Firefighters have been trying overnight to put out a blaze that broke out at a synthetic fiber manufacturing factory in the southeastern city of Ulsan on Sunday, authorities said. The fire broke out at 6:55 p.m. at a combined seven-story factory of Hyosung TNC Corp. and has not been contained for over 11 hours, according to the Ulsan Fire Department. Two of the factory's workers were sent to a ...

Cases exceed 7,000 for two days in row, with omicron taking up around half

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases on Sunday spiked to the second-largest figure since the pandemic outbreak, putting health authorities on alert amid the fast spread of the omicron variant. The country added 7,630 new COVID-19 infections, including 7,343 local infections, raising the total caseload to 733,902, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Sunday's fig...

South Korea‘s daily coronavirus cases jumped to over 7,000 for the first time in a month on Saturday amid the fast spread of the omicron variant. The country added 7,009 new COVID-19 infections, including 6,729 local infections, raising the total caseload to 726,274, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). It is the first time since mid-December that the numbe...

The Ministry of Justice has opened another third-party visa application center in London earlier this week, the latest in a series of moves to reduce the workload of embassy staff. “Starting from January 17, 2022, the Government of the Republic of Korea will open the Korea Visa Application Center (KVAC) in London, operated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), to manage Korean v...

A court on Friday allowed a YouTube-based media outlet to broadcast most of its recordings of phone conversations between one of its staffers and the wife of main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol. In an injunction suit launched by Kim Keon-hee, Yoon's wife, the Seoul Southern District Court allowed Voice of Seoul to disclose the recordings, except for parts that delve into private...

Thousands of Buddhist monks held a rally in Seoul on Friday, demanding President Moon Jae-in apologize for what they called the government's anti-Buddhist bias after a ruling party lawmaker accused temples of collecting admission fees from visitors to national parks. The lawmaker, Rep. Jung Chung-rai of the Democratic Party, has been under a firestorm of criticism from South Korea's largest Budd...

The South Korean government will lower the age minimum for COVID-19 treatment pills from 65 to 60 to better counter the spread of the omicron variant, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Friday. Kim announced the measure during the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting, along with other changes that the government will bring into the country’s COVID-19 response system. “...

South Korea‘s daily COVID-19 cases stayed above 6,000 for a second consecutive day as of midnight Thursday, largely as the spread of the omicron variant picks up pace. As of midnight Thursday, the country added 6,769 new COVID-19 cases, which raised the total caseload to 719,269, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The country‘s daily caseload surpassed 6,000 on Wednesday for ...

What to know about new testing protocol

CHEONGJU -- A battery factory in the southern city of Cheongju caught fire Friday, leaving one person trapped inside, firefighters said. The fire broke out at the auto battery factory at around 3 p.m. in the city, 140 kilometers south of Seoul. Two people were immediately rescued, but one other is believed to be trapped inside the building, firefighting authorities said. Police initially said ...

South Korea plans to host the World Forestry Congress (WFC), the world's largest gathering of foresters, in May this year, government officials said Friday. The 15th WFC is scheduled to take place at Seoul's COEX from May 2-6, according to the Korea Forest Service (KFS). The WFC is the largest and most influential gathering of the world's forestry sector, and it has been held every six years un...

JEJU -- The provincial government of Jeju said Friday it will push to raise the minimum investment required of foreigners under its real-estate investment immigration policy to 1.5 billion won. Under the current property investment immigration system, foreigners who invest 500 million won (about $419,000) or more in condominiums or other resort facilities on the southern resort island are eligib...

Prosecutors have found Cho Won-tae, chairman of Hanjin Group and Korean Air, borrowed and repaid 3 billion won ($2.5 million) from a man at the center of a far-reaching development corruption scandal but concluded there was no illegality in the transaction, sources said Friday. The transaction was detected as the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office looked into bank accounts of Kim Man-bae,...

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases stayed over 6,000 for a second straight day Friday amid concerns over the spread of the omicron variant ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. The country added 6,769 new COVID-19 infections, including 6,482 local infections, raising the total caseload to 719,269, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Health authorities are on h...