Rescue workers on Friday retrieved the body of one more construction worker from the rubble of a collapsed apartment building in the southern city of Gwangju, with three more people still trapped or missing from the accident last month. The body was pulled from a heap of concrete debris on the 27th floor of the high-rise building in the city, about 330 kilometers south of Seoul, the third person found dead and retrieved from the accident site. The exterior walls of the 39-story building unde

The US Forces Korea (USFK) said Friday its THAAD anti-missile system installed in South Korea is a "safe and reliable" asset, as a political debate has been rekindled here over the ideologically sensitive matter in the run-up to the March 9 presidential election. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system has emerged as a hot-button issue during the election season, as Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the conservative main opposition People Power Party, pledged

Discrepancy in views on missile defense stems from different approach to US, China

Absentee ballot registration only available from Feb. 9 to 13 as it stands now

Four major candidates met in a studio Thursday night for the first televised debate ahead of South Korea’s 20th presidential election. Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and his main rival Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party met their minor counterparts Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People’s Party and Sim Sang-jeung of the left-wing Justice Party. In a span of two hours until 10 p.m., the candidates clashed over topics ranging from rea

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol is leading his ruling party rival Lee Jae-myung with 46 percent public support against Lee's 38 percent, a survey showed Friday. Yoon of the People Power Party (PPP) gained 1 percentage point from a week ago, while Lee of the Democratic Party lost 1 point, according to the Research View survey conducted on 1,000 adults from Tuesday to Thursday. Yoon led Lee by 8 percentage points, which was outside the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1

South Korea's election watchdog said Friday it is looking for solutions that allow people who have contracted COVID-19 after the early voting period to cast their ballots in the upcoming presidential election as the country grapples with a surge in daily COVID-19 cases. Under current election rules, it is virtually impossible for those who are diagnosed with COVID-19 after the early voting period that falls on March 4-5 and people who go into self-isolation just before the March 9 presidential

Seoul's subway operator will introduce brand new trains equipped with free mobile phone chargers and wider seats for pregnant women starting later this month, officials said Friday. Seoul Metro, the operator of the capital's vast subway system, will put five new trains comprising 40 passenger cars into operation on Line 5 starting this month and add 20 more trains to the line by the end of this year, officials said. The new trains make less noise and offer wireless phone chargers for the firs

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 infections on Thursday hit a fresh high of 27,443 amid the omicron wave, government data showed Friday. The government also announced Friday that it has decided to extend the current social distancing restrictions for two more weeks until Feb. 20. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the daily cases went up by 4,536 from the previous day’s 22,907. The cumulative total for confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country also reached 934

Omicron revives talk of herd immunity

A South Korean anti-prostitution activist, who fled to the United States in 2019 after being sought on charges of extortion, has been repatriated home, prosecutors said Friday. The Supreme Prosecutors Office (SPO) said the 40-year-old fugitive, whose name was withheld, was captured in the US in December and was returned to South Korea on Thursday in the form of forced deportation. He was put on a wanted list for extorting money from prostitution establishments in collusion with gangsters while

Police have opened an investigation into embezzlement allegations raised against the head of a state-funded association of national independence fighters and their descendants, officials said Friday. Kim Won-wung, a former three-term lawmaker who heads the Heritage of Korean Independence, is facing allegations that he misappropriated a total of 45 million won ($37,465) last year of the business proceeds from a cafe his organization operates inside the National Assembly compound. He allegedly

North Korea has convened a national response committee to prepare emergency measures against natural disasters, including typhoons and floods, according to its state media Friday, as the impoverished country stated plans to focus this year on developing its agriculture sector. In the session chaired by Premier Kim Tok-hun the previous day, the members of the ad hoc committee for natural disaster prevention and response reviewed last year's related measures and analyzed what can be improved, the

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned North Korea's recent missile launches Thursday, while reaffirming the US-South Korea alliance as the linchpin of peace, in bilateral talks with his South Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong. Blinken also reaffirmed US commitment to engage with North Korea in dialogue. "Secretary Blinken reaffirmed the alliance as the linchpin of peace, security, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond and discussed ways to further deepen coo

South Korea's Army has received the first batch of new homegrown 120-mm self-propelled mortar systems to replace existing decades-old mortars, the state arms procurement agency said Friday. The latest systems will supplant the Army's aging 4.2-inch mortars that have been in service for more than 40 years, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). Under a deployment project that runs through 2025, the Army will get the new mortars mounted on armored carriers, along wit