South Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases have surpassed 300,000 for two days straight, government data showed Thursday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country added 327,549 new COVID-19 infections during the 24 hours of Wednesday, slightly down from the previous day. The country’s daily infections first topped the 300,000 mark a day earlier with 342,446 cases, the country’s current record-high tally. The daily tally currently appears to go beyon

US military has heightened readiness against N. Korea’s missile launches

Yoon expected to launch committee sooner than usual

Discourse with experts

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s seven companion animals are set to become the nation’s “first pets” after he is inaugurated on May 10. Without children, Yoon and his wife Kim Keon-hee live with four dogs -- Tori, Narae, Mari and Sunny -- and three cats -- Akkaengi, Navi and Norangi -- since they tied the knot in 2012. He will become the president with the most pets ever.  Among them, Jindo dog Tori is especially well known to the public from starring in a news phot

Kim says she will assist Yoon quietly in the background

Ruling party leadership steps down over election defeat

WASHINGTON -- US President Joe Biden congratulated South Korea's President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday, the White House said. Biden and Yoon talked on the phone hours after the incoming South Korean leader was declared the winner in the South Korean presidential election. "President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol of the Republic of Korea (ROK) to congratulate him on his election," the White House said in a press release, referring to South Kore

Disappointment with Moon pushes voters to bet on opposing side

The Supreme Court has confirmed a 30-year prison term for a man who murdered his older sister and abandoned her body on a west coast island in 2020, officials said Thursday. The 28-year-old man, whose identity was withheld, was convicted of stabbing his older sister, in her 30s, multiple times and killing her at an apartment building in Incheon, about 40 kilometers west of Seoul, on Dec. 19, 2020. He put the victim's dead body in a piece of luggage and hid it inside storage on the rooftop of the

Kim Keon-hee, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s wife and future first lady, spoke to local media early Thursday morning after Yoon won the 20th presidential election. “I will assist, with my humble capabilities, the president-elect to fulfill the tasks given to him by the people,” said Kim, 49, in an interview with a local media outlet early Thursday morning after Yoon’s win became clear. “I will try to help the president-elect pay more attention to (people living

Wednesday’s election came down to the slimmest margin ever seen in South Korean presidential election history, with the conservative opposition’s Yoon Suk-yeol beating his rival from the ruling camp, Lee Jae-myung, by just over 247,000 votes. It was the tightest race ever seen in the country’s 35-year-old democracy. Yoon, who was until March last year the country’s prosecutor general, took 48.56 percent of votes cast, just 0.73 of a percentage point ahead of former Gyeo

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said Thursday he will trust and follow the will of the people as he vowed to close any national divisions. "I will solely trust the people and follow the people's will," Yoon said in his remarks given at the National Assembly Library in western Seoul. "(The election results) constitute a call for reform, and the restoration of justice and common sense as well as the people's desperate appeal to do politics of unity, not division," Yoon noted.

As South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol received a congratulatory call from US President Joe Biden hours after his election victory Thursday, drawing keen attention is when they will meet. Observers say they may hold their first summit talks as early as in late May. Biden is reportedly considering a visit to Japan in late May for a Quad summit, which will offer a chance for him to make a stopover in South Korea. Yoon is slated to be inaugurated on May 10. If they meet before the end of the

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday congratulated President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on winning the presidential election as they held a telephone conversation, Moon's spokesperson said. Moon told Yoon that they need to hold a meeting to discuss a smooth transition of power and his administration will provide support for the next administration's inauguration, presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee told reporters. Moon asked Yoon to restore national unity and heal national division shown in the ele