South Korea has decided to join a preliminary meeting of a US-led semiconductor alliance known as the "Chip 4," a senior presidential official has said. The official told Yonhap News Agency on Sunday that the foreign ministry delivered the United States South Korea's intent to join the meeting expected to take place at the end of August or in early September. The Chip 4 is an envisioned alliance of semiconductor powerhouses involving the US, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, viewed b

A South Korean Navy sailor has been standing trial on charges of praising the North Korean political system and possessing materials "benefiting the enemy," Navy officials said Monday. Last month, the Navy's prosecution indicted the service member at the Second Fleet on charges of posting online video clips and writings propagandizing the North, and possessing related materials, in an apparent breach of the National Security Act. "The Navy plans to sternly deal with the case

President Yoon Suk-yeol's disapproval rating has reached a record high of 70 percent, a poll showed Monday, as strong backlash against a proposed education policy added on to persistent concerns over high inflation and turmoil in the ruling party. In a poll of 1,002 people conducted by Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) on Friday and Saturday, 70.1 percent gave negative assessments of Yoon's performance, up 1.6 percentage points from the previous week. Yoon's approval rating c

North Korea will hold a national meeting this month to review anti-epidemic measures, state media said Monday, as its health authorities have reported no additional suspected COVID-19 cases for over a week. The North's Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party and the Cabinet decided to hold the session "early in August to review the successes, experience and lessons in the state emergency anti-epidemic work in a comprehensively way and confirm the new orientation of the anti

South Koreans are not letting rising cases of COVID-19 get in the way of their summer plans, with travel and businesses already freed up by current policies. So far in August, an average of 101,290 cases and 31 deaths were reported per day, climbing from the 80,648 cases and 24 deaths seen between July 25-31. Over two days on Friday and Saturday, 92 patients with COVID-19 died -- the highest since mid-May in the aftermath of a deadly omicron wave that peaked in March. In recent briefings, th

With the Education Ministry flip-flopping on its plan to scrap “elite high schools,” foreign language high schools have been once again pushed to the brink of abolition. Confusion has ensued over the fate of elite schools every time the government changed hands. The previous Moon Jae-in administration had planned to end autonomous private high schools, foreign language high schools and international schools, abolishing them or turning them into regular schools by March 2025, over

The whereabouts of 55 out of 280 Thai tourists who entered South Korea earlier this week through the airport on the southern island of Jeju are unknown, immigration officials said Sunday. Out of 697 Thai nationals who arrived at the Jeju International Airport from Bangkok through a direct Jeju Airlines flight between Tuesday and Friday, 417 were denied entry and were flown home, according to the Jeju Immigration Service. Of the other 280 people who have entered the country for a three-day touris

North Korea bashed the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s North Korea policy, likening the “audacious plan” which offers economic benefits in exchange for denuclearization as rehashed “trash” on Sunday. The Tongil Shinbo, a weekly North Korean publication, said Yoon’s “audacious plan” to offer significant economic benefits to the North if it abandons its nuclear program is only rehashing former president Lee Myung-bak’s North Korea policy, whi

About 1,000 people were evacuated Sunday after a man in his 20s threatened to blow up the Jamsil Sports Complex in southern Seoul. The man, who claimed to be an Islamic State (IS) warrior, uploaded a posting on an internet bulletin board Sunday morning saying he would explode bombs three times at the sports complex, according to Seoul Songpa Fire Station. The station alerted police to the threat at 10:19 a.m., officials said. Police sent 14 vehicles and 58 personnel to evacuate about 1,000 peopl

A Seoul court has ruled that an employee who slipped and died after heavy drinking with a boss should be recognized as a victim of a workplace accident, officials said Sunday. The Seoul Administrative Court sided with the family of the deceased worker in their litigation against the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service for the payment of survivors' benefits and his funeral expenses. The man, who worked as a security guard, slipped in front of his house after returning from d

Police on Sunday launched an investigation into an internet posting about assassinating President Yoon Suk-yeol, officials said. The posting, titled "How to assassinate Yoon Suk-yeol," was uploaded on an internet community website at 8:21 a.m., with the unidentified writer saying, "All plans are set," and asking for money necessary to carry out the plans. A viewer alerted police to the posting around 9:50 a.m., and police in the central city of Daejeon, about 150 kilometers s

From busking performances by idol trainees to fan events, campus town turns into a bustling K-pop mecca on weekends

About 150 South Korean Army commandoes will leave for the United States later this month for joint training with the US Army at the National Training Center (NTC) in California, officials said Sunday. The special forces troops from a front-line Army corps will conduct joint exercises at the Fort Irwin training center for about a month as part of an annual training program the two countries have carried out since 2020 to establish a firm readiness posture. It was the second time this year the two

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases exceeded 100,000 for the sixth straight day on Sunday as infections stayed high amid the spread of a highly contagious omicron subvariant and increased movement encouraged by eased social curbs and summer vacation. The country added 105,507 new COVID-19 infections, including 484 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 20,489,128, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. This marked the sixth straight day that daily cases hovered above 10

North Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases remained at zero for more than a week, according to its state media Sunday. No new fever cases were reported over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing data from the state emergency anti-epidemic headquarters. With regard to an outbreak of six "fever cases" in Jongju City, North Phyongan Province and Sinhung County, South Hamgyong Province on Friday evening, the KCNA sa