A ruling party lawmaker who had contact with a COVID-19 patient earlier this week tested negative for the coronavirus Friday, prompting the National Assembly to move forward with a plenary session to review the government's extra budget as planned. "I was notified that my test result came back negative. I apologize for causing concerns today," Rep. Oh Yeong-hwan of the Democratic Party told reporters through a text message. Oh underwent testing and quarantined himself earlier in t

A court on Friday overruled a police decision to disclose the personal information of a suspect involved in a high-profile online sex crime case. The Chuncheon District Court accepted an injunction request filed by a 38-year-old male suspect of the so-called Nth room sex crime case, asking to nullify a police committee's decision to reveal his identity. The man is charged with allegedly purchasing videos of underage girls being sexually exploited through a pay-to-view online club on messaging

South Korea's National Assembly was placed on high alert Friday and even rescheduled a plenary session to pass an extra budget after learning that a ruling party lawmaker had contact with a coronavirus patient earlier this week. Rep. Oh Yeong-hwan of the Democratic Party, who attended an evening event in his constituency of Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, on Wednesday, told reporters through text message that a citizen who he shook hands with at the event was confirmed to be infected with COVID-

Samsung Electronics will provide 100 percent performance-based bonuses to the employees of the semiconductor division next week, industry sources said Friday. The world’s biggest memory chip provider is planning to give its workers a half-year bonus, dubbed “target achievement incentives” based on their performances, which could be a maximum of 100 percent of their monthly salary. While the employees of the chipmaking unit are reportedly said to receive bonuses that are eq

Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mi met with executives of HDC Group, Aekyung Group and Eastar Jet on Friday to urge their air carrier merger deals, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.  Kim reportedly had discussions with HDC Group Chairman Chung Mong-kyu, Aekyung Group Vice Chairman Chae Hyung-seok and former Eastar Jet Group Chairman Lee Sang-jik and was briefed on the status of the respective merger deals. HDC Group, which owns midsized builder HDC Hyundai Dev

The state COVID-19 relief funds distributed in May appear to have led more people to eat out or spend money on food at physical stores, according to data released by the country’s statistics agency on Friday. Statistics Korea said the value of online shopping transactions was 12.72 trillion won ($10.6 billion) in May, up 13.1 percent compared to a year earlier. The online shopping transaction value had jumped 24.5 percent in February, but with the COVID-19 spreading further in March,

National Intelligence Service (NIS) director-nominee Park Jie-won is known for his role in arranging the historic first-ever inter-Korean summit in 2000 and fostering engagement with North Korea while in government service from the late 1990s to early 2000s. Park, a former lawmaker of the opposition Party for People's Livelihoods, was a close confidant to late ex-President Kim Dae-jung credited with promoting reconciliation with North Korea through his "sunshine policy," for which Ki

President Moon Jae-in on Friday replaced his top foreign policy and national security officials, naming Suh Hoon director of the National Security Office, top security adviser to the president. Suh is a longtime veteran on North Korea policy who helped to orchestrate the three inter-Korean summits in 2018. Park Jie-won, a former special envoy to North Korea who met both Kim Jong-un and his late father Kim Jong-il, was named to head the spy agency. The four-term lawmaker is a vocal supporte

The 2020 Yeowoorak Festival, a gugak-themed festival organized by the National Theater of Korea, will kick off online a day later than its original schedule. As the government suspended operation of state-run museums and theaters in the Seoul metropolitan area on June 12 until further notice, the National Theater of Korea must remain closed. Although it is shut down, the theater will continue with its annual festival, streaming two of the shows online via its channels on Naver TV and YouTub

Overseas-based artists are continuing to perform onstage in Korea, even if it means going through the two-week self-quarantine periods. Though rules on overseas travel have lately been relaxed -- allowing essential overseas trips -- still, crossing borders at a time like this is not easy. Many performances across the world have been canceled, with artists unable to travel around the way they used to. Here in Korea, some performances with foreign artists are carrying on, as the artists have b

S. Korean lawmakers on Friday are set to pass a bill for the third extra budget of up to 35.3 trillion won ($29.5 billion) in the afternoon, marking the passage of the largest-ever supplementary budget, in an effort to cushion the economy from the blows of the coronavirus pandemic. In a press briefing held earlier in the day, ruling Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Park Hong-keun set the time for the National Assembly’s plenary session vote at 7 p.m., saying that related Special Comm

South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator Lee Do-hoon met separately with the top Chinese and Russian envoys to Seoul on Friday and discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula. The meetings took place as Lee reported to work for the first time since his release from mandatory two-week self-isolation after returning from a trip to Washington, where he held talks with his counterpart, Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun. Lee first met with Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming, who was seen ar

South Korean shares closed higher Friday on hopes of economic recovery buoyed by better-than-anticipated economic indicators from major economies, including the United States. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 17.04 points, or 0.80 percent, to close at 2,152.41. Trading volume was moderate at about 754 million shares worth some 8.5 trillion won ($7.1 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 529 to 307. The gains were led

Unification minister-designate Lee In-young is a four-term lawmaker known for leading the pro-democracy student movement in the 1980s as the inaugural leader of what was then the country's biggest college student organization. Lee's designation is widely seen as reflecting President Moon Jae-in's intention to seek a breakthrough in the long-stalled inter-Korean relations amid North Korea's anger over anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets and Seoul's overall policy on cross-border relations. Born

South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves hit a fresh record high of $410.75 billion last month, having gained $3.44 billion on-month due to a weak dollar trend, the nation’s central bank said Friday. “Profits and investment returns from foreign assets coupled with the weak dollar trend translating into a higher dollar-converted value of other currencies contributed to the gain,” A Bank of Korea official said. Korea’s forex reserves have increased for three conse