South Korea is wrapped in collective shock and grief from the unprecedented tragedy that took the lives of 155 people in a popular nightlife district in central Seoul. The number of deaths continued to rise, reaching 155 people with more than 149 injured on Monday. Twenty-six foreigners were among the dead. They are from Iran, China, the US, Japan, France, Australia, Norway, Vietnam, Thailand, ...

At least 26 foreign nationals are among the 155 confirmed deaths from Saturday night's crowd crush that occurred amid Halloween celebrations in Seoul's Itaewon. According to authorities, foreign casualties stood at 26 as of Monday. They are from Iran, China, the US, Japan, France, Australia, Norway, Vietnam, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Austria and Russia. Foreign Minister Park ...

The area around Itaewon in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul, full of excited Halloween partygoers on Saturday night, turned into a catastrophic scene in an instant. At least 153 people died and dozens were injured in a crowd crush that took place in a narrow alley near the neighborhood’s famous Hamilton Hotel. There were 3,580 cases of missing people as of 2 p.m. on Sunday, according to the center.

President Yoon Suk-yeol held an emergency meeting and instructed officials to quickly dispatch the disaster medical assistance team, the presidential office said at around 1 a.m. on Sunday as dozens of people are reported to be in cardiac arrest in Itaewon, central Seoul, where large crowds were celebrating the first outdoor no-mask Halloween since the pandemic. "The top priority right now is sa...

The fire department issued a first stage response at 10:38 p.m. on Saturday, and then upgraded it to stage three at 11:50 p.m. A total of 848 personnel, including 364 firefighters, were mobilized to deal with the accident and 142 ambulances were deployed. At around 11:30 p.m., rescue workers were conducting CPR on dozens of people that went unconscious near the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon, reports...

From the stance of Korean diplomacy, relations with Japan are the primary dilemma. Although there may be some differences in degree compared to the US according to political orientation, an alliance has immutable value. It has an absolute influence on daily life in Korea. At the same time, though we may have a different perspective from China, we cannot neglect China’s influence on Korea’s econom...

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday addressed the National Assembly amid escalating partisan conflict that led to an unprecedented complete boycott by the main opposition party. Doubling down on defense In the address, Yoon stressed the need to strengthen deterrence against North Korea, saying that another nuclear weapons test by Pyongyang is imminent. “It is judged that North Korea has already...

Tensions between the ruling and main opposition parties are intensifying, as prosecutors investigations close in on Democratic Party Chairman Rep. Lee Jae-myung. After a previous failure to raid the party’s Institute for Democracy think tank in Yeouido, Seoul, the prosecution again raided the institute Monday morning as part of its investigation into its Vice President Kim Yong, a close aide to ...

Main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung urged President Yoon Suk-yeol and the ruling People Power Party to accept the special prosecution of controversial property development as political tension escalates after the prosecution arrested Lee’s close aide on election violation charges. As the prosecution's investigation into the property development related to Daejang-dong spread to...

President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday that the spirit of freedom and solidarity pursued by the Korean government is no different from the spirit of the Olympics, adding that global challenges should be overcome with the Olympic spirit. “We will do our best to bring the spirit of freedom and solidarity into the overall sports field and do our best to contribute to the international community ...

President Yoon Suk-yeol expressed concerns about the service failures of the nation's most popular message app KakaoTalk in an emergency such as war, according to local media outlets Tuesday. During a meeting of the president's chief secretaries on Monday, Yoon expressed concerns, asking what would happen KakaoTalk becomes unavailable in an emergency such as war as the majority of members of the...

President Yoon Suk-yeol is likely to move into the new presidential residence in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, within this month after a monthslong delay. Yoon has been commuting to work from his home in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul since his inauguration in May. An official from the presidential office said at a briefing on Monday, "We are currently conducting a final inspection of the security...

KakaoTalk's outage over the weekend has spilled over into the political arena, with the president and political parties honing in on the nation's largest messaging app operator. On Monday, President Yoon Suk-yeol said that the state would respond to revamp the system, considering communication networks as a part of the national infrastructure. The government is also looking at whether a Kakao mo...

Bibongi, the last Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin held in captivity in South Korea, was returned to the wild after 17 years. The government said on Sunday it had released Bibongi, at 9:40 a.m. in the sea after 70 days of training. There were a total of eight in domestic aquariums in 2012, but seven returned to nature from 2013 to 2017.

Boy band BTS is set to hold a concert in Busan on Saturday night to support the city's bid to host the 2030 World Expo. The free show will be the group’s first performance in South Korea since March, when they staged the Permission to Dance on Stage shows in Seoul. It will also be the first BTS concert at a fully packed stadium, where most of the 50,000 seats will be taken by its fans, in three ...