President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the headquarters of the armed forces in the central city of Gyeryong on Friday to inspect security posture and examine preparations for upcoming joint military drills between South Korea and the United States, his office said. Yoon's visit to the Gyeryongdae military headquarters, about 160 kilometers south of Seoul, came on the last day of his five-day summer vacation. During the visit, Yoon met with the top commanders of the Army, Air Force and Navy at a wa

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Friday new measures to prevent fires caused by overcharging electric vehicles, including banning EVs with over 90 percent battery levels from entering underground parking in residential buildings. The municipal government explained that electric vehicle fires can result from various factors, including external impacts and battery defects, with excessive charging also recognized as a significant cause. The policy comes a week after an Incheon incident w

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s recent appointment of a conservative professor who is accused of supporting the New Right political movement that justifies Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula as the source of Korea's modernization, as chief of the national museum dedicated to the country’s independence movement, has been met with a torrent of criticism from independence fighters' descendants. The Heritage of Korean Independence, a Seoul-based or

North Korea has named new ambassadors to four countries since late July, marking its first ambassadorial appointments since February 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic. From July 30 to Thursday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry announced the appointments of ambassadors to Vietnam, Singapore, Romania and Cuba on its official website. Han Su-chol has been appointed as the ambassador to Cuba, the Foreign Ministry announced Thursday, without providing further details. Han is believed to be the indi

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on Friday emphasized that easing greenbelt development restrictions is crucial to addressing the city's housing demands, particularly for newlyweds, as part of broader efforts to tackle South Korea's pressing low birth rate. Oh acknowledged Seoul's historical reluctance to lift greenbelt restrictions but argued that current challenges, including population decline due to low birth rates and the urgent housing needs of young couples, make this change necessar

Applications to be open until Aug. 14 for first-year residents and Aug. 16 for second to fourth-year residents

A senior official from South Korea's anti-corruption body, who had spearheaded high-profile and politically sensitive investigations involving first lady Kim Keon Hee and former opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, was found dead Thursday. The official was found deceased in his apartment in Sejong City with a suicide note at around 9:50 a.m. Thursday by a person who visited the apartment after the official failed to show up to work or answer calls. Police are looking into the exact circumstance

Sniffer dogs are typically tasked with detecting narcotics and explosives, but in South Korea, their roles have expanded to include finding bed bugs and submerged human remains. This week, two dogs made their debut in these new tasks: Ceco, who is trained to detect bed bugs, and Alpha, who locates human remains in water. Commissioned as South Korea’s first bed bug detection dog on Wednesday, Ceco is a beagle owned by local pest control company Cesco. Ceco showcased its exceptional olfactor

Two workers were killed and two were injured while performing maintenance on the tracks at Guro Station on Seoul Metro Line No. 1 before dawn Friday, according to fire authorities and Korea Railroad Corporation. The three Korail workers were on a mobile elevating work platform, doing overhead wire maintenance at a height of 5 to 6 meters, when a track inspection train on an adjacent track collided with it at around 2:21 a.m. local time. The collision caused the workers to fall, resulting in the

The number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 has grown sharply in South Korea recently amid a virus resurgence in summertime nationwide, health authorities said Friday. The number of people admitted to 220 hospitals nationwide for COVID-19 came to 861 in the first week of August, the highest level since early February, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The figure has grown rapidly from 148 in the second week of July to 226 in the third week and 475 the following w

An undocumented immigrant from Kazakhstan fled from an immigration office in Suwon while in handcuffs, police said Friday. The Kazakh national in his 20s pushed away immigration officers and ran away right after he was escorted out of a car upon arrival at the Suwon Immigration Office at 8:40 p.m. Thursday, according to police. Immigration officials had earlier taken over his custody from the Suwon District Prosecutors Office after he was apprehended by police for failing to pay fines. Police ar

  The Ministry of Justice on Thursday reportedly prepared a list of high-profile politicians convicted of crimes who would be eligible to be granted either special amnesty or rehabilitation by President Yoon Suk Yeol next week. Among them on the list is liberal bigwig Kim Kyoung-soo, formerly a lawmaker and South Gyeongsang Province governor. The 56-year-old Kim, convicted for his involvement in the high-profile "Druking" opinion-rigging scandal in July 2021, is likely to be rehab

Experts call for stronger regulations and management of electric scooters, motorized bikes

Kim Beom-su, the founder of Kakao Corp. has been indicted with detention Thursday on charges of stock price manipulation tied to the South Korean tech giant’s takeover of SM Entertainment last year. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutor's Office charged Kim with violating the Capital Markets Act, accusing him of inflating SM Entertainment’s share price in a bid to acquire a controlling stake in the K-pop agency during a competitive bidding war against Hybe. Hybe is the parent c

Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik apologized Thursday over high-profile allegations that a Defense Intelligence Command official leaked agents’ identities to Chinese hackers earlier this year. “I would like to apologize to the South Korean people for the public display of the (alleged) leak of military secrets and the bickering that ensued among senior intelligence officials,” Shin said at a National Assembly national defense committee meeting. At Thursday’s defen