Opposition blasts Yoon’s no-show at Westminster Hall; office says mourning should be focus

Typhoon Nanmadol, this year’s 14th typhoon, grazed southern and eastern coastal areas of South Korea on Monday, drenching the region with heavy rains and strong winds. But only minor damages were reported. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, at 3 p.m. on Monday, Typhoon Nanmadol was moving northeast at around 300 kilometers west of Osaka, Japan at a speed of 33 kilometers per hour, leaving behind the South Korean mainland. The typhoon became slightly weaker in the afte

  LONDON -- US President Joe Biden paid his respects at Queen Elizabeth II's coffin on Sunday as thousands of police, hundreds of British troops and an army of officials made final preparations for the queen's state funeral _ a spectacular display of national mourning that will also be the biggest gathering of world leaders for years. People across Britain paused for a minute of silence at 8 p.m. in memory of the only monarch most have ever known. At Westminster Hall, where the queen is lyi

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) launched a task force aimed at uncovering alleged corruption in the spending of government funds set aside to promote the installation of solar panels to enhance renewable energy generation in the previous administration. The move follows recent findings by the Office of Government Policy Coordination under the prime minister that identified 2,267 cases of irregularities over their use of the electricity industry funds over the past five years. An investigatio

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases slowed to a 10-week low on Monday, showing signs of a downturn in the virus wave. The country reported 19,407 new COVID-19 infections, including 289 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,413,873, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The new daily figure is the lowest since cases dropped to 12,672 on July 11. The Monday tally's fall is notable despite the fact that fewer tests are conducted during weekends. The daily ca

The government decided to extend subsidies for diesel vehicle drivers until the end of this year to help ease their burden from high fuel costs, Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said Monday. In May, the government began implementing the subsidy scheme for cargo truck drivers and others using diesel vehicles in the wake of its tight supplies and high price amid the war in Ukraine. The program was supposed to end this month. But the government will extend it by three months and come up with measures

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Monday called for the highest vigilance against the potential impact of the approaching powerful Typhoon Nanmadol. Han made the remarks as he presided over a meeting with related officials to check the country's preparedness, with the typhoon projected to hit the nation's southeastern part later in the day. Han said Monday morning would be the "critical moment of the typhoon," warning that the typhoon was approaching South Korea with strong rain

Strong winds brought on by Typhoon Nanmadol have toppled trees and caused power outages in southeastern South Korea, leaving one person injured and hundreds others evacuated, officials said Monday. With a central atmospheric pressure of 960 hectopascals and a maximum wind speed of 39 meters per second (mps), this year's 14th typhoon was moving north from near Japan's Kagoshima at a speed of 18 kilometers per hour as of 6 a.m., according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquar

LONDON -- The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said Sunday it had "no comment" on Japanese news reports denying plans for a summit between Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in New York this week. Yoon's office said earlier that the two countries had agreed to a summit on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly either Tuesday or Wednesday in what would be their first bilateral summit since December 2019. The news raised hope of an improvement in relation

President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating rose for the second consecutive week thanks in part to the government's efforts on improving the economy and people's livelihoods, a poll showed Monday. In the poll of 2,015 voters conducted by Realmeter from Tuesday to Friday, 34.4 percent positively assessed Yoon's handling of state affairs, up 1.8 percentage points from the previous poll, while 63.2 percent gave a negative assessment, down 1.4 percentage points. This marks the seco

LONDON -- President Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday attended a reception in London hosted by King Charles III and expressed his condolences over the death of Queen Elizabeth II, his office said. Yoon, who arrived with first lady Kim Keon-hee in London earlier in the day, attended the reception at Buckingham Palace ahead of the queen's state funeral Monday. Yoon personally expressed his condolences to King Charles, who thanked the president for traveling to London to mourn his mother's death, a

　The number of startups in South Korea fell nearly 5 percent in the first half of the year due mainly to a plunge in new real estate businesses, government data showed. 　A total of 696,000 new companies were set up in the country in the January-June period, down 4.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Startups. 　The number of newly established real estate companies sank 18.9 percent on-year, with that of hospitality bu

The ruling People Power Party's ethics committee initiated yet another disciplinary process Sunday against its former leader, Lee Jun-seok, under fire for his sharp criticism of President Yoon Suk-yeol and the party. The move came after PPP lawmakers called for disciplinary action against Lee last month, taking issue with his earlier broadsides seen as an angry reaction to his ouster in July from the party chairmanship over allegations of him receiving sexual services. In a press briefing, Le

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo instructed government officials Sunday not to allow even a "single moment of carelessness" as they are bracing for the potential impact of an approaching powerful typhoon. Han presided over a meeting with related officials to check the country's preparedness, with Typhoon Nanmadol projected to reach waters close to Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture on Sunday and then move northeast along the island country. "Due to the very large radius of t

When will the indoor mask mandate come to an end? That is the next question Korea is facing after two years into the pandemic. The health authorities are cautioning against the move as the daily number of cases show no sign of dropping soon. But that has not stopped some decision-makers to float the idea of bringing an indoor mask ban to an end. “We would like to begin discussing the transition from the current COVID-19 emergency system to a more normal one,” said professor Jung Ki-s