[Politics] : Seoul’s foreign ministry has dismissed China’s objection to the participation of some Asia-Pacific countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) summit.   In a regular briefing on Thursday, foreign ministry spokesman Choi Young-sam reiterated the Seoul government's position that South ...[more...]

[Politics] : President Yoon Suk Yeol has discussed ways to strengthen cooperation with the Czech Republic in nuclear power plant and electric vehicle(EV) battery businesses.    In a meeting with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala in Madrid on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) summit on ...[more...]

[Politics] : Former president Lee Myung-bak has been discharged from hospital and sent home.   According to Lee’s legal representative Kang Hoon on Thursday, Lee arrived at his residence in southern Seoul, as doctors had concluded earlier in the day that he could receive outpatient treatment.   Suwon prosecutors ...[more...]

[Inter-Korea] : North Korea has reportedly discharged water from a dam near the inter-Korean border without notifying South Korea.   According to a military source in South Korea on Thursday, recent torrential rains likely prompted North Korea to open floodgates of the Hwanggang Dam on the Imjin River, which flows into ...[more...]

[Domestic] : South Korea has topped Bloomberg's "Covid Resilience Ranking," which tracks the best and worst places to be during the pandemic, for the first time. In the June rankings unveiled Wednesday, South Korea climbed five notches to take the top spot. Bloomberg has been compiling the monthly list based ...[more...]

[Economy] : The government expects electricity demand this summer to peak around the second week of August and has asked that industries cooperate by allowing workers to take summer vacations around this time. According to the energy ministry, measures regarding energy supply were finalized during a Thursday meeting ...[more...]

[Domestic] : The inter-Korean "truce village" of Panmunjom will reopen to visitors next month. The unification ministry announced on Thursday that the Panmunjom tour program, suspended since January due to COVID-19, will resume from July 12. The historical site of the armistice signing that effectively brought the ...[more...]

[Economy] : The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index(KOSPI) fell 45-point-35 points, or one-point-91 percent, on Thursday, closing the day at two-thousand-332-point-64. The tech-heavy KOSDAQ also fell, losing 16-point-91 points, or two-point-22 percent, to close at 745-point-44. On the foreign exchange, the ...[more...]

[Domestic] : The justice ministry has submitted an opinion to the Constitutional Court in support of keeping capital punishment ahead of a related court hearing scheduled for next month. According to legal circles on Wednesday, the ministry delivered the opinion on June 16 arguing that there is no reason to make ...[more...]

[Domestic] : Heavy rain warnings have been issued for the capital region, while heavy rain advisories have been issued for Gangwon and the northern area of North Chungcheong provinces. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration on Thursday, rain will continue throughout the day nationwide, but heavy downpours ...[more...]

[Domestic] : The Supreme Court has handed down an 18-month sentence for former police chief Cho Hyun-oh for using the police force to manipulate  public opinion online during the Lee Myung-bak administration. The top court on Thursday upheld an appellate court's verdict and finalized the prison term for the ...[more...]

[Domestic] : Heavy downpours pounded the capital and central regions, claiming one life and inflicting significant damage on property. According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, a local resident in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, died on Thursday morning when the eaves of the victim's ...[more...]

[Inter-Korea] : North Korea slammed an intergovernmental anti-money laundering body on Thursday after the agency decided to keep the regime on its list of "high-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action." Earlier this month, North Korea and Iran's status on the list remained unchanged following a plenary meeting of ...[more...]

[Economy] : Samsung Electronics has begun producing semiconductors using a three-nanometer process, becoming the world's first chipmaker to do so. The tech giant announced on Thursday that it started production of a three-nanometer process node, applying Gate-All-Around, or "GAA," transistor architecture. GAA ...[more...]

[Politics] : The national election watchdog requested that the Supreme Prosecutors' Office open an investigation into health minister nominee Kim Seung-hee for allegedly using political funds to cover personal expenses. According to the National Election Commission(NEC) on Wednesday, it made the request the previous ...[more...]

[Domestic] : The police raided the headquarters of the Gyeonggi Housing and Urban Development Corporation(GH) in their probe into allegations that main opposition Democratic Party Rep. Lee Jae-myung illegally used the company’s resources for his presidential campaign. The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency ...[more...]

[Economy] : Starting Friday, the government will expand fuel tax cuts from the current 30 percent to 37 percent. According to the government's policy revisions for the second half of 2022 announced on Thursday, the move will allow the price of gasoline to decline by 57 won per liter, diesel by 38 won and LPG by 12 ...[more...]

[International] : A new survey finds that eight out of ten Americans and South Koreans have negative views about China. AFP said on Wednesday that a survey by Pew Research Center on some 245-thousand people in 19 countries found that anti-China sentiment is spreading in the international community. According to the survey, ...[more...]

[Science] : A cube-shaped satellite carried by the performance verification satellite mounted on the country's first homegrown rocket, Nuri, was released for the first time on Wednesday. The science ministry and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute said the cube satellite developed by a team at Chosun University was ...[more...]

[International] : A blockchain analysis provider says it believes the hacking group known as Lazarus was responsible for the theft of 100 million dollars in cryptocurrency from the California blockchain Harmony last week. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that London-based Elliptic Enterprises, which has been tracking the ...[more...]

[Politics] : President Yoon Suk Yeol has stressed that to draw North Korea toward the path of denuclearization, it must be made clear that the international community’s intent for denuclearization is stronger than Pyongyang’s will to recklessly develop nuclear weapons and missiles. A presidential official said in a ...[more...]

[Domestic] : Daily new COVID-19 cases in South Korea fell below ten-thousand on Thursday, but increased by over two-thousand from a week ago. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Thursday that nine-thousand-595 infections were reported throughout the previous day, including 142 from overseas, bringing ...[more...]

[Economy] : Industrial output and investment rebounded in May, but consumption slightly decreased. Statistics Korea said on Thursday that the index of the nation’s overall industrial production came to 117-point-one in May, up zero-point-eight percent from a month earlier. Output in the service industry rose ...[more...]

[Politics] : President Yoon Suk Yeol held a series of bilateral talks with leaders of major European countries on Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Spain. In the summit with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Madrid, Yoon expressed hope for investments in South Korea by Dutch semiconductor companies such ...[more...]

[Economy] : Business sentiment worsened in June due to concerns about soaring prices and economic slowdown.  According to the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Thursday, the business survey index(BSI) for all industries stood at 82 for June, down four points from the previous month. A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber ...[more...]

[Inter-Korea] : North Korea claimed that its fever-related daily cases suspected to be COVID-19 fell below five-thousand. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) reported on Thursday that around four-thousand-700 new fever patients were confirmed in the 24-hour period leading up to 6 p.m. Wednesday ...[more...]

[Politics] : The leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan have agreed to strengthen cooperation in responding to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. President Yoon Suk Yeol and his American and Japanese counterparts, President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, made the agreement on ...[more...]

[Economy] : Next year's minimum wage has been set at nine-thousand-620 won per hour, up five percent from this year. The Minimum Wage Commission, the rate-setting body of nine representatives each from labor, business and the general public, made the decision on Wednesday. After labor and management failed to come up ...[more...]

[Science] : The monsoon rain front will continue to affect the nation on Thursday, with heavy rains forecast to concentrate in the central region. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration(KMA), rainfall ranging from 50 to 200 millimeters or more is expected in the capital region and the inland areas of ...[more...]

[Politics] : President Yoon Suk Yeol will hold a four-way meeting with his counterparts from Japan, Australia and New Zealand in Madrid, Spain, on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) summit.   The other leaders are Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Australian Prime Minister Anthony ...[more...]

[Economy] : Companies plan to hire more employees this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic shows signs of abating.     According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor on Wednesday, businesses with one or more workers plan to hire 650-thousand workers between April and September, up 50-point-eight percent from the same ...[more...]

[Economy] : South Korea’s import price index in May jumped over 30 percent from a year ago, due mainly to rising global oil prices.   According to the data released by the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Wednesday, the import price index last month increased 32 percent on-year to reach 176-point-five, rising for the 18th ...[more...]

[Politics] : President Yoon Suk Yeol will stress that the North Korean nuclear issue is an urgent task that South Korea, the U.S. and Japan should jointly address during a three-way summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Spain on Wednesday.   In a press briefing in Madrid ...[more...]

[Science] : A national institute announced that it has detected a type of drongo bird typically found in Southeast Asia on an island south of Jeju Island, the first time the species has been discovered in the country. According to the National Institute of Biological Resources on Wednesday, the bird, tentatively named ...[more...]

[Economy] : Representatives of labor and management have submitted amended versions of their respective proposals for next year's minimum wage. The parties turned in their second revised proposals during the eighth meeting of the Minimum Wage Commission held on Wednesday as it seeks to finalize a number for ...[more...]

[Domestic] : The government will be taking measures to protect youths exposed to harmful cyberspace environments, such as those purveying drug distribution and violence. Vice Minister of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Lee Ki-soon announced these aims on Wednesday as part of the fourth iteration of ...[more...]

[Economy] : LG Energy Solution(LGES) is reconsidering its plan to build a new battery plant in the U.S. amid global inflation and the sharp drop in the Korean currency against the dollar. An official from the company told KBS on Wednesday that LG is thoroughly reassessing the timing, scale and specifics of the ...[more...]

[Economy] : The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index(KOSPI) fell 44-point-10 points, or one-point-82 percent, on Wednesday, closing the day at two-thousand-377-point-99. The tech-heavy KOSDAQ also fell, losing seven-point-16 points, or zero-point-93 percent, to close at 762-point-35. On the foreign ...[more...]

[Economy] : The verdict of a near decade-long multi-billion dollar lawsuit filed by a private equity firm against the South Korean government is expected within the next 120 days. According to the justice ministry on Wednesday, the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes declared a "termination of ...[more...]

[Science] : South Korea's performance verification satellite carried into space with the successful launch of the country's first homegrown rocket, Nuri, is set to begin releasing smaller cube-shaped satellites from Wednesday. The four cube satellites, which are currently secured to the performance verification ...[more...]

[Inter-Korea] : North Korea slammed South Korea as President Yoon Suk Yeol prepared for his international diplomatic debut at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) summit in Spain on Wednesday. The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) on Wednesday issued a strong rebuke of NATO's invitation to ...[more...]

[Domestic] : South Korea has authorized the use of the first locally developed COVID-19 vaccine, made by SK bioscience. According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Wednesday, its final inspection committee approved the use of SKYCovione, also known as GBP510, after an expert advisory panel recommended its ...[more...]

[Domestic] : Three deceased passengers, suspected to be the family of a missing ten-year-old girl named Cho Yu-na, were found inside a vehicle recovered from waters off the coast of southwestern Wando County in South Jeolla Province. According to the local police and the Coast Guard on Wednesday, the bodies of three ...[more...]

[Domestic] : As nationwide monsoon rains drench the country on Wednesday, precipitation is forecast to concentrate in the central region, including the capital area, from Wednesday night. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration(KMA), rainfall ranging from 50 to 250 millimeters or more is expected in the ...[more...]

[Politics] : Prime Minister Han Duck-soo called on Seoul and Beijing to develop bilateral relations in a way that mutually benefits both sides and demonstrates respect for each other. Han made the remark on Tuesday during a dinner event at his official residence when asked by reporters about China's protest against ...[more...]

[Inter-Korea] : Pyongyang has yet to respond to Seoul's request for advance notice before releasing dam water to prevent flooding amid significant monsoon season rainfall. The unification ministry said on Wednesday that there was no response to Seoul’s intent to deliver an official letter as conveyed via the military ...[more...]

[Politics] : President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met for the first time face-to-face at a gala dinner on Tuesday hosted by Spain's King Felipe VI welcoming the heads of state and government on the eve of the NATO summit in Madrid. The presidential office said on Wednesday that the ...[more...]

[Politics] : ​The Navy’s Second Fleet held a ceremony on Wednesday at its Pyeongtaek headquarters to mark the 20th anniversary of the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong in 2002. Around 300 people attended the event, including those who fought in the inter-Korean skirmish and the families of the six sailors who were ...[more...]

[Economy] : South Korea and Japan have resumed flights between Seoul's Gimpo and Tokyo's Haneda airports on Wednesday after a little over two years. The Korea Airports Corporation said the route reopened with an Asiana Airline flight departing from Gimpo at 8:40 a.m. and a Korean Air flight departing 20 ...[more...]

[Politics] : A senior White House official says the upcoming three-way summit among leaders of the U.S., South Korea and Japan will mainly focus on the continuing threat from North Korea. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made the remark aboard Air Force One on Tuesday en route to Spain as he noted that the ...[more...]