Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum embarked on a five-day trip to Turkey and Qatar on Thursday to discuss ways to strengthen diplomatic ties and expand economic cooperation. Kim will visit Turkey from Thursday to Saturday during which he will attend the opening ceremony of the 1915 Canakkale Bridge following an invitation from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The 1915 Canakkale Bridge in northwestern Turkey is the world's longest suspension bridge with a 2,023-meter span between its towers, buil

GWACHEON -- Justice Minister Park Beom-kye has tested positive for COVID-19 and is under self-treatment at home, his ministry said Thursday. Park tested positive in a rapid antigen test late Wednesday night, the justice ministry said, adding he plans to get treatment at his home for a week till Tuesday. "Park plans to cancel all schedules that require face-to-face contact, such as on-site visits or meetings," the ministry said, noting he will continue to carry out his duty at home thro

The interior ministry said Thursday it plans to inject 1.9 trillion won ($1.63 billion) this year to finance development projects in neighborhoods close to current and former US military bases. The ministry said it finalized the size of this year's fund that will be used in 115 projects in 13 cities and provinces to improve infrastructure where development has remained slow due to restrictions. The government has injected a combined 13.8 trillion won since 2008 to help develop areas near US mili

SEJONG -- The number of South Koreans getting married tumbled to a new all-time low in 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic and young people's changing attitude toward marriage, government data showed Thursday. The number of couples tying the knot in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 193,000 last year, down 9.8 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The number is the lowest since 1970, when the statistical agency began compiling related data, and represent

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's scheduled meeting with the Japanese ambassador to South Korea on Thursday has been postponed after the envoy tested positive for the coronavirus, Yoon's spokesperson said. Yoon had been scheduled to meet with Koichi Aiboshi at 2 p.m., but the meeting has been postponed, Yoon's spokesperson Kim Eun-hye said, without elaborating on when the meeting will be rescheduled for. The meeting with Aiboshi was supposed to be Yoon's third encounter with a foreign envoy in Seo

BUSAN -- Two people have been indicted on charges of smuggling in 902 kilograms of methamphetamine from Mexico, the biggest amount of drug smuggling ever, prosecutors said Thursday. A 38-year-old Australian, whose name was withdrawn, was indicted under detention on drug charges, along with a 36-year-old accomplice who was indicted without detention, the Busan District Prosecutors Office said. In collusion with an international crime ring, the Australian allegedly brought in the drug, hidden insi

Pompeo says Kim is aware that Xi “threatens his sovereignty”

The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed the not-guilty verdict for Jun Kwang-hoon, a conservative pastor known for leading anti-government rallies, over charges of premature electioneering before the 2020 parliamentary elections and libel against President Moon Jae-in. Jun, head pastor of Sarang Jeil Church in northern Seoul, was indicted in March 2020 for violating election laws by organizing protests and prayer services between December 2019 and January 2020, and telling the participants to su

President Moon Jae-in has the right to make personnel appointments until his term ends, a senior official said Thursday, amid speculation the issue is one of the reasons for the cancellation of Moon's planned meeting with his successor-elect Yoon Suk-yeol. "It is not right to argue about the president's right to personnel appointments," Park Soo-hyun, senior secretary for public communication, told MBC radio, a day after Moon's first meeting with Yoon was called off. Park also denied a

The remaining members of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's transition team were announced Thursday, including members of the subcommittees for the economy and science and three spokespeople. Lee Chang-yang, a professor of management engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, was appointed to lead the second subcommittee for economic affairs, Yoon's spokesperson, Kim Eun-hye, said during a press briefing. Also named to the subcommittee were Wang Yun-jong, a professor a

The Seoul city government has drawn up a 1.1 trillion won ($897.3 million) supplementary budget bill to bolster its fight against COVID-19 and support businesses hit by the pandemic, officials said Thursday. The extra budget, which comes in addition to the regular budget of a record high 44 trillion won, was urgently put together as the omicron wave continues to weigh on the livelihoods of people and drives up demand for disease prevention measures, officials said. Of the extra budget, 424.8 bil

　The number of registered surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor in Japan decreased by 585 in the past year, data showed.  　A civic group unveiled government statistics on medical assistance provided to people who were conscripted to work in Japan during World War II. 　The data showed the number of recipients stood at 1,815 in January, down from last year’s 2,400. Of them, 116 are women.  　The number has steadily dropped - 8,075 in 2016, 6,570 in 2017, 5,245 i

South Korea can create up to 2.26 million new jobs in fields of energy transition by 2050 if the country invests consistently in achieving its carbon neutrality policy goal, a US think tank report showed Thursday. The report from the University of Massachusetts' Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), commissioned by Green Peace Korea, examined South Korea's job growth potential under the premise that the country aggressively pursues its goal of cutting its 2030 emissions by 40 percent comp

DAEJEON -- A Vietnamese sailor has been sentenced to nine years in prison for stabbing another Vietnamese sailor to death while having a drink together last year, a court said Thursday. The killing happened on July 20, when the accused and the victim, both 27, were having a drink with four other people at a residence in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province. After getting into a fistfight with some of them, the accused went out and returned with a sharp weapon and ended up stabbing the victim. Th

South Korea's Veterans Affairs Minister Hwang Ki-chul has sent a message of condolences to the bereaved family of a US veteran who participated in a famous evacuation operation during the 1950-53 Korean War, his office said Thursday. Retired Rear Adm. J. Robert Lunney died last Thursday at the age of 94. He was a crew member of the SS Meredith Victory, a merchant ship, mobilized for the Heungnam evacuation that rescued some 14,000 refugees in December 1950. "Rear Adm. Lunney, the hero of th