Senior diplomats of South Korea and Japan have met in Washington to discuss bilateral relations and North Korea's recent launches of a military spy satellite and ballistic missiles, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday. The 70-minute luncheon meeting took place between First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun and his Japanese counterpart, Masataka Okano, on Thursday, a day before they were to have trilateral talks with US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. The two condemned the

Photo-sharing app Instagram overtook Naver, the nation’s leading internet portal, as the third most popular mobile app in South Korea in terms of usage time last month, industry data showed. South Koreans spent a combined 20.9 billion minutes on Instagram in April, according to data from mobile market research firm Wiseapp Retail Goods. It marked the first time Instagram outstripped Naver to become the third most used smartphone app here since Wiseapp began compiling such data in March 2

Delegations from 48 African countries and 25 state leaders are coming to Seoul next week on South Korea's invitation to its first-ever multilateral summit organized in hopes of strengthening economic and diplomatic ties with the continent, the presidential office said Thursday. At the 2024 Korea-Africa Summit, scheduled to take place from June 4-5, President Yoon Suk Yeol is poised to hold formal talks with 25 leaders of African countries, according to Kim Tae-hyo, first deputy director of the p

A petition calling for the return of a giant panda, which was sent to China after being born and raised in South Korea, has resurfaced here amid lingering concerns over the beloved bear’s wellbeing in China. The petition, titled "Return Fu Bao to Korea” and submitted by a petitioner surnamed Koh, emerged Wednesday on the National Assembly’s online petition platform. It has met the initial requirement of gathering 100 consents and now awaits a review for it to be made pub

Over one in 10 households bought at least one lottery ticket during the first quarter of this year, marking the highest first-quarter percentage in the last five years -- over 10 percent -- data showed Thursday. These households spent on average 7,300 won ($5.31) on lotto tickets during the first quarter of 2024, according to data presented by Statistics Korea. The number of households that purchased any type of ticket -- including traditional drawing, scratch-off, one-off jackpot or annuity p

South Korea will send the first lunar rover by 2032 and plant the first Korean flag on Mars by 2045, according to a blueprint for space exploration that President Yoon Suk Yeol unveiled Thursday. At the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA)'s temporary headquarters in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, Yoon said these goals would be part of the so-called "Space Gwanggaeto Project" unveiled Thursday, named after King Gwanggaeto the Great who ruled the Goguryeo empire on the Korean Peni

The National Assembly began its 22nd four-year session Thursday, with the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea having the majority of 175 seats in the 300-member parliament, foreshadowing another heated partisan struggle against the conservative president and ruling party, which holds 108 seats. The National Assembly will hold its first plenary session on June 5, where it will elect a new speaker to lead the new parliament for the first two years. As it is customary for the party with the

The Seoul High Court on Thursday ruled in favor of Roh Soh-yeong, the estranged wife of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, in their ongoing divorce settlement, saying that the settlement decided by the lower court was insufficient. The appellate court overturned the initial ruling and ordered Chey to pay 1.38 trillion won ($942 million) in property division and 2 billion won in a one-off alimony payment. It said that the previously ordered alimony of 100 million won was insufficient and should be i

JEJU ISLAND -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the increasing cooperation between the North Atlantic alliance and its Indo-Pacific partners including South Korea, sends a "powerful signal" against active attempts by countries including Russia to "rip up" the rules-based international order. "These ties matter today more than ever. We live in a dangerous world," Stoltenberg stated in a keynote speech via video at the opening ceremony of the

Shin Won-sik, South Korea’s Minister of National Defense, will attend this year’s Asia Security Summit in Singapore — also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue — where he is scheduled to meet with his counterparts from the US, Japan and other key partner countries. The annual summit hosted by the UK think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies gathers leaders and experts in defense and diplomacy. Held since 2002, this year’s summit marks the 21st anniversary

Outgoing Speaker Kim Jin-pyo embarks on his new mission to address S. Korea’s low birth rate

Maltese most common breed with Gangnam having most of dogs as pets

A man in his 20s has been sentenced to a year and six months in prison for attacking a police officer with a knife, for what he thought was "insincere response" from investigators. The defendant was found guilty by the Seoul Northern District Court of both obstruction of official duties and special obstruction of public duty, which is applied when the crime involves the use of a dangerous weapon. "This crime is very dangerous in both its means and the results, and the defendant ha

The US military on Wednesday condemned North Korea's latest round of ballistic missile launches and called on the recalcitrant regime to refrain from "unlawful" and "destabilizing" acts. US Indo-Pacific Command issued a statement after Pyongyang fired some 10 short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Thursday morning (Korea time), a day after sending hundreds of large balloons carrying trash and manure into the South. "The United States condemns these acti

President Yoon Suk Yeol will send former Land Minister Won Hee-ryong and ruling party lawmaker Kang Min-kuk as special envoys to the inauguration ceremony of incoming President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, Yoon's office said Thursday. Won and Kang of the People Power Party will attend the inauguration ceremony on Saturday and convey Yoon's congratulations to Bukele while also delivering a letter from Yoon expressing his wish to closely cooperate to further strengthen the friendly and c