country on Friday reported 2,416 local infections and 18 imported cases from the previous day. By region, Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon had 1,747 cases or 72.3 percent of the total. The new high number of daily i

Social AffairsSept. 24, 2021

Kim Yo-jong calls Moon's war-end declaration offer 'admirable idea,' demands end to hostile policy

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Friday that President Moon Jae-in's proposal to declare a formal end to the Korean War is an "admirable idea" and Pyongyang is willing to discuss improving inter-Korean relations if Seoul ceases to be hostile toward it. Kim Yo-jong stressed, however, that the right conditions should be created first before an end-of-war declaration is adopted, such as the removal of what she called "inveterate hostile policy and unequal double st

North KoreaSept. 24, 2021

Child sexual offenses rise gradually amid weak punishments: report

The number of convicted child sexual abusers has been growing steadily over the past few years in South Korea amid lenient penalties against such crimes, a judicial report showed Friday. According to the Supreme Court report submitted to Rep. Lee Tahney of the ruling Democratic Party, a total of 1,675 people have been found guilty of violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sex Offenses by district courts from 2016 to June this year. By year, 111 were convicted in 2016

Social AffairsSept. 24, 2021

S. Korea, Saudi Arabia agree to boost policy cooperation in key industrial initiatives

The top diplomats of South Korea and Saudi Arabia have agreed to boost cooperation to create synergy between the countries' key industrial policy initiatives aimed at securing future growth drivers. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, shared the understanding during bilateral talks held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday (local time). They, in particular, agreed to work on ways that would link Korea's Green Ne

Foreign AffairsSept. 24, 2021

US open to 'confidence building' initiatives with N. Korea: Lambert

WASHINGTON -- The United States is open to engaging with North Korea in confidence building initiatives that may include humanitarian assistance, a senior US diplomat said Thursday. Mark Lambert, deputy assistant secretary of state for Japan and South Korea, also reiterated the US will go "anywhere" to talk with North Korea. "We've made it very clear to Pyongyang. We will go anywhere. We will talk to the North Koreans anywhere. There are no strings attached. But unfortunately, t

Foreign AffairsSept. 24, 2021

Daily virus cases in Seoul exceed 900 for first time

Daily coronavirus cases in Seoul topped 900 for the first time in the wake of the Chuseok holiday, health authorities said Friday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said 907 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed during the 24 hours before midnight. Of them, 903 were local infections and four were imported cases. The number is far higher than the city's previous record high of 808 cases, which was set on Sept. 14. The total caseload reached 94,728 in the capital, with a popul

Social AffairsSept. 24, 2021

Military reports 9 COVID-19 cases

Six Army soldiers and three Marines have tested positive for the new coronavirus, raising the total caseload reported among the military population to 1,723, the defense ministry said Friday. The three Marines in Gimpo, west of Seoul, were confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 after an infection was reported at their base, according to the ministry. Among the Army soldiers, five -- one from the eastern county of Inje, two from the western city of Incheon and one each from Paju, north of Seoul,

DefenseSept. 24, 2021

Veterans affairs minister begins trip to Britain to mark 70th anniv. of Korean War battle

Veterans Affairs Minister Hwang Ki-chul left for Britain on Friday for events to mark the 70th anniversary of a Korean War battle and remember the sacrifices made by the British soldiers during the conflict, his office said. The trip was arranged on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Imjin River on April 22-25, 1951, during which the 29th British Infantry Brigade headed off the invasion of three Chinese infantry divisions into Seoul. During the five-day visit, Hwang will

DefenseSept. 24, 2021

N. Korea slams Suga for hostile policy, warns next leader against following in his footsteps

North Korea on Friday accused Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of pursuing a "hostile policy" toward the North, warning the country's next leader against following in his footsteps. In a post written by an individual researcher on Japan on its website, the North's foreign ministry said that Suga, along with his predecessor Shinzo Abe, should be entirely blamed for causing the relations between Pyongyang and Tokyo to fall to the "worst status ever." "Suga

North KoreaSept. 24, 2021

Daily new cases touch new high of 2,434 on surge after holiday

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases reached an all-time high of 2,434 on Friday, breaking the previous record of 2,221 on Aug. 10, as mass migrations during the Chuseok holiday caused the rapid spread of the virus across the country. Health authorities had expected the surge in daily virus cases after millions of South Koreans travelled to their hometowns during Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving, which ran from Monday to Wednesday. The authorities said confirmed cases may furthe

Social AffairsSept. 24, 2021

USFK makes public Teak Knife surgical strike drill amid NK military moves

The US military in South Korea conducted a surgical strike drill simulating targeted attacks on major North Korean facilities, officials said Friday, amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula over the North's missiles launches. The Exercise Teak Knife was conducted at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on Sept. 13, which provided opportunities for US special tactics airmen "to practice skillsets used in special operations across the Indo-Pacific," the US Special O

DefenseSept. 24, 2021

S. Korea, UAE hold atomic energy cooperation talks

South Korea and the United Arab Emirates have held bilateral working-level talks in Abu Dhabi on ways to promote atomic energy cooperation, the foreign ministry said Friday.  Park Il, the ministry's director general for nonproliferation and nuclear affairs, and Nasser Al Nasseri, the CEO of Barakah One Company, met in the UAE capital on Thursday (local time), as they seek to hold a new session of the two countries' high-level talks on nuclear energy cooperation. "The two sides share

Foreign AffairsSept. 24, 2021

Moon: N. Korea sticks to moratorium on nuclear, ICBM testing, leaving door open for dialogue

President Moon Jae-in has said North Korea is maintaining its own moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests, apparently leaving the door open for dialogue. Pyongyang seems to be making "various considerations," refraining from taking serious provocative acts that would lead the United States to give up dialogue, Moon said in his rare in-flight press briefing on his way back to Seoul on Thursday following a five-day visit to New York and Hawaii. He was explaining the backgrou

PoliticsSept. 24, 2021

N. Korea rejects Moon's proposal of end-of-war declaration as 'premature'

North Korea on Friday rejected President Moon Jae-in's proposal to declare a formal end to the 1950-53 war as "something premature," arguing that such a declaration would be meaningless as long as the US "hostile policy" remains unchanged. Vice Foreign Minister Ri Thae-song made the rejection in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, saying that an end-of-war declaration has "no legal binding force" and will "become a mere scrap of paper in a m

North KoreaSept. 24, 2021

Moon back in Seoul with war remains from US

  President Moon Jae-in returned to South Korea on Thursday after a hectic five-day visit to the United States. Just ahead of his departure from Hawaii, he attended a joint ceremony with the US for the handover of the remains of their troops killed in the 1950-53 Korean War. South Korea received 68 sets of remains. The caskets containing the remains of two identified soldiers were carried by Moon's Air Force One presidential jet. The other remains, still unidentified, were airlifted by

PoliticsSept. 23, 2021