A former interim leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) was named Sunday to lead the election campaign committee for the party's presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl. Yoon said Kim Chong-in, a veteran politician who resigned in April after heading the PPP as a caretaker leader, will be in charge of his campaign committee for the 2022 presidential election. Incumbent PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok will serve as a co-standing chairman for the election campaign committee along with Ki

Pay-raise records 17% vs. 12% since 2016

Pyongyang urges UN to look into US human rights abuses

An officer of an Army unit in Gimpo, west of Seoul, was wounded Sunday after an unidentified explosive device detonated during defense operations, military officials said. The officer was immediately rushed to a nearby civilian hospital following the blast at around 7:35 a.m., the officials said. Despite an injury to his ankle, he was not in critical condition. The military authorities are looking into the exact cause of the explosion, including the possibility of a landmine blast. (Yonhap)

South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed above 3,000 for the fifth consecutive day Sunday amid concerns over the full-fledged reopening of schools and a virus resurgence ahead of winter. The country reported 3,120 new COVID-19 cases, including 3,098 local infections, raising the total caseload to 415,425, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Daily infections have stayed in the quadruple digits since July 7 due to growing cluster infections and the spread of more

A choking pall of fine dust plagued much of South Korea on Saturday, prompting authorities to urge vulnerable people to stay indoors. As of noon, the density of ultrafine dust, called PM 2.5, hit the "very bad" level for Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi Province and South Chungcheong Province, according to data from the state-run Korea Environment Corp. Other parts of the country, excluding Gwangju and South Jeolla Province in the southwest, registered "bad." The level of fine d

Every year, millions of red crabs migrate from the forest toward the ocean to mate in preparation for winter. On Australia’s Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, red crab migration season has already begun, as can be seen from the streets literally covered in crabs. A female crab can produce up to 100,000 eggs, and in some areas there can be up to 100 crabs per square meter of beach or rock.  Migration usually begins after the first rainfall. According to the Parks Australia websi

North Korea's foreign ministry on Saturday criticized the U.N. Human Rights Council for adopting "arbitrary" Western standards to attack its human rights conditions. The ministry said the U.N. council's adoption of human rights resolutions "targets particular countries," which is against its purpose of treating human rights issues in a "fair, equal" manner. "The U.N. Human Rights Council has become a stage for pinpointing independent, developing nations

South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed above 3,000 for the fourth consecutive day Saturday, raising concerns over a virus resurgence ahead of the winter months and the full-fledged reopening of schools. The country reported 3,212 new COVID-19 cases, including 3,194 local infections, raising the total caseload to 412,311, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Saturday's caseload was up 178 from the previous day and marks the third-largest tally since the p

An ultrafine dust advisory was issued for all of Seoul on Friday for the first time in about six months, the metropolitan government said. The advisory was issued at 7 p.m. as the hourly average density of ultrafine dust particles soared to 83 micrograms per cubic meter as of 6 p.m. and to 96 micrograms per cubic meter one hour later in 25 districts across the capital, according to the city-run Research Institute of Public Health and Environment. It was the first ultrafine dust advisory iss

Jeong promises to meet with families of people who died from suspected side effects

Yoon Seok-youl, the presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party, vowed on Friday to enhance ties with China if he becomes president.  Yoon made the remarks during a meeting with Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming at the party’s headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul, during which he stressed that South Korea and China are each other’s most important trade partners and that next year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the

Former President Lee Myung-bak on Friday lost a lawsuit aimed at reversing the prosecution's sell-off of his home in southern Seoul as part of fines handed down to him for corruption charges, officials said. Lee, who served as president from 2008 to 2013, is currently serving a 17-year jail sentence over embezzlement and bribery convictions. He was also handed a fine of 13 billion won ($11 million) and an additional forfeiture of 5.7 billion won. The Seoul Administrative Court ruled against Le

A National Assembly committee passed the unification ministry's 2022 budget proposal on Friday despite a boycott by the main opposition party. The ministry had requested 1.27 trillion won ($1.07 billion) for the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to finance various humanitarian, economic and social projects between the South and the North. The ruling Democratic Party added an extra 10.7 billion won on top and passed the proposal during a meeting of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unificat