S. Korea, US hold combined naval salvage exercise

South Korea and the United States have staged a weeklong naval exercise focusing on combined diving and salvage operations, the Navy said Tuesday. The Salvage Exercise (SALVEX) Korea 2021 kicked off Wednesday last week in waters off Jinhae on the south coast and was to end Tuesday, bringing together 16 Korean sailors and 17 members of the US Mobile Diving & Salvage Unit, according to the Navy.  The exercise involves a range of underwater and ground missions such as search and recove

DefenseJune 15, 2021

[Graphic News] Farming households' average income hits record high in 2020

　The average income of farming households reached a record high of 45 million won ($40,300) in 2020 on the back of the government’s subsidies, the Agriculture Ministry said. 　The amount marks a 9 percent rise from 41 million won tallied in 2019, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. It also marked 20 percent growth from 2016. 　The growth apparently came as the country expanded the amount of direct subsidies to local farmers.

NationalJune 15, 2021

Number of 'short-time workers' in S. Korea hits new high in May

SEJONG -- The number of "short-time workers" in South Korea reached an all-time high in May amid increasing labor costs, a report showed Tuesday. A total of 1.56 million employees in Asia's fourth-largest economy worked fewer than 15 hours per week, according to the report released by Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of the main opposition People Power Party. It was the largest monthly tally since the government began tracking related data in January 2000. The number of short-timer employees, or

Social AffairsJune 15, 2021

S. Korea to conduct Dokdo defense drill

South Korea was to stage an annual military exercise around its easternmost islets of Dokdo on Tuesday after Japan protested the planned drill and called off an agreed-upon summit between the two countries. The drill, named the East Sea Territory Protection Exercise, will involve the Navy, the Air Force and the Coast Guard, and be staged in a way that minimizes in-person contact given the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Navy. "As a regular joint exercise, the upcoming drill is aimed a

DefenseJune 15, 2021

US supports provision of COVID-19 vaccine to N. Korea

WASHINGTON -- The United States has no immediate plan to directly provide COVID-19 vaccine to North Korea but supports international efforts to assist the impoverished country cope with the pandemic, the State Department said Monday. "While we have no plans to provide vaccines to the DPRK, we continue to support international efforts aimed at the provision of critical humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable North Koreans," a department spokesperson told Yonhap News Agency, asking not

Foreign AffairsJune 15, 2021

New virus cases in 300s for 2nd day; vaccinations in higher gear

South Korea's daily new COVID-19 cases remained under 400 for the second day Tuesday on fewer tests over the weekend as the country's vaccination drive picks up steam with one in four South Koreans receiving at least one jab. The country reported 374 more virus cases, including 347 local infections, raising the total caseload to 148,647, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The latest tally is down from 399 cases on Monday and 452 on Sunday, and marks the lowest since M

Social AffairsJune 15, 2021

Moon hopes for closer parliamentary ties between S. Korea, Austria

VIENNA -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Monday with the leader of Austria's parliament and expressed hope for closer cooperation between the two countries' lawmakers. Moon and Wolfgang Sobotka, president of the Austrian National Council, had discussions on such issues as relations between the countries and their parliamentary-level exchanges, according to Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office. Sobotka hailed a decision by the governments of the two countries to upgrade bilateral ties

PoliticsJune 15, 2021

NATO leaders call on N. Korea to engage in dialogue with US

WASHINGTON -- The United States and 29 other member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) urged North Korea on Monday to engage in "meaningful" dialogue with the US toward complete denuclearization. The leaders of the 30 NATO countries also called on North Korea to fully implement its international obligations while also calling on others to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs) on North Korea. "We reiterate the Alliance's full support to

Foreign AffairsJune 15, 2021

Moon meets mayor of Vienna, hopes for its ties with S. Korean cities

VIENNA -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in visited the city hall of Vienna on Monday and met with the mayor of the Austrian capital. Upon arriving at the city hall, Moon signed a guest book, in accordance with a long tradition for visiting foreign dignitaries, Cheong Wa Dae said. Speaking to Mayor Michael Ludwig, Moon expressed hope that Vienna, known for creative and sustainable urban development, will promote cooperative ties with South Korea's local governments, especially on smart city p

PoliticsJune 15, 2021

Moon says S. Korea will push for COVID-19 vaccine supplies if North Korea agrees

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Monday his country will, if Pyongyang agrees, push proactively for cooperation to provide COVID-19 vaccine supplies to North Korea. He pointed out South Korea's efforts to emerge as a "global vaccine production hub." "If that is the case, North Korea would be a partner for cooperation, of course," Moon said during joint press conference with his Austrian counterpart Alexander Van der Bellen following their summit talks here. "

North KoreaJune 14, 2021

105 administrative errors reported out of 14.79m vaccinations: KDCA

Health authorities on Monday said they have confirmed 105 administrative errors out of 14.79 million vaccinations given here. Of the 105 errors, 85.7 percent or, 90 cases, involved administering vaccines to unauthorized people, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Most of them were cases of giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to people aged under 30. Due to risk of possible blood clots, health authorities since April 12 decided not to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine to

Social AffairsJune 14, 2021

Moon becomes first Korean president to visit Austria

VIENNA/SEOUL -- President Moon Jae-in and his Austrian counterpart, Alexander Van der Bellen, held a summit Monday to bolster ties as the 130th anniversary of bilateral relationship approaches next year. Moon, coming from the UK after attending the G-7 meeting over the weekend, arrived in Vienna on Sunday. He is the first Korean president to make a state visit to Austria since the two nations established ties in 1892. With the latest visit, the two nations agreed to elevate the relations

Foreign AffairsJune 14, 2021

Some J&J vaccine recipients in Korea not given blood clot warning

Some recipients of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine were not given any warnings of potential rare blood clots as the rollout began last week, The Korea Herald has found. People who had received the Janssen vaccine during the early days of its rollout say no warnings or information was given about the rare but serious side effect. The blood clotting condition, termed thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, is associated with two adenovirus-based vaccines developed by J

Social AffairsJune 14, 2021

NK’s Kim calls K-pop ‘vicious cancer’: NYT

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called K-pop a “vicious cancer” corrupting young North Koreans’ “attire, hairstyles, speeches, behaviors,” the New York Times reported on Thursday. Kim or the North Korean state media has slammed “anti-socialist and nonsocialist” influences across his country, especially South Korean movies, K-dramas and K-pop videos, almost every day in recent months, the newspaper said. In North Korea, computers, text messages, music p

North KoreaJune 14, 2021

[Newsmaker] Man fined for running unauthorized school teaching US curriculum

A person who ran an unauthorized school teaching US curriculum in Gangnam was fined 3 million won ($2,700) for violation of the elementary and secondary education law. The school, set up in July 2018, taught subjects such as English language, American history and biology under a US curriculum to about 110 students from ninth to 12th grades from 8:30 a.m. until 3:10 p.m. for a tuition fee of 12 million won per semester, and ran after-school club activity programs as well. The accused insisted t

Social AffairsJune 14, 2021

[News Focus] Korean households getting smaller: 4 in 5 have fewer than four members

SEJONG -- The proportion of households in South Korea with fewer than four members has reached an all-time high, government data showed. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the numbers of one-, two- and three-member households came to 9.21 million, 5.49 million and 4 million, respectively, in May. Collectively, these 18.71 million households made up 80.5 percent of the nationwide total, which was 22.22 million. This means only 1 out of every 5 households had four or more members

Social AffairsJune 14, 2021

Ex-President Chun again avoids attendance of appellate court hearing on defamation case

Former President Chun Doo-hwan again failed to attend an appellate court hearing held Monday to deal with his defamation case related to a late Catholic priest's testimony about the military's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in the southeastern city in 1980. Last November, the Gwangju District Court sentenced Chun to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, on charges of defaming the late Catholic Priest Cho Pius, who testified to having witnessed Chun's troops shooting

PoliticsJune 14, 2021

China not discussed at G-7 meetings South Korea took part in: vice FM

The issue of China did not come up during South Korea's discussions with the Group of Seven (G-7) countries last week, a senior foreign ministry official said Monday. Second Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon made the remark during a radio interview, dismissing speculation that attending the gathering in Britain put Seoul in an awkward position as it might appear that South Korea has chimed in with the G-7 countries on their unified front against an assertive China. In the joint communique i

Foreign AffairsJune 14, 2021

Japan unilaterally broke plan for Moon-Suga meeting at G-7

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga had agreed to hold talks on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in England, but Japan unilaterally called the meeting off, citing the Dokdo issue, according to the Foreign Ministry on Monday. 　 The two countries had tentatively decided for Moon and Suga to have a pull-aside meeting on the fringes of the summit, which was held Friday through Sunday at Carbis Bay Hotel and Estate in Cornwall, southwestern England, accordin

Foreign AffairsJune 14, 2021

Delivery worker in coma after collapsing from overwork: workers' group

A parcel delivery worker has suffered a cerebral hemorrhage caused by overwork and fallen into a coma, a couriers' advocacy group said Monday. According to the group, the 47-year-old employee at Lotte Global Logistics Co.'s branch in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, was sent to a hospital after showing abnormal symptoms, such as stiffness of the body, while he was sleeping at home early Sunday morning. The courier, surnamed Lim, underwent surgery for a serious case of a cerebral hemorrhage but r

Social AffairsJune 14, 2021