North Korea's state weather agency issued a heavy rain alert Monday for most of the country's regions this week, as state-controlled media have called for thorough measures to prevent damage from summer downpours. The State Hydro-Meteorological Administration issued the warning, effective from Monday afternoon through Thursday, in all areas across the nation, except for the northeastern provinces of Ryanggang and North Hamgyong and the northern border city of Rason, according to the Ko

President Yoon Suk-yeol's disapproval rating has again exceeded his approval rating, a survey showed Monday. The Realmeter survey of 2,515 voters conducted from Monday to Friday showed 46.6 percent of respondents approved of the way Yoon handled state affairs while 47.7 percent gave a negative assessment of his performance. It was the second survey that put Yoon's disapproval rating above his approval rating after the first one, conducted by Rnsearch from June 18-21, in which 47.6 perc

South Korea's Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang will visit the Czech Republic and Poland this week to support local firms in winning contracts for building new power plants there, his office said Monday. Lee is scheduled to make a two-day trip to the Czech Republic from Tuesday before flying to Poland for another two-day stay, as the two European nations are undergoing a process to construct new nuclear power plants to ensure their own energy security and to achieve carbon neutrality goals,

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 3,500 on Monday as the COVID-19 pandemic is in retreat and fewer tests were conducted over the weekend. The country added 3,429 new COVID-19 infections, including 114 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,329,448, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Monday's tally is down 109 cases from a week ago and 2,704 from four weeks ago. Daily COVID-19 cases have declined at a steady pace to stay below 10,000 sinc

Military service, or lack thereof, leaves lasting impact on men living in country divided by war

National Police Agency Commissioner General Kim Chang-yong offered to resign Monday, days after President Yoon Suk-yeol strongly chastised police over a recent personnel reshuffle flip-flopping. Police released the names of new senior superintendents general a week earlier, only to reverse seven of the selections two hours later. Yoon rebuked police, calling the flip-flopping a "serious disturbance of national discipline." The resignation offer also came as police have protested the in

South Korea's financial regulator has launched a probe into Woori Bank for its alleged involvement in irregular foreign currency transactions worth billions of won, industry sources said Monday. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) carried out a spot inspection into one of the bank's branches last week after the bank found in a recent internal audit that foreign currency deals that go beyond conventional practices have been conducted there, according to the sources. The deals in que

North Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases have remained below 10,000 for the third consecutive day, its state media said Monday. More than 7,300 people showed symptoms of fever 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 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 ove

Choi Myung-jae, the founder of a renowned elite private high school in South Korea, died Sunday at age 95, people closed to him said. Choi is known for establishing the Korean Minjok Leadership Academy (KMLA), also known as Minsago, a highly selective co-educational boarding school in the eastern rural county of Heongseong, Gangwon Province, in 1996, with an aspiration to "nurture future global leaders." Prior to founding Minsago, Choi had already made a name as a successful busine

Yoon, Kishida will not have a bilateral meeting on sidelines of the NATO summit

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Joe Biden on Saturday signed the most sweeping gun violence bill in decades, a bipartisan compromise that seemed unimaginable until a recent series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school. "Time is of the essence. Lives will be saved," he said in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Citing the families of shooting victims he has met, the president said, "Their message to us was, `Do somet

  A research team under Seoul National University admitted to submitting a plagiarized paper at an international conference after accusations spread online. The team, led by professor Yoon Sung-roh from the prestigious Seoul National University, submitted a paper at the Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition held earlier this week in New Orleans. Yoon was the head of the Presidential Committee on the Fourth Industrial Revolution during the Moon Jae-in administration. The

The family of Lee Dae-jun, a fisheries official who was killed by North Korean troops in 2020, is seeking disclosure of what former President Moon Jae-in did in the time from when he was alerted of Lee’s capture by the North until he was shot dead six hours later. “President Moon had about six hours to take action and possibly save him,” the slain official’s older brother, Lee Rae-jin, told The Korea Herald. “We want to know what the Moon administration was

Seoul recorded the highest-ever morning low for June on Sunday, with temperatures hitting 24.8 C or higher, the state weather agency said. The figure, recorded at 2:34 a.m., broke the previous record of 24 degrees set on June 19, 1997, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. The city of Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul, also recorded the highest morning low in 117 years with 23.5 C at 1:55 a.m. The city's previous record high morning low was 22.8 C in 1904. Other cities ac

President Yoon Suk-yeol spent Sunday preparing for his first overseas trip as president on the eve of his departure to Spain for a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), officials said. Yoon plans to attend the NATO summit in Madrid on Wednesday and Thursday (local time), which will mark his debut on the multilateral diplomatic stage since taking office last month. South Korea is not a member of the military alliance but has been invited as a partner nation, along with other co