South Korea's military on Tuesday reported 40 additional COVID-19 cases, including 35 breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 2,777. Of the new cases, 15 people are from the Army, 13 from the Air Force, four from the Navy, and seven from units under the direct control of the defense ministry, officials said. An officer from the ministry was also infected. Currently, 308 military personnel are under treatment. Of the total military caseload, 1,016 are breakthr

　South Korea’s imports of whisky soared more than 70 percent in the first 10 months of the year as more people drank at home amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed. 　The value of whisky imports came to $93.21 million in the January-October period, up 73.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and the local liquor industry. 　It represents the first on-year increase in the country’s whisky imports since 2014. 　Industry sources attribu

South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed below 6,000 for the second straight day Tuesday, but critical cases and deaths hit record highs amid concerns over the spread of the new omicron variant. The country added 5,567 new COVID-19 infections, including 5,525 local cases, raising the total caseload to 528,652, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.  Daily infections soared to a record high of 7,174 cases on Wednesday and remained above 7,000 for the following two

South Korea's sensational survival drama "Squid Game" has been nominated in three categories, including the best TV drama series, at the 79th annual Golden Globe Awards. According to the nominations announced by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) on Monday (US time), the Netflix original was listed in the categories -- Best TV Series-Drama, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series-Drama and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role on TV. "Squid Game"

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday as investors took to the sidelines ahead of a meeting of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) retreated 13.8 points, or 0.46 percent, to 2,987.86 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The KOSPI dropped below the 3,000-point level as investors weighed the possibility of the Fed quickening its stimulus withdrawal and making hawkish signals about adjusting its key interest rate. Overnigh

WASHINGTON -- North Korea appears to be aiming to counter or cripple US missile defense programs deployed in the Northeast Asian region, the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in a report released Monday. The report follows a series of short and medium-range missile tests conducted by the North this year. "The recent advances in North Korea's ballistic missile test program appear to be directed at developing capabilities to defeat or degrade the effectiveness of missile defenses

South Korea's import prices dropped for the first time in seven months in November as prices of oil and other raw materials declined, central bank data showed Tuesday. The import price index inched down 0.6 percent last month from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. This marked the first on-month decline in seven months The decline is blamed on a fall in international crude oil prices and other raw materials, including mining products. The central bank

WASHINGTON -- The United States has no hostile policy toward North Korea while it continues to wait for a positive response from the reclusive state to its outreach, a state department spokesperson said Monday. Jalina Porter, principal deputy spokesperson for the state department, also reiterated the US remains ready to meet with North Korea any time without any preconditions. "We remain committed to achieving a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and diplomacy with the

In 1936, human rights advocates pushed for a boycott of the “Nazi Olympics,” two years after Adolf Hitler seized power and began persecuting Jews. Some critics claimed the move was hypocritical given the ongoing discrimination against Black people in the United States. In the end, however, the games went on, with Black US track star Jesse Owens winning four gold medals. Thus, the 1936 games dealt a blow to Nazi claims of “Aryan” racial supremacy. Fast forward to the upc

In his quest to make his country the undisputed leader of the global economy, China’s President Xi Jinping can learn a lot from his next-door neighbor, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Not about what to do, but about what not to do. Except Xi just doesn’t seem to get it. Putin has been putting on a cram course of a clinic that you would think would be helping his nominally still-communist neighbor figure out how to out-capitalist the capitalists. Someday in the not-far-off