The third-highest alert against a scorching heat wave was issued nationwide on Saturday, 18 days earlier compared to last year. 　 　The Ministry of the Interior and Safety issues the alert when the daily temperature ceiling in over 40 percent of the country reaches 33 C or higher for at least three straight days. 　 　Under the heat alert, the safety ministry is looking at measures to support workers who are vulnerable to inclement weather, including construction workers, elderly farmers and seni

　South Korea‘s new coronavirus cases bounced back to over 10,000 Saturday as the daily cases seemed poised to take an upturn again after months of decline. 　 　The country added 10,715 COVID-19 infections, including 173 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,379,552, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. 　 　The tally increased from 9,528 the previous day and 6,786 a week ago. 　 　The country added seven COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 24,562

   Tropical storm Aere is likely to affect Jeju Island and other southern parts of South Korea early next week after having formed off Japan's Okinawa, the weather agency said Friday.    Aere was moving north-northeast at a speed of 13 kilometers per hour, packing winds of up to 65 km per hour and with a central pressure of 1,002 hectopascals upon its formation in the sea 760 km off south-southeast of Okinawa at 9 a.m. Friday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administr

The life story of Eva Yoo Ri Brussaard, a Korean adoptee in the Netherlands, is heartbreaking, yet it is sadly familiar. At age 2, she was abandoned by her biological father and was sent oversea with her blind sister to be adopted by a Dutch couple. The couple got divorced only three years later, her sister was sent to an orphanage, and she stayed with the Dutch mother, only to live in neglect. “I always dreamt about my (birth) parents and thought that I could have a better life in Kor

South Korea has joined the European Union’s digital COVID-19 certificate system, to come into effect from Friday. The connection to the system allows certificates of vaccination issued in South Korea to be valid in EU countries, and vice versa. “The equivalent COVID-19 certificates will facilitate travel between South Korea and the 31 member states of the EU,” the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s commissioner Peck Kyong-ran said in a press release Friday.

North seeks to blame S. Korea, may set tone for offensive campaign, experts say

Park Ji-hyun, former co-chair of the emergency steering committee for the Democratic Party of Korea, blamed the main opposition party for the incident of a missing family found dead in a submerged car. On Wednesday, police confirmed the deaths of 10-year-old Cho Yu-na and both of her parents, after they were found in an upturned car in waters off of Wando, South Jeolla Province. Park called out the Democratic Party on Thursday for not providing a social safety net for families experiencing

Gangwon Province, on the east coast of South Korea, is set to have more autonomy as a municipality. A Cabinet meeting on June 7 voted in favor of laws giving Gangwon Province new status as a “special autonomous province,” which will come into effect from June 11 next year. The special status was proposed as a pledge during the 2012 and 2017 presidential campaigns, but was never fulfilled. Gangwon Province’s new powers mean it can now have its own police, park services and

MADRID – South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol met with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg during a NATO summit in Madrid on Thursday to discuss South Korea-NATO cooperation and exchange views on major international issues, including those pertaining to the Korean Peninsula. President Yoon said that South Korea and NATO have been closely cooperating and responding to various challenges facing the international community since establishing the global partnership in 2006, according t

President Yoon Suk-yeol had a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the occasion of attending the NATO Summit on Thursday. The two leaders adopted a “Bilateral Framework for Closer Cooperation” encompassing a vision of bilateral relations and discussed key international issues, including peace on the Korean Peninsula. President Yoon said, “We are pleased to have adopted the Korea-UK framework on the occasion of today‘s talks and evaluated that

MADRID -- President Yoon Suk-yeol had a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday, reaffirming their efforts to deal with North Korean provocations and the Ukraine crisis, on the sidelines of the NATO summit. Trudeau said he fully agrees with the future-oriented bilateral relationship with South Korea, and explained that Canada’s newly announced Indo-Pacific strategy puts close relations with regional partners such as Korea as a top priority, according to the presid

In a country with one of the longest working hours in the world, the 52-hour rule has come under scrutiny just a few years after enactment

Unification Ministry expresses regret at water release despite S. Korea’s request

Sejong University was recognized for its research ability, taking the top place among local general universities in the Leiden Ranking for five consecutive years. The Leiden Ranking, provided by Leiden University in the Netherlands, ranks universities worldwide by number of academic publications, evaluating the volume and citation impact of the publications. While Sejong University was the No. 1 among local general universities on the list, it came in second among all local universities in

Disturbing growth of murder-suicide cases reveals some Korean parents‘ dangerous obsession with family