South Korea and the US on Friday confirmed that North Korea’s two recent missile launches were to test for a new intercontinental ballistic missile system, as Washington plans to announce fresh sanctions against the regime for its weapons program.  The authorities concluded that the regime’s ballistic missile tests on Feb. 27 and March 5 -- which Pyongyang claimed were for a reconnaissance satellite -- “involved a new intercontinental ballistic missile system” that

The military on Friday reported 2,014 additional COVID-19 cases, setting a fresh high and raising the total caseload among its domestic personnel to 33,052. The new cases included 1,228 from the Army, 291 from the Navy, 230 from the Air Force, 124 from units under the direct control of the defense ministry and 119 from the Marine Corps. There were also 12 cases from the ministry and 10 from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Currently, 8,063 military personnel are under treatment.  

The military has identified the remains of a South Korean soldier killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, about a decade after their excavation from a former battle site, the defense ministry said Friday. The ministry's excavation team found the remains of Pfc. Ahn Seung-won in Seongnam, south of Seoul, in 2012. They were identified as his thanks to a DNA sample his younger sister had registered with the government. Ahn's remains were discovered along with those of two other troops. One of them wa

Spending on private after-school classes hit a record high of 23.4 trillion won ($18.9 billion) last year amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic that restricted in-person school education, according to a survey released by the education ministry Friday. The 2021 expenditures, based on a survey of some 74,000 elementary to high school students nationwide, marked a solid increase from 21 trillion won in 2019 and 19.4 trillion won in 2020, and a new record high since related figures were first compil

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol has told leaders of neighboring Japan and China to develop relations further. The leaders agreed to strengthen ties with South Korea. On Friday morning, Yoon met with the Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming in Seoul, saying he is confident that Korea-China relations will develop further. “China is Korea‘s largest trading partner, and we are China’s third-largest trading partner,” Yoon told Xing. “This year is the 30th ann

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on Friday tested positive for COVID-19 in a self-test kit check and is now waiting for the results of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, officials said. The mayor canceled an in-person meeting of his staff at Seoul City Hall while heading to work in the morning and held an online meeting instead. "We are currently waiting for the test result," a city government official said. (Yonhap)

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday he hopes South Korea, the United States and Japan will further strengthen coordination on Korean Peninsula issues as he spoke by phone with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Yoon talked with Kishida two days after his election, saying he hopes the two sides will work together to promote "friendly cooperative" ties between their countries. "South Korea and Japan have many future tasks on which we need to work together, such as securi

Health authorities are expecting the omicron variant spread to reach its peak within 10 days, reaching some 370,000 COVID-19 cases a day. South Korea saw 282,987 new confirmed cases as of Thursday midnight, while the number of deaths hit 229. “According to predictions from multiple research teams, the spread will reach its peak within 10 days. The average daily new cases can reach the maximum of 370,000,” Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said at a meeting held at the government complex

  Police are tracking down two Russians who escaped from a COVID-19 treatment center in North Chungcheong Province, violating their quarantine requirement, according to the North Chungcheong Provincial Office Friday. The undocumented foreigners in their 30s were quarantined in separate rooms on the fourth floor of the facility located in Jangan-myeon, Boeun-gun, sources said. They sneaked out of their rooms at around 1 a.m. on Wednesday and met secretly at a vacant room on the same floor.

A first-term lawmaker, who led the opposition's attack on a land development scandal surrounding the ruling party's presidential candidate, has been named a spokesperson for President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, his aide said Friday. Rep. Kim Eun-hye of the People Power Party (PPP) will serve as a spokeswoman for the president-elect, according to Yoon's chief secretary Chang Je-won. Kim, who was elected in a district in Seongnam, south of Seoul, led a public affairs unit of the PPP's campaign committee

The Seoul city government on Friday unveiled three virtual influencer candidates for promotional ambassador of the capital's central fashion district of Dongdaemun. The profiles of the candidates -- Ha Ri-ra, Seo Hi and Mo I-da -- are available on the city government's online voting website (mvoting.seoul.go.kr), where a four-day public vote to pick a winner will be held through Tuesday. The winner will become a promotional ambassador for the fashion district and an intern for a public fashion d

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday he is certain South Korea-China relations will develop further as he met with Beijing's top envoy to Seoul. Yoon made the remark during a meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Seoul Xing Haiming two days after his election, noting China is South Korea's largest trading partner and South Korea is China's third-largest. "I'm certain South Korea-China relations will develop further," he said at the People Power Party headquarters, recalling this year

GWANGJU -- The head of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) on Friday tested positive for COVID-19 in a rapid antigen test while on a visit to the southwestern city of Gwangju, according to party officials. Should PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok's infection be confirmed in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will also have to take a virus test, because party officials said the two had lunch together Thursday. Lee was in Gwangju, 330 kilometers southwest of Seo

Yoon looks to install office in Seoul Government Complex instead

The ongoing wildfires in east coastal mountain areas have so far burned nearly 24,000 hectares of woodland since they started a week ago, becoming the country's most devastating on record, a government agency said Friday. The blaze that started in the east coastal town of Uljin last Friday, about 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul, has spread to nearby areas and continued for the 8th day. An estimated total of 23,993 hectares of woodland had been scorched so far in the wildfires as of 6 a.m. Frid