A top Chinese official in charge of foreign affairs said Beijing supports Seoul's push for the declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korea's embassy Friday. Yang Jiechi, a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, delivered the message during a meeting with Suh Hoon, director of national security at Cheong Wa Dae who serves as President Moon Jae-in's national security adviser, in China's eastern city of Tianjin the previous day, the embassy in B

South Korea's Navy looks set to embark on a long-cherished project next year to secure a light aircraft carrier, as the National Assembly passed a 7.2 billion won ($6.1 million) budget for the project Friday in a reversal of an earlier move to slash it. The legislature passed the budget in a plenary vote, reversing a committee-level decision last month to reduce it to 500 million won -- a drastic cut that threatened to derail the Navy's push to acquire the coveted vessel by 2033. With the budg

K-pop superband BTS has topped nine of Billboard's year-end charts for 2021, including the year's top duo/group category. According to Billboard on Friday, BTS ranked No. 1 on the lists of Top Artists - Duo/Group, Hot 100 Artists - Duo/Group, Billboard 200 Artists - Duo/Group, Billboard Global Excl. US Artists, Digital Song Sales Artists and World Albums Artists. The band's 2020 hit song "Dynamite" led the year-end Billboard Global Excl. US chart, while "Butter" stood atop

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases fell below 5,000 on Friday, but the number of critically ill patients hit yet another record high as the country prepares to limit private gatherings amid growing concerns over the new omicron variant. The country reported 4,944 new COVID-19 cases, including 4,923 local infections, raising the total caseload to 462,555, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The number of critically ill patients came to 736, up from the previo

The National Assembly passed the 2022 government budget Friday, a record high amount of 607.7 trillion won ($516.3 billion) to cope with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and other expenses. The bill's passage came a day after the legal deadline, as last-minute negotiations between the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and main opposition People Power Party (PPP) caused a delay in the finance ministry's computation work. The final package is an increase of 3.3 trillion won from the gove

  수능영어와 토익 난이도 비교와 영어시험의 방향성에 관하여! 수능영어가 어려울까? 토익이 어려울까? 리스닝과 리딩을 나눠서 투표를 해보았다. 우선 작년 대비 올해 수능 난이도를 어떻게 보는지 알아보았다. 리스닝 난이도는? 리딩 난이도는? 이번 수능은 리딩이 예전보다 어렵다는 평이 많은 시험이었다, 토익과 비교한다면 난이도는 어떤가? 우선 리스닝이다. 다음은 리딩이다. 리스닝은 토익이 더 어렵지만 리딩은 수능이 더 어렵다는 평가이다! 토익리딩도 쉽지 않은데 수능영어는 너무 어려워졌다. 공무원영어시험을 강의하는 유명 선생님들도 공무원 영어 솔직히 100점 맞기 힘들다고 말하시는 분이 적지 않다. 수능영어 리딩 부분의 출처들은 대부분 학구적인 원서들이다. 정리된 링크를 올려드린다. https://blog.naver.com/kinglish1004/222575311119 수능문제, 공무원 영어 문제가 합리적으로 어려우면 좋겠다. 수능에서 영문법 문제는

　South Korea’s rice output rose for the first time in six years due mainly to favorable weather conditions and an increase in the cultivation area, data showed. 　The country’s rice production reached 3.88 million metric tons in 2021, up 10.7 percent from a record low of 3.51 million tons the previous year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. 　It marked the first rebound since 2015 when rice output rose 2 percent on-year to 4.33 million tons. The figure declined for

A long drought is over for Son Heung-min. The South Korean star for Tottenham Hotspur netted his fifth goal of the Premier League season against Brentford at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Thursday (local time), helping the club to a 2-0 victory. Son was also involved in a first-half own goal by Brentford midfielder Sergi Canos. Son's 65th-minute marker was his first goal in the Premier League since Oct. 17 against Newcastle United. He now has five goals in 13 league matches. Across a

South Korean stocks opened lower Friday as health authorities strengthened virus curbs amid spiking cases and the potential spread of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) had fallen 15.16 points, or 0.51 percent, to trade at 2,930.11 points as of 9:15 a.m. Stocks got off to a lackluster start, as the government has decided to limit private gatherings to six people in the capital area and eight in other regions for fou

South Korea's foreign reserves shrank for the first time in five months in November due to a decline in the dollar-converted value of assets denominated in other foreign currencies, central bank data showed Friday. The country's foreign reserves came to $463.91 billion as of end-November, down $5.3 billion from the previous month, according to the data provided by the Bank of Korea (BOK). This marked the first time in five months that the foreign reserves have shrunk. The decline stemmed part

New home permits in South Korea surged more than 24 percent in the first 10 months of the year amid high housing prices, government data showed Friday. Construction permits issued for new homes came to 405,704 units in the January-October period, up 24.4 percent from a year ago, according to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. New construction permits in the South Korean capital of Seoul spiked 54.7 percent to 70,578 over the cited period. New home permits issued

South Korea will limit private gatherings to six people in the capital area and eight in other regions for four weeks starting next week, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Friday, reversing an easing of distancing rules adopted under the "living with COVID-19" scheme last month. Kim announced the new measure during a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters amid a surge in COVID-19 infections in the country and heightened fears of the more contagious omicr

The United Nations has excluded North Korea from its global humanitarian assistance plan for 2022, its recent report showed, apparently due to the impoverished country's prolonged border lockdown against the COVID-19 pandemic. The Global Humanitarian Overview 2022 released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, "Afghanistan, DPR Korea and Myanmar are facing acute food insecurity situations, which are likely to deteriorate further by the year's end."

Incheon Romance Market Festival The Incheon Romance Market Festival is running through Dec. 26 at the north square at the Dongincheon Station and at the nearby market district. The fourth edition of the event provides various programs, including a free black and white photo studio and classic movies -- “Dr. No,” (1962) “The Magnificent Seven,” (1960) and “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” (1957) -- at Incheon Milim Cinema. The tickets are priced at 5,000 won. The v

Spiritwalker (Korea) Opened Nov. 24 Action Directed by Yoon Jae-keun I-an (Yoon Kye-sang) is an intelligence agent. One day he gets into a car accident. When he wakes up he is in a different body and also finds out that he cannot remember anything. After that day, he keeps losing his memory regularly and also wakes up in a different body every 12 hours. I-an figures out that he has to find his original body to solve this situation and starts looking for it. Nothing Serious (US) Opened Nov. 24 Ro