South Korea's military reported 38 additional COVID-19 cases Wednesday, including cluster infections at an Army unit in Gangwon Province, bringing the total caseload among its personnel to 2,366. Ten Army conscripts stationed at a base in Hwacheon, 118 kilometers northeast of Seoul, tested positive after a fellow was infected at their base. All of the newly added patients from the base were fully vaccinated. The military added it is carrying out COVID-19 tests on around 300 troops on the base.

Defense Dec. 1, 2021

The number of new daily COVID-19 cases in Seoul surpassed 2,000 for the first time, officials said Wednesday. The capital logged an all-time daily high of 2,222 COVID-19 patients Tuesday, according to the Central Disease Control Headquarters. Only 10 of the city's total were from overseas. The latest daily tally broke Seoul's previous daily record of 1,888 set only four days ago. It also marked an increase of 1,036 from 1,186 the previous day and an increase of 488 from 1,734 a week earlier.

Social Affairs Dec. 1, 2021

Top diplomats of South Korea and five Central Asian nations gathered at a regional forum held in Tajikistan to explore ways on expanding cooperation for the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, Seoul's foreign ministry said Wednesday. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong attended the 14th Korea-Central Asia Forum held in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe on Tuesday, which was joined by representatives from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In a key note speech, C

Foreign Affairs Dec. 1, 2021

South Korean big league first baseman Choi Ji-man has signed a new one-year contract to stay with the Tampa Bay Rays. MLB.com reported that Choi agreed to a $3.2 million deal Tuesday (US time), avoiding salary arbitration for the second straight offseason. Choi, not yet eligible for free agency, earned $2.45 million in 2021 after winning his first arbitration case. Choi, 30, made his major league debut with the Los Angeles Angels in 2016. He bounced around for a bit before thriving as a full-

Baseball Dec. 1, 2021

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday on advances in tech and bio shares despite overnight falls on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) inched up 3.57 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,842.58 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 1.86 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite declined 1.55 percent amid growing concerns about the omicron coronavirus variant and accelerating inflation in the world's largest eco

Market Dec. 1, 2021

North Korea's main newspaper on Wednesday published a series of stories lauding late leader Kim Jong-il ahead of the 10th anniversary of his death this month. Kim Jong-il, father of current leader Kim Jong-un, died on Dec. 17, 2011, having ruled the reclusive regime since the death of his father and national founder, Kim Il-sung, in 1994. Kim Jong-un, the third son of the late leader, took over the helm of the North in another hereditary succession of power. In an editorial, the North's Rodon

North Korea Dec. 1, 2021

South Korea's exports spiked 32.1 percent on-year to reach an all-time monthly high in November on the back of strong global demand for chips and petro products, data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments came to $60.44 billion, compared with $45.75 billion from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It marked the highest monthly figure since the country began compiling the data in 1956, and it is the first time that the monthly tally surpa

Economy Dec. 1, 2021

The number of weekly users on Disney+, the flagship streaming service of US media giant Walt Disney Co., topped 1 million in less than a month since its launch here, a market research firm said Wednesday. The streaming service's weekly users in South Korea reached 1.01 million from Nov. 15 to 21, becoming the fifth most used over-the-top (OTT) media service, according to data from market tracker Nielsen KoreanClick. Netflix ranked first with 4.71 million users, followed by homegrown players Wa

Industry Dec. 1, 2021

South Korea's new coronavirus cases are expected to breach the 5,000 mark for the first time Wednesday and the number of critically ill patients is also predicted to hit a fresh high amid concerns over the global spread of the new virus variant. The country is expected to report over 5,000 new COVID-19 cases, Interior Minister Jeon Hae-cheol told a pan-government meeting on the virus response. The number of critically ill patients is also expected to reach an all-time high of over 700, accordi

Social Affairs Dec. 1, 2021

Two major foreign investment banks (IBs) have revised down their targets of South Korea's key stock index for 2022 amid rising market volatility following the discovery of the omicron coronavirus variant, industry sources said Wednesday. In a recent report on South Korea, Goldman Sachs has cut its 2022 target of the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) to 3,350 from an earlier estimate of 3,700. Goldman Sachs said its downgrade reflects the characteristic of the South Korean sto

Economy Dec. 1, 2021

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is set to arrive in Seoul on Wednesday for annual security talks with his South Korean counterpart on the envisioned wartime operational control (OPCON) transfer, North Korean threats and the bilateral alliance, Seoul officials said. Austin is scheduled to land at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, in the afternoon, for a three-day trip on the eve of the 53rd Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) at the defense ministry here. This year's

Defense Dec. 1, 2021

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Tuesday the country's snowballing household debt is posing limited risks to the economy, given borrowers' capability to repay debt and banks' financial health. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki made the remarks during his meeting with the delegation of S&P Global Ratings, led by Kim Eng Tan, senior director of Asia-Pacific sovereign ratings at the global credit appraiser. The delegation kicked off its annual consultations with the Korean government Mo

Economy Nov. 30, 2021

The National Assembly on Tuesday approved a revision to the Income Tax Act that calls for easing a threshold of capital gains tax exemption on real estate sales for those with only one home. The bottom limit of the assessed value of real estate properties subject to capital gains tax will be raised from 900 million won ($756,000) to 1.2 billion won for owners of only one home following approval from the parliament's strategy and finance committee. The limit was set at 900 million won since 200

Politics Nov. 30, 2021

Prosecutors on Tuesday indicted the mayor of Seongnam, south of Seoul, on charges of providing special favors to a police officer in return for receiving insider information about a police investigation into her alleged violation of the Political Funds Act. Seongnam Mayor Eun Soo-mi is accused of giving a 450 million won ($379,000) streetlight replacement project to an unidentified company in October 2018 at the request of the police officer who was in charge of a police probe into her case. A

Politics Nov. 30, 2021

South Korea has shipped 539,000 doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to the Philippines to help the Southeast Asian nation address its vaccine shortages, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday. An airplane carrying the jabs departed from Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, earlier in the day and will arrive in the Philippines on the same day, the ministry said. South Korea has already shared coronavirus vaccine shots with three other countries -- Vietnam, Thailand and Iran -- as it

Foreign Affairs Nov. 30, 2021