GWANGJU -- A safety inspection was under way Wednesday as authorities weighed when to resume a search for the six workers who went missing after the collapse of a facade of a high-rise apartment building under construction in the southwestern city of Gwangju a day earlier. Search efforts at the collapse site were temporarily suspended Tuesday night due to safety concerns over possible further di...

The Supreme Prosecutors Office (SPO) on Wednesday ordered the launch of a joint investigation into a construction site accident in Gwangju in which six people remain unaccounted for. Six workers were unaccounted for after a facade of a high-rise apartment building under construction in Gwangju, 330 kilometers south of Seoul, collapsed Tuesday, according to police. The SPO said it ordered the Gw...

Tours to the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom will be suspended starting next week due to spikes in COVID-19 infections, the UN Command (UNC) said Wednesday. The UNC will discontinue the tour program to the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, effective Tuesday, less than two months after it resumed the tours in line with the country's "living wit...

South Korea has successfully tested a counter missile system for military aircraft to help dodge enemies' portable surface-to-air missiles, a state-run defense research agency said Wednesday. The directional infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) system enables aircraft to dodge missiles by emitting a laser beam to the ground, blinding missiles that rely on heat to track targets. The Agency for Defen...

The World Food Programme (WFP) has not provided North Korea with any food assistance for nearly a year, its monthly report showed Wednesday, amid the country's strict border controls against COVID-19. The UN food agency last delivered 891.5 tons of fortified food and 4,970 tons of raw food commodities to North Korea from January to March last year, assisting 566,886 people, according to its Dece...

South Korea's military on Wednesday reported 65 additional COVID-19 cases, including 62 breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 3,526. Of the new cases, 46 are from the Army, 14 from the Air Force, four from units under the direct control of the defense ministry, and one from the Marine Corps. Currently, 226 military personnel are under treatment. Of the total...

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol overtook his ruling party rival Lee Jae-myung after gaining 38 percent public support against Lee's 35.3 percent, a survey showed Wednesday. Yoon of the conservative People Power Party added 3.1 percentage points, while Lee of the liberal Democratic Party lost 7.1 points, according to the survey of 1,014 adults conducted by Hangil Research fro...

The number of South Korean workers who took time off to take care of their children rose 3.7 percent in 2020 from a year earlier amid more government support for parental leave, government data showed. A total of 169,345 workers took parental leave to take care of their children in 2020, up 6,089 from the previous year, according to the preliminary data from Statistics Korea. The figure was ...

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases bounced back to above 4,000 for the first time in six days Wednesday, putting health authorities on high alert over a possible resurgence amid omicron concerns. The country added 4,388 new COVID-19 infections, including 4,007 local infections, raising the total caseload to 674,868, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Wednesd...

A little over half of South Koreans support the abolishment of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family as proposed by the main opposition party's presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, a poll showed Wednesday. According to the Realmeter survey that asked 1,011 adults on Monday and Tuesday, 51.9 percent said they support the dissolution of the ministry in charge of women's affairs, while 38.5 p...

North Korea said Wednesday it has successfully conducted the final test-firing of a new hypersonic missile a day earlier, as it continues to develop new weapons systems amid stalled nuclear negotiations with the United States. On Tuesday, South Korea's defense ministry said the North fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile into the East Sea which flew over 700 kilometers at a maximum altit...

A progressive lawyers’ group Tuesday slammed an anti-corruption investigative agency established by President Moon Jae-in administration over alleged spying on South Koreans. Lawyers for a Democratic Society, more widely known by the Korean acronym Minbyun, held a round-table talk with civic groups to address recent allegations of communications surveillance by the Corruption Investigation Offic...

How an international coffeehouse chain is being co-opted by the South Korean right

Key candidates are not vocal about the repeated missile tests

A facade of a high-rise apartment building under construction in the southwestern city of Gwangju collapsed Tuesday, injuring at least one person and burying about 10 vehicles under the rubble, police said. The exterior wall of the apartment building crumbled down at the construction site in western Gwangju, 330 kilometers south of Seoul, at around 3:46 p.m., police said. Three people trapped i...