The Seoul Metropolitan Government will launch a special crackdown on “room cafes,” which provide private closed spaces similar to hotel rooms, even to teenagers, officials said Thursday. Municipal officials, police and a civic group will participate in the crackdown from Feb 3 to 13. The facilities called "room cafes" or "multi-rooms," are businesses that provide private spaces, simple snacks, and drinks. They are usually registered as ordinary cafes or general re

A 24-year-old woman was taken into custody by Incheon Police on Thursday on suspicion of neglecting her 2-year-old son at home alone for three days. The child was found dead. Investigation by Incheon Police Station found that the suspect left her home in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, at around 2 p.m. Monday, and returned at 2 a.m. on Thursday. Police took her into custody on suspicion of child abuse, after the suspect herself called the police and said her child was not breathing. The suspect did not st

Korea International School held the Massachusetts Institute of Technology International Science and Technology Initiatives in January for the first time in three years to offer new learning experiences to students. During the weeklong sessions between MIT and KIS students offered context-rich learning to middle and high school students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Some sessions included learning how to design programs using CAD, Onshape and Adobe Illustrator

A South Korean court ruled on Thursday that Apple did not deliberately slow down the performance of its iPhone handsets, dismissing some 9,800 Korean smartphone buyers' lawsuit for 2 billion won ($1.64 million) against the United States electronics giant. "The lawsuit is dismissed," a court judge briefly said, without elaborating as to the reason for the ruling. The ruling also indicated the plaintiffs are responsible for the entirety of attorneys' fees. The ruling comes five years aft

A maximum of 15-year imprisonment will be sought for those convicted of house rental scams, the government said Thursday, as part of efforts to crack down on a growing number of fraud crimes against tenants. The decision was made during a government meeting presided over by Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho as the country is grappling with increasing cases of house rental scams. Many tenants were left unable to recoup their house rental deposits in a series of "jeonse" frauds. Jeonse is t

  The state visit of the Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Kyrgyzstan ended Jan. 27. Undoubtedly, the significance of its results will go down in the history of bilateral relations. Moreover, they mark a new stage in the process of regional cooperation. I would even say that the significance of the results of the visit goes beyond the region and may even play an important role in stabilizing the entire system of international relations. There are good reasons for such an assertion. Duri

NEW YORK -- South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin met with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday to discuss international concerns that North Korea may conduct a nuclear test in the near future. At the meeting held at the UN headquarters in New York, Guterres said a nuclear test by the North would deal a "devastating blow" to regional and world peace and that his office has conveyed such concerns to Pyongyang, Park quoted Guterres as saying while speaking to r

Candidate registration opened Thursday for the ruling People Power Party's leadership election, with two main contenders, Reps. Kim Gi-hyeon and Ahn Cheol-soo, running neck and neck in the race to head the party through next year's general elections. The office of President Yoon Suk Yeol is watching the race closely as it wants a Yoon loyalist to lead the party through the parliamentary elections that will determine whether Yoon would be able to push his agenda in the National Assembly

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell to the lowest Thursday tally in 31 weeks as the country has seen a gradual downward trend and has taken steps to fully regain pre-pandemic normalcy. The country reported 16,862 new cases, including 45 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,213,928, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. It fell from the previous day's 20,420 new cases and was a marked decline from 35,086 cases a week earlier. Thursday's figure

North Korea said Thursday it will take the "toughest reaction" to any US military action in response to the US defense chief's latest pledge to deploy more strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula to ensure its security commitment. The North's warning came as US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Seoul earlier this week for talks with his South Korean counterpart and said there would be more deployments of advanced military assets involving F-22 and F-35 jets to deter the

DAEJEON -- An appellate court on Wednesday ruled against a Buddhist temple in a civil suit it filed to claim a 14th century statue taken away to Japan centuries ago, and stolen and brought back to South Korea a decade ago. The 50.5-centimeter-tall Buddhist statue from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) was one of the two bronze statues Korean thieves stole from Kannon Temple in Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, in October 2012. Claiming its ownership, Buseok Temple in Seosan, 98 kilometers southwest

In era of AI, good sense of humor becomes more valuable than exam skills

South Korea is looking to test-launch a new "high-power" ballistic missile in the near future, an informed source said Wednesday, in a move to bolster deterrence against evolving North Korean military threats. The country has been working on the development of the missile, known as Hyunmoo-5, as a core asset of its deterrence capabilities. Earlier in the day, speculation emerged that the state-run Agency for Defense Development may test-fire it at its Anheung test site in Taean, 15

Lee Byung-kee, the former presidential chief of staff under the Park Geun-hye administration, was acquitted Wednesday on charges of obstructing lawmakers' probe into the cause of the Sewol ferry disaster in 2014. The Seoul Central District Court ruling indicated that the allegations against Lee's involvement in the obstruction lacked evidence. Lee and eight other officials were indicted in May 2020 on charges of hindering the probe as lawmakers tried to look into the whereabouts of the

The push by the administration of previous President Moon Jae-in to take away investigative powers from the National Intelligence Service is being rolled back under President Yoon Suk Yeol, Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers claimed Wednesday. Opposition party Reps. Youn Kun-young and Kim Eui-kyeom of the National Assembly’s intelligence committee reiterated in a conference that the top spy service should not be allowed to continue investigations of North Korean espionage and meddling. Yo