The United States will diplomatically boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics over China's human rights abuses, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday. US athletes, however, will be allowed to take part should they choose to do so. "The (Joe) Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, given the PRC's ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses,"

South Korea's sensational survival drama "Squid Game" has been nominated in three categories, including best drama series, at the 27th Critics Choice Awards. According to the nominations announced by the Critics Choice Association Monday (US time), "Squid Game," a Netflix original, was listed in the categories best drama series, best actor in drama series and best foreign language series. In the best drama series section, "Squid Game" will compete with seven other

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has presided over a gathering of military educators and called on them to nurture people with "absolute fidelity" to the ruling Workers' Party, the country's state media reported Tuesday. The party's Central Committee and Central Military Commission convened the gathering at the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang on Saturday and Sunday to make a "groundbreaking" change in education projects in line with the "shifting times," acco

A virtual UN peacekeeping ministerial conference is scheduled to open Tuesday, hosted by South Korea, promising to serve as a chance to further solidify the global community's collective commitment to sustainable peace in conflict-laden parts of the world. The two-day 2021 Seoul UN Peacekeeping Ministerial comes as Seoul has steadily pushed to foster lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and embrace a greater role in global efforts to stabilize volatile regions in the Middle East, Africa and el

South Korean pharmaceutical giant Celltrion Inc. said Tuesday its COVID-19 antibody treatment has won emergency approval from Australian authorities. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) granted provisional approval of Rekirona for the intravenous treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adult patients. It is the fifth COVID-19 treatment to receive regulatory approval in Australia. Rekirona is a monoclonal antibody with activity against COVID-19. A monoclonal antibody is a type of prot

South Korea logged a current account surplus for the 18th straight month in October, though the surplus was smaller than the previous month due to increased imports amid high energy and raw material prices, the central bank said Tuesday. The current account surplus came to $6.95 billion in October, down from $10.07 billion a month earlier, according to preliminary data by the Bank of Korea. The October figure marked the 18th straight month that the current account has been in the black since

At last month’s COP26 climate summit, hundreds of financial institutions declared that they would put trillions of dollars to work to finance solutions to climate change. Yet a major barrier stands in the way: The world’s financial system actually impedes the flow of finance to developing countries, creating a financial death trap for many. Economic development depends on investments in three main kinds of capital: human capital (health and education), infrastructure (power, digita

Virtually every unofficial US Supreme Court watcher has reported feeling a chill wind of political reality and pending change as it whipped through the court’s imposing chamber this past Wednesday -- and then whooshed through the Great News Funnel into the homes of all Americans. A chill wind of change: You could hear it in the questions the justices asked in the oral argument of a case challenging a recent Mississippi law that bans virtually all abortions after the first 15 weeks of pre

The next batch of South Korea’s K2 Black Panther main battle tanks are expected to run on an locally-made transmission system instead of a German one, sources said Monday. “We have solved technical issues of our transmission system and it will go inside the fourth batch of K2 tanks,” a high-ranking official at SNT Dynamics told The Korea Herald. “A government quality test is scheduled in the first half of next year” Inside K2 tanks, there is a key component ca

The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra has unveiled its schedule for the first half of 2022, with 15 concerts planned. SPO music director Osmo Vanska kicks off the season by taking the baton for Mozart‘s Requiem on Jan. 29 and 30. The music director, who has been leading the SPO since January 2020, will team up with violist Richard Yongjae O‘Neill on May 19 and 20. 　 In March and April, Vanska will collaborate with Augustin Hadelich, an Italian German American Grammy-winning classic

　BRUSSELS -- The European Union on Monday condemned the Myanmar ruling junta‘s jailing of ousted leader Aug San Suu Kyi as “politically motivated” and a “blatant violation of human rights”. 　In a statement from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on behalf of the 27 member states, the EU said Suu Kyi’s sentence “represents another step towards the dismantling of the rule of law." 　Suu Kyi, 76, has been detained since the generals staged a coup a