Police have decided to continue to ban demonstrations within the 100-meter radius of the new presidential office in Seoul's central district of Yongsan, sources said Friday. The Seoul Metropolitan Police has recently instructed the Yongsan Police Station and nearby police forces to give a notification of prohibition to those filing for permission to stage rallies near the presidential office, according to the sources. Since President Yoon Suk-yeol relocated the presidential office to Yongsan ear

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday offered to send COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea, his spokesperson said, a day after Pyongyang acknowleged an outbreak for the first time since the pandemic began. After claiming for over two years that it was coronavirus-free, the North reported its first case of COVID-19 on Thursday, saying the country declared the implementation of the "maximum emergency" virus control system. "President Yoon Suk-yeol plans to provide the North Korean people wi

The female workforce is increasing, even in once male-dominated industries. But South Korea’s construction industry is failing to provide an adequate working environment for them, as sexual harassment and a lack of safety equipment for women go unaddressed. Construction sites no longer men-only Construction work has largely been regarded as a man’s profession in South Korea. However, research by Statistics Korea recently revealed that female construction workers now comprise 10.4

The government will add an additional 230 international flights by next month to meet growing demand for travel in the wake of an easing of COVID-19 restrictions, Interior Minister Lee Sang-min said Friday. The addition will raise the number of weekly international flights from 532 in May to 762 in June. Starting May 23, the government will also recognize negative rapid antigen test results for travelers boarding flights to South Korea, on top of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results curr

President Yoon Suk-yeol will visit the southwestern city of Gwangju next week to commemorate a democracy uprising that led to the massacre of hundreds of civilians in 1980, his office said Friday. Yoon will travel to Gwangju, 329 kilometers south of Seoul, to attend a state memorial ceremony on the anniversary of the May 18 uprising at the May 18th National Cemetery. The visit will mark Yoon's first trip outside of Seoul since taking office Tuesday. During a visit to the cemetery in November as

　The number of South Korean workers who took parental leave in 2021 decreased year-on-year for the first time since the system was introduced in 2001, government data showed. 　A total of 110,555 workers took time off to take care of their children last year, down 1.3 percent from the previous year‘s 112,040, according to statistics from the Labor Ministry. 　The decrease was attributed to the exceptionally large number of parental leave takers in 2020, when many schools and kindergartens

The United States has no immediate plans to provide COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea but supports international efforts to help vaccinate the people of the reclusive country, a White House spokesperson said Thursday. Jen Psaki, however, accused Pyongyang of exploiting its people by denying or diverting international assistance to pursue unlawful weapons programs. "The United States does not currently have plans to share vaccines with the DPRK," the White House press secretary said when

North Korea may be ready to conduct a nuclear test before the end of the month, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday. Her remarks come less than a week after a state department spokesperson hinted at a possible resumption of nuclear tests by North Korea in the near future. "The United States assesses that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea could be ready to conduct a test there as early as this month," Psaki said when asked in a daily press briefing, referring to

North Korea fired another ballistic missile into the East Sea on Thursday, continuing a series of launches that have raised tensions on the Korean Peninsula. According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, a projectile suspected of being a ballistic missile was fired into the East Sea. Thursday’s launch is North Korea’s 16th show of force this year. The most recent was a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) fired in waters off its east coast on May 7. Pyongyang ha

Yoon put to test for balanced diplomacy in war of nerves between the US and China

Results likely to reflect sentiment on Yoon administration

Kim called homosexuality a ‘treatable’ mental disease and sexual slavery victims prostitutes

Nominee says Moon administration’s inter-Korean agreements still valid

The emergency situation would not hold Pyongyang back from its nuclear ambitions, experts say

Practice of equipping high school students with extremely high qualifications in hopes of entering top university is not just popular TV show theme but potential political scandal in Korea