National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug met with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka on Thursday to discuss expanding economic cooperation and minerals investment. Park made the two-day trip to Sri Lanka to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relations. In the meeting with the Sri Lankan president, Park stressed how the economic structures of South Korea and Sri Lanka “complement” each other

The South Korean government will lower the age minimum for COVID-19 treatment pills from 65 to 60 to better counter the spread of the omicron variant, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Friday. Kim announced the measure during the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting, along with other changes that the government will bring into the country’s COVID-19 response system. “(The government) will make several changes in the country’s response system to mor

South Korea‘s daily COVID-19 cases stayed above 6,000 for a second consecutive day as of midnight Thursday, largely as the spread of the omicron variant picks up pace. As of midnight Thursday, the country added 6,769 new COVID-19 cases, which raised the total caseload to 719,269, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The country‘s daily caseload surpassed 6,000 on Wednesday for the first time in 27 days, after staying below the mark since Dec. 24, when the figure re

Criticisms over territorial broadcaster KBS1 abusing a horse to film a scene for the 7th episode of the period drama “The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won” is continuing even after the apology statement was released on Thursday. The scene, which was aired on Jan. 1, featured Yi Seong-gye, the founder of the Joseon Kingdom accidentally falling from the horse. “We feel deeply responsible and apologize for the accident that occurred during filming,” the broadcaster said. &ldquo

South Korean stocks retreated nearly 1 percent Friday, marking the lowest closing since December 2020, due to inflation woes amid heightened expectations of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 28.39 points, or 0.99 percent, to close at 2,834.29 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 524 million shares worth some 10.5 trillion won ($8.8 billion), with losers far outnumbering gainers

What to know about new testing protocol

CHEONGJU -- A battery factory in the southern city of Cheongju caught fire Friday, leaving one person trapped inside, firefighters said. The fire broke out at the auto battery factory at around 3 p.m. in the city, 140 kilometers south of Seoul. Two people were immediately rescued, but one other is believed to be trapped inside the building, firefighting authorities said. Police initially said four people were inside the burning building with one having been rescued, but firefighters later co

South Korea plans to increase the supply of beef and pork by around 50 percent on-year ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in an effort to help stabilize consumer prices, a senior government official said Friday. The government plans to increase the supply of beef and pork, key foodstuff needed to prepare for holiday meals, to 18,700 tons and 67,200 tons, respectively, according to Vice First Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon. South Korea began providing a record amount of 204,000 tons of holiday-

South Korea is not considering lifting a ban on imports of Japanese seafood to win Japan's support for joining a mega free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region, Seoul's oceans minister has said. South Korea is working to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which involves 11 nations, including Australia and Japan. Japan has long been reluctant to South Korea's joining due mainly to Seoul's ban on Fukushima seafood. Since 2013, South Kor

Korea’s per capita national debt to reach record-high of W20.8 mil

The convenience store chain 7-Eleven of Korea’s retail giant Lotte Group said Friday it joined hands with Oasis Business, startup solution platform, to develop an Artificial Intelligence solution to support those who wish to start the franchise business. Based on the partnership, the store chain plans to provide more objective data of the commercial area around the new franchise and accurate sales projections. The AI-analyzed data includes the number of the floating population, sales fig

South Korea plans to host the World Forestry Congress (WFC), the world's largest gathering of foresters, in May this year, government officials said Friday. The 15th WFC is scheduled to take place at Seoul's COEX from May 2-6, according to the Korea Forest Service (KFS). The WFC is the largest and most influential gathering of the world's forestry sector, and it has been held every six years under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It also provides a

JEJU -- The provincial government of Jeju said Friday it will push to raise the minimum investment required of foreigners under its real-estate investment immigration policy to 1.5 billion won. Under the current property investment immigration system, foreigners who invest 500 million won (about $419,000) or more in condominiums or other resort facilities on the southern resort island are eligible to receive a resident visa. The visa can be upgraded to a permanent residence visa after five year

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung on Friday proposed an emergency meeting between all presidential candidates to discuss increasing an extra government budget under consideration to 35 trillion won ($29.3 billion) to support pandemic-hit merchants. Lee of the liberal Democratic Party (DP) made the proposal only hours after the Cabinet endorsed a 14 trillion won extra budget for the same purpose to be submitted to the National Assembly for approval. The amount of 35 trillion won