Seoul needs to gear up for a ‘lobbying war’ against the listing at UNESCO

Ministry takes step back with its ‘normalcy attendance’ measure

Two former top executives of Samsung Group have been included among candidates for the upcoming independence movement day parole, sources said Monday. Choi Gee-sung, former head of Samsung's now-disbanded control tower Future Strategy Office, and Chang Choong-ki, former deputy chief of the office, are among those who may be granted parole by the Ministry of Justice in celebration of the March 1 Independence Movement Day, the sources told Yonhap News Agency. The ministry plans to discuss whether

The Seoul city government will provide North Korean defectors with free health checkups, online tutoring services for students and other support measures to help them better settle in their new homeland, officials said Monday. It is the first time in nine years that Seoul has put together support measures for defectors. Seoul is home to 6,759 defectors, about 21.4 percent of the total, and about 3.4 billion won ($2.85 million) has been earmarked for this year's support plan, up 1.5 billion won f

The military on Monday reported 477 additional COVID-19 cases, raising the total caseload among its domestic personnel to 12,674. The new cases included 344 from the Army, 41 from the Air Force, 34 from the Marine Corps, 28 from units under the direct control of the defense ministry and 20 from the Navy. There were also nine infections from the ministry and one from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Currently, 3,330 military personnel are under treatment. (Yonhap)

Beach pollution is a serious problem. Some 11 million metric tons of plastic waste end up in the ocean annually, according to a 2020 study co-authored by researchers at the Pew Charitable Trusts. Against this backdrop, one couple in Gangneung on the east coast of South Korea in Gangwon Province have embarked on a mission to clean up Korea’s shores and the ocean. “We have actually been keeping record of trash on the beaches even before the pandemic began and masks are now much more

The average monthly salary of wage earners in South Korea rose 3.6 percent on-year in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, a government report showed Monday. Wage workers in Asia's fourth-largest economy earned a monthly average of 3.2 million won ($2,669) in December 2020, up from 3.09 million won a year earlier, according to the report from Statistics Korea. The average salary of the median income bracket came to 2.42 million won, up 3.5 percent from the previous year. The figure for workers wi

Six out of 10 South Koreans are positive about the relaxation of COVID-19 curbs on businesses, a poll showed Monday. In the survey by the Korea Society Opinion Institute, 62.1 percent said the government should enhance the protection of severely ill patients and those with underlying conditions while easing the curfew on restaurants, cafes and other businesses. But 32.6 percent said restrictions on business hours should be maintained firmly until infections are back on the decline. The survey wa

Pledges and vows thrown to the wayside as candidates dredge up allegations against each other

South Korea said Monday it plans to step up the monitoring of local farms and implement stronger quarantine steps to curb the spread of African swine fever (ASF) and highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI). The country has reported an increase in the outbreak of ASF cases from wild boars in recent weeks, and a series of bird flu cases at local farms since November last year across the country. Swine fever has shown signs of spreading further to southern regions after being recently reported in th

Presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People's Party on Monday renewed his resolve to finish the presidential race on his own after scrapping a potential merger with main opposition candidate Yoon Suk-yeol. Ahn revealed in a Facebook post that he visited a museum dedicated to revered Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun on Sunday just hours before he held a press conference to announce the withdrawal of his offer to merge campaigns with Yoon of the People Power Party

South Korea's unification ministry on Monday urged North Korea to return to dialogue amid speculation Pyongyang may resume major weapons tests following the end of the Beijing Winter Olympics. North Korea conducted seven rounds of missile tests in January, but refrained from shows of force during the Olympics period which ran from Feb. 4-20. Asked to comment on the possibility of Pyongyang resuming its weapons tests, Lee Jong-joo, spokesperson for Seoul's unification ministry handling inter-Ko

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung said Monday that establishing a special committee for emergency COVID-19 relief will be his No. 1 executive order if he wins the March 9 presidential election. Lee of the Democratic Party (DP) also promised that South Korea's virus response will "definitely change" from March 10 as he distances himself from the current government's COVID-19 scheme in an effort to win public support ahead of the election. "The presidential transitio

The top diplomats of South Korea and Armenia exchanged congratulatory messages on Monday to mark the 30th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations, Seoul's foreign ministry said. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan exchanged the letters and welcomed the development of bilateral relations in political, cultural and economic fields over the past three decades, according to the ministry. They also expressed hope that the two sides will continue to wo

South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong will head to France later Monday to participate in a forum designed to promote cooperation among countries from the Indo-Pacific region. The Indo Pacific Ministerial Forum 2022 will be hosted by France, the current chair of the Council of the European Union. It has invited ministers and other senior representatives from 56 nations for the forum slated for Tuesday (local time) to address challenges in security, economy, health and climate change in the