Starting Jan. 30, wearing face masks will no longer be required indoors in Korea -- a move that comes three years after the mandate was introduced. Prime Minister Han Duk-soo told a government meeting Friday that with the exception of some high-risk places including hospitals, pharmacies and public transit, face masks will cease being mandatory. “COVID-19 cases have been on the decline for three weeks in a row, and the situation has remained stable in Korea,” he said, adding that he

SUWON -- A business tycoon who was nabbed in Thailand after months on the run was formally arrested Friday over high-profile corruption allegations. The Suwon District Court issued an arrest warrant for Kim Seong-tae, former chairman of underwear maker Ssangbangwool Group. He is facing multiple charges, including embezzlement, bribery and the illegal transfer of cash to North Korea. Prosecutors, however, have not yet charged Kim over allegedly paying attorney expenses by proxy for opposition lea

Firefighters extinguished a fire that broke out in Guryong Village in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, the only remaining slum area in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The cause of the fire is yet to be confirmed. At 11:46 a.m., the fire authorities announced that the fire has been completely extinguished. About 60 households were destroyed and 62 people lost their homes but no casualties have been confirmed. The exact property damage is under investigation. According to the Gangnam-gu Office, a total of 666 households are

On the occasion of the Lunar New Year holiday, or Seollal in Korean, many people travel across the nation to reunite with family in their hometowns or pay respects to their ancestors. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, an average of 5.3 million people nationwide are expected to travel per day during the upcoming holiday. Between Friday and Tuesday, the ministry will implement special measures to ensure safe and convenient holiday travel, such as expressway toll exem

S. Korea, US should consider redeployment as last resort, however

President Yoon Suk Yeol stressed global cooperation and solidarity to overcome multiple global crises, and reaffirmed his willingness to return to nuclear power policies that his predecessor sought to scrap during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday. This year’s Davos forum, under the theme of “Cooperation in a Fragmented World,” was marked by the absence of leaders of major economies, including US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi

Rep. Tae Yong-ho, who was a North Korean diplomat before he defected in 2016, on Thursday announced his bid to run for the Supreme Council member of the ruling People Power Party. Speaking at a press conference, he said as someone who has known the North Korean regime from the inside, he believes he has a “historical responsibility” to put his experience to greater use. “Sooner or later, North Korea’s regime will find itself in an existential crisis. If we are prepared, w

National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo Thursday and discussed improving bilateral cooperation in various areas, Kim's office said. During the meeting in Jakarta, Kim touted the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between South Korea and Indonesia and called for strengthening economic and security cooperation under a "special strategic partnership." The two countries established the special partnership in 2017 during then-South Korean Presid

Three years ago on Friday, South Korea detected its first case of COVID-19 or novel coronavirus disease as it was known then. Since then, the total count of cumulative cases here reached 29,927,958, as of midnight Wednesday. This means that about 58 percent of the population in South Korea have tested positive for the virus, public health authorities say. The country is now readying to move on from the pandemic. As the threat of a winter surge abates, public health authorities are now debating w

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday summoned the Iranian ambassador in Seoul, a day after Tehran called in Seoul’s chief envoy there demanding a clarification on why President Yoon Suk Yeol called Iran “the enemy” of the United Arab Emirates during his trip there this week. In a rare tit-for-tat spat on the brink of a row, First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong told Ambassador Saeed Badamchi Shabestari that Yoon’s comments were meant to encourage Korean tr

A 29-year old woman is to be awarded by the police for taking on and helping to apprehend a thief. According to the police, the woman caught the thief at the cosmetics store she works in North Jeolla Province on Dec. 30, 2022, around noon. The woman, identified by the surname Lee, spotted him taking money from the counter as she left the bathroom. Lee grabbed the man, and called the police with her free hand. The man resisted, choking and biting Lee, but she clung on to him and tackled his leg.

Police raid umbrella labor unions on alleged illegal activities at construction sites

Sejong University ranked 397th in the annual listing of the world’s best global universities in 2023, the ranking released by the US News showed Thursday. It is also the seventh-best global university in South Korea and the 79th-best global university in Asia now. The university's world ranking climbed up sharply from No. 506 last year. Its ranking among domestic peers went up by two notches. The US News provides an assortment of universities in the world by region or country and subj

Commercial satellite imagery can clearly capture North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s office, residence and other key facilities of Pyongyang, US state-owned broadcaster Voice of America reported Wednesday, as it released Google Earth images of those locations. Last month, North Korea disclosed photos of downtown Seoul including the area around President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office and the Incheon port, claiming they were taken by a prototype of its reconnaissance satellite under developme

INCHEON -- A 27-year-old American man has been extradited to South Korea for allegedly breaking into subway train garages across the country and spray-painting graffiti on trains, police said Thursday. The American is under suspicion of breaking into nine subway train garages in Seoul, Incheon, Daejeon and six other regions together with a 28-year-old Italian accomplice in September and spray-painting graffiti on the outer walls of trains. On one of the occasions, the pair left a 2-meter-wide