Most Popular
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[Exclusive] Korean adoptee sisters meet for the first time in 39 years
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Signs point to N. Korean troops in Russia-Ukraine combat zone
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Yoon calls for measures to protect Koreans amid escalating Iran-Israel conflicts
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Rose's 'Apt.' redefines K-pop's global appeal
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Civil servant’s death linked to workplace bullying
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Two years on, thousands mourn Itaewon tragedy, calling for accountability
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[Weekender] Walk around Korea to really get to know the country
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N. Korea slams Seoul-Washington joint air exercise
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[Herald Interview] Love for K-drama, food defines 'Secret Ingredient'
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[Herald Interview] K-pop’s 'best years are ahead of us': Spotify’s general manager for Asia Pacific
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Unification minister renews calls for individual tourism to NK
Unification Minister Lee In-young said Thursday the government will push to resume long-suspended tours to North Korea on an individual basis as soon as the pandemic eases, saying it is "the best way to break the boundaries" between South and North Koreans. "There are still many South Koreans who wish to visit Mount Kumgang though it has been over 10 years since its suspension," he said, pointing out that such exchanges can help restore "national homogeneity." &qu
North KoreaFeb. 25, 2021
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S. Korea to raise guard against African swine fever, hunt more wild boars
South Korea said Thursday it plans to beef up its readiness against African swine fever (ASF) at inter-Korean border areas by hunting more wild boars and installing more fences to prevent them from traveling farther south. Under the plan, the country will reduce their number to just one per square kilometer at the areas infected with ASF from the current 1.4 by hunting more of them in March and April, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The number of wild boars na
Social AffairsFeb. 25, 2021
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Discussions still under way on upcoming S. Korea-US combined exercise: defense ministry
South Korea and the United States have yet to finalize the schedule and other details of a planned combined springtime military exercise, the defense ministry said Thursday. The joint computer-simulated command post training is expected to kick off in around the second week of March for about 10 days. But exactly when and how the exercise will be staged has not yet been announced. "The date, content and other details of the combined exercise to be held in the first half of the year are no
DefenseFeb. 25, 2021
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January sees record drop in no. of restaurant, hotel workers amid pandemic
The number of people working at restaurants and hotels fell by a record 24,000 in January amid the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the labor ministry said Thursday. The total number of workers in the restaurant and hotel industry stood at 1.05 million last month, down 24,000, or 18.7 percent, from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor. It is the biggest decline for the sector since record keeping began in June 2009, the ministry said. Restaurants
Social AffairsFeb. 25, 2021
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[Feature] Why do old people pick up cardboard in Seoul?
When the temperature dropped to minus 7 degrees Celsius in mid-February, Lee Deok-ja, 74, was dragging her handcart around Deungchon-dong, western Seoul, picking up cardboard. It was about 12:30 p.m. and her handcart was empty. Lee said she had already been to the junk shop three times that day. Instead of filling up the handcart -- which appears to weigh more than 40 kilograms when empty -- the petite lady chooses to go to a junk shop several times a day and fill her cart little by little.
Social AffairsFeb. 25, 2021
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S. Korean top nuke envoy holds virtual talks on N. Korea with senior US diplomat
South Korea's top nuclear envoy held video talks with a senior US diplomat Thursday about North Korea's denuclearization and related issues, the foreign ministry said. The talks between Noh Kyu-duk and Sung Kim, acting US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, came as the new US administration of President Joe Biden has been conducting a review of policy on North Korea. The US has stressed that the policy review will be carried out in close consultations with South Ko
Foreign AffairsFeb. 25, 2021
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Army soldier tests positive for COVID-19
An Army soldier based in Paju, north of Seoul, has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Thursday. The soldier was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 in a virus test conducted after a vacation in Seoul, according to the ministry. The latest case raised the total number of infections reported among the military population to 571. Of them, 558 have been fully cured and 13 are under treatment. Nationwide, South Korea added 396 new cases Thursday, bringing the tota
DefenseFeb. 25, 2021
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S. Korea reports another highly pathogenic bird flu case, total now at 102
South Korea's agricultural ministry said Thursday it has confirmed yet another case of highly pathogenic bird flu, raising the total caseload to 102. The latest confirmed case of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza came from an egg farm in Wonju, 132 kilometers east of Seoul, on the previous day, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul accounted for 36 cases, followed by South Jeolla Province with 17. North Jeolla Province took up
Social AffairsFeb. 25, 2021
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PM calls for active participation in COVID-19 vaccine program
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Thursday called on the public to actively participate in the government's public coronavirus vaccine program, as authorities move swiftly to make last minute preparations on the eve of the nationwide inoculation campaign. Earlier in the day, trucks and ships packed with the first of some 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines headed to long-term care hospitals and public health centers across the country. "Please have trust in the government
PoliticsFeb. 25, 2021
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New virus cases still rising 1 day before mass vaccine rollout
South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell slightly below 400 on Thursday, a day ahead of the country's first rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, as sporadic cluster infections continued to pop up across the country. The country reported 396 more virus cases, including 369 local infections, raising the total caseload to 88,516, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Thursday's daily caseload marks a slight drop from 440 tallied the previous day. The figures hovered
Social AffairsFeb. 25, 2021
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Vice FM calls for multilateral responses to human rights challenges posed by new technologies
Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon has called for multilateral cooperation in addressing the challenges of new and emerging technologies to the efforts to protect human rights at a global forum, the foreign ministry said Thursday. Choi made the call at a virtual session of the Alliance for Multilateralism, a forum launched in 2019 to reinforce multilateralism, on Wednesday (Geneva time), as concerns rise that artificial intelligence and other digital technologies could hurt privacy and other
Foreign AffairsFeb. 25, 2021
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S. Korea prepares for vaccine shots as 1st batch of 1.5m doses begins to ship
Trucks packed with the first of some 1.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccines were distributed across South Korea on Thursday as long-term care hospitals and public health centers rushed to prepare for the country's ambitious vaccination program. The nationwide distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine for some 750,000 people, mostly health care workers and patients at nursing homes, came as the country is set to kick off the free inoculation campaign Friday. On the first day of the five-day lo
Social AffairsFeb. 25, 2021
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Impeachment trial postponed for judge in power abuse case
An impeachment trial for Judge Lim Seong-geun has been rescheduled to a later date, the Constitutional Court said Thursday. The court originally planned to hold a pretrial preparation session Friday, two days before he retires as a judge, where both sides set forth their main arguments and a list of evidence, and discuss how to proceed with the upcoming trial. The court said it has yet to determine the date for the session. The National Assembly led by the ruling Democratic Party voted to imp
PoliticsFeb. 25, 2021
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NK leader presides over key party meeting to discuss discipline among military officials
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over a Central Military Commission meeting to urge disciple among military officials and stricter control over younger officers, state media reported Thursday. At the expanded military commission meeting of the ruling Workers' Party on Wednesday, Kim stressed the importance of establishing "revolutionary moral discipline" particularly among the younger generation in the army, according to the Korean Central News Agency. "To establish the
North KoreaFeb. 25, 2021
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Bus passengers get prison terms for assaulting drivers over face mask use
A man has been sentenced to six months in prison for reacting violently to a bus driver demanding the wearing of face masks on board to prevent coronavirus infections, judicial sources said Thursday. The Seoul Central District Court handed out the prison term to the man, aged 57, saying he committed the crime of obstructing the bus driver on duty during a probationary period related to a separate crime, the sources said. The man was recently indicted for cursing at the 39-year-old driver, who
Social AffairsFeb. 25, 2021
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US, S. Korea in consultation over Iranian assets locked in Seoul: Price
The United States and South Korea are in consultation over the possible release of Iranian assets locked in South Korea, a State Department spokesman said Wednesday. Ned Price, however, noted no Iranian funds have been released. "The government of South Korea, the ROK, has made clear it has not released the $1 billion in funds to Iran," the department spokesman told a daily press briefing. His remarks came shortly after Tehran claimed Seoul will first release $1 billion out of about
Foreign AffairsFeb. 25, 2021
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Sanctions relief unlikely without show of 'good faith' by N. Korea: US lawmaker
The United States will unlikely ease or remove its sanctions on North Korea unless Pyongyang first makes a move to show its good faith, a US lawmaker said Wednesday. Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-NY) argued North Korean leader Kim Jong-un cannot be trusted and therefore the new Biden administration must become "more strategic" in dealing with the North. "I don't think that there's going to be sanction relief in the short term. I think there will have to be some sort of action by the Nor
North KoreaFeb. 25, 2021
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FM stresses Seoul’s ‘sincerity’ in efforts to release frozen Iranian assets
Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong told his Iranian counterpart Wednesday that South Korea is making sincere efforts to release Tehran’s assets frozen in Seoul, the foreign ministry said. The phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif came a day after Tehran claimed that it had reached an agreement with Seoul on the transfer and use of $7 billion of its funds frozen in South Korean banks due to US sanctions. South Korea later said that the two sides agreed in pr
Foreign AffairsFeb. 24, 2021
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High hopes, stark reminders as Korea finally gets vaccines
Come Friday, South Korea will be joining about 98 countries and territories that have started vaccinating against COVID-19. To date more than 212 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide, according to University of Oxford-run Our World in Data. Like most other countries, Korea’s early vaccination efforts are focused on priority groups of people in their 60s or older and front-line health care workers. The initial batches consist of 1.5 million doses of AstraZ
Social AffairsFeb. 24, 2021
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Court temporarily halts 6-month suspension of cable channel MBN
A Seoul court has granted an injunction to temporarily lift the suspension order given to MBN, a local cable TV channel last year over accounting fraud, judicial sources said Wednesday. According to the sources, the Seoul Administrative Court has recently ruled in favor of MBN, halting a six-month suspension order issued by the country's telecommunications regulator. In October, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) ordered the broadcaster to suspend its service after concluding that MBN m
Social AffairsFeb. 24, 2021