CHIBA -- South Korea's Lee Da-bin grabbed the silver medal in her first Olympic taekwondo appearance on Tuesday, winning the women's +67kg title on the last day of the taekwondo competition. Lee lost to Milica Mandic of Serbia 10-7 in the gold medal match at Makuhari Messe Hall A in Chiba, east of Tokyo. Her loss ensured that South Korea, the birthplace of taekwondo, will leave the Tokyo Olympics without a gold medal from the martial art. The country won two bronze medals in taekwondo, Jang Ju

Olympic Games July 27, 2021

CHIBA -- On the first day of the fencing competition at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, three South Korean female epee fencers were all sent packing early. World No. 2 Choi In-jeong, in particular, suffered an ignominious defeat in the round of 32. Kang Young-mi, who'd teamed up with Choi to win silver at the 2018 world championships, was also gone after the round of 32. Song Sera did get to the round of 16 but got tripped up there. Both Choi and Kang said, as devastating as their losses were,

Olympic Games July 27, 2021

South Korean superband BTS appeared on a BBC radio show on Tuesday to perform two of its biggest hits, as well as a cover of the Billboard-topping hit "I'll be Missing You." The seven-piece act sang "Dynamite" -- the group's first song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard's main singles chart -- and its latest single "Permission to Dance," which topped the music chart last week, on BBC Radio 1's "Live Lounge." In addition to the group's own songs, BTS also pe

K-pop July 27, 2021

CHIBA -- In Kyo-don won the bronze medal in men's taekwondo on Tuesday, for only the second medal in its traditional martial art for South Korea at the Tokyo Olympics. In defeated Ivan Konrad Trajkovic of Slovenia 5-4 in the bronze medal match of the men's +80kg event at Makuhari Messe Hall A in Chiba, east of Tokyo. This is the second taekwondo medal for South Korea so far at the Tokyo Olympics. Jang Jun won bronze in the men's 58kg last Saturday. In, 29, was diagnosed with malignant lymphom

Olympic Games July 27, 2021

CHIBA -- South Korea captured silver in the women's team epee fencing at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday, the country's first epee team medal in nine years. Choi In-jeong, Kang Young-mi, Song Sera and Lee Hye-in lost to Estonia 36-32 at Makuhari Messe Hall B in Chiba, east of Tokyo. This is South Korea's second silver medal in this event. The country also picked up silver at the 2012 Olympics, and Choi was also on that team. South Korea managed just one bronze medal from the individual portion

Olympic Games July 27, 2021

TOKYO -- South Korean swimmer Hwang Sun-woo broke a national record for the second time at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday. Hwang qualified for the 100m freestyle semifinals by posting a time of 47.97 seconds in the heats at Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Hwang held the previous mark of 48.04 seconds, set during the Olympic trials in May this year. Hwang, 18, finished second in Heat 7 and sixth overall among 70 swimmers, easily qualifying for the semifinals open to the top 16. The semifinals are schedu

Olympic Games July 27, 2021

The office of President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday it has no plan, for now, to dispatch a special envoy to North Korea. It cited "realistic restraints" attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier in the day, Cheong Wa Dae announced the reopening of direct communication lines between the two Koreas that were severed in June last year. Moon and the North's leader Kim Jong-un have reached an agreement on that, as they have exchanged personal letters several times, it added. On whethe

Politics July 27, 2021

South Korean stocks rebounded Tuesday as investor sentiment improved on optimism for strong corporate earnings despite the spreading new coronavirus pandemic. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 7.58 points, or 0.24 percent, to close at 3,232.53 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 978 million shares worth some 12.1 trillion won ($10.5 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 534 to 287. Foreigners bought a net 44 b

Market July 27, 2021

President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that Japan-born South Korean judoka An Chang-rim, who won an Olympic bronze medal Monday, has brought pride not only to Korean residents in Japan but to all 50 million South Koreans. The 27-year-old An defeated Rustam Orujov of Azerbaijan for the bronze medal in the men's 73kg class at the Tokyo Olympics. An was born in Tokyo to second-generation Japanese-Korean parents and received offers to be naturalized as a Japanese citizen. But he never gave up on his Ko

Olympic Games July 27, 2021

Nearly 90 percent of service members aged 30 and older have received the second doses of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, the defense ministry said Tuesday. As of Monday, 104,861 troops, or 89.7 percent of troops of the age group who had their first shots, have received the second doses, according to the ministry. The military provided AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine for their first shots in April and May but the second doses were given with Pfizer's after health authorities decided earlier this m

Defense July 27, 2021

South Korea has confirmed 1,412 more cases of four major contagious variants of the new coronavirus over the past week, including 1,242 cases of the highly transmissible delta variant, health authorities said Tuesday. The caseload of such infections reached 6,016 here, with the number of delta cases first reported in India tallied at 2,983, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Of the newly confirmed variant cases over the cited period, there were 1,233 local inf

Social Affairs July 27, 2021

TOKYO -- For a moment there, the swimming world held its collective breath Tuesday, as the South Korean teen swimmer Hwang Sun-woo was on a world record pace halfway through the 200m freestyle final at the Tokyo Olympics. The 18-year-old ended up in seventh place among eight finalists at Tokyo Aquatics Centre. But he did have his 15 minutes or fame -- or rather, about 50 seconds of it. Hwang had the fastest reaction time in the final with 0.58 second. He covered the first 100m in 49.78 seconds

Olympic Games July 27, 2021

North Korea said Tuesday that the restoration of communication lines with South Korea will play a positive role in improving relations between the two sides after the severed lines returned to operation after a 13-month suspension. "Now, the whole Korean nation desires to see the North-South relations recovered from setback and stagnation as early as possible," the official Korean Central News Agency said, confirming that all inter-Korean communication liaison lines were restored as o

North Korea July 27, 2021

Second Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon attended a high-level meeting on climate change in London this week to discuss efforts to advance carbon emission goals ahead of an upcoming multilateral summit, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. The two-day ministerial talks for the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) that ended Monday (local time) focused on how to implement the goals pledged by countries in the Paris Agreement on tackling climate change and encourage those w

Politics July 27, 2021

The following is a chronology of major events leading to the restoration of communication lines between South and North Korea on Tuesday, 13 months after the North unilaterally severed them in protest of anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent across the border by activists. 2020 June 4 -- North Korea threatens to scrap a military tension reduction deal with South Korea and shut down major exchange projects in anger over Seoul's supposed failure to stop activists from sending anti-Pyongyang propaganda le

North Korea July 27, 2021