Ceremony held to honor over 500 sets of remains of soldiers killed in Korean War

South Korea held a ceremony Friday to honor a total of 514 sets of recently unearthed remains of soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, vowing to make every effort until the last remains are returned to loved ones. The ceremony took place at the Seoul National Cemetery, attended by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, Defense Minister Suh Wook and around 50 senior government and military officials. The remains include 127 sets discovered during this year's excavation work on Arrowhead Ridge

Dec. 18, 2020

Ex-Busan mayor admits to sexual harassment but again claims he 'does not remember'

BUSAN -- Former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don attended a court hearing here Friday on an arrest warrant sought against him over sexual harassment allegations. In a press statement released via his lawyer, Oh acknowledged the "charge," but he maintained that he does not remember exactly what happened. He apologized to Busan citizens and victims as well. Earlier this week, the Busan District Prosecutors Office requested the warrant against him on charges of sexual harassment, inflicting inj

Dec. 18, 2020

Random testing finds 170 COVID-19 cases in capital area in 4 days

The government's ongoing random testing, launched in the greater Seoul area at the beginning of this week, has identified 170 cases of COVID-19 so far, a government agency on the coronavirus pandemic said Friday. In a bid to preemptively find "hidden infected people" through random testing, the government has been installing temporary coronavirus testing facilities at about 150 locations in the capital area, including Seoul City Hall and Seoul Station, since Monday. Those random testi

Dec. 18, 2020

S. Korea pushes to strike COVID-19 vaccine deals with Janssen, Pfizer this month

South Korea said Friday it will push to sign COVID-19 vaccine procurement contracts with Johnson & Johnson's Janssen and Pfizer later this month and ink another deal with Moderna next month. The health ministry last week said it has secured early access of the vaccines developed by four pharmaceutical companies and from a global vaccine project for 44 million people, enough to cover 88 percent of the nation's population. The government has formally struck a purchase deal with AstraZeneca,

Dec. 18, 2020

[Newsmaker] S. Korea culls 6.1m poultry as farm-related bird flu cases reach 18

South Korea has completed the culling of 6.1 million poultry nationwide to curb the nationwide spread of highly pathogenic bird flu, as the total farm-related caseload reached 18, the agricultural ministry said Friday. The destroyed poultry included 4 million chickens and 1.2 million quails, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Under the local law, poultry within a 3-kilometer radius of farms infected with highly pathogenic bird flu must be culled. South Korea has

Dec. 18, 2020

Military nursing academy cadets sent to COVID-19 treatment centers

Dozens of cadets from the military nursing academy were sent to coronavirus treatment centers Friday to help out the government's fight against the fast-spreading pandemic, the defense ministry said. A total of 77 students and four nursing officers from the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy will support the medical staff at "residential treatment centers" that have been set up for mild COVID-19 patients so as to make more hospital beds available for serious patients. Of them, 56 cad

Dec. 18, 2020

Daily virus cases above 1,000 for 3rd day, toughest curbs still under review

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases topped the 1,000 mark for the third day Friday on continued cluster infections nationwide and increased tests, but health authorities remain cautious about adopting the toughest virus restrictions due to the far-reaching economic impact. The country added 1,062 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,036 local infections, raising the total caseload to 47,515, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). It is the first time that the da

Dec. 18, 2020

1st gen. K-pop star BoA investigated for drug smuggling

First generation K-pop star BoA was investigated by the prosecution for alleged drug smuggling. BoA's agency SM Entertainment acknowledged the incident on Thursday, but denied that it was an intentional act of wrongdoing. Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office summoned BoA for questioning on Wednesday, according to those familiar with the matter. BoA is accused of illegally bringing in drugs such as zolpidem through unauthorized route.  From what is known, BoA had multiple psychotro

Dec. 17, 2020

Ex-President Park's aides acquitted of hindering Sewol ferry panel's activities

Three former ranking officials of ousted President Park Geun-hye's government were acquitted by an appellate court Thursday after being convicted of obstructing an independent panel's investigation into the cause of the deadly sinking of the Sewol ferry. The panel was set up in 2015 under a special law enacted to determine why the 6,800-ton ship capsized in waters off the southwest coast in 2014, killing more than 300 people, mostly high school students. The panel, composed of maritime experts,

Dec. 17, 2020

Man cleared of slaying after 31 years, court apologizes

A South Korean court on Thursday overturned the murder conviction of a man who had already served 20 years of a life sentence he received 31 years ago. The Suwon District Court, in acquitting Yun Sung-yeo of the 1988 rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl, said it found the confession from Lee Chun-jae, a jailed killer, to be credible. Appearing as a witness at Yun’s retrial hearing last month, Lee said he, not Yun, had killed the girl. He also admitted to killing 14 girls and women an

Dec. 17, 2020

21 USFK-affiliated people test positive for new coronavirus

Fifteen American service members, five family members and one US Forces Korea (USFK) retiree tested positive for the new coronavirus upon arrival in South Korea from the United States over the past few weeks, the USFK said Monday. Of them, five service members arrived at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on US government-chartered flights between Nov. 29 and Dec. 19, according to the US military. Ten other service personnel, five dependents and one USFK retiree a

Dec. 17, 2020

Coronavirus news overload increases prejudice, fear and anxiety: study

The more news you watch about the coronavirus, the more likely you are to develop prejudice, fear and anxiety about getting infected, a study showed Thursday. According to a survey of 1,500 adults by a research team led by psychiatry professor Kim Sung-wan at Chonnam National University Medical School, there was a noticeable decrease in prejudice, fear and anxiety among those who have more knowledge of COVID-19. But consuming news on COVID-19 via mass media did not help people gain knowledge

Dec. 17, 2020

Patient dies waiting for treatment as Korea’s COVID-19 deaths hit record

Public health officials said Thursday a Seoul resident in their 60s had died while waiting to be admitted to a hospital after a COVID-19 diagnosis, marking the first such case to be reported in the capital since the pandemic began. They said the patient died at home Tuesday after having waited three days for a hospital bed since testing positive for the virus on Saturday. “The patient did not exhibit severe symptoms initially -- just an itch in the throat -- and their condition appears

Dec. 17, 2020

S. Korean students lack confidence in math and science despite top performance: survey

South Korean students were significantly less confident and interested in math and science despite their excelling academic performances in the subjects, compared to students from other countries, a recent global survey showed. According to the results of 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study by the US based National Center for Education Statistics, Korean students came in third for their performance in math and second in science, but their interest and confidence in the s

Dec. 17, 2020

Seoul regulates older vehicles, industrial sites to curb pollution

To combat concerns about fine dust, especially during the winter, the city government of Seoul has toughened regulations on high-polluting vehicles and construction sites in the December-to-March period. The Seoul Metropolitan Government first launched the winter season fine dust management program last year to lower the fine dust levels of the city during the winter, when they are usually at the highest. This year, the city government implemented the program starting from Dec. 1 and it will

Dec. 17, 2020

YouTuber sparks dispute as false review leads to restaurant shutdown

YouTuber HayanTree is facing criticism after his review video of a restaurant reportedly forced it to shut down. HayanTree uploaded the review video of an all-you-can-eat soy sauce-marinated crab restaurant in Daegu on his YouTube channel on Dec. 7. In the video, the YouTuber saw grains of rice in the refilled marinated crab and raised the suspicion that the restaurant might reuse its food. As the HayanTree channel had about 700,000 subscribers at the time, the review video led to a quick im

Dec. 17, 2020

Parcel delivery worker suffers stroke apparently from overwork

A parcel delivery worker has suffered a hemorrhagic stroke while on duty this week as authorities are working to draw up measures to protect couriers following a series of deaths in their profession, apparently from overwork, an advocacy group said Thursday. According to the group supporting couriers, the 58-year-old man, working for Hanjin Transportation Co., the logistics arm of Hanjin Group, fell unconscious from the stroke while delivering parcels at an apartment complex in eastern Seoul on

Dec. 17, 2020

Govt. discloses personal info of 256 draft dodgers

The Military Manpower Administration on Thursday disclosed the personal information of 256 people accused of dodging the mandatory military service. The move is in accordance with the 2015 revision of the Military Service Act as part of efforts to ensure fairness in the implementation of the compulsory system, according to the manpower agency. The list of dodgers has been disclosed once a year on its website since 2016. Of the total, 118 had been supposed to serve as active-duty soldiers and

Dec. 17, 2020

Two military officers test positive for new coronavirus

  One Air Force officer and an Army officer tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Thursday.  The Air Force officer, stationed in the central city of Cheongju, was confirmed to have been infected upon arrival from Japan after participating in job-related education programs there, according to the ministry. The other officer from a unit directly under the wing of the defense ministry in the city of Anyang, just south of Seoul, tested positive after coming

Dec. 17, 2020

Random testing finds 68 COVID-19 cases in 2 days in capital area: PM

The government's ongoing random testing has identified nearly 70 cases of COVID-19 in the greater Seoul area in a span of two days this week, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Thursday, calling on citizens to voluntarily visit testing centers to stem the spread of the disease. In a bid to preemptively find "hidden infected people" through random testing, the government installed temporary coronavirus testing facilities at about 150 locations in the capital area, including Seoul Stat

Dec. 17, 2020