The ruling Democratic Party has begun looking into delaying the introduction of the "vaccine pass" system for children aged 12 to 18 and changing the types of facilities that require the pass after strong protests from students and parents, multiple party officials said Wednesday. Under rules that took effect Monday, the list of facilities requiring visitors to present a vaccine pass -- proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result -- has expanded to include restaurants, cof

South Korea is not considering a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing and the country is still undecided on the matter, a senior presidential official said Wednesday. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, made the remarks when asked about the US government's announcement to stage a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics due to China's human rights abuses. The official said the US informed South Korea of the diplomatic boycott, and Seoul has not de

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party, on Wednesday welcomed the opposition campaign chief's proposal to spend 100 trillion won ($84.9 billion) to support small business owners and self-employed people hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. "We have been the stingiest nation in the world when it comes to supporting small business owners, passing over duties to people that are supposed to be handled by the state," Lee said during his campaign event for small a

Advisers to South Korea’s two leading presidential candidates agreed during a forum in Washington that the alliance with the US needs to be strengthened, but opinions diverged on how to denuclearize North Korea. 　 Former South Korean Ambassador Wi Sung-lac, who advises Lee Jae-myung of the liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea, and Kim Sung-han, a professor at the Korea University Graduate School of International Studies who advises Yoon Suk-yeol of the conservative opposition People

SEJONG -- Deputy prime minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday that home prices in some districts of Seoul and others nationwide have stabilized. During a meeting with real estate-related ministers, Hong said prices of some apartments in Seoul have “stabilized to the level before entering a possible downhill phase.” His remarks indicate that some districts of the capital might be seeing a plateau or slowdown in prices. He said the trend of stabilization has been at

Free lunch will be served to all kindergartners in Seoul starting in March, completing the city's universal free meal program up to high school, officials said Wednesday. Seoul's education office, city government and council of ward offices signed an agreement to provide funds for the program to all 790 public and private kindergartens, according to officials. A total of 71,876 kindergartners were enrolled in Seoul as of April. About 69.9 billion won ($59.4 million) will be necessary a year

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases reached an all-time high Wednesday, surpassing 7,000 for the first time since the virus crisis began nearly two years ago. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said 7,175 cases were registered in the preceding 24 hours to Tuesday midnight, exceeding the 7,000 mark for the first time, a week after staying in the 5,000 range since Dec. 1. The latest tally puts the country’s total caseload at 489,484. The number of patients in serious

Presidential candidates show off their digital engagement with AI avatars

Agency stages online export opportunities through 4-day global trade event in Seoul

Jungheung Construction, a midsized local builder, said Wednesday that it will sign a deal this week to buy a controlling stake in Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. In July, Jungheung Construction was named the preferred bidder to take over the 50.75-percent stake in its bigger rival from an investment fund under the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB). The deal is known to be worth around 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion). In 2018, Hoban Construction Co. was selected as a preferred bid

Hyundai Motor Group is likely to post a better-than-expected fourth quarter result as well as a record-high operating profit of 7 trillion won ($5.9 billion) this year, despite the ongoing chip shortage, market experts said Wednesday.  Market analysts viewed that the Korean automaker’s focus on expanding sales of its ecofriendly models and broadening its product mix to enhance its brand value has helped the company to anticipate a turnaround this year.  Nine local securities f

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that it was ranked 4th out of the top 150 global tech companies in an index that gauged corporate efforts in using technology ethically and for reducing digital inequality overall. The Korean tech giant’s ranking soared from last year’s 10th position from the World Benchmarking Alliance’s Digital Inclusion Benchmark, topping all of its Asian peers. The WBA is a global alliance of more than 200 global, regional and local organizations that

The average price of Seoul apartments has soared more than twofold in about five years under the current Moon Jae-in administration, according to a civic group analysis Wednesday. According to the analysis by the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ), an apartment in Seoul fetched 43.09 million won ($36,590) per pyeong, or 3.3 square meters, on average as of November, up 109 percent compared to May 2017 when Moon was sworn into office. The average price of 99.1-square-meter apartment

Changed circumstances cast doubt on validity of president’s efforts, some commentators say