The Pittsburgh Pirates' South Korean first baseman Choi Ji-man said Monday he was "deeply hurt" to miss out on a chance to represent the country at the upcoming World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying the club's decision to block his participation for medical reasons disappointed him. Earlier in the day, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) had announced it had cut Choi from the 30-man roster for ...

President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed the government on Monday to come up with active measures to provide humanitarian assistance to Iran and Turkey hit hard by recent earthquakes, his office said. Yoon gave the instruction to the presidential National Security Office and the foreign ministry. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Turkey early Monday, killing at least 912 people and injuring m...

Seoul shares ended lower Monday, as strong US jobs data fueled fears of further rate hikes to tame inflation. The Korean won fell sharply to a monthly low against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 42.21 points, or 1.7 percent, to close at 2,438.19 points. Trading volume was moderate at 554 million shares worth some 7.54 trillion won ($6 billion), with decliners...

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell to the lowest tally in 224 days on Monday, a week after the country lifted most mandatory indoor mask-wearing rules amid a COVID-19 downtrend. The country reported 5,850 new cases, including 20 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,263,261, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. It is the lowest daily count since June 27 la...

South Korean short track speed skater Park Ji-won has strengthened his grip on the World Cup overall lead with two more gold medals in Germany over the weekend. Park won the men's 1,500 meters in the fifth stop of the International Skating Union World Cup Short Track Speed Skating in Dresden, Germany, on Sunday (local time). The 26-year-old had won the 1,000m gold medal on Saturday. With the t...

South Korea will seek to build a statue of a British journalist in his birthplace to commemorate his activism against Japanese imperialists in the early 20th century, the veterans ministry said Monday. Veterans Minister Park Min-shik unveiled the plan in Britain on Friday as he met with Thomas Owen Bethell, a grandson of Ernest Bethell (1872-1909), who helped reveal to the world Imperial Japan's...

Seoul shares opened lower Monday, tracking losses on Wall Street, as the US Federal Reserve said last week it will continue to raise rates for a while to tame inflation. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 30.8 points, or 1.24 percent, to 2,449.60 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4 percent to 33,926.01 points, whil...

North Korea plans to hold a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea in late February to discuss issues related to agricultural development, its state media said Monday. At a politburo meeting of the WPK's Central Committee held the previous day, the North unanimously decided to convene the seventh enlarged plenary meeting of the party late this month, according to the Korean Centra...

SINAN -- 5 of crew members missing from fishing boat capsizing found dead Rescuers searching a 24-ton fishing boat that capsized off the southwestern coast found five missing crew members dead inside the shipwreck Monday, Coast Guard officials said. Seawater started to flood the ship's engine room, causing the vessel, the Cheongbo, to overturn at 11:19 p.m. Saturday in waters 16.6 kilometers we...

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed below 15,000 on Sunday amid the view that the winter wave of infections has probably peaked. The country reported 14,018 new cases, including 34 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,257,411, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The daily caseload fell to the lowest Sunday tally in 31 weeks. The country added 22 COVID-...

Bereaved families of the victims of the Itaewon crowd crush on Saturday took to the streets of downtown Seoul and installed a memorial altar in a public square without approval from authorities, one day before the 100th day of the tragedy. About 5,000 people, including about 150 family members, marched from a memorial altar at Noksapyeong Station, near the site of the Oct. 29 accident that kille...

South Korea and the United States are in talks over a possible state visit to Washington by President Yoon Suk Yeol in the first half of the year, a diplomatic source said Friday. If it materializes, it would be the first state visit to the United States by a South Korean president in 12 years. President Lee Myung-bak was the last president to pay such a visit to Washington in 2011. The source ...

A lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic Party on Friday countersued the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol for accusing him of libel after he raised stock manipulation allegations involving the first lady. Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom, the Democratic Party spokesperson, filed a complaint against the presidential chief of staff Kim Dae-ki with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on charges of making f...

South Korea's financial regulator said Friday that local credit card firms can introduce Apple Pay, the long-awaited mobile payment service of US tech giant Apple Inc., as they have followed relevant procedures. There have been reports for months that Hyundai Card Co., a local credit card unit of Hyundai Motor Group, is in talks with Apple over the launch of Apple Pay that allows customers to ma...

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell to the lowest Friday tally in 31 weeks amid a gradual downtrend as the government has taken steps to support people's return to pre-pandemic normalcy. The country reported 14,961 new cases, including 28 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,228,889, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. It is the lowest daily count for any...