“Hellbound,” Netflix’s latest Korean original series directed from Yeon Sang-ho, presents a concrete observation on humans in a dystopian world, where moral principles and beliefs give way to religious zealotry. Yeon, who has been issuing his social criticism by depicting worlds in chaos, does not seem to limit himself in a single profession. The 43-year-old director’s love for fantasy horror has been presented in animation and as a film director, illustrator and scree

Pyongyang appears to keep up efforts to produce plutonium and uranium at high-profile facilities

Seoul in talks toward recognizing EU Digital COVID Certificate as pressure grows to accept proof of vaccination overseas from foreign residents

Recent move resembles late President Roh Moo-hyun’s ‘politics of tears’

Kakao Corp. said Thursday co-CEO Yeo Min-soo has been named to lead the operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger, KakaoTalk, for another four years. Kakao said its board of directors also selected Ryu Young-joon, who has served as the chief of Kakao's payment arm, Kakao Pay, as a new co-CEO of Kakao. Yeo, who has been leading Kakao since March 2018, will begin a second four-year term as a co-CEO with Ryu at a board meeting slated for March. "I will faithfully serve my role in this

The presidential nominee for South Korea’s ruling party called for increased intervention and monitoring of the military as it continues to report sexual assault cases and raises the need for extensive reforms internally. Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea said in a meeting with female reserve service members Thursday that the country's military should be able to allow the civilian sector to actively engage in monitoring the human rights issues within the "close-mi

Yoon Seok-youl, the presidential nominee of the main opposition People Power Party, said Thursday he will not exploit historical tensions between South Korea and Japan for domestic political gain. Speaking at a forum on Seoul-Tokyo relations, Yoon accused the Moon Jae-in administration of plunging the bilateral relationship to its worst level since the sides normalized ties in 1965 by bringing the issue of "foreign relations into domestic politics, instead of putting national interests fir

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday imports of childlike sex dolls should be banned, because they could lead to the perception of children as sexual objects and increase the danger of potential sex crimes against minors. The ruling overturned lower courts' decisions that imports of child sex dolls should be allowed, like those of adult dolls. In 2019, the top court allowed imports of adult sex dolls on grounds that they are sex toys used in private life, an area in which the state should not inter

Former MVPs and major league players are among 14 free agents in South Korean baseball this winter. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Thursday 14 out of 19 players eligible for free agency had decided to exercise their rights. Those 14 are free to sign deals starting Friday. The 2018 regular season MVP Kim Jae-hwan is entering the open market for the first time at age 33 after 14 years with the Doosan Bears. Kim had 27 home runs and 102 RBIs – the fifth time in the past six

South Korea's chief economic policymaker said Thursday the country will come up with measures to win developed market status from Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI). South Korea has been pushing for the upgrade from the current position on the emerging markets list, as the global index provider will have its annual review in June next year. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki earlier said the country deserves to win the developed market status "in light of its economic situation and fo

South Korea plans to halt the operation of some coal-powered plants over the winter in a move to reduce fine dust emissions, the industry ministry said Thursday. The operation of eight to 16 coal-powered plants will be suspended from December through February, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy. The country now has 53 coal plants. Up to 46 plants can be required to maintain their power output at 80 percent of capacity depending on the fine dust situation, the ministry ad

South Korea is closely monitoring the possibility of North Korea holding an event celebrating its 2017 launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a unification ministry official said Thursday. North Korea's calendars began to mark Nov. 29 as an anniversary for its "rocket" development this year. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared the completion of the country's nuclear force after firing the new ICBM, the Hwasong-15, on the day in 2017. "We are keeping monitor

South Korean insurance firms' earnings jumped more than 37 percent in the first nine months of this year amid the coronavirus pandemic and a bullish stock market, data showed Thursday. The combined net profit of insurance companies operating in South Korea came to 7.63 trillion won ($6.4 billion) in the January-September period, up 37.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Life insurers saw their combined net profit expand

The number of jobs for wage workers in South Korea expanded nearly 4 percent in the second quarter amid signs of the economy's recovery from the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Thursday. The number of paid employee jobs had reached 19.6 million as of the end of June, up 3.6 percent, or 681,000, from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. By age, the number of jobs for those in their 60s swelled 15.4 percent on-year, or 392,000, marking the highest incre