Less-crowded, outdoor travel destinations more preferred this year amid pandemic: report

Preference for traveling to less crowded or outdoor destinations has grown this year in South Korea amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a report showed Wednesday. The Korea Culture & Tourism Institute (KCT) compared two surveys -- one conducted on 2,061 people from April to May last year and the other conducted on 3,136 from May to June this year -- to study any change in domestic travel trend that could be attributed to COVID-19. The report showed more people have chosen to travel to l

Social AffairsSept. 8, 2021

Foreign ministry pushes for work system upgrade to allow remote working at diplomatic missions

The foreign ministry said Wednesday it will establish a "smart work system" to allow overseas-based diplomats to work remotely from home and elsewhere without returning to their offices as part of efforts to improve the working environment amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The current work system requires diplomats to access the ministry's network only from their missions connected via secure lines. That has caused difficulties as the COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted direct contact or on-si

Foreign AffairsSept. 8, 2021

S. Korea opens annual int'l security forum

An annual international security forum hosted by the defense ministry kicked off in Seoul on Wednesday for discussions on situations on the Korean Peninsula and the surrounding region. The vice-ministerial 2021 Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD), set to run until Friday, will bring together senior officials from countries including the United States, Japan, China and Russia, as well as experts on issues including the pandemic, according to the ministry. Under the theme of "Borderless Security

DefenseSept. 8, 2021

Court again rules against family of wartime forced labor victim

The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday again ruled against the bereaved family of a victim of World War II forced labor in a damages suit against a Japanese company. Four children of the late victim, surnamed Jeong, filed the suit in April 2019 seeking 200 million won ($171,940) in compensation from Japan's Nippon Steel Corp. Jeong claimed he was conscripted to forced labor in a Nippon Steel plant from 1940-42 when the Korean Peninsula was a colony of Japan. The same court on Aug. 11

Social AffairsSept. 8, 2021

Ex-Finance Minister Kim officially declares presidential bid as independent

Former Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon officially announced Wednesday he will run in the presidential election slated for March as an independent. "We can create a nation where opportunities flow like a river if we can collect our strength with the people," Kim said in a pre-recorded speech announcing his presidential candidacy uploaded on YouTube. Calling for a change of today's political and power establishments, the former career bureaucrat stressed the need to completely overhaul

PoliticsSept. 8, 2021

Military reports 4 new COVID-19 cases

Four service members tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Wednesday, the latest in a series of infections at barracks amid the prolonged fourth wave of the pandemic across the nation. An Army soldier in the central city of Daejeon, an airman stationed in the southeastern city of Daegu and a soldier of a unit under the direct wing of the defense ministry tested positive following their recent vacation, and one officer in Seoul was confirmed to have been infected aft

DefenseSept. 8, 2021

Navy launches new frigate equipped with anti-submarine torpedo

The Navy was to hold a launching ceremony Wednesday for a new 2,800-ton frigate with improved anti-submarine capabilities. The new warship Pohang is the sixth of the country's FFX Batch II frigates to replace the Navy's 1,500-ton frigates and 1,000-ton patrol combat corvettes, according to the military. The ceremony was to be held at its manufacturer Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co.'s Okpo shipyard on the southern island of Geoje, with the attendance of Joint Chiefs of Staff C

DefenseSept. 8, 2021

New cases spike to over 2,000 again; rising infections in greater Seoul worrisome

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases surged to over 2,000 again in a week on Wednesday as authorities step up antivirus efforts and the vaccination drive to curb the pandemic. The country added 2,050 more COVID-19 cases, including 2,014 local infections, raising the total caseload to 265,423, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest caseload bounced back to over 2,000 in a week. It is up from 1,597 on Tuesday, 1,375 on Monday and 1,490 on Sunday,

Social AffairsSept. 8, 2021

National cemeteries to close during Chuseok holiday to prevent COVID-19 spread

National cemeteries will be closed during the upcoming Chuseok holiday to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, the veterans affairs ministry said Wednesday. From Sept. 18-22, visits to 11 national cemeteries across the country will be restricted, according to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs. Chuseok is one of the country's biggest traditional holidays, during which families hold rituals thanking their ancestors and visit their graves. This year, South Koreans are set to en

Social AffairsSept. 8, 2021

Second batch of COVID-19 vaccines departs from Romania

The second batch of coronavirus vaccines South Korea plans to bring in from Romania under a swap deal has departed for Seoul, according to the Korean embassy in Bucharest on Wednesday.   A transport plane carrying 976,500 doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines took off from the eastern European country Tuesday night (Romania time), the embassy said. It is expected to land at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, at around 3 p.m. Of the incoming shipment, 526,500 doses are Pfiz

Foreign AffairsSept. 8, 2021

US lawmaker urges Biden to consider providing COVID vaccines to N. Korea

WASHINGTON -- A US lawmaker has called on President Joe Biden to consider providing COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea as a way of improving relations between the two countries, an informed source said Tuesday. Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-NY) also urged Biden to consider providing additional vaccine support to South Korea in a letter to the president, according to Kim Min-sun, president of the New York-based Museum of Korean American Heritage. "Because of your administration's work to secure over

Foreign AffairsSept. 8, 2021

More Moderna arrivals prompt call for return to standard dosing interval

More than 1.3 million Moderna doses were added to Korea’s stockpile of COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday, raising calls for switching back to a shorter dosing interval. Due to supply shortages in the summer, Korea extended the administration period between two doses of vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna to six weeks apart from August. The recommended gap is three weeks for Pfizer, and four weeks for Moderna. Since then, vaccination clinics across Korea have reported having administered Pfiz

Social AffairsSept. 7, 2021

Korea’s race to vaccinate 70% of population with first dose nears finish line

The race for vaccinating 36 million people or 70 percent of the Korean population with one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Chuseok, beginning in less than two weeks, is nearing its end. By Monday’s end, more than 30 million people here had been at least partly vaccinated. The upcoming Chuseok marks the first major national holiday after the vaccine program kicked off in February, with the government seeking to permit more social distancing-free family gatherings and celebrations.

Social AffairsSept. 7, 2021

Post-Suga, no dramatic shift in Seoul-Tokyo relations expected

The Japanese government is set for a leadership change, but a dramatic turnaround in Seoul-Tokyo relations is unlikely, experts say. 　 In the wake of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s abrupt decision to step down last Friday, many here are wondering what the new Japanese leadership will mean for South Korea as an array of candidates vies to succeed Suga at the ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership election, set for Sept. 29. 　 The new LDP president is effectively assured of becoming

Foreign AffairsSept. 7, 2021

Chinese foreign minister to visit Seoul next week

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will make a two-day visit to Seoul next week to discuss bilateral relations and other pending issues, including North Korea, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. The top Chinese diplomat will arrive here on Sept. 14 and hold talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on Sept. 15. He is also likely to pay a courtesy call to President Moon Jae-in but both the ministry and Cheong Wa Dae said nothing has been confirmed yet.

Foreign AffairsSept. 7, 2021

[News Focus] Average age of Koreans likely to top 45 in 2024

SEJONG -- The average age of South Koreans reached 43.5 as of August, climbing by five years compared to a decade earlier in August 2011 when it stayed at 38.5, government data showed. This is attributed to a surge in the portion of seniors, aged 65 or over, and a sharp drop in the percentage of children and babies, aged under 15. After topping 40.0 in October 2014 for the first time since the nation started compiling the relevant figures, Koreans’ average age has continued to rise, acc

Social AffairsSept. 7, 2021

South Korea tests first SLBM

South Korea has become the first non-nuclear state to develop a submarine-launched ballistic missile, having run a test-firing from a newly built submarine, sources said Tuesday. SLBMs have been developed by seven countries -- China, France, India, North Korea, Russia, the UK and the US -- all of which have nuclear weapons. A Dosan Ahn Chang-ho submarine, the country’s first 3,000-ton underwater vessel revealed last month, carried out the underwater ejection tests last week after similar

DefenseSept. 7, 2021

Hong Joon-pyo rises to break Yoon’s grip on party primary

Rep. Hong Joon-pyo of the main opposition People Power Party is quickly gaining support, rising as a potential contender for next year’s presidential election that has been largely dominated by two prominent figures from each side. A poll of 1,003 eligible voters from the Korea Society Opinion Institute showed Monday that Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party was the most favored candidate with 28 percent. Gov. Lee’s lead was followed by former Prosecut

PoliticsSept. 7, 2021

[Us and Them] Misguided anger fans growing gender conflict

The conflict between the sexes -- more pronounced between feminists and anti-feminists online -- is growing, and spilling out into the real world, affecting corporate activities and even election results. The battle appears mostly limited to extreme ends of the spectrum with radical anti-feminists branding feminists as obese, socially inadequate women throwing tantrums. Those at the other end of the spectrum are just as antagonistic, with members of “feminist” online groups referr

Social AffairsSept. 7, 2021

S. Korea to more than double solar, wind energy facilities by 2025: Moon

President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that South Korea will scale up its solar and wind energy production facilities by more than twofold within four years as part of the government's new carbon neutrality policy. "By 2025, we will expand the scale of solar and wind-related facilities by more than twofold compared to now," Moon said in a pre-recorded speech celebrating the second UN-designated International Day of Clean Air for blue skies. Cheong Wa Dae explained that Moon reiterated th

PoliticsSept. 7, 2021