South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell back to the 400s on Sunday for the first time in 20 days amid continued cluster infections and growing fears over the spread of more virulent variants. The country reported 480 more COVID-19 cases, including 464 local infections, raising the total caseload to 139,910, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. It marks the first time that the new caseload fell below 500 since May 10 when 463 cases were reported. The drop is belie

Social Affairs May 30, 2021

Vice Justice Minister Lee Yong-gu was questioned by police Sunday over allegations that he pressured a taxi driver he assaulted to destroy related evidence and went unpunished. Lee appeared at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in central Seoul to undergo questioning for the November case where Lee allegedly hurled insults at the driver and grabbed him by the collar in an intoxicated state when the man tried to wake him up after arriving at his home. Police were called to the scene and let L

Social Affairs May 30, 2021

A growing number of South Koreans support replacing the current military draft with a volunteer system, a survey showed Sunday. According to the Gallup Korea poll, 43 percent of respondents were in favor of switching to the volunteer military system, while 42 percent were in favor of maintaining the status quo. The remaining 15 percent declined to answer. The law requires all able-bodied South Korean men to serve about two years in the military. Women are exempted from mandatory service and al

Social Affairs May 30, 2021

A major global summit on climate and sustainable growth is scheduled to open on Sunday under the initiative of South Korea. President Moon Jae-in will host the two-day 2021 P4G Seoul Summit via video links, joined by more than 60 other top government officials and heads of international organizations, according to his office. They include British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and John Ke

Politics May 30, 2021

While many other clubs sent out their foreign aces to begin the new Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season last month, the Hanwha Eagles gave the symbolic Opening Day assignment to homegrown right-hander Kim Min-woo. It was a surprising choice, given that the Eagles' new American lefty, Ryan Carpenter, appeared to have earned that opportunity with an excellent preseason. In 2020, Kim flashed promise that made him the No. 1 overall pick at the 2014 draft, but finished with a pedestrian 5-10 re

Baseball May 30, 2021

North Korea appears to be continuing activities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex but no clear evidence has been detected to determine if spent fuel rods have been transferred from the storage facility to produce plutonium, a US think tank has said. The monitoring website 38 North made the assessment Friday, based on recent satellite imagery, also noting that minor activities have been spotted at the site's uranium enrichment plant while construction of a new wing of a lab building continued. &

North Korea May 30, 2021

South Korean President Moon Jae-in publicly thanked US President Joe Biden on Saturday for his note on their White House summit last week. Moon shared Biden's related Twitter message on his Facebook account and also retweeted it. Moon attached a message reading "Mr. President Biden, Thank you." Hours earlier, Biden tweeted, "I was honored to welcome President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea last week at the White House." "The alliance between our nations was forg

Foreign Affairs May 29, 2021

President Moon Jae-in expressed optimism Saturday that South Korea will attain its goal of getting 13 million people inoculated against COVID-19 by the end of June. "Vaccinations are gaining speed," he wrote on his Facebook account. Just over the past two days, 1.2 million people received vaccine shots, raising the total to 5.23 million, 10.2 percent of the nation's population, as of Friday, he noted. If the current pace is maintained, there will be no problem in achieving the aim of

Social Affairs May 29, 2021

A fire stopped the operation of a turbine at a nuclear plant on the country's southeastern coast Saturday, officials said. There were no reports of casualties or radiation leaks. The fire broke out at the Shin-Kori 4 reactor in Ulsan, some 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul, at 9:28 a.m. and was extinguished about an hour later, according to the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. The authorities suspect the fire started from an exciter of a turbine. The Nuclear Safety and Security Co

Social Affairs May 29, 2021

South Korea established a presidential committee Saturday to serve as the control tower of the nation's carbon neutrality drive. President Moon Jae-in said the government-private panel would be a "pivot" in uniting national efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. He admitted that it would not be easy for the country to attain the goal, given its heavy reliance on manufacturing industries and fossil fuels. "Carbon neutrality is an unavoidable task, with which mankind shou

Social Affairs May 29, 2021

South Korean National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug has met with political leaders of the Czech Republic to promote Seoul's nuclear power plant solutions, his office said Saturday. Park spoke with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis in Prague on Friday (local time) and emphasized that South Korea can be an ideal partner for the Czech Republic's nuclear power projects. "We are stronger than any other nation when it comes to construction time, cost and operation capabilities," Park s

Foreign Affairs May 29, 2021

The South Korean military confirmed two more cases of the novel coronavirus, the defense ministry said Saturday. One Air Force officer in Osan, 55 kilometers south of Seoul, tested positive for COVID-19 while in quarantine. So far, seven people at his air base have contracted the virus since the first case there was reported on May 21. One Army soldier in Inje, Gangwon Province, 165 km east of Seoul, also tested positive following his emergency leave to Seoul. The latest cases raised the tota

Social Affairs May 29, 2021

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed in the 500s for the second consecutive day Saturday as health authorities strive to contain cluster infections and the spread of virus variants. The country reported 533 more COVID-19 cases, including 505 local infections, raising the total caseload to 139,431, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. There were five additional fatalities, raising the death toll to 1,951. The fatality rate was 1.4 percent. Daily caseloads ha

Social Affairs May 29, 2021

South Korea plans to impose a 20 percent income tax on capital gains from cryptocurrency transactions starting next year as planned, the government announced Friday, despite growing investor calls for delaying the taxation plan. The government announced the plan after discussing the matter during a vice-ministerial interagency meeting chaired by Koo Yoon-cheol, head of the government policy coordination under the Prime Minister's Office. Gains from cryptocurrency transactions will be classifie

Market May 28, 2021

South Korean stocks increased Friday on hopes for a quick economic rebound, taking a cue from improved US economic data. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 23.22 points, or 0.73 percent, to close at 3,188.73 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 954 million shares worth some 13.4 trillion won (US$12 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 596 to 262. Foreigners bought a net 139 billion won, while retail investors s

Market May 28, 2021