South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell for the sixth consecutive day Monday amid concerns over a wintertime surge, with the government beginning to require a PCR test for travelers from China as the virus spreads in the neighboring country. The country confirmed 22,735 new coronavirus infections, including 35 from overseas, bringing the total to 29,139,535, the Korea Disease Control and Preventio...

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Monday the government will keep up the pace of labor, education and pension reforms this year, in an effort to increase productivity and revive the economy. "We will carry out in earnest the three major reforms of labor, education and pension, and the three major innovations of the finance, service and public sectors," Han told the government's kick-off ceremony ...

President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating fell for the first time in three weeks following the intrusion of North Korean drones into South Korea's airspace last week, a poll showed Monday. In the poll of 2,511 voters conducted by Realmeter from Monday to Friday last week, 40 percent positively assessed Yoon's job performance, down 1.2 percentage points from the previous week. Yoon's disapproval...

ULSAN-- A court has ruled in favor of the immigration office's decision to deport a foreigner convicted of drunk driving, court officials said Monday. In accordance with the Immigration Control Act, immigration authorities issued the deportation of the Chinese national after he was handed down a suspended prison term for driving while under the influence of alcohol and causing car accidents. Th...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the mausoleum of his late grandfather and father in his first reported public activity this year, according to Pyongyang's state media Monday. Kim paid tribute at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of state founder and his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and his father, Kim Jong-il, are enshrined, on the occasion of the start of the new year, the K...

South Korea has confirmed a new case of avian influenza at a duck farm in a southern region, local officials said Sunday. The highly pathogenic avian influenza strain of H5N1 was found at the farm located in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, according to the officials. The new case brought the total bird flu infections confirmed in the province this winter to four. About 15,000 ducks have been ...

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell for the fifth straight day on Sunday, but the number of critically ill patients rose to the highest in about eight months as the government is bracing for a wintertime surge and a spike in imported cases from China. The country confirmed 57,527 new coronavirus infections, including 110 from overseas, bringing the total to 29,116,800, the Korea Disease Contro...

South Korea's exports rose 6.1 percent in 2022 from a year earlier to reach an all-time high, but it suffered the largest ever trade deficit on high global energy prices, the industry ministry said Sunday. Outbound shipments stood at $683.9 billion last year, the largest annual figure since 1956, when the country began compiling trade related data, according to data compiled by the Ministry of T...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stressed the need to "exponentially" increase the number of the country's nuclear arsenal, saying South Korea has emerged as an "undoubted enemy," Pyongyang's state media reported Sunday. He delivered the message during a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea that ended the previous day. It was held to set Pyongyang's major policy directions for th...

North Korea fired one short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) into the East Sea on Sunday, South Korea's military said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launch from the Ryongsong area in Pyongyang at 2:50 a.m., adding the missile flew some 400 kilometers before splashing into the sea. It appears to be another response to Seoul's test launch of a homegrown solid-propellant space rocke...

South Korea will resume its annual bell-tolling ceremony to celebrate New Year's Eve after two years of suspension due to COVID-19. The ceremony hosted by the Seoul metropolitan government will take place at 11:30 p.m. Saturday at Bosingak Pavilion in central Seoul with about 100,000 people attending. Cho Gue-sung, a member of the national football team who competed in the World Cup in Qatar, p...

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell for the fourth consecutive day Saturday amid the government's efforts to contain the virus' wintertime resurgence. The country confirmed 63,104 new coronavirus infections, including 67 from overseas, bringing the total to 29,059,273, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Saturday's tally is down from 66,211 a week ago as daily infections hav...

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell for the third consecutive day Friday amid the government's efforts to contain the virus' wintertime resurgence. The country confirmed 65,207 new coronavirus infections, including 68 from overseas, bringing the total to 28,996,347, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Friday's tally has been on the decrease since Tuesday and is down from 68,...

South Korea's tax revenue grew 50.2 trillion won ($39.7 billion) in the first 11 months of 2022 from a year earlier, data showed Friday, on the back of improved corporate earnings. Tax revenue amounted to 373.6 trillion won in the January-November period, compared with 323.4 trillion won tallied the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. In November, the government col...

At an age when most athletes find themselves on the downslope of their careers, South Korean speed skater Lee Seung-hoon, about two months shy of his 35th birthday, isn't letting up. Even with six medals from four Winter Olympic Games under his belt, Lee is still hungry. And if his recent performances are any indication, Lee remains competitive, too. "My goal moving forward is to compete at the...