The military on Wednesday reported 898 additional COVID-19 cases, raising the total caseload among its domestic personnel to 20,167. The new cases included 639 from the Army, 73 from the Navy, 66 from the Air Force, 66 from the Marine Corps and 44 from units under the direct control of the defense ministry. There were also six cases from the ministry, three from the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command and one from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Currently, 5,777 military personnel are under treatm

Diplomats of South and North Korea clashed over differing views of the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the UN as delegates met for an emergency session to discuss a resolution condemning Moscow’s aggression. 　 Cho Hyun, the South Korean ambassador to the UN, strongly condemned “Russia’s armed invasion of Ukraine,” throwing support behind a UN General Assembly resolution that was set for a vote Wednesday, demanding Russia withdraw its troops from Ukraine. On the contrary,

Russia's invasion of Ukraine could further increase North Korea's reluctance to abandon nuclear arms, former US Forces Korea (USFK) chiefs have said, raising the need for Seoul and Washington to beef up their combined readiness. In its monthly newsletter, the Korea-US Alliance Foundation (KUSAF) released a summary of their recent comments on the Ukraine crisis and its ramifications on the Korean Peninsula without identifying them. Their comments came amid a view that Russia's attack on the pro-W

South Koreans bid a final farewell to late former culture minister Lee O-young on Wednesday, in a funeral ceremony led by the culture ministry for one of South Korea's most revered literary critics and novelists. His family, friends and figures from the culture and art scenes paid their respects to Lee at the National Library of Korea in southern Seoul. The library is a symbolic venue for him as he laid the foundation for cultural policy for developing libraries across the country during his ter

WASHINGTON -- US President Joe Biden left out North Korea in his first State of the Union address on Tuesday that laid out various challenges facing his country, including the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The US leader, however, thanked South Korea, along with dozens of other countries, for condemning what he called Russia's "unjustified" and "totally unprovoked" aggression on Ukraine. "Along with twenty-seven members of the European Union including France, Germa

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol is leading his ruling party rival Lee Jae-myung by 3.2 percentage points or less just a week before the election, two polls showed Wednesday. In a Realmeter survey conducted Monday and Tuesday, Yoon of the conservative People Power Party earned 46.3 percent support against Lee of the liberal Democratic Party's 43.1 percent. The 3.2 percentage point gap was within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confid

K-Trumpism is part of the global rise of right-wing populism, experts say

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Russian forces escalated their attacks on crowded urban areas Tuesday, bombarding the central square in Ukraine's second-biggest city and Kyiv's main TV tower in what the country's president called a blatant campaign of terror. "Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed after the bloodshed on the square in Kharkiv. In the US, President Joe Biden planned to use his first State of the Union address Tuesday evening to vow to make R

Kim Dong-yeon, the presidential candidate of the minor New Wave Party, dropped out of the race Wednesday to support ruling party candidate Lee Jae-myung. Kim, who served as President Moon Jae-in's first finance minister, announced the withdrawal a day after he reached an agreement with Lee of the ruling Democratic Party to have policy coalitions and operation of a joint government. "It was not an easy decision for me," Kim said. "Please understand this was a difficult decisio

ULJIN -- Three sailors were rescued with cardiac arrest Wednesday morning after their fishing boat sank in the waters off the eastern county of Uljin, Coast Guard officials said. The 7.93-ton vessel went down in waters off Osan Port in Uljin, about 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul, at around 7:06 a.m., according to officials. The three crew members were sent to a nearby hospital upon rescue, and the Coast Guard plans to investigate the exact damage and the cause of the accident. (Yonhap)

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases surpassed 200,000 for the first time Wednesday as the highly transmissible omicron variant continues its frenetic spread across the nation. The surge came after the government temporarily suspended the enforcement of the vaccine pass system Tuesday, citing the lack of staff handling the pandemic. The country reported a record high of 219,241 new coronavirus infections, including 219,173 local cases, raising the total caseload to 3,492,686 according to the

NEW YORK/SEOUL -- North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song blamed the United States for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying Washington's "hegemonic policy" is threatening the peace and security of other sovereign states. Kim made the remarks at an emergency session of the UN General Assembly held in New York on Tuesday (New York time), as dozens of other speakers urged Russia to stop its military attacks on Ukraine. "The US and the West, in defiance of Russia's reas

WASHINGTON -- The chief of the South Korean mission to the United Nations on Tuesday called on Russia to immediately stop its invasion of Ukraine while saying his country will provide additional humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine. Ambassador Cho Hyun also called on the United Nations to act quickly, noting South Korea would not have existed had it not been for UN assistance some 70 years ago when the country was invaded by North Korea. "We are gathered here today at one of the

The four main presidential candidates are set to face off in their final TV debate Wednesday. The debate comes a week before the election and two days before the start of early voting over two days. The two-hour session will be hosted by the National Election Commission, the state election watchdog, and focus on social issues, such as welfare policies and the demographic crisis. All four candidates -- Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party, Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Po

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Yonhap) -- External pressure alone will not be enough to convince North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to give up his nuclear ambitions, a former head of US Forces Korea (USFK) said Tuesday, stressing the need for what he called an internal pressure to change. Retired Gen. Walter Sharp also pointed to the need for South Korea and the US to work with China to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons. "I personally believe that there's no amount of external pressure that is goin