One in 3 parents who murdered or attempted to kill their own children since 2020 were given suspended prison sentences, while all parent killers sentenced during the same period were handed jail terms, local media reported Friday. The local Segye Ilbo newspaper said it analyzed verdicts given to 15 filicide cases and 15 patricide or matricide cases from January of 2020 to May of this year. Among the filicide cases, it found that the accused had walked away with a suspended term for five of the

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin will make his first official visit to China and meet with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, next week, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Friday. Park will be traveling to Qingdao, Shandong province, from Monday to Wednesday, according to the Foreign Ministry. The trip has been coordinated upon an invitation from the Chinese foreign minister. In their planned talks, Park and Wang are expected to discuss ways to develop bilateral ties, which the two co

 The Colombian Embassy in Seoul highlighted the adoption of the Colombia-Korea joint declaration signed in 2021 at Colombia’s 212th Independence Day celebrations on Monday in South Korea. Colombia’s Independence Day, which falls on July 20, commemorates the country’s declaration of independence in 1810. Colombia was a colony of Spain from 1550-1810. The joint declaration was adopted to specify the concrete steps to be carried out to achieve the two countries’ share

President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating has sunk to the lowest since he took office in May, amid controversies over his personnel appointments and leadership turmoil in the ruling party, a poll showed Friday. Yoon's approval rating came to 24 percent, down 4 percentage points from the previous week, while 66 percent negatively assessed his handling of state affairs, up 4 percentage points. The poll was conducted by Gallup Korea on 1,001 voters nationwide from Tuesday to Thursday. Yoo

Police are investigating an Iraqi man who strewed a large amount of U.S. dollar and euro bills on a street in northern Seoul and later reported to police he lost money, officials said Friday. The Iraqi in his 30s scattered dollar, euro and Korean won bills worth a total of 22 million won (US$16,930) on a street in a residential area of Seoul's Nowon district Thursday evening, according to police officials. The man reportedly started strewing the banknotes after he tried to give money to a p

The government will resume preemptive COVID-19 tests for new military conscripts to prevent mass infections at boot camps amid a new wave of virus resurgence, Interior Minister Lee Sang-min said Friday. "The government will have new conscripts get free tests at public health centers nationwide within three days before joining the military by classifying them into the priority group for the polymerase chain reaction test," Lee said during a government virus response meeting. The upcomin

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases exceeded 100,000 for the fourth straight day Friday amid a wave of infections driven by a highly infectious omicron variant. The country added 112,901 new COVID-19 infections, including 497 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 20,273,011, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Friday's figure is slightly up from 107,894 Thursday. On Wednesday, the daily caseload stood at 119,922, which was the highest since the 125,821 c

National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo departed for Poland and Romania with his agenda focusing on arms sales and economic cooperation, his office said Friday. Kim's seven-day trip, which runs through Thursday, will include meetings with his parliamentary counterparts and ministers to discuss economic agenda and expand strategic ties, according to Kim's office. It marked his first overseas trip as parliamentary leader. For the first leg of his trip, Kim will visit Poland to meet his cou

North Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases remained at zero for one week, with efforts under way for returning to normalcy amid ongoing antivirus measures, according to state media Friday. 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. It did not provide any other information in the report. In a separate article, the KCNA said all fev

　Nearly 1.4 million people have visited the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae since it opened to the public on May 10, data showed.  　A total of 1,396,859 people, including 5,055 foreigners, visited the complex in central Seoul through July 27 since its public opening, according to data from the Cultural Heritage Administration submitted to Rep. Kim Seung-su of the ruling People Power Party.  　The figure is far bigger than the number of visitors to the Gyeongbok and Chan

WASHINGTON -- Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives, highlighted the strength of the US-South Korea alliance on Thursday, wrapping her two-day visit to Seoul. She said the visit by her and other members of US Congress reaffirmed the "strong bond" between Seoul and Washington. "The United States and South Korea share a strong bond formed for security and forged by decades of warm friendship," said Pelosi in a released statement. "Our Congressional del

A Russian man who was on the run after allegedly killing a Uzbek man in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, has been apprehended three days after the crime, police said Wednesday. The Russian national in his 50s was put under emergency arrest on murder charges, according to police in Hwaseong, about 60 kilometers south of Seoul. The suspect is accused of stabbing the Uzbek national in his 40s several times at the latter's home in Hwaseong's Songsan district last Saturday before fleeing, polic

Foreign Minister suggests resumption of South Korea-Japan-China trilateral summit

The South Korean and Australian defense chiefs agreed to enhance defense cooperation in a wide range of areas, including the arms industry and military exercises. The two leaders also noted the significance of defense partnerships between like-minded countries in maintaining regional stability. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles met Thursday in Canberra, Australia, and discussed a wide range of security issues, So

Brazil-born Sogang University senior behind Korean Brazilian virtual influencer Theo