[Photo News] Spring brings new hope amid pandemic

Spring has finally arrived in South Korea, bringing in a new wave of hope amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. After a gloomy year of the pandemic, the city of Seoul is joining efforts to bring comfort to the people by decorating colorful scenery with flowers all throughout the city.  As the spring weather warms up the nation, workers plant flowers with aspirations for a better, brighter season.  Exhausted from being cooped up inside during strong quarantine measures, residents peek

Social AffairsMarch 13, 2021

Spring flowers at Seoul's royal palaces to peak in April

Spring flowers of Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910) royal palaces and tombs in and around Seoul are expected to blossom in the middle of this month before reaching peak blooms in April, a government agency said Saturday. The state-run Cultural Heritage Administration Royal Palaces and Tombs Center issued its spring flowering forecast for the four main royal palaces and Jongmyo Shrine in Seoul and royal tombs around the capital, saying this year's flowering time is expected to be two to seven da

Social AffairsMarch 13, 2021

LH official found dead amid land speculation scandal

  A state housing developer official was found dead Saturday, police said, in what could be an apparent suicide as a scandal of land speculation by public servants has been rocking the nation. The official of the Korea Land and Housing Corp. was found hanging inside a container in Paju, north of Seoul, at around 10:05 a.m., according to the police.  No suicide note has been found, the police said, but the official is said to have sent a text message to his family early Saturday, impl

Social AffairsMarch 13, 2021

New virus cases near 500, reaching 3-week high

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases reached the highest in 22 days Saturday, stubbornly remaining above 400 for the fifth consecutive day. The country reported 490 more COVID-19 cases, including 474 local infections, raising the total caseload to 95,176, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The country added five more deaths from COVID-19, increasing the total to 1,667. The daily caseload has stayed in the 400s since early this week, with 470 cases Wednesday, 465 cases

Social AffairsMarch 13, 2021

US expects to complete N. Korea policy review in "weeks": Sung Kim

  The United States is expected to complete its ongoing review of its North Korea policy in a few "weeks," a senior US State Department official said Friday, ahead of Secretary Antony Blinken's upcoming trip to South Korea and Japan to discuss the issue. Sung Kim, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said the secretary's visit to the countries will provide great opportunities for the Asian allies to offer their own input into a new US policy to

North KoreaMarch 13, 2021

Blinken's trip to Asia will provide 'key ingredient' for US policy toward N. Korea: Price

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to Japan and South Korea will give him a chance to coordinate US policy and its approach toward North Korea, a State Department official said Friday. Ned Price said Blinken's talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts will provide an important ingredient for a new US policy toward the North, but said the policy itself will likely be announced at a later date. "It's an especially important one because it's an especially important ingre

North KoreaMarch 13, 2021

S. Korean, Australian foreign ministers discuss Myanmar turmoil, G7 summit

The top diplomats of South Korea and Australia had phone consultations Friday on a wide array of issues, including the political unrest in Myanmar and the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) summit, Seoul's foreign ministry said. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and his Australian counterpart Marise Payne agreed that the two sides will cooperate for the immediate release of detainees in Myanmar, a halt to the use of force against civilians and a peaceful resolution based on a legitimate and democratic

Foreign AffairsMarch 12, 2021

Ultrafine dust advisory lifted in Seoul

An ultrafine dust air pollution advisory was lifted for all of Seoul at 3 p.m. Friday after 43 hours, the metropolitan government said. The city-run Research Institute of Public Health and Environment announced the termination of the advisory, saying the capital's hourly average concentration of ultrafine dust particles fell to 33 micrograms per cubic meter, lower than the advisory clearance level of 35 micrograms. The institute issued the ultrafine dust advisory for all of Seoul at 8 p.m. Wed

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2021

Coronavirus infections linked to bathhouse in southern city exceed 90

JINJU -- The number of coronavirus cases linked to a bathhouse in the southeastern city of Jinju increased to 92 Friday, as local authorities scrambled to curb the spread from the latest cluster of infections. The local government announced 80 new cases traced to the sauna facility in a residential area, confirmed over a period of about 24 hours since Thursday afternoon. The total caseload reached 97 since some patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were found Wednesday to have visited there during

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2021

Diplomacy and pressure should go ‘hand in hand’ in US policy toward NK

As the Biden administration is conducting its policy review on Pyongyang with a chance of doubling down pressure on the reclusive regime, a former Trump official on North Korea stressed that the pressure in itself is not “sustainable,” but has to be paired with diplomacy to achieve any kind of progress.  “Pressure without openness to diplomacy is not sustainable. But diplomacy also on the other hand without pressure, or the openness to diplomacy in negotiation without pre

North KoreaMarch 12, 2021

Appeals court reduces ambulance-blocking taxi driver's sentence in scam case

An appellate court on Friday reduced the prison sentence of a taxi driver convicted for having repeatedly extorted settlements related to traffic accidents that had been staged on purpose. The Seoul Eastern District Court's appellate division reduced the prison sentence given to the 32-year-old taxi driver, surnamed Choi, on charges of fraud, obstruction of business and others, from24 months to 20. The court said it considered the defendant's regretful attitude and that he has reached settlem

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2021

Former US nuke negotiator urges Seoul, Washington to refrain from large-scale military exercises

A former US nuclear negotiator on Friday called on South Korea and the United States to refrain from large-scale combined exercises and urged North Korea to avoid nuclear tests to achieve progress in denuclearization talks. Robert Gallucci, known for his role in negotiating a landmark 1994 nuclear agreement with Pyongyang, made the remarks in an online forum hosted by the unification ministry. "The North will have to avoid extended range ballistic missile tests or engine tests or any nucl

North KoreaMarch 12, 2021

Small businesses air grievances over extended COVID-19 restrictions

Small business owners in the capital area expressed frustration Friday after the government extended coronavirus restrictions for another two weeks, saying they could hardly remember a time when business was worse. In cities ranging from Incheon and Osan to Uijeongbu, all located in the greater Seoul area, restaurants, coffee shops and a wide array of business establishments have been subject to curfews and bans on gatherings of more than four people, among other measures aimed at stopping the

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2021

S. Korea to expedite vaccinations under plan to inoculate 12m people by H1: PM

South Korea will speed up and expand the scope of its public coronavirus vaccination program next month under a plan to complete inoculations of 12 million people by the first half of 2021, the prime minister said Friday. "By the first half of the year, the government will work to complete the preliminary vaccine administrations of 12 million nationals," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said during an interagency meeting on the country's public vaccine campaign that began last month. Th

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2021

Ex-prosecutor Yoon surges to tie with Gov. Lee atop monthly opinion poll

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung and former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl were tied atop the list of potential candidates for next year's presidential election, a new poll showed Friday. Yoon has soared in opinion surveys since he resigned on March 4 in protest of the ruling Democratic Party (DP)'s push to create a new investigative body that reduces the prosecution's power. Gallup Korea, a pollster, said both Gov. Lee and Yoon garnered 24 percent of support in its latest survey conduc

PoliticsMarch 12, 2021

New graft investigation body not yet ready to take on any case, says chief

Kim Jin-wook, the head of a new powerful state investigative agency, said Friday the agency will not take on a travel ban case involving a former vice justice minister as its first case, citing "realistic conditions." "After serious consideration, we have decided to refer the case back to the prosecution," he wrote on the official Facebook page of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), ending days of speculation that the case could be the agen

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2021

Social distancing rules extended for 2 more weeks as new COVID-19 cases reach 3-week high

South Korea will extend its social distancing rules in place for two more weeks, as the country reported the highest daily addition of COVID-19 cases in three weeks. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said in a meeting Friday that the government will continue to impose Level 2 social distancing rules in Greater Seoul, which includes Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, until March 28. Level 1.5 rules will be maintained throughout the rest of the country, while the ban on private gatherings of five or more

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2021

Police arrest four on drug trafficking charges

Police said Friday they have arrested four people on charges of smuggling and distributing illegal drugs from Southeast Asia. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has recently busted a drug trafficking operation that brought in 6.3 kilograms of methamphetamine from March to November last year, according to officials. The narcotics have an estimated street value of 21 billion won ($18.6 million) and are enough to be used by 210,000 people, the agency said. The authorities seized 4.3 kg of thei

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2021

3 service members test positive for COVID-19

Two military officers and a draftee tested positive for the new coronavirus, the latest in a series of confirmed cases at barracks across the country, the defense ministry said Friday. One Army officer stationed in the central city of Sejong was confirmed to have been infected in a test required to exit quarantine. He has been in isolation after coming into contact with a colleague who earlier tested positive, according to the ministry. The Sejong unit has reported nine COVID-19 cases until no

DefenseMarch 12, 2021

[Newsmaker] S. Korea's Christian community expresses concern about situation in Myanmar

South Korea's Christian community has expressed concerns about political instability in Myanmar in connection with the recent coup and vowed for solidarity with the pro-democracy movement there. "The Catholic Church in Korea expresses her deepest concern about the outbreak of violence and the subsequent bloodshed in our neighboring country, Myanmar," the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea said in a statement released Thursday. It said South Korea has gone through similar military

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2021