Yoon vows to end "imperial" presidency and return Cheong Wa Dae to people

As the highly transmissible omicron variant continues to surge, South Korea’s cumulative number of COVID-19 infections nears 10 million since the country reported its first confirmed case around 26 months ago. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency‘s report on Sunday, the country added 334,708 new COVID-19 cases during the 24 hours of Saturday. The country’s total caseload neared 10 million at 9,373,646 as of midnight Saturday, accounting for some 20

North Korea on Sunday fired four suspected shots from its multiple rocket launchers into the Yellow Sea, South Korean military officials said, the latest show of force that could heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea's National Security Council (NSC) held an emergency vice-ministerial meeting over the four shots that fell into the western waters during a span of an hour from 7:20 a.m. from an unspecified location in South Pyongan Province, according to officials. Park Kyung-me

The Supreme Court has ordered tax authorities to refund Samsung Electronics Co. 11.3 billion won ($9.3 million) in undue corporate taxes from a former patent deal with U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp., court officials said Sunday. Samsung filed the complaint against local tax officials, who purported that the South Korean tech company avoided paying corporate taxes for using Microsoft's patents in its smartphones following a deal in July 2011. Two lower courts also ruled in favor of Samsung.

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases dropped below 400,000 for the second straight day on Sunday but concerns remain high that infections could spike again as the government is set to ease social distancing rules this week. The country reported 334,708 new COVID-19 infections, including 22 from overseas, raising the total caseload to 9,373,646, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The latest tally was down from the previous day's daily cases of 381,454. It also marked a sharp dr

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Saturday visited the foreign ministry building and the defense ministry compound, which are candidate sites for his planned relocation of the presidential office. He met with ministerial officials there and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the two places as locations for the next presidential office, according to Yoon's secretariat. Yoon is expected to announce his choice as early as Sunday, sources said. The former prosecutor general was elected

New apartment compounds exacerbate segregation and exclusion through erecting walls while social-mix policies make slow progress

South Korea ranked 59th among 146 countries in a U.N.-sponsored world happiness index. The Sustainable Development Solutions Network under the United Nations announced the 2022 World Happiness Report on Friday (local time). Finland topped the list for the fifth consecutive year, followed by Denmark, Switzerland and Iceland. South Korea climbed up three places from last year to 59th. The nation ranked lower than the United States (16th), Taiwan (25th) and Japan (54th). China stood at 72th. T

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell below 400,000 on Saturday, but concerns linger over the highly transmissible omicron variant amid the government's move to shift away from rigorous social distancing. The country reported 381,454 new COVID-19 infections, including 63 from overseas, raising the total caseload to 9,038,938, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.  The latest tally is a sharp drop from the all-time high of 621,328 on Thursday, though the sudden spik

Uzbekistan will host the Tashkent International Investment Forum from March 24-26, the Embassy of Uzbekistan said in a press release. The forum will focus on green energy, innovative industries, agriculture and digitization of the economy. According to the embassy, the forum is a new platform for the Central Asian region to show the investment potential of Uzbekistan for international investment and business communities. Citing Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade, the

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping are set to speak on Friday as the White House warns Beijing that providing military or economic assistance for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will trigger severe consequences from Washington and beyond. Planning for the call has been in the works since Biden and Xi held a virtual summit in November, but differences between Washington and Beijing over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s prosecution of his three-week old

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Russian forces pressed their assault on Ukrainian cities Friday, with new missile strikes and shelling on the edges of the capital Kyiv and the western city of Lviv, as world leaders pushed for an investigation of the Kremlin's repeated attacks on civilian targets, including schools, hospitals and residential areas. Outside Lviv, black smoke billowed for hours after the early morning strike by several missiles, which the mayor said hit a facility for repairing military airc

Passengers will be able to get on public buses in Gyeonggi Province without tapping their cards as its provincial office decided to expand the use of contactless payment solution on Friday. Starting Monday, a total of 1,760 buses travelling 212 routes throughout the province, will be equipped with the new fare payment technology. Double-decker and double-door buses were excluded from the scheme. Bluetooth communication system between the beacon installed in the vehicle and the passenge

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday stressed that managing the COVID-19 pandemic is the utmost priority for the presidential transition team, as the committee began its 53-day run. Speaking in the first general meeting of the committee, Yoon requested the special committee in charge of handling the COVID-19 crisis to focus on the damage compensation system for sole proprietors, and preventive measures to control the spread of the disease, citing the surging COVID-19 cases here. “No

Human rights situation in N.Korea has deteriorated over the last six years