WASHINGTON -- The United States will have to take certain actions that will be "more defensive" should North Korea conduct a nuclear test, President Joe Biden said Monday. The US leader said he has also called on Chinese President Xi Jinping to try and prevent North Korea from taking further escalatory steps, noting the US' defensive actions, if taken, will be "up in the face of China." "I made...

Seoul stocks ended lower Monday as investors moved to cash in part of recent gains on cautions that it would be too early to expect the Federal Reserve to slow down its aggressive rate hikes push. After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 8.51 points, or 0.34 percent, to close at 2,474.65. Trading volume was moderate at about 499 million shares worth some 7.21 t...

North Korea remains unresponsive to South Korea's move to send back the body of a presumed North Korean woman who was found near a border river in July, according to Seoul's unification ministry Monday. At the 9 a.m. daily opening call via the inter-Korean liaison hotline, the North did not make any comment on the South's move to return the body Thursday through the truce village of Panmunjom, t...

Unionized firefighters filed a complaint against Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min on Monday for alleged negligence in connection with the crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood. Lee, who is in charge of public safety, has come under public criticism for the lack of proper crowd management and response to the crowd surge in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon on Oct. 29 that k...

A key South Korean military intelligence unit will be given additional areas of responsibilities, such as cybersecurity, to better protect the country's defense technologies, the defense ministry said Monday. The ministry put on public notice a revision to a decree governing the operation of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, as it has been striving to shield the arms industry from potenti...

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases hit the highest Monday tally in nine weeks amid concerns of the virus' resurgence in the winter. The country reported 23,765 new COVID-19 infections, including 54 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 26,217,994, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Monday's tally is up from 18,665 the previous week and the highest of all Mondays s...

The death toll from the crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood rose by one to 158, authorities said Monday. The additional victim is a South Korean woman in her 20s, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said. A total of 132 South Koreans and 26 foreign nationals were killed during the crowd surge in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon on Oct. 29. Funeral proc...

BALI -- President Yoon Suk-yeol arrived in Bali, Indonesia, late on Sunday for a three-day visit that will include his attendance at a Group of 20 (G-20) summit and various business events. In Bali, Yoon will continue his two-nation tour that took him first to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for summits involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and separate summits with the leaders of the Unit...

South Korean stocks opened higher Monday as eased inflation woes raised hopes for less aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 8.11 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,491.27 in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average grew 0.1 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.88 percent on hopes that ...

South Korea's defense ministry has selected a successful bidder in its project to acquire and install electromagnetic wave detectors around the THAAD missile defense base in a southeastern county, officials said Sunday. The ministry is to receive the delivery of eight electromagnetic wave detectors by April 28, 2023, under a promise made to residents in Seongju, 217 kilometers southeast of Seoul...

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- President Yoon Suk-yeol will hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of regional gatherings in Cambodia on Sunday, his office said. A presidential official told reporters the summit was fixed Saturday, as both leaders are in Phnom Penh to attend various summits involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The two sides a...

PHNOM PENH -- President Yoon Suk-yeol on Saturday voiced hope for a swift reactivation of trilateral cooperation mechanisms among South Korea, China and Japan. Yoon made the remark during a summit involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea, China and Japan, known as the ASEAN Plus Three, which brought together the leaders of nine ASEAN countries, Chinese Premier...

South Korea defeated Iceland 1-0 Friday in their final match before the upcoming FIFA World Cup, with several players on the bubble unable to make a compelling case for their places on the squad for the big tournament. Midfielder Song Min-kyu scored his first international goal in the 33rd minute at Hwaseong Sports Complex Main Stadium in Hwaseong, some 40 kilometers south of Seoul, but Sou...

The death toll from the crowd crush in Seoul‘s Itaewon neighborhood increased by one to 157, authorities said Friday. The additional victim is a soldier who was pronounced brain dead and donated his organs. A total of 131 South Koreans and 26 foreigners were killed during the crowd surge in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon on Oct. 29, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Hea...

A monetary policymaker of the Bank of Korea on Friday underlined the need for "simple" and "direct" communication when the central bank tries to send signals to the market on its future policy directions. Park Ki-young, one of the BOK's seven-member monetary policy board that determines the key policy interest rate, also raised the need for more research for the central bank's effective communic...