North Korea is nearing the completion of a major housing project to construct 10,000 high-rise apartment units in its capital eight months after breaking ground, state media said Wednesday. Cabinet Premier Kim Tok-hun visited the construction site, according to the Korean Central News Agency, which reported the construction work is "in the final stage." During the North's eighth party congress in January, North Korea announced its aim of building 50,000 apartments in Pyongyang by 202

Amid concerns about teacher-student relationship, director Kim Sang-hyub says it is not a romance drama

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) said Wednesday it has asked a local high school to lift a ban on the use of mobile phones by students in school. The state human rights watchdog said the ban on the use of mobile phones at the high school, whose name was withheld, infringes on its students' general right to freedom of action and freedom of communication. The school's students are allowed to possess cell phones on campus but are completely prohibited from using them, accordi

A total of 23 Thai nationals have been apprehended in a recent crackdown of a drug trafficking ring targeting migrant workers in South Korea, police said Wednesday. Seventeen of them were drug traffickers and six were users, the Seoul Dongjak Police Station said. All but three drug users have since been formally arrested, the police said. The ring's head of drug distribution is suspected of having smuggled a total of 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine from Thailand to South Korea via internati

The chiefs of South Korea’s two main financial regulators -- the policymaking Financial Services Commission and the market watchdog Financial Supervisory Service -- have met with the heads of major insurance companies and banking groups here to discuss policy initiatives to support the growth of market players through deregulation, the two said Wednesday. “The rapid digital transformation of finance and the growth of online platform businesses are rapidly changing the nation’s

North Korea may launch a space rocket next year as part of the regime’s program to enhance weapons capabilities amid long-stalled denuclearization talks with the US, a state-run think tank report says.    Ko Jae-hong, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea’s spy agency, released a report Tuesday examining the North’s weapons expo held last month and the country’s defense outlook. 　 Ko said that it i

Korea Aerospace Industries, South Korea’s sole aircraft manufacturer, is in talks with the Slovakian government to sell 10 FA-50 homegrown trainer jets in a $500 million deal, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said Wednesday. KAI is set to sign a deal with Slovakian aircraft repair company LOTN on Wednesday in Hungary upon President Moon Jae-in’s European tour this week. The president, who arrived in Budapest on Tuesday for a state visit, will hold a summit Thursday

Universities sign support letters for Chungcheong region in efforts to host 2027 World University Games

A slowdown in China's economy will have a negative impact on South Korea's exports but its fallout could be eased thanks to strong demand for Korean-made chips, a central bank report showed Wednesday. China's economy is showing signs of slowing down, with its growth rate falling to 4.9 percent on-year in the third quarter from 18.3 percent and 7.9 percent in the first and second quarters. A recent debt crisis of a major Chinese property developer has also clouded the outlook for China's econom

Online shopping in South Korea hit a record high in September, led by solid demand for food delivery services and electronics goods amid the resurgence in COVID-19 cases, data showed Wednesday. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 16.2 trillion won ($13.7 billion) in September, up 17 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The September reading marked an all-time high since the agency began to compile related data in 2001. The value of online

South Korea's military reported six additional COVID-19 cases Wednesday, bringing the total caseload among its personnel to 2,050, the defense ministry said. Among the new cases is a Navy officer who tested positive while in quarantine following a vacation. A civilian employee of the Army also contracted the virus after a family member tested positive. The other cases are an officer of a military unit attached to the defense ministry, a Navy officer and two Army soldiers. Of the cumulative c

An appellate court has upheld a 700,000 won ($595) fine for a man charged with illegally filmed a woman in leggings in a retrial of the case after the Supreme Court overturned a not-guilty verdict for him. The case drew media attention as a district court and an appeals court were divided over whether secretly filming women in leggings constitutes a sexual crime, and the Supreme Court ruled it does because footage could be maliciously edited and shared online. The man, whose identity was withh

A Seoul court questioned the owner of an asset management firm at the center of an urban development corruption scandal Wednesday to determine whether to issue an arrest warrant for him on bribery and other charges. Kim Man-bae, owner of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, is facing charges of breach of trust and bribery in connection with a 2015 project to develop the Daejang-dong district in Seongnam, south of Seoul, into apartment complexes. Prosecutors have been looking into suspicions over h

The Seoul city government said Wednesday it will offer a new concept public service through online virtual worlds by building its own metaverse platform for the first time among local governments nationwide. The city's own high-performance platform, tentatively named Metaverse Seoul, will be established by the end of next year, according to its five-year "Metaverse Seoul Basic Plan." The city government will then begin implementing the metaverse ecosystem for administrative services