South Korea said Saturday it has signed a deal with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. to import additional Pfizer vaccine doses for 20 million people. The deal came after South Korean health minister Kwon Deok-cheol held two video conferences with his Pfizer counterpart on April 9 and 23. "The additional deal would allow South Korea to receive coronavirus vaccines more stably," Kwon said in a news conference at the government complex building in Seoul. South Korea is set to receiv

Social Affairs April 24, 2021

Retired South Korean LPGA legend Pak Se-ri said Saturday she has been diagnosed with COVID-19. Pak told Yonhap News Agency that she received a positive coronavirus test result Saturday morning after having come into contact with an infected musical actor during an online broadcast earlier this week. "I was told that an actor who joined me in a broadcast on April 21 tested positive for the coronavirus on April 23. I immediately took the coronavirus test and was given the positive result th

Social Affairs April 24, 2021

More than 4,500 stalking cases were reported to police across the country last year, but offenders were punished by law in only 1 in 10 cases, police data showed Saturday. According to the National Police Agency's data released by an opposition lawmaker, police received reports of 4,515 stalking cases in 2020 but closed 4,027 cases, or 89.2 percent, on the scene without taking further action. Of the total, 1,444 cases were reported in Seoul. Offenders were punished by summary procedures or oth

Social Affairs April 24, 2021

South Korea and Mexico shared concerns about Japan's planned release of contaminated water from its wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant during a vice ministerial meeting, the foreign ministry here said Saturday. South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun, who is now on a nine-day trip to Latin America, met with Carmen Moreno Toscano, Mexico's undersecretary of Foreign Relations, in Mexico on Friday (local time) to discuss the Fukushima and other issues, the ministry said. At the talk

Foreign Affairs April 24, 2021

  South Korea's daily new virus cases stayed in the high 700s for the second straight day Saturday as community infections and untraceable cases continued to rise across the country. The country reported 785 more COVID-19 cases, including 760 local infections, raising the total caseload to 118,243, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The daily infections soared to the 700 range Wednesday, deepening woes over another wave of the pandemic in the country. Untraceable c

Social Affairs April 24, 2021

The foreign ministry on Friday denied media reports speculating that South Korea was not included on the US list of potential foreign vaccine support because it has taken a negative stance about joining the US-led Quad forum. Major local dailies carried such reports, quoting the remarks by US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price on Thursday (local time) that the US is willing to help other countries with vaccine supplies but it is more focused right now on first containing the disease dome

Foreign Affairs April 23, 2021

At least 32 Navy sailors who serve on the same naval ship have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Friday. One Navy officer who serves on a landing ship underwent a virus test and tested positive after learning that a teacher of his child's day care center contracted COVID-19, according to the ministry. The child tested negative, however, and how the officer got infected is currently under investigation. Health authorities have found 31 more cases of his colle

Defense April 23, 2021

Health authorities plan to decide Friday whether to conditionally approve the use of two types of COVID-19 self-test kits, acting Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki said, as the country aims to further boost its testing capacity. "Unless there are unexpected events, the government will decide on the conditional approvals of two self-test kits to allow their temporary use before official approvals," Hong said during a daily interagency meeting on the coronavirus response. The results will be

Social Affairs April 23, 2021

South Korea and eight Central American countries have adopted a joint statement expressing "deep concerns" over a massive discharge of contaminated materials into the ocean, calling for a collective response for marine safety, the foreign ministry said Friday. The statement was adopted at the vice-ministerial consultative dialogue between South Korea and the members of the Central American Integration System, or SICA in Spanish, that was held in Costa Rica on Thursday (local time).

Foreign Affairs April 23, 2021

South Korean stocks opened lower Friday, tracking an overnight Wall Street plunge that was spurred by a tax raise proposal in the United States. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 25.91 points, or 0.82 percent, to 3,151.61 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks deepened losses as investors weighed the impact of the potential tax hike on the wealthy in the United States on social spending. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.94 percent, with the

Market April 23, 2021

WASHINGTON -- The US Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bill aimed at curbing a recent increase in hate crimes targeting Asian-American communities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Senate voted 94-1 to pass the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which, if enacted, would allow expedited federal government investigation on COVID-19 related hate crimes that are increasingly targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Vice President Kamala Harris has partly attributed the recent increase in ant

Foreign Affairs April 23, 2021

WASHINGTON -- A US State Department spokesman on Thursday welcomed South Korea's new climate change commitment as one of important actions taken by countries at the ongoing climate summit that will help meet global goals. Ned Price made the remark after South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced in the virtual summit that his country will officially stop financing overseas coal power projects. "We saw a variety of other announcements today about the increasing scope and pace of actions

Foreign Affairs April 23, 2021

  The justice ministry said Thursday it will convene a special committee next week to review a list of recommended candidates to be the next prosecutor general. The prosector general candidate recommendation committee will gather on April 29 to review the eligibility of the candidates the ministry received since April 15. The nine-member committee headed by former Justice Minister Park Sang-ki is expected to produce a shortlist of three to four candidates to recommend to the justice min

Politics April 22, 2021

UN special rapporteurs voiced concerns that South Korea's anti-leafleting law could restrict freedom of expression in a letter sent to the government calling for further clarification, the UN website showed Thursday. Tomas Ojea Quintana, special rapporteur on North Korea's human rights situation, along with three other rapporteurs, made the appeal in a "communications" letter dated Monday, urging the South Korean government to provide additional information about the compliance of th

North Korea April 22, 2021

South Korea's major business lobby groups plan to submit to the government a letter recommending the pardon of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of Samsung Group who was convicted of bribery, sources said Thursday. The five major lobby groups -- the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Korea Enterprises Federation, the Korea Federation of SMEs, the Korea International Trade Association and the Federation of Middle Market Enterprises of Korea -- have rea

Industry April 22, 2021