NEW YORK -- South Korea should co-sponsor an annual resolution condemning North Korea for its human rights abuses and urging the regime to improve the situation, Seoul's new ambassador to the United Nations said. Ambassador Hwang Joon-kook made the remark in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Sunday, stressing that North Korean human rights is a "very important issue in terms of safeguarding universal values." "For the past few years, we have been clearly passive in addressin

  EDINBURGH, Scotland -- In a somber, regal procession, Queen Elizabeth II's flag-draped coffin was driven slowly through the Scottish countryside Sunday from her beloved Balmoral Castle to the Scottish capital of Edinburgh. Mourners packed city streets and highway bridges or lined rural roads with cars and tractors to take part in a historic goodbye to the monarch who had reigned for 70 years. The hearse drove past piles of bouquets and other tributes as it led a seven-car cortege from Bal

The independent counsel probe into the death of Sgt. Lee Ye-ram, a victim of sexual violence in the Air Force, came to an end Monday, with the results to be announced tomorrow. The independent counsel team led by prosecutor Ahn Mi-young was launched in June, and Monday was the end of the 100 days granted under related regulations. Over the past 100 days, the team searched more than 30 locations, including the Defense Ministry, Air Force Headquarters, 20th Fighter Wing, and Air Force Investigatio

North Korea appears to have withdrawn its women's table tennis team from this year's world championships slated for later this month in the Chinese city of Chengdu, according to a US broadcaster. Pyongyang was not included in the final list of teams vying for the 2022 World Champions Title sent to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Friday, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA). The ITTF did not provide further information on the North's decision to pull out from the

Scuffles plagued the site of a statue of a girl symbolizing victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery Sunday night as members of a right-wing organization raided the site and clashed with anti-Japanese activists guarding the statue. The four-hour melee happened as members of New Freedom Solidarity held a surprise rally near the statue in central Seoul around 10 p.m. Sunday, demanding the breakup of a civic organization established to help victims of the sexual enslavement of Korean women du

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed below 40,000 for the second consecutive day on Monday due largely to fewer tests being carried out over the Chuseok fall harvest holiday amid the virus slowdown. The country reported 36,938 new COVID-19 infections, including 202 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,041,825, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Monday's tally is up from 28,214 counted for Sunday but marks a steady decline since last Tuesday, when the daily inf

A proposed bill that bans the recording of phone calls and conversations without consent has prompted a debate on the boundary of privacy in a country where recorded clips of conversations often make headlines in whistleblowing cases and political spats. A group of ruling People Power Party lawmakers, led by Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, proposed the bill in late August that bans phone recordings and conversations without the consent of everyone taking part. Those who breach the law can face up to 10 yea

New COVID-19 cases fell to about a two-month low on Sunday due largely to fewer tests conducted over the Chuseok holiday amid the gradual slowdown of the spread of the virus in recent weeks. The country reported 28,214 new COVID-19 infections, including 228 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,004,887, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Sunday's tally marked a sharp decrease from the previous day's 42,724 amid the Chuseok holiday, or the Kore

Government's measures rely on civic groups, and sanctuaries are not ready yet

The frozen relationship between South Korea and Japan seems to be thawing, at least among the general public. Korean people’s positive sentiment toward Japan bounced back to levels last seen in 2019, before Japan imposed trade sanctions on Korea over historical conflicts and S. Koreans responded with the “No Japan” boycott of anything Japanese. According to a report jointly released by Korean think tank East Asia Institute and Japan-based Genron NPO on Sept. 1, 30.6 percent o

Street trees more effective in tackling heat than canopies, mist-spraying system, says one study

President Yoon Suk-yeol plans to attend the funeral of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II set to be held in London next week, the presidential office said Sunday. Queen Elizabeth II died Thursday at the age of 96 after reigning for 70 years. The state funeral for her will take place on Sept. 19 at Westminster Abbey in London, and Yoon will attend the funeral, according to a press release by Kim Eun-hye, senior presidential secretary for public affairs. Yoon is largely expected to visit London ahe

North Korea remains unresponsive to requests from a UN working group for information on more than 300 enforced disappearance cases involving the reclusive country, a UN report showed Saturday. The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has made the requests related to the 362 cases to the North between 1980 and May this year, but there has been no response from Pyongyang, according to its annual report recently submitted to the UN Human Rights Council. Enforced disappearance ref

South Korea's military reported 492 additional COVID-19 cases Saturday, raising the total caseload among its service members to 270,187, the defense ministry said. The new cases included 387 from the Army, 34 from the Air Force and 28 from the Navy. There were also 27 cases from units under the direct control of the ministry, 15 cases from the Marine Corps and one from the ministry. Currently, 3,588 military personnel are under treatment. (Yonhap)

A majority of parents in South Korea were found to rely heavily on smartphones or tablet computers when tending to young children while carrying out daily tasks at home, a poll showed Saturday, a development that reflects the country's growing smartphone addiction problem among young people. In the poll conducted by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education on 1,500 parents with children aged 1 to 7, 70.2 percent said they have handed smartphones to their children at home to handle da