South Korea's new coronavirus cases remained below 10,000 for the ninth day in a row Saturday, as the spread of COVID-19 is apparently slowing down. The country added 6,842 COVID-19 infections, including 79 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,270,481, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The country reported 11 deaths, raising the death toll to 24,427. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent. The number of critically ill patients came to 71, down from 82 t

South Korea’s homegrown rocket Nuri is all set for liftoff on Tuesday, six days after a last-minute technical glitch was found.　 The Ministry of Science and ICT said Friday the Korea Aerospace Research Institute has identified the problem in one of the electric components of the sensor in the oxidizer tank and replaced it with a new one. After changing the 1.2-meter-long core component of the sensor, the KARI carried out a series of tests on the rocket and concluded that it is ready for

The family of the South Korean man who was shot dead in 2020 by North Korean troops at sea on Friday accused the preceding Moon Jae-in administration and the then-ruling Democratic Party of Korea of “insisting without evidence” that the deceased had tried to defect to the North. A day earlier, the Coast Guard and the Ministry of Defense corrected their earlier determination that Lee Dae-jun, a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official, sought a North Korea defection. The mari

Forty-nine child support obligors will be punished for refusing to pay for their children’s basic living expenses, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced Friday. The ministry has revealed on its website the names of two noncustodial parents who did not pay the court-ordered expenses and requested a travel ban on 17 obligors and a driver’s license suspension for another 30. The punitive measures against such noncustodial parents were first imposed in October, follow

US endorses Japan’s move toward rearmament and active role in maintaining peace and stability in Indo-Pacific region

Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister nominee Park Soon-ae denied the allegation she had inappropriately included her husband in studies. Park, a former professor at Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Public Administration, has been accused of inappropriately including her husband in researches and academic journals. The Education Ministry released a statement Thursday, denying the allegation. “The studies were more than just joint authorship between the nomine

South Korea's top nuclear envoy has met senior US State Department officials in Washington, D.C. to discuss North Korea policies amid concerns of it carrying out a nuclear test, according to officials Friday. Kim Gunn, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, had a series of meetings with the Joe Biden administration officials during his trip there accompanying Foreign Minister Park Jin earlier this week. In a Twitter message, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy S

President Yoon Suk-yeol told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the UN Security Council should respond in a resolute and united manner to North Korea's provocations. Yoon made the remarks in a phone call with Guterres, saying North Korean provocations pose a serious threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula and the international community, an official at Yoon's office said. Last month, the Security Council failed to adopt a new sanctions resolution on North Korea, which launched a series o

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday refuted criticism from the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) that investigations into officials of the previous administration are politically motivated. "It is not desirable to politically debate about the normal justice system," Yoon said when asked to comment on the DP's contention with probes into officials of the former Moon Jae-in administration and Rep. Lee Jae-myung, who was defeated by Yoon in March's presidential election. Yoon

A tripartite panel tasked with determining next year's minimum wage has agreed not to apply different rates to different industries, maintaining the current system, officials said Friday. The Minimum Wage Commission, which is composed of 27 representatives, nine each from labor, business and the general public, met at the government complex in Sejong for its fourth plenary session this year to negotiate next year's minimum wage. A differentiated minimum wage was adopted in 1988, when t

President Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday that the government's plan to cut the corporate tax will help companies raise their competitiveness. Yoon made the remarks as he arrived for work, a day after the finance ministry proposed lowering the maximum corporate tax rate to 22 percent, the average rate in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), from 25 percent. If the government lowers the corporate tax rate to the average of the OECD nations, it would "

Key aides to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, including his sister, have donated medicine to help people stricken with a new infectious disease in the country's southwestern region, according to Pyongyang's state media Friday. Kim Yo-jong, the leader's younger sister who serves as vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), and other leading officials asked the "primary Party committees of their departments to send medicines

South Korea's new coronavirus cases remained below 10,000 for the eighth day in a row Friday, as the spread of the coronavirus is apparently slowing down. The country added 7,198 COVID-19 infections, including 68 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,263,643, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The country reported nine COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 24,416. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent. The number of critically ill patients c

The government will extend the current seven-day quarantine mandate for COVID-19 patients for four more weeks because rolling back the obligation could accelerate a resurgence of the virus, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Friday. The current level of virus spread is within the country's capacity to manage, but infection concerns linger and the number of COVID-19 deaths has not sufficiently reduced, Han said in a virus response meeting. "If the quarantine obligation is eased, the timing of

North Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases remained below 30,000 for the third consecutive day, its state media said Friday. More than 23,160 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. As of Wednesday, the death toll stood at 73, with a fatality rate of 0.