South Korea will actively consider joining a global move to support the war-torn Ukraine by participating in multilateral development banks, a Seoul senior official has said. During the annual meeting of the OECD Council at the Ministerial Level, which ran in Paris from Thursday to Friday, First Vice Finance Minister Bang Ki-sun said the South Korean government will look at the option of using low-rate loans for infrastructure development in Ukraine, if needed, according to the financ

  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for stronger "self-defense" measures to tackle "very serious" security challenges as he presided over a key ruling party session earlier this week, Pyongyang's state media reported Saturday. But there was no specific message issued from the fifth enlarged plenary meeting of the party's eighth Central Committee with regard to the possibility of the secretive regime carrying out another nuclear test. The North stopped short of

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases remained below 10,000 for the second consecutive day on Saturday while the country is mulling eased antivirus restrictions to restore pre-pandemic normalcy. The country added 8,422 new infections, including 64 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,200,346, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Saturday's figure was down from 9,315 the previous day. The country added 10 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the death toll to 24,351

　The number of newly adopted South Korean children fell for the third consecutive year in 2021 amid the pandemic, government data showed. 　According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of new child adoptees reached 415 last year, down from 704 in 2019 and 492 in 2020. Officials attributed the decrease in adoption to the effects of COVID-19. 　Among the new adoptees, 189, or 45.5 percent, were adopted by overseas families. Of those, 66.7 percent were sent to the United States. Oth

President Yoon Suk-yeol gave credentials to new Ambassador to the United States Cho Tae-yong on Friday. Cho received the credentials during a ceremony at the presidential office before heading to Washington this weekend. A former vice foreign minister, Cho recently served as a lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party. Cho said he will focus on expanding the scope of the bilateral alliance to entail broad elements for economic security by facilitating strategic communication efforts. "I

S.Korean, Chinese defense chiefs agree to operate additional military hotlines

Meeting comes after Canada asked S. Korea to help replace depleted weapons sent to Ukraine

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin will depart for the United States on Sunday to make his first trip there since taking office, his office said Friday. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Park will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington on Monday, which would be the first face-to-face meeting for the two since South Korea launched a new government in May. “Minister Park is visiting Washington D.C. upon the invitation of the US Secretary of State An

The government will conduct a large-scale survey on long-term effects of COVID-19 to better understand post-COVID-19 symptoms and their causes, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Friday. “Many people are experiencing long-term effects of COVID-19, but (the government) responses have not been sufficient,” Han said during a COVID-19 response meeting on Friday. “The government currently plans to conduct a large-scale survey and a systematic review to make a guideline for treating

North Korea’s state-run media outlets on Friday kept silent to withhold reporting on the second day of a key Workers‘ Party meeting, which authorities here assessed as “very unusual.” Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency had revealed its leader Kim Jong-un presided over the fifth enlarged plenary meeting of the party’s eighth Central Committee, which kicked off on Wednesday. But while the session is likely to have run into its second day on Thursday, state

A court ordered right-wing YouTube channel Hover Lab on Friday to pay compensation to ex-Justice Minister Cho Kuk and his children for airing false rumors and defamatory expressions about them. In YouTube episodes in 2020, Hover Lab, a popular YouTube channel run by conservative ex-lawmaker and lawyer Kang Yong-seok, alleged a private equity fund managed by Cho was dealing with money invested by the Communist Party of China. It also claimed Cho sponsored an actress while his children drove a lux

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell below 10,000 Friday, continuing a gradual decline, as the country is working to return to pre-pandemic normalcy. The country added 9,315 COVID-19 infections, including 34 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,209,650, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. It is the first time in nearly five months that the figure for Friday fell below the 10,000 level. South Korea has seen a gradual decline in total infections in re

　South Korean film attendance numbers nearly shot back up to the pre-pandemic level in May, data showed, with a couple of big hits leading the charge. 　According to the Korean Film Council, movies screened in the country amassed a combined 14.55 million admissions in May, the highest monthly figure since 16.84 million from January 2020 - the last full month before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. 　The May figure was also a massive jump from just 3.21 million admissions in April. 　During the pandem

President Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday that disputes between labor and management should be resolved among themselves without government intervention. Yoon made the remark as thousands of unionized cargo truckers continued a nationwide strike for the fourth day to demand basic wage guarantees amid soaring fuel prices. "Only when the government sticks to the law and principles and remains neutral, do I believe labor and management will be able to build the capacity to freely resolve their iss

A total of 30 striking truckers have been taken into police custody since the start of the walkout for allegedly obstructing the business of non-striking trucks and other charges, officers said Friday. The members of the Cargo Truckers Solidarity, under the wing of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, have been apprehended across the country since the union began the walkout to demand the government extend a freight rate system guaranteeing basic wages for truck drivers to cope with surging