South Korea's new coronavirus cases and critically ill patients surged to fresh record highs Wednesday, with the government tipped to restore toughest virus curbs to contain the spread of infections. The country added 7,850 new COVID-19 infections, including 7,828 local infections, raising the cumulative caseload to 536,495, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Wednesday's figure broke the previous record high of 7,174 cases last Wednesday. Daily virus cases hav

Social Affairs Dec. 15, 2021

South Korea on Wednesday started deploying new 7.62 mm-caliber machine guns to the Army under a project to replace the existing decades-old equipment and reinforce combat capabilities, the arms procurement agency said. The K-16 machine guns will supplant K-3 and M60 guns as a bedrock asset of the military's fire power, the first such replacement in three decades, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said. The K-16 gun's operational range is 30-percent longer than the K-3 gun a

Defense Dec. 15, 2021

No overnight aftershocks were reported following a 4.9 magnitude earthquake that struck off South Korea's southern island of Jeju the previous day, officials said Wednesday. The earthquake occurred at 5:19 p.m. in waters about 41 kilometers off the island's southwestern city of Seogwipo, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). According to KMA, a total of 13 aftershocks occurred after the earthquake. The last one with a 1.3 magnitude took place at 10:36 p.m. Tuesday near th

Social Affairs Dec. 15, 2021

Seoul shares opened lower Wednesday, tracking losses on Wall Street, as investors eyed the Federal Reserve's rate decision this week.  The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 9.40 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,978.55 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Tuesday (US time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3 percent to 35,544.18, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slid 1.1 percent to 15,237.64. Investors are waiting on cues from the two-day Fed me

Market Dec. 15, 2021

Kim Yong-ju, a brother of North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung, has died, according to Pyongyang's state media Wednesday. The North's leader Kim Jong-un sent a wreath the previous day to express condolences over his death, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. Kim Yong-ju was a former honorary vice chairman of the standing committee of the North's rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly, and a winner of the Order of Kim ll-sung and the Order of Kim Jong-il, the report said, without givi

North Korea Dec. 15, 2021

North Korea will hold a session of its rubber-stamp legislature in February to discuss the state budget and issues of adopting laws on childcare and overseas compatriots, Pyongyang's state media reported Wednesday. The standing committee of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) held a plenary session the previous day and made the decision to open the parliamentary meeting on Feb. 6, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The plenary meeting was presided over by Choe

North Korea Dec. 15, 2021

South Korea reported job additions for the ninth straight month in November in the latest sign the country's economic recovery has continued despite the latest upsurge in COVID-19 cases, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people reached 27.79 million last month, 553,000 more than a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The reading was lower than an on-year increase of 652,000 in October. But the number of employed people has risen since March as Asia's fo

Economy Dec. 15, 2021

  KT&G Corp., South Korea's dominant tobacco company, will suspend its tobacco business in the United States for an unspecified period, the company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday. "We need to conduct a review of our business in the US amid intensifying regulations over tobacco and growing competition," the company said, referring to a hostile business environment, such as the US Food and Drug Administration's recent move to introduce a bill to curb nicotine content an

Industry Dec. 14, 2021

The education ministry on Tuesday promised to come up with measures to improve its plan to place cram schools under the government vaccine pass system amid strong opposition from students and parents, officials said. Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae held a meeting with representatives of the Korea Association of Hakwon (KAOH), a cram school industry trade group, and agreed to present measures related to the vaccine pass expansion by the end of the year. Starting February, the government plans

Social Affairs Dec. 14, 2021

Police in Seoul were ordered to look into all pending stalking and sexual offense cases again to see if the victims are under sufficient protection, officials said Tuesday, after recent two deaths were blamed on failures to provide due police protection. The order, issued by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, came after criticism of police rose after a 26-year-old man, surnamed Lee, killed his former girlfriend's mother and seriously injured her younger brother at their home in southern Seou

Social Affairs Dec. 14, 2021

A senior US diplomat in charge of economic and trade policy is scheduled to visit Seoul this week to discuss cooperation on supply chain, technology, healthcare and other sectors, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday. Jose W. Fernandez, US undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, plans to arrive here on Wednesday for a three-day visit after travelling to Tokyo. It is his first regional trip since taking office in August. During his stay in South Korea, Fernande

Foreign Affairs Dec. 14, 2021

South Korean stocks retreated for a third consecutive session Tuesday as investors took to the sidelines ahead of a meeting of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 31.71 points, or 0.46 percent, to close at 2,987.95 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 566 million shares worth some 9.2 trillion won (US$7.8 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 574 to 284. Foreigners

Market Dec. 14, 2021

The government's digital vaccine pass system malfunctioned for the second day on Tuesday, leading to a number of access failures during lunch time despite the addition of emergency servers to deal with heavy user traffic. COOV, a government smartphone application that authenticates users' vaccination status by QR codes, along with affiliated third party programs, such as Naver and Kakao talk, has been plagued with major connection issues since Monday, the first day of the government's vaccine p

Social Affairs Dec. 14, 2021

Moon Jae-in met with Australia's opposition leader on Tuesday and asked for his support for the Korean community in the country. Moon and Anthony Albanese of the Australian Labor Party met in Sydney during the president's ongoing four-day state visit to the country. Moon noted that he and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison agreed the previous day to elevate the bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership and expressed hope for strengthened cooperation in future high-t

Politics Dec. 14, 2021

INCHEON -- A 52-year-old double murder suspect made a feeble apology on Tuesday as he appeared in public for the first time after his arrest for allegedly killing a woman for money and murdering an accomplice. Kwon Jae-chan stood in front of reporters as he was transferred from Incheon Michuhol Police Station in Incheon, west of Seoul, to a local prosecutors office for further investigation of his double murder, robbery and corpse abandonment charges. "I'm sorry," Kwon said feebly wh

Social Affairs Dec. 14, 2021