The semifinals for the AFC Asian Cup Qatar have been set: Jordan will be facing South Korea at midnight Tuesday, and Iran will go against the host Qatar at midnight Wednesday. From the start, South Korea has made it clear that it was aiming for the Champion’s trophy. Still, it has limped its way into the semifinals in a series of disappointing matches that have brought significant criticism of the team’s head coach, Juergen Klinsmann. Still, the team has progressed to the point where

Soccer Feb. 6, 2024

　China’s population fell for a second consecutive year in 2023, as a record low birth rate and a wave of COVID-19 deaths when strict lockdowns ended accelerated a downturn that will have profound long-term effects on the economy’s growth potential. 　The National Bureau of Statistics said the total number of people in China dropped by 2.08 million, or 0.15 percent, to 1.41 billion in 2023. That was well above the population decline of 850,000 in 2022, which had been the first since

World News Feb. 5, 2024

The Korea Baseball Organization looks like it will be implementing most of the same changes in rules that heated up the MLB in 2023. The Automatic Ball-Strike System, larger bases and limits on defensive shifts are part of seven major rule changes that will be implemented in the 2024 season. The KBO, however, has put the brakes on the introduction of a pitch clock. If implemented, a pitch clock would force pitchers to deliver a pitch within 15 seconds with the bases empty and 20 seconds with run

Baseball Feb. 2, 2024

The number of North Korean defectors who arrived in South Korea came to 196 last year amid a rise in defections by North Korean diplomats and trade officials, government data showed. The defections by 32 men and 164 women raised the total number of the North’s defectors in South Korea to 34,078, according to the data from Seoul’s Unification Ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs. The figure represented a hike from 2021 and 2022, when the number of North Korean defectors entering

North Korea Feb. 1, 2024

The South Korean government has unveiled plans to achieve 30-minute commutes within the capital region by GTX or Great Train Express. The GTX-A line connecting Suseo Station in Seoul’s Gangnam-gu with Dongtan Station in Hwaseong, 45 kilometers south of the capital, is scheduled to open in March, while the GTX-B line linking Incheon, west of Seoul, to Namyangju, east of Seoul, will begin construction in March. The line will enter service in 2030. The GTX-C line that passes through Uijeongbu

Social Affairs Jan. 31, 2024

　Former US President Donald Trump easily won New Hampshire’s primary over former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, seizing the lead in the race for the Republican nomination. He also made a November rematch against President Joe Biden feel nearly inevitable. 　Out of the Republican candidates, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis suspended his campaign before the New Hampshire primary. Poor finishes in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses also ended the White House bids of biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy an

World News Jan. 30, 2024

Korean-style fried chicken and kimchi were cited as some of the favorite “hansik” foods among people overseas, a poll showed, with more people becoming aware of Korean cuisine. The survey was based on respondents from 18 major cities across the globe, including New York, Beijing and Ho Chi Minh City, in 2023. It was conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to study the awareness of hansik, or Korean cuisine, among people overseas. According to the survey, 60 p

Food Jan. 26, 2024

Air traffic in South Korea’s territorial airspace jumped 45 percent in 2023 from a year earlier on unleashed pent-up demand for travel following years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Transport Ministry said. The number of airplanes that flew over the Korean airspace reached 780,635 last year, up from 539,788 a year ago, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. But last year’s air traffic over Korea’s airspace has yet to recover to pre-pandemic level

Industry Jan. 25, 2024

The US endured a record number of 28 weather and climate disasters in 2023, each causing $1 billion or more in damage and collectively killing at least 492 people. The disasters, which included major floods in California, the Northeast and Florida and wildfires in Hawaii, broke the previous mark of 22 such disasters set in 2020, the National Centers for Environmental Information reported. The number of deaths was the eighth-highest in records for the contiguous US going back to 1980. The disas

World News Jan. 24, 2024

　A war over Taiwan would have a cost so vast that even those unhappiest with the status quo have reason not to risk it. Bloomberg Economics estimates the price tag at around $10 trillion, equal to about 10 percent of the global gross domestic product. 　Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the semiconductor shortage as many countries reopened from COVID-19 lockdowns, provide a small glimpse of what would be at stake for the global economy. The impact of war in the Taiwan Strait would be far

World News Jan. 23, 2024

The year 2023 was the warmest year of all time for South Korea, as global warming heated up the Korean Peninsula to reach an average temperature of 13.7 degrees Celsius last year, the state weather agency said. It marks the highest annual mean temperature since 1973, the year considered the starting point for weather records in South Korea when the country’s meteorological networks were significantly beefed up, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. Last year’s tempera

Social Affairs Jan. 22, 2024

Seoul has become the 14th most visited city by foreign travelers in 2023, according to global market analyst firm, Euromonitor. It jumped 12 notches this year from 26th in 2022. Paris has once again been named the world’s most attractive city destination, followed by Dubai in second and Madrid in third. Tokyo came in fourth, while Amsterdam rounded up the top five, according to data. Seoul, ranked third in Asia after Tokyo and Singapore, is higher than competing Asian cities such as Osaka

World News Jan. 19, 2024

Over 8,000 permanent residents have fulfilled South Korea’s military service over the past two decades under a voluntary enrollment system, the Military Manpower Administration said. The manpower agency adopted the voluntary enrollment system in 2004 to allow overseas residents whose mandatory military service was exempted or postponed due to their permanent residence status. All able-bodied Korean men are obliged to serve in the military for at least 18 months. The number of cumulative ap

Defense Jan. 18, 2024

The number of newly established companies in South Korea fell for the second consecutive year in 2022 amid an economic slowdown, data showed. Some 997,000 businesses were newly established in 2022, down 3.5 percent from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea. In 2021, the figure decreased 3.4 percent, or 35,000 firms, on-year to come to 1.02 million amid the COVID-19 pandemic. By industry, the number of newcomers in the real estate sector fell by the largest 32,000 entiti

Companies Jan. 17, 2024

Now 100 days old, the latest Israel-Hamas war is by far the longest, bloodiest and most destructive conflict between the bitter enemies. Fighting erupted on Oct. 7 when Hamas carried out a deadly attack in southern Israel. Since then, Israel has relentlessly pounded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and a ground offensive that have wrought unprecedented destruction, flattening entire neighborhoods. The offensive has displaced the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza, shuttered operations in nearly

World News Jan. 16, 2024