A nationwide union of nurses and medical workers said Saturday that their members have voted to launch a strike next week, calling for a pay raise and the normalization of the crippled medical system amid a prolonged walkout by trainee doctors, its officials said Saturday. The Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union, which has some 30,000 nurses and medical workers at 61 hospitals as members, said more than 91 percent of its members supported the strike plan, according to the officials. If

A group of business leaders, including Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, will accompany President Yoon Suk Yeol on his visit to the Czech Republic next month, industry sources said Saturday. Yoon is arranging the visit to the Czech Republic to deepen bilateral economic ties after the European country selected a South Korean consortium in July for a major nuclear plant project. The South Korean consortium led by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power was named the preferred bidder for the Czech

Seoul has posted its 37th tropical night this summer, the most in the city's history, the state weather agency said Saturday. Seoul experienced yet another tropical night phenomenon overnight, setting the highest number in a single year since modern meteorological observation began in the city in 1907, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said. A tropical night refers to a phenomenon when the nighttime temperatures stay above 25 degrees Celsius from 6:01 p.m. to 9 a.m. the followin

North Korea on Saturday strongly lashed out at a revised US nuclear strategy plan, vowing to further strengthen its nuclear capability. Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that President Joe Biden approved the revised strategy in March this year to focus on China's growing nuclear threats and prepare for possible coordinated nuclear challenges from North Korea, China and Russia. Biden's approval of the revised strategy, called the "Nuclear Employment Guidance," cam

Prosecutor General Lee One-seok referred the case of first lady Kim Keon Hee's acceptance of a luxury bag to a review committee, his office said Friday, amid controversy over the prosecution team's decision to clear her of the charges. The announcement came as the controversy is growing after prosecutors concluded that anti-graft law violation charges cannot be sought against Kim although she received a Dior bag worth about 3 million won (US$2,255) and other expensive gifts from pastor

On national security, Oh says S. Korea needs nuclear capability similar to Japan's

South Korea is suffering under a relentless heat wave, with Seoul, Busan, and other regions breaking records for consecutive tropical nights, data by the country's weather agency showed Friday. As of Friday, Seoul and Jeju have each experienced 33 and 39 straight nights of sweltering temperatures, respectively, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. A tropical night refers to overnight temperatures remaining at or above 25 degrees from 6:01 p.m. to 9 a.m. the following day. S

W75b project, funded privately, aims to boost Seoul’s water leisure culture

The ruling People Power Party on Friday called for further intergenerational equity in the government’s plan to reform the country’s ailing pension system. “In order to make the country’s retirement security system sustainable enough to be effective for the next 100 years beyond the current generation of youth to a future generation, we cannot overlook the issue of fiscal sustainability. This means that our foremost task for (the government’s) pension reform is to b

Majority of those punished for deepfake pornographic content are teenagers, sparking concern over awareness

Among the seven people who died in Thursday's hotel fire in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, was a 28-year-old woman whose final moments have deeply resonated with the public. The woman, surnamed Kim, made her last desperate phone call to her father at 7:42 p.m., just three minutes after the fire broke out, according to reports by the JoongAng Ilbo. "Something terrible has happened. The smoke is so thick I can’t get out," she said. In a second call, just over five minutes later, she a

A labor union of bus drivers in Gyeonggi Province, responsible for the operation of over 90 percent of all bus routes in the province, plans a general strike early next month, sparking concerns about disruptions in the public transit system. The walkout plan was approved in a vote Thursday, with 98.3 percent of the 12,613 participants voting in favor. The union, under the Korean Automobile and Transport Workers’ Federation, represents 16,592 members across 45 bus companies in 31 cities i

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 continued to increase in the third week of August, according to the most recent tally Thursday, but at a lower growth rate than weeks before. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, 1,464 people were newly hospitalized with the disease between Aug. 11 and Aug. 17, marking a 7.2 percent increase compared to 1,366 new patients in the previous week. The figure by the state-run agency refers to the patients admitted to one of 22

Skeletal remains of a man in his 70s were discovered Thursday in a defunct motel in Ora-dong, Jeju City, police said Friday. The deceased, believed to be a former welfare recipient, had reportedly been living in the facility before its closure in 2019. Welfare officials had placed him on a watch list after losing contact in August 2020. An official conducting a premises check located the remains in a room of the abandoned building and alerted local authorities around 9:36 am Thursday. Investigat

A 15-year-old boy recently rescued a man suffering from a sudden drop in blood sugar at a Daejeon convenience store when he did some quick thinking and fed the man sugary snacks. Local News 1 reported Thursday that the man had lost consciousness at 8:20 p.m. on Aug. 17 at a convenience store inside the Daejeon World Cup Stadium while he was waiting in line. The man suffered from hypoglycemia and heat exhaustion which caused him to collapse. Song Min-jae, a student at an Incheon middle school,