North Korea plans to convene a conference of the ruling party's primary committee officials this month to push ahead with decisions made at a major party congress last year, according to Pyongyang's state media Monday. The 2nd Conference of Secretaries of Primary Committees of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) will be held in Pyongyang "during the last ten days of February," the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. "The WPK Central Committee decided to convene the con

We talked to a plastic surgery specialist, a North Korea expert, and a North Korean defector in search of the secret behind Kim Jong Un’s weight loss.  By Team Konnect Kim Min-jung (minjung.kim@heraldcorp.com) Jung Ji-eun (jungje@heraldcorp.com) Choi Jeong-yoon (jychoi@heraldcorp.com) Kim Jeong-ryul (ryul@heraldcorp.com)

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BEIJING -- The defending silver medalist South Korea was sent home in the quarterfinals of the men's team pursuit speed skating race at Beijing 2022 on Sunday. The trio of Lee Seung-hoon, Kim Min-seok and Chung Jae-won finished sixth overall among eight quarterfinalists at the National Speed Skating Oval with the time of 3:41.89. The Netherlands grabbed the last semifinal ticket in 3:38.90. Lee, Kim and Chung had combined for silver at PyeongChang 2018. Lee had also won silver in 2014 with di

BEIJING -- Two silver medals at Beijing 2022 brought out vastly different reactions from South Korean short track speed skater Choi Min-jeong. She was inconsolable after winning silver in the 1,000m on Friday at Capital Indoor Stadium. She later explained it was mostly tears of joy, though she didn't sound all that convincing. Hours later, Choi took to social media to say she would only smile from now on. And Choi kept her promise Sunday, as she was all smiles after helping South Korea to win

Gallery Hyundai, a major commercial art gallery in South Korea, plans to launch a non-fungible token-based art platform called ETNAH, that will feature digital works by renowned domestic and overseas artists. ETNAH will have a three-month test run starting May and be officially launched in August. Do Hyung-teh, president of the gallery, has formed AIT as a startup to launch the NFT art platform in collaboration with Andrew Ku, CEO of ALTAVA Group -- an IT company based in Seoul and Singapore

BEIJING -- South Korea skated to silver in the women's 3,000m short track relay at Beijing 2022 on Sunday, collecting its third consecutive medal in the event. The team of Choi Min-jeong, Lee Yu-bin, Kim A-lang and Seo Whi-min finished behind the dominant Netherlands at Capital Indoor Stadium for South Korea's third medal in short track and its fifth overall in Beijing. This was the second silver medal in Beijing for Choi, who'd finished second in the women's 1,000m on Friday. South Korea st

BEIJING -- Short track speed skater Hwang Dae-heon was disqualified in the semifinals of the men's 500m race at Beijing 2022 on Sunday, coming up short in his bid for a second medal in China. In the semifinal heat at Capital Indoor Stadium, Hwang was penalized following a late collision with another skater. On the final corer of the 4 1/2-lap, Hwang was trying to move up from fourth place and cut inside on Steven Dubois of Canada but instead bumped into him before skidding into the padded wall

BEIJING -- South Korea fell to China 6-5 for its second loss in the women's curling tournament at Beijing 2022 on Sunday, as its winning streak came to an end at two. China scored the decisive point with the last stone, or the hammer, in the extra end after the teams were deadlocked at 5-5 through 10 ends at the National Aquatics Centre. After losing to Canada to open the tournament Thursday, South Korea had beaten Britain and the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in succession. But South Korea

Top diplomats condemn recent series of missile launches, urge Pyongyang to return to negotiating table

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol met with former US Vice President Mike Pence in Seoul on Sunday and discussed security cooperation between the two countries, including the denuclearization of North Korea. "We discussed issues related to our security and Korea-US cooperation, including the denuclearization of North Korea," Yoon of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with Pence. Pence, who served under former US Presiden

Chungcheong Megacity 2027 World University Games Bid Committee, a joint organization launched by local governments in the Chungcheong region for the bid to host the 2027 FISU Summer World University Games, said earlier this month that the region has been officially selected as one of the candidates for the international multisport event. The committee, which includes officials from four local governments in the central region of South Korea -- Daejeon, Sejong and the North and South Chungcheong

The committee behind the Chungcheong Megacity bid for the 2027 World University Games has pledged to exert its utmost efforts to host the event. “Chungcheong will present the best World University Games of all time,” said Kim Yoon-suk, secretary-general of Chungcheong Megacity’s bid committee, told The Korea Herald. Kim was also secretary-general of the committee behind Gwangju’s successful bid for the 28th World University Games in 2015. And now he thinks Chungcheon

Young Korean tech firms seek to spur IT innovation in Japan, once considered an impregnable market for chaebol