South Korea is seeking to play its “role as the previous host nation” of the Winter Olympics, First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun said Thursday, alluding that Seoul is less likely join the US in a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Games. 　 Choi made the remarks during an interview with local radio station TBS, stressing that the upcoming Beijing Olympics are a “relay of Northeast Asian Olympics from PyeongChang to Tokyo and Beijing and are very meaningful.”

Presidential nominees launch coronavirus countermeasure teams to appeal

Thermal image analysis shows water being discharged from cooling system

Foreign nationals who were fully vaccinated abroad can now register their vaccine status without applying for a quarantine exemption, health authorities said on Thursday. “Foreigners who register their first and second shots received abroad can request for a foreign vaccination certificate which will work as a vaccine pass and allow them to receive a third shot (in Korea),” the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said during a news briefing. To register, foreign nationals n

Number of COVID-19 patients in serious condition hits all time-high

  A local court has ruled in favor of a once-promising gymnast who became paralyzed after being injured in an excessive training regime enforced by school trainers, ordering related parties to pay her 1.2 billion won ($1 million) in compensation. The Incheon District Court said Thursday it has handed the 22-year-old plaintiff a partial win in the damage suit filed against Incheon Metropolitan City, the operator of the school she attended, and Incheon School Safety Mutual Aid Association.

South Korea's total population is expected to record its first decline this year, the statistics agency said Thursday, a grim assessment of its demographic situations amid the country's chronically low birthrate, rapid aging and a decline in incoming foreigners during the pandemic. The country's total population is estimated to have peaked at 51.84 million last year before falling to an estimated 51.75 million this year and an estimated 37.7 million in 2070, according to the latest medium varia

Nearly half of recently newlywed couples in South Korea had no children, data showed Thursday, amid the country's chronic low birthrate and changing social norms. Some 44.5 percent of the country's 1.18 million couples, who were legally married in the five years up to November 2020, did not have children, up from 42.5 percent a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The newlyweds include first-time and other newly married couples residing in the country. The proportion of

President Moon Jae-in will share the nation’s democratic achievements at a summit hosted by US President Joe Biden on Tuesday night. During the two-day virtual “Summit for Democracy,” 110 countries will share opinions on how to guard against authoritarianism, eradicate corruption and promote respect for human rights. China and Russia were excluded. In the first part of the plenary session, Moon plans to share South Korea’s democratic achievements and outline the nati

Eight out of 10 families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War have yet to confirm the fate of their parents and siblings in North Korea, a government survey showed Thursday. According to the unification ministry's poll on 5,354 separated family members living in South Korea and abroad, 82 percent said they do not know whether their family members in the reclusive neighbor are still alive. Among those who are aware of the fate and whereabouts of their dispersed family members, half of them obtaine

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday slammed the main opposition party's campaign chief for refusing to hold talks over his own proposal to spend 100 trillion won ($85 billion) to support small business owners and self-employed people hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The DP criticized Kim Chong-in, the campaign chief of People Power Party (PPP)'s presidential nominee Yoon Suk-yeol, for stepping back from an idea he floated for the government to allocate 100 trillion won to compensate damag

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday congratulated Germany's new Chancellor Olaf Scholz on his official inauguration, saying he hopes to work closely with the new German leader to move relations between the two countries forward. Moon and Scholz met in late October in Rome, where Moon held a bilateral summit with then German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who stepped down after 16 years in office, on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting. "I am pleased we met in Rome in October and anticipate closer

The Seoul city government will hold a town meeting with foreign residents later this week to listen to their suggestions to make the city a better place to live in, officials said Thursday. The event will be held at the Seoul Global Center in central Seoul at 2 p.m. Friday and be livestreamed through YouTube (youtu.be/03E15JUmGc8). The number of on-site participants will be limited due to antivirus restrictions, officials said. Officials from the Seoul office of the International Organization

A Seoul court on Thursday ordered the government to pay 10 million won ($8,520) in compensation each to 44 people who were barred from the national teacher qualification exam last year due to their COVID-19 infections. The ruling by the Seoul Central District Court came after the Ministry of Education forbade those who had COVID-19 from taking the primary qualification test for would-be elementary and middle school teachers in late 2020. The complainants had initially sought compensation of 15

Sim Sang-jeung, the presidential candidate of the minor progressive Justice Party, pledged Thursday to raise troops' wages to the minimum wage level by 2030. Currently, the monthly wage for sergeants is set at 676,000 won ($576) for next year, which is half the 2017 minimum wage of 1.35 million won. Next year's minimum hourly wage has been set at 9,160 won, which translates to a monthly wage of 1.91 million won. Sim said at the National Assembly that she also plans to let troops use their mob