Navy SEALs of South Korea and the United States recently concluded a two-week bilateral exercise designed to strengthen their interoperability, officials said Sunday. The US Indo-Pacific Command said a West-Coast based SEAL team and the South Korean Naval Special Warfare Flotilla concluded their bilateral session on Dec. 9 On its website, the US command noted that the exercise included static and dynamic weapons training, close quarters combat drills, mission planning and knowledge and cultural

A child makes a snowman at a playground in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province on Saturday. The weather agency issued heavy snow advisories for Incheon, Daejeon and many other western parts of the country. Authorities said they expect 5 to 15 centimeters of snow in North and South Jeolla provinces.

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases remained above 60,000 for the fifth straight day Saturday amid concerns of a surge in cases during the winter season. The country reported 66,930 new COVID-19 infections, including 56 from overseas, bringing the total to 28,129,431, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. It marks the highest daily figure for a Saturday in 15 weeks, after the country reported 79,708 cases on Sept. 3. The daily caseload jumped to over 86,000 on Tuesday, t

South Korea's first lunar orbiter Danuri started entering the orbit of the moon Saturday, 135 days after its launch, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said. The unmanned space vehicle carried out its first lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuver at 2:45 a.m., KARI said, as part of five rounds of such maneuvers in the coming days for Danuri to be captured in the lunar orbit on Dec. 29. In the first maneuver, KARI researchers used Danuri's thrusters for about 13 minutes to slow

The weather agency issued heavy snow advisories Saturday for Incheon, Daejeon and many other western parts of the country. The interior ministry also raised the disaster alert level to "caution," the third highest in the four-tier system, as of 7 a.m. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) forecast 5 to 15 centimeters of snow will fall in western parts of South Chungcheong and North and South Jeolla provinces Saturday. Jeju Island and coastal areas of North and South Jeolla pr

South Korea issued a "strong" protest Friday over Japan's revised national security strategy repeating its sovereignty claim to the South's easternmost islets of Dokdo, calling for its immediate deletion. Seoul's foreign and defense ministries called in a senior diplomat and a defense attache from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, respectively, to lodge a formal protest over the claims to Dokdo. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet approved the new strateg

North Korea tested what it called a high-thrust solid-fuel engine Thursday -- the latest move by the isolated country to ramp up its campaign to build better missiles and nuclear weapons while rejecting all efforts for peace deals. The test, made public Friday by the state-run Korea Central News Agency, was overseen by leader Kim Jong-un, who KCNA said “encouraged missile researchers for another new weapon.” The test took place at the country’s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground,

UN nuclear chief says he can offer ‘platform of good use’ for progress

President Yoon Suk-yeol named Jee Young-mee, CEO of Institut Pasteur Korea, to lead the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the presidential office said Friday. Jee replaces incumbent chief Peck Kyong-ran, who offered to resign earlier in the day. The newly tapped commissioner of the public health agency is a veteran of infectious diseases with more than 20 years of experience in health and research institutions. Jee received her M.D. from Seoul National University’s College of Me

Prosecutors on Friday indicted Hur Young-in, the chair of the nation's largest bakery chain, SPC Group, on breach of trust charges for underselling stocks held by group affiliates in a suspected attempt to evade the gift tax. Hur was accused of selling stocks of Mildawon, a grain company wholly owned by his family, at 255 won ($0.19) per share in December 2012, far cheaper than the estimated 2011 price of 1,180 won or their 2008 acquisition price of 3,038 won. The chairman allegedly dumped

Opposition leader urges President Yoon to apologize

South Korea has voted in favor of a United Nations resolution on the human rights situation in the Russian-occupied Crimea on Thursday in a shift of its position on the matter. The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution on the human rights situation in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, in an 82-14 vote with 80 abstentions. Last month, South Korea abstained from voting at the Third Committee of the General Assembly, citing "political and military-related" elements.

After a two-month long initial inter-agency investigation, the South Korean military announced during a closed-door briefing Thursday the outcome regarding the malfunction of a Hyunmoo 2-C ballistic missile. Further full-scale inspections to determine the precise cause of the accident will occur December to March next year. The military will focus on examining missile navigation, control and guidance systems during the inspections. The Hyunmoo 2-C ballistic missile crashed into a golf course loc

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed above 60,000 for the fourth straight day Friday amid lingering concerns of another surge as the government mulls easing the indoor mask mandate. The country reported 66,953 new COVID-19 infections, including 82 from overseas, bringing the total to 28,062,679, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The daily caseload jumped to 86,852 on Tuesday, the highest in three months since Sept. 14, when the daily figure reached 93,949. Daily infec

WASHINGTON -- The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday passed a resolution calling for international efforts to improve human rights conditions in the reclusive state. It marks the 18th consecutive year the world body adopted a resolution on North Korean human rights. The resolution, sponsored by the European Union, expresses concerns over dire human rights conditions in the impoverished North, while also expressing concerns over what it calls illegal detention, torture and execution of f