Experts doubt data validity, highlight urgency of providing vaccines and antiviral drugs to N. Korea

National integration committee launched at Yoon’s first Cabinet meeting

Leading environment experts weigh in to raise awareness and propose solutions to threatening changes

The United Nations Security Council is set to vote on a US-proposed resolution on Thursday in the US, aimed at imposing additional sanctions on North Korea in response to the regime’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile launch. According to diplomats cited by media reports in the United States, the US has scheduled the vote for the late afternoon. Washington holds the Security Council presidency for May. The vote comes after Pyongyang test-fired three missiles on Wednesday, one o

Climate crisis is an ocean crisis, said Sylvia Earle, marine biologist and National Geographic explorer-in-residence, during a forum Thursday in Seoul. “It took time for climate scientists to recognize the inextricable connection between the atmosphere and the ocean, between climate and the ocean, between Earth’s living systems and climate. Now we know that the climate crisis is an ocean crisis,” she said. Earle, who spent “thousands of hours” over five decades o

Gangwon Province has been underdeveloped, limited by heavy regulations, says Lee Kwang-jae, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea’s Gangwon Province candidate for governor. Lee, who held the post of Gangwon Province governor for a short period in 2010 before he was removed due to involvement in a large political scandal, believes a new future awaits the province. According to Lee, the new Special Act on the Establishment of Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, likely to p

Increasing temperatures and rapidly rising sea levels pose a grave threat to humanity, experts warned Thursday. Speaking during the first session of H.Eco Forum on rising sea levels, experts warned that the oceans are headed for irreparable damage. Professor Axel Timmermann, the director of the IBS Center for Climate Physics at Pusan National University, was the first speaker and gave a speech titled, “Using basic science to avert climate changes.”  Timmermann reviewed th

Small island countries were on the front lines of climate change but the clock is now ticking for the developed world, former president of Kiribati, Anote Tong, said at the H.eco Forum in Seoul on Thursday. “Hurricane Katrina hit the southeastern US in 2005, at a time when many parts of the country were still in denial of climate change,” Tong said. “The scale of destruction caused by that hurricane left even the most economically developed country on the planet struggling.&r

The second edition of the H.eco Forum was held Thursday, shedding light on climate change and its effects on the marine environment. This year’s event was held under the theme of “Climate Crisis and the Ocean” on Nodeul Island – also known as Nodeulseom -- inviting environment scholars, activists and experts in and out of Korea. Some speakers from abroad gave their speeches online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “This year’s H.eco Forum focuses on ma

The Environmental Defense Fund signed a new agreement with Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Environmental Studies to study where and how much methane escapes from the nation’s gas delivery system in Seoul on May 23.  Under the agreement, EDF and SNU will facilitate dialogue and collaboration between scientists, academics, industry members and policymakers on methane studies, energy policy, and detection of methane in the urban gas distribution network. SNU and ED

South Korea reported fewer than 20,000 COVID-19 cases Thursday as the rapid spread of the omicron variant is under control. The country added 18,816 new infections, including 34 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,036,720, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily tally fell to a 17-week low for a Thursday and declined around 33 percent from a week earlier, as the virus curve has been trending downward since mid-March. South Korea's daily case

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 1 1/2-year prison term for Seungri, the disgraced former member of K-pop boy band BIGBANG, on prostitution mediation, overseas gambling and other charges. Upholding a lower court's ruling, the top court found the 32-year-old, whose real name is Lee Seung-hyun, guilty of all nine charges in a far-reaching sex and drug scandal surrounding Burning Sun, a nightclub in Seoul affiliated with him, which roiled the K-pop industry in 2019. He was found guilty o

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against the peak wage system introduced by a large number of local companies to gradually cut the salaries of senior workers several years before retirement. The top court said the peak wage system is an illegal discrimination against workers on the basis of age, making the first ruling of its kind in a lawsuit filed by a former employee of a local research institute. The plaintiff who joined the institute in 1991 retired honorably in 2014. The institute intro

With the local elections less than a week away, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) has found itself battering with an internal feud amid concerns the infighting may hinder its chances in the elections. The turmoil began earlier this week when the DP's co-interim chief Park Ji-hyun promised self-reflection and called for a sweeping reform of the party in a press conference aimed at drumming up support ahead of the local elections. The 26-year-old upped the ante Wednesday after she cal

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday named his nominees for education and welfare ministers, picking women for both positions following criticism that his Cabinet is male-dominated. Park Soon-ae, a professor of the Graduate School of Public Administration at Seoul National University, was named education minister, while Kim Seung-hee, a former lawmaker, was named welfare minister. Earlier in the day, a senior presidential official said Yoon had planned to pick women as his nominees for education