Prime Minister Han Duck-soo returned home on Thursday after a five-day trip to Paris where he appealed for international support for South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in the southern port city of Busan. During his first overseas trip since taking office last month, Han attended a general assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), an intergovernmental body in charge o...

The ethics committee of the ruling People Power Party has deferred a decision until next month on whether to take disciplinary action against party chairman Lee Jun-seok over allegations he received sexual services as a bribe about 10 years ago and attempted to cover up the case. The committee, however, decided at Wednesday's meeting to begin the process of reprimanding Kim Cheol-geun, a key aid...

ICHEON -- South Korea's military on Thursday launched new correctional facilities with an advanced monitoring solution, including the country's first suicide prevention sensors and other systems designed to improve the living conditions of inmates and help reduce the workload of guards. The opening of the institution, located 80 kilometers southeast of Seoul, came around two years after the Mili...

North Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases remained below 20,000 for the fifth consecutive day, according to its state media Thursday. More than 13,100 people showed symptoms of fever over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing data from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters. It did not provide information on wh...

North Korea held a rare military meeting to change the operational plan of military frontline units with leader Kim Jong-un in attendance, state media said Thursday, amid heightening tensions in the region. Kim also discussed the reorganization of key military formations as he convened the second-day sitting of the third enlarged meeting of the eighth Central Military Commission of the ruling Wo...

Leaders of Seoul, Tokyo would have chance to talk at NATO summit, National Security Adviser says

While most people would rather not have a metaphorical frog in their throat, the prospect was quite literal for students at two Seoul schools, who found uninvited amphibians in their lunch trays. Now, the suppliers of the “frog kimchi” served in the school lunches face the possibility of having their food safety certifications revoked. Both frogs were found in radish kimchi, a common side dish,...

South Korea raised the alert level for monkeypox after confirming its first patient on Wednesday. The patient had come from Germany on Tuesday afternoon, and was sent straight to the Incheon Medical Center nearby the airport for showing possible monkeypox symptoms, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. His symptoms were a low-grade fever of 37 degrees Celsius, sore throa...

The family of Lee Dae-jun, a South Korean fisheries official killed by North Korean soldiers at sea in 2020, on Wednesday filed a criminal complaint against national security and civil affairs officials of former President Moon Jae-in’s Cheong Wa Dae. Kim Ki-yun, an attorney working with the family, told reporters outside Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office that three ex-Cheong Wa Dae off...

Kim develops nuclear tests to look powerful and break Korea-US alliance: US defense expert

Strict regulations on firearms lead to virtually no gun violence in Korea; prevalent reluctance among police officers to pull trigger

First-ever multi-day defense meeting comes after N.Korean leader pledged to reinforce military capabilities at party plenum

Internal feud deepens over ethics panel’s rule over sexual misconduct

Only 14 percent of South Koreans paid for online news content last year, according to a recent report. The proportion of people who said they paid for news content, however, has been gradually increasing over the past years, the report added. According to the 2022 Digital News Report, published by Reuters Institute, the proportion of survey respondents who had paid for online news content in Sou...

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday named the chiefs of the state defense procurement and weather agencies, his office said. Eom Dong-hwan, a graduate of the Korea Military Academy and official of the Agency for Defense Development, was tapped to head the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, while Yoo Hee-dong, deputy chief of the Korea Meteorological Administration, was tapped to head t...