PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province — Four years ago this week, the PyeongChang Winter Olympics came to a grand finale. During the Games, South and North Korea enjoyed a moment of peace, with athletes from either side of the Demilitarized Zone marching together during the opening and closing ceremony. It was here in Gangwon Province that the two Koreas also fielded a unified team for the first time in Olympics history, with their joint women’s hockey team. 　 Preceded by a year of nuclear

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung urged the government on Wednesday to ensure the safety of South Korean nationals and businesses in Ukraine amid the escalating security crisis there. Lee of the liberal Democratic Party also called on relevant countries to do everything for a peaceful resolution to the crisis, which has intensified since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into two breakaway regions of Ukraine. "The situation in Ukraine is alarming," Lee wro

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been appointed as an endowed chair at Seoul National University's (SNU) Department of Political Science and International Relations earlier this month, school officials said Wednesday. Ban plans to advise the university's graduate students on their research and careers until January 2025, according to SNU. The school, one of the country's most prestigious universities, grants chair professorships to scholars with outstanding academic achievements or gl

A series of accidents involving trucks mounted with aerial ladders have prompted safety concerns in South Korea, where these ladders are widely used for moving in and out of tall apartment buildings. On Monday, a ladder of a moving truck collapsed in an apartment complex in Nowon-gu, Seoul, killing one resident and injuring another. Police suspect the ladder’s length at the time of the accident to have been around 40 meters, given that the accident took place after finishing moving hous

Authorities try to reassure people as Korea steps into new state of pandemic

A Seoul court on Wednesday ruled against South Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor in a damages suit filed against Japanese companies, apparently on grounds that the cases' statute of limitations has expired. The suit was filed against Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Kumagai Gumi Co. by a 104-year-old victim named Kim Han-soo and the bereaved family of a late victim, surnamed Park, with the Seoul Central District Court in April 2019. Kim and Park claimed they were conscri

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Wednesday slammed Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition party, accusing him of hiding the truth about his wife’s alleged involvement in a stock manipulation case. “Yoon will lose in the presidential election because of Kim Keon-hee’s stock manipulation charges,” Rep. Woo Sang-ho of the ruling party said, speaking at a campaign committee meeting Wednesday. Woo is chief of the campaign committee for Lee J

South Korea's largest exhibition of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) will be held in the southeastern port city of Busan this week, showcasing the latest technologies and models and offering a forum on the industry's future, organizers said Wednesday. Drone Show Korea 2022 will take place at Bexco Exhibition Center from Thursday to Saturday under the theme of "Connected by Drone." The sixth edition of the annual event, co-organized by the Korea Unmanned Vehicle System Association and BEX

Supreme Court Justice Cho Jae-youn on Wednesday categorically denied any link to a massive development scandal following a newspaper report that a central figure in the scandal promised him a luxury house. Cho made the remark during a press conference after the Hankook Ilbo daily reported last week that Kim Man-bae, the owner of an asset firm at the center of the scandal, said he promised a house worth about 5 billion won ($4.2 million) to an incumbent Supreme Court justice. "It is comple

Pfizer's Comirnaty vaccine 90.7 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 symptoms among children: Drug Ministry

The military on Wednesday reported 767 additional COVID-19 cases, raising the total caseload among its domestic personnel to 14,022. The new cases included 510 from the Army, 86 from the Air Force, 60 from the Navy, 55 from the Marine Corps, and 39 from units under the direct control of the defense ministry. There were also 14 cases from the ministry, two from the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, and one from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Currently, 3,878 military personnel are under treat

The number of South Koreans who moved to different residences in the country dropped for the 13th consecutive month in January on fewer housing transactions, government data showed Wednesday. The number of people who changed their residences stood at 552,000 last month, down 12.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It represented the 13th straight month since January last year that the country's population mobility has declined on-year. The decrease w

The Seoul city government on Wednesday announced a digital culture city project centered on creating digital media artworks throughout the capital. The city government declared this year as the first year of the "Digital Emotional Culture City" project and unveiled 10 cultural policy tasks. Under the project, the Gwanghwamun Square area in central Seoul will be transformed into a huge media art stage and Nodeul Island, an uninhabited artificial island in the Han River, and other waterf

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South Korea's total fertility rate hit a record low last year as the number of childbirths continued to fall, data showed Wednesday, underlining the country's bleak demographic situation. The country's total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime -- came to 0.81 last year, down from 0.84 the previous year, according to Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest since 1970 when the statistics agency began compiling related data. Last year marked the fourth stra