The leaders of six high prosecutors’ offices gathered on Monday morning to discuss response measures on the Democratic Party of Korea’s legislative push to strip investigative power from the prosecution, continuing the law enforcement agency’s vocal opposition to the controversial move. At 9:30 a.m. at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul, the six senior prosecutors entered an undisclosed meeting held just 10 days after the last such meeting took

North Korea called again for the country on Monday to step up efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in a message carried by a state-controlled main newspaper, stressing the need for officials to not let their guard down. It came on the day when South Korea removed all social distancing measures with the exception of the mask mandate, in a major move to return to pre-pandemic normalcy. The Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the Workers' Party of Korea, urged officials and party members to stay wary o

Prosecutors sought formal arrest warrants Monday for a woman and her boyfriend who stand accused of causing the 2009 drowning death of the woman's husband for a hefty insurance payout, officials said. Lee Eun-hae, 31, and her extramarital lover, Cho Hyun-soo, 30, were detained Saturday on charges of prodding Lee's then 39-year-old husband to jump into a valley river in Gapyeong, 60 kilometers east of Seoul, even though he's unable to swim, and letting him drown. Investigators suspect they comm

Malaysia on Monday expressed support for South Korea's bid to join a mega free trade deal in the Asia-Pacific region, Seoul's trade ministry said. Malaysia's Senior Minister and International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali has voiced support for Seoul's envisioned entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) during a virtual meeting with South Korea's Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo. Last week, South Korea announced its decision to join

　Almost half of call center workers have thought about taking their own lives due to poor labor conditions and extreme emotional labor, a state human rights watchdog survey showed. 　In the survey of 1,996 call center people conducted by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea from August to October, 48 percent said they thought of killing themselves and 30 percent said they had the thought in the past year. 　As reasons for having suicidal thoughts, economic difficulty was cited the most

South Korea's new coronavirus cases dipped to a 10-week low Monday as omicron began to recede and the country lifted most restrictions to move on from the COVID-19 pandemic. The country added 47,743 new COVID-19 infections, including 14 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 16,353,495, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The new tally is slightly fewer than the 49,546 reported Feb. 9 when the omicron variant started to rapidly spread across the country.

A fire broke out at an apartment building in northern Seoul early Monday, leaving one dead and another injured, officials said. The fire started at 3:38 a.m. in a unit on the ninth floor of the 15-story building in Nowon Ward and was extinguished about 50 minutes later. One of the unit's residents, in her 50s, was found dead on-site, and the other resident, in his 20s, was sent to a nearby hospital after inhaling smoke and sustaining burns. About 60 other residents in the apartment evacuated on

      VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis on Sunday called for peace in Ukraine during this "Easter of war" as he delivered the traditional Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi address on St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.    "May there be peace for war-torn Ukraine, so sorely tried by the violence and destruction of the cruel and senseless war into which it was dragged," the pontiff said.    "Our eyes, too, are incredulous on this Easter

KYIV, Ukraine -- The battered port city of Mariupol appeared on the brink of falling to Russian forces Sunday after seven weeks under siege, a development that what would give Moscow a crucial success in Ukraine following a botched attempt to storm the capital and the loss of the Russian navy's Black Sea flagship.    The Russian military estimated that about 2,500 Ukrainian fighters holding out at a hulking steel plant with a warren of underground passageways provided the last pocket

ANSAN, Gyeonggi Province/MOKPO, South Jeolla Province -- Saturday marked the eighth year since the Sewol ferry disaster. Sewol’s sinking left a long-lasting mark on the collective memories of Koreans. From the moment the first 119 call for help was routed, up to the ferry’s submergence into the water, the tragedy was televised as it unfolded on April 16, 2014. The ferry, which was sailing through the Jindo archipelago in the farthest southwestern corner of Korea, sank at 2:37 p.m.

Pyongyang has become outspoken about intent to develop tactical nuclear weapons delivery systems, say analysts

Government lifts social distancing rules after nearly two years, signaling beginning of ‘living with coronavirus’

Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo submitted his resignation on Sunday in protest of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s push for the bill to strip prosecutors of their investigative powers. “I feel responsible for the legislative process of abolishing the prosecution’s investigation function as the prosecution was again pointed out as a target of reform,” Kim said in a written statement released on the day. “As the prosecutor general, I submitted my resignation

South Korea's President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol plans to send a delegation to Japan later this month for policy consultations on North Korea and pending bilateral issues, his transition team said Sunday. Led by Rep. Chung Jin-suk of Yoon's People Power Party, the delegation will visit Tokyo from April 24-28 to meet officials from the Japanese government and legislature as well as those from business circles, media and academia, according to the transition team's spokesperson Bae Hyun-jin. The seven-

South Korea is set to convene a session of the presidential National Security Council (NSC) on Sunday to discuss North Korea's weekend launch of two projectiles, Cheong Wa Dae said. Suh Hoon, director of national security at the presidential office, plans to preside over the NSC session after the North's state media reported the country had test-fired a new tactical guided weapon to improve the efficiency of tactical nuclear operations. South Korea's military said that it had detected the North'