North Korea revealed leader Kim Jong-un's daughter for the first time Saturday in photos showing them attending the test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the previous day. The North's state media reported that Kim inspected the launch of a Hwasong-17, the country's largest ballistic missile, at Pyongyang International Airport on Friday. He was present at the scene "together with his beloved daughter and wife," the North's official Korean Central News Agency sa

South Korea's new coronavirus cases bounced back to above 50,000 on Saturday amid concerns of a possible resurgence in the winter. The country reported 50,589 new COVID-19 infections, including 50 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 26,512,754, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The Saturday tally increased from 49,418 on Friday but was down 3,739 cases from a week ago. From Monday to Thursday, South Korea's new COVID-19 cases hit two-month highs ea

The South Korean military on Friday conducted strike drills attacking a mock North Korean missile launcher with aerial laser-guided bombs, in response to North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile toward the East Sea. The live-fire drills were staged at Pilsung Range in Kangwon Province in the afternoon, about six hours after the North Korean missile was launched to waters off Japan at 10:15 a.m., according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The drills aimed to “de

South Korea and the United States on Friday launched a new working group tailored to step up their policy coordination and communication to strengthen the alliance’s counter-missile capability and posture in light of escalating North Korean missile threats. The first meeting of the Counter-Missile Working Group was held in Seoul around two weeks after the South Korean and US defense chiefs discussed ways to enhance the alliance’s deterrence and readiness posture at the 54th Security

North Korea fires another missile into waters off Japan after vowing tit-for-tat against US, allies

The Supreme Court upheld the lower courts' ruling that found a person guilty of child abuse for their threatening behavior around their neighbor's children during a noise dispute. The person was sentenced to a six-month prison term, suspended for one year, 80 hours of social service, and 40 hours of education on child abuse prevention. On April 10, 2020, the person scolded the neighbor's 4-year-old child up close, asking "Why are you so loud these days? You run around a lot

A comprehensive plan to reform the safety control measures of the Korean government will be announced by the end of the year, Interior Minister Lee Sang-min said Friday. "The government is concentrating its capability on damage control, investigating the causes and response related to the accident, while preparing prevention measures," Lee said at meeting held to discuss reform measures of the state's disaster and safety controls. “The government is also making efforts on al

SEONGNAM -- Police decided Friday not to refer Kim Eun-hye, senior presidential secretary for press affairs, to the prosecution over allegations she violated the election law by underreporting personal assets. The Bundang Police Station in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, made the decision, citing the facts that she had previously reported the same amount of assets three times as a lawmaker and that she had already clarified the mistakes to the election authorities. The Gyeonggi Province chapter o

The K-Green Foundation and Jeski Social Campaign, which hosted an exhibition along with the message "The Climate Has No Borders," said responsibility for the climate crisis is a task for mankind and it does not belong to a specific country. Through the exhibition, they are asking delegates from each country who participated in COP27 to ask themselves "why they gathered here" and "what they should discuss first." Choi Yul, chairperson of the K-Green Foundation, who h

North Korea on Friday fired another intercontinental ballistic missile in two weeks, which Japan said appeared to have fallen into waters within the neighboring country’s exclusive economic zone. North Korea fired the ICBM from Sunan District, Pyongyang, toward the East Sea at around 10:15 a.m. local, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The ICBM traveled about 1,000 kilometers, reaching a top speed of Mach 22 and an altitude of around 6,100 km, the JCS said in a

Foreign residents of Daejeon aged 65 or over will be able to ride the subway for free, according to the officials of the municipal government and the city transit authorities on Friday. Daejeon Metropolitan Government and the Daejeon Transportation Corporation have agreed to exempt subway fares for foreign seniors who live in Daejeon and have acquired permanent residency. The policy is expected to be implemented within this month.   South Korea currently has a policy of allowing senior citi

President Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday that banning MBC reporters from the presidential plane departing for the summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Group of 20 was an act to “protect the Constitution.” The presidential office told MBC reporters they would not be allowed to board the presidential plane on Nov. 9, two days before Yoon embarked on his six-day trip to Cambodia and Indonesia. When asked by a reporter on the matter while heading to the presidential offic

The Friday count of South Korea's new COVID-19 cases made its first on-week drop in six weeks, fueling hope that the virus's recent surge may peak earlier than expected. The country reported 49,418 new COVID-19 infections, including 66 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 26,462,319, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The Friday tally dropped from 55,437 on Thursday and was the first on-week fall for a Friday since Oct. 7. From Monday to Thursday, Sout

Police are set to bring in a Yongsan Ward chief and a ranking police officer for questioning on Friday as part of an investigation into the crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood. Yongsan Ward office chief Park Hee-young, who administers the Itaewon district, will appear for the questioning before a special investigation team as a suspect at 10 a.m. Park has been booked on charges of professional negligence resulting in the deaths of at least 158 people, mostly those in 20s. She has al

WASHINGTON -- North Korean missile launches continue to destabilize the region, a Pentagon spokesperson reiterated Thursday, soon after Pyongyang resumed its ballistic missile testing. North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile into the East Sea on Thursday in its latest military provocation that came after an eight-day hiatus. "It continues to be destabilizing that they launch these ballistic missiles and if they continue to do that, it just further destabilizes the region," de