South Korean government says the omicron wave is in retreat here, and that a return to normal life is on the horizon. “The weekly average deaths are falling, and this declining trend is expected to continue,” Ministry of Health and Welfare spokesperson Son Young-rae said at a briefing Wednesday. He said the number of patients in critical care have also fallen from a peak in late March, with 60 percent of beds at ICUs hospitals across the country filled. The ICU occupancy rates ho

Kim Eun-hye, former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min to be key contenders at People Power Party

Many still intend to run in local elections despite calls for generational shift

Cabinet approved partial reserve fund for relocation on Wednesday

South Korea's defense ministry started full-fledged preparations Wednesday for its relocation to a nearby building and other facilities inside its compound in Seoul, as the Cabinet has approved budget spending for moving the country's presidential office. The ministry plans to sign a contract with a private relocation company as early as Thursday in line with President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's plan to relocate the presidential office to the ministry building in Seoul's central district of Yongsan f

South Korea's Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Kim Jung-soo vowed Wednesday to "proactively" push for military innovation in the midst of what he called "intense strategic competition" among maritime powers in the Indo-Pacific region. Kim made the remarks during a security forum, stressing the need for the Navy to respond to not only North Korean threats, but also to "comprehensive" security challenges beyond the Korean Peninsula. "North Korea's nuclear and weapo

South Korea has identified the remains of another soldier killed in the 1950-53 Korean War following his excavation from a former battle site more than a decade ago, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The ministry's excavation team recently identified the remains of Noh Jae-gyun, who held the rank equivalent to the current corporal, through a DNA analysis. His remains were discovered in Chuncheon, 85 kilometers northeast of Seoul, in 2009. Born in the southeastern county of Seonsan in 1928, No

The government will increase the weekly number of international flights to the United States, Europe and other COVID-19 quarantine-free nations by 100 flights every month starting in May in line with growing demand for overseas travel, Interior Minister Jeon Hae-cheol said Wednesday. The country's COVID-19 wave has been on the downturn for the third week in a row, and demand for overseas travel is expected to go up as foreign nations are gradually lifting quarantine requirements after passing t

A pet dog is likely to appear in a postage stamp commemorating the presidential inauguration for the first time, transition team officials said Wednesday. The issuance of a commemorative postage stamp featuring President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and his pet dog Tory is said to be in the review stage in time for his inauguration slated for May 10, they said. The possible inclusion of Tory in Yoon's postage stamp may be designed to arouse public interest in the issue of pet animals in a nation where th

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said Wednesday he plans to upgrade relations with Germany as he met with the country's top envoy to Seoul. Yoon noted during the meeting with Amb. Michael Reiffenstuel that Germany is South Korea's biggest trading partner among the member states of the European Union. "I plan to further upgrade our cooperative relations with Germany," he said at his office, noting that Germany has contributed greatly to South Korea's economic and scientific development s

South Korea's new coronavirus cases remained in the 200,000s for the second straight day on Wednesday, as the spread of the omicron variant has slowed down after peaking last month. The country reported 286,294 new COVID-19 infections, including 22 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 14,553,644, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily tally remained below the 300,000s for the sixth consecutive day. The daily tally has been on the decline after rea

WASHINGTON -- The top nuclear envoys of the United States and China met Tuesday in Washington for talks on ways to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, the US Department of State said. The meeting between US Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim and China's Liu Xiaoming was held in Washington. "Special Representative Kim and Special Representative Liu discussed opportunities to advance our shared goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and how to encourage the DPRK to engage in

WASHINGTON -- North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs pose a real danger to the US homeland, as well as US allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday. Milley also said the North shows no signs of giving up its efforts to further advance its military capabilities. "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) continued weapons testing and development poses real threats to our allies and partners in the

Pusan National University on Tuesday made a final decision to nullify the 2015 admission of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk's daughter into its medical school for using forged documents on the application. The school in the southeastern port city of Busan had tentatively decided in August last year to cancel Cho Min's admission to its Graduate School of Medicine and finalized the decision in a general faculty meeting Tuesday.  Tuesday's decision came after the Supreme Court convicted he

A forum held Tuesday by the office of Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, a four-term lawmaker of the main conservative People Power Party, discussed the future of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which the incoming administration has vowed to do away with. The party’s President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol plans to abolish the ministry, which was among his key election campaign pledges. In an opening address, Yoon accused the ministry of “aligning with the administration in power, rathe