South Korea and the United States will hold the first session of their newly launched economic security dialogue in Washington this week, the presidential office said Monday. The dialogue channel was established as part of a summit agreement between President Yoon Suk-yeol and US President Joe Biden in May, and aims to help the two countries deepen cooperation on economic and energy security. Wang Yun-jong, presidential secretary for economic security, will leave for Washington on Wednesday and

A Seoul court has ordered rapper Dok2, famously known for his extravagant lifestyle on media, to pay an unpaid jewelry bill to an overseas jeweler, legal sources said Monday. Upholding a lower court's ruling, the Seoul Southern District Court delivered a mandatory mediation, ordering the 31-year-old, Lee Joon-kyung, to pay $34,740 to the jeweler based in Los Angeles. The court's mandatory mediation was delivered last month and took effect Friday after a two-week grace period, they said

North Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases stayed below 4,000 for the second consecutive day, its state media said Monday. More than 3,030 people showed symptoms of fever over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the official Korean Central News Agency said, citing data from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters. It did not provide information on whether additional deaths have been reported. The total number of fever cases since late April came to over 4.75 million

US-China relations are the most critical bilateral relations among numerous others in the international community. Since Xi Jinping became the supreme leader of China in 2012, China has been shaping its own diplomatic color, instead of “taoguang yanghui” (keep a low profile and bide your time, while also getting something accomplished). Although there is still a lack of sophistication and detail, it is clear enough to shock and give tension to the US, since the US has enjoyed a

President Yoon Suk-yeol's disapproval rating surpassed his approval rating in a poll released Sunday. The survey by Research View, conducted on 1,000 South Koreans aged 18 or over from last Tuesday to Thursday, was the latest in a series of national polls, in which those giving a negative assessment of Yoon's performance outnumbered those who were bullish on the president. This poll was conducted while Yoon was visiting Spain for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, his firs

South Korea and China agreed Sunday to hold a ceremony returning remains of Chinese troops killed during the 1950-53 Korean War in September, in what would be the ninth such repatriation, Seoul's defense ministry said. Kim Sang-jin, the ministry's director-general of international policy, and Li Jingxian, a Chinese veterans affairs official, met in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen, and agreed to hold an event casketing the remains on Sept. 15 and return them the following day. The min

Floor leaders’ meeting on the eve of new provisional assembly ends with no progress

WASHINGTON -- Abortion, guns and religion -- a major change in the law in any one of these areas would have made for a fateful Supreme Court term. In its first full term together, the court's conservative majority ruled in all three and issued other significant decisions limiting the government's regulatory powers. And it has signaled no plans to slow down. With former President Donald Trump's appointees in their 50s, the six-justice conservative majority seems poised to keep control of the cour

Welfare Ministry plans full-scale program in 2025

Park Jin also urges China to join new world order, says it benefits most from free trade

South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases topped 10,000 for the second consecutive day, highlighting the risk of a resurgence in the country during the summer season that some experts have pointed out. During the 24 hours of Saturday, the country added 10,059 COVID-19 cases, bringing the total caseload to 18,389,611, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The country added eight COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 24,570. The fatality rate now stands at 0.13 p

Yoon seeks economic cooperation with leaders through 10 bilateral talks at NATO summit

With more people returning to the office amid easing of social distancing restrictions, instances of workplace harassment have also been on the rise, a survey showed Sunday. According to a poll by Embrain Public, conducted between June 10 and 16 on 1,000 office workers aged 19 or older, 29.6 percent said they had experienced some form of workplace harassment within the past year. In the same survey conducted in March this year, 23.5 percent had said they had suffered workplace harassment, such a

Rising stars face steep uphill battle against Lee Jae-myung

Floor leaders to meet on the eve of new provisional assembly