Seoul advises Korean nationals in 15 Ukraine regions to leave

South Korean government advised its nationals residing in 15 regions in Ukraine to leave amid heightened fears of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. 　 The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday additionally placed 12 provinces located in the eastern and northern regions of Ukraine, including capital Kyiv, Rivne, Sumy and Odessa, under the elevated travel alert, advising South Korean nationals to swiftly exit the region. 　 Fifteen out of Ukraine’s 25 provinces are now under a Level 3 travel ad

Foreign AffairsJan. 26, 2022

Lee vows to push for 4 1/2-day workweek

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung said Wednesday he will push to shorten the workweek from five days to 4 1/2 days if elected in March. Lee of the liberal Democratic Party announced a set of campaign pledges for laborers at a workers' welfare center in Bucheon, just west of Seoul. "I will begin a social dialogue for the introduction of a 4 1/2-day workweek and push for a trial project for its phased implementation," he said, offering to provide various incentives to b

PoliticsJan. 26, 2022

Moon hopes for free trade deal with Mexico

President Moon Jae-in expressed hope Wednesday for a free trade deal with Mexico as he exchanged letters with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to celebrate the 60th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between the two countries. Moon said in the letter that a free trade pact between the two countries would support a post-pandemic economic recovery. The two sides launched free trade talks in 2006, but the negotiations have been stalled since 2008 amid opposition from business

PoliticsJan. 26, 2022

S. Korea's AI defense technologies catching up with US equivalents: report

South Korea's artificial intelligence (AI) defense technologies for speech, image and voice recognition are assessed to be about a year behind those of the United States, a state research institute said Wednesday. The Korea Research Institute for Defense Technology Planning and Advancement (KRIT) made the assessment as it unveiled a broad road map for the use of AI technologies in the defense sector. South Korea's AI-based defense technologies for the three high-tech areas have reached about 9

DefenseJan. 26, 2022

Seoul's daily COVID-19 tally reaches all-time high of 3,178 cases

The daily COVID-19 tally of Seoul shot up to an all-time high of 3,178 cases Wednesday amid the fast spread of the omicron variant, officials said. It marks the second time ever the capital's daily tally has exceeded 3,000 after 3,166 cases were recorded on Dec. 15. Wednesday's total marked a steep jump from 1,724 cases registered a day earlier, according to the Seoul city officials. The city's accumulated COVID-19 cases stood at 257,330 cases Wednesday, about two years after the coronavirus f

Social AffairsJan. 26, 2022

Number of foreigners staying in S. Korea decreased 3.9% in 2021 amid pandemic

The number of foreign nationals staying in South Korea shrank nearly 4 percent on-year in 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Korea Immigration Office said Wednesday. The number was tallied at 1.96 million as of the end of last year, a 3.9 percent decrease from 2.04 million in 2020 and down 23 percent from a record high of 2.52 million in 2019. They include 1.57 million long-term residents and 386,000 people staying for fewer than 90 days. its data showed. It is the first time that the fo

Social AffairsJan. 26, 2022

S. Korea's childbirths at record low in Nov.

The number of babies born in South Korea fell to a record low in November last year, data showed Wednesday, underpinning the country's gloomy demographic situation with the chronically low birth rate. A total of 19,800 babies were born in November, down 1.3 percent from the previous year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest for any November since 1981, when the statistics agency began compiling related data. In the first 11 months of last year, 244,016 bab

Social AffairsJan. 26, 2022

Smuggled drugs hit record high in 2021 amid pandemic

Drug smuggling caught by South Korea's customs agency hit a record high last year as trafficking via non-contact delivery means shot up amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The Korea Customs Service said it confiscated a total of 1,272 kilograms of drugs in 2021, up 757 percent from the previous year. Drug smuggling via international mail and cargo sharply increased as drug delivery by international travelers declined due to the pandemic, according to the customs agency. The con

Social AffairsJan. 26, 2022

NSC discusses measures over risk of Russia-Ukraine conflict

The presidential National Security Council (NSC) has discussed tensions between Russia and Ukraine, including how the crisis will affect South Korea's economy and the situation in Northeast Asia, a senior presidential official said Wednesday. National security adviser Suh Hoon presided over an NSC meeting Tuesday and checked measures to ensure the safety of Korean nationals in Ukraine, according to Park Soo-hyun, a senior presidential secretary for public communication. The meeting also checke

PoliticsJan. 26, 2022

Military reports 160 more COVID-19 cases

South Korea's military on Wednesday reported 160 additional COVID-19 cases, including 147 breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 4,180. The latest virus count was up from 78 reported the previous day as the military remains on high alert to fight the omicron variant. The country as a whole added 13,012 new cases Wednesday. Of the new military cases, 101 are from the Army, 28 from the Air Force, 15 from the Navy, five from the Marine Corps and 11 from units u

Social AffairsJan. 26, 2022

Moon to preside over COVID-19 response meeting amid rapid spread of omicron

President Moon Jae-in will preside over a COVID-19 response meeting Wednesday, a senior presidential official said, after the country's daily coronavirus cases shot up to over 13,000 amid the rapid spread of the omicron variant. Due to anti-virus guidelines, the meeting will be held with a small group of ministers, including Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum. Other health-related ministers will join the meeting virtually, according to Park Soo-hyun, a senior presidential secretary for public communic

PoliticsJan. 26, 2022

Yoon leads Lee 44.7% to 35.6%: poll

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol is leading his ruling party rival Lee Jae-myung with 44.7 percent public support against Lee's 35.6 percent, a survey showed Wednesday. Yoon of the People Power Party (PPP) gained 5.5 percentage points from a Jan. 10-11 survey, while Lee of the Democratic Party lost 1.3 points, according to the Realmeter survey conducted on 1,018 adults from Monday to Tuesday. Yoon led Lee by 9.1 percentage points, which was outside the margin of error of pl

PoliticsJan. 26, 2022

Man gets 7-yr prison term for selling marijuana on dark web

A man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for forming a criminal organization and distributing marijuana in South Korea through the dark web, a court said Wednesday. The 40-year-old man, surnamed Kim, was found to have created a criminal organization with six accomplices and sold 1,992 grams of marijuana worth about 230 million won ($192,000) from 2017 to April after growing the plant at an isolated factory building. They were paid in cryptocurrency from buyers on the dark web, an area

Social AffairsJan. 26, 2022

[Breaking] Omicron-hit Korea sets record 13,000+ cases: PM

South Korea for the first time entered five digits in daily new COVID-19 cases for Wednesday, just days after omicron officially replaced delta as the dominant variant here. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum told a meeting of the government COVID-19 response headquarters that in the latest 24 hours 13,012 cases had been recorded -- marking a stark jump from the prior record of 8,571 cases set the previous day. “Omicron spread is beginning,” the prime minister said. &l

Social AffairsJan. 26, 2022

N. Korea's agricultural ministry elevated to state commission amid food shortages

North Korea has decided to upgrade its agricultural ministry to a state commission, according to Pyongyang's media Wednesday, as the country has tapped agricultural development as one of its top policy priorities for the new year amid chronic food shortages. The Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, the North's rubber-stamp legislature, made the decision to better "lead the country's agricultural production in a unified manner," the North's official Korean Central Broad

North KoreaJan. 26, 2022

US remains prepared to engage in dialogue with N. Korea: State Dept.

WASHINGTON -- The United States remains committed to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through diplomacy and dialogue, state department press secretary Ned Price said Tuesday. The spokesperson also reiterated that the US harbors no hostile intent toward North Korea. "We have no hostile intent. We harbor no hostile intent towards the DPRK. We are open to dialogue. We're open to diplomacy," Price said in a press briefing, referring to North Korea by its official nam

Foreign AffairsJan. 26, 2022

S. Korea reports over 9,000 COVID-19 cases on a single day

South Korea is hinted to report nearly 10,000 cases for a single day as coronavirus variant outbreak continues to take center stage in the ongoing pandemic. The Yonhap News Agency reported late Tuesday afternoon that South Korea reported 9,218 cases as of 9 p.m. Tuesday with the number of cases escalating due to increasing prevalence of omicron variant of coronavirus cases. A day earlier, South Korea reported 8,571 cases throughout Monday, according to tally form the Korea Disease Control and

Social AffairsJan. 25, 2022

Rescuers discover missing person at collapsed construction site in Gwangju

Rescue workers found personal items presumed to be from a missing worker at the site of a collapsed apartment building under construction in the southwestern city of Gwangju on Tuesday. Work clothing and bloodstains were detected at a room on the 27th floor of the damaged building in Gwangju, about 330 kilometers south of Seoul, as the search and rescue operation continued for 14 days, according to the local disaster management authorities. They assumed that one of the five workers still mis

Social AffairsJan. 25, 2022

S. Korean lawmaker’s son, rapper No:el, assaults police, video shows

Chang Yong-joon, better known as rapper No:el and the son of lawmaker Rep. Chang Je-won, had insulted and assaulted a police officer after refusing to comply with a breathalyzer test that followed a car accident in September, according to a video shown in court. Prosecutors revealed the video during a trial at Seoul Central District Court on Monday, where Chang refused to admit his noncompliance with the breathalyzer test and that he had physically attacked a police officer. In the video, Ch

Social AffairsJan. 25, 2022

Gwanghwamun Square to reopen after complete makeover

Central Seoul’s iconic Gwanghwamun Square will reopen to the public in July after undergoing a complete makeover, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said on Thursday. The symbolic square, which has been under construction since November 2020, will return doubled in size to include a park, adding more green space to the area, the city said. According to the city government, the total size of the square has increased from 18,840 square meters to 40,300 square meters. After turning some o

Social AffairsJan. 25, 2022