Cheongju Heungdueok Police Station has launched an investigation into allegations of animal abuse by the owner of a dog day care center in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. According to reports, the owner is suspected of committing multiple counts of animal abuse which allegedly took place between early January and Feb. 7, according to the Korea Abandoned Animal Welfare Association, the civic group that reported the case. KAWA submitted CCTV video footage of the inside of the facility which

The South Korean government is not responsible for compensation for a child who was inoculated following a boarding school's vaccination requirement, a court ruling showed Monday. The mother of the deceased son, whose identity was not disclosed, claimed in a lawsuit that the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency had unlawfully rejected the mother's request to review whether the case was subject to state compensation or not. She demanded the case be at least discussed at a committ

Over 8,000 child day care centers in South Korea closed over the past four years, weighed down by declining births, government data showed. Some 21 percent, or 8,248, of all day care centers across the nation disappeared from end-2018 to the end of last year, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Sunday. The total number of day care centers, which typically admit children aged 6 and under, stood at 30,923 as of Dec. 31, compared with 39,171 at end-2018. Separate data showed that the

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell below 5,000 on Monday, continuing an on-week decline amid a gradual virus downtrend. The country reported 4,324 new infection cases, including 13 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,433,895, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The figure fell from 5,163 cases a day earlier and from 5,847 a week earlier. The infection numbers have been on a steady decline despite worries that the removal of the indoor mask mandate late last

South Korea has reported the lowest number of new COVID-19 cases in 33 weeks for any Sunday amid a gradual decline in virus infections in the country. A total of 10,274 additional cases, including 23 from overseas, were confirmed Sunday, bringing the total caseload to 30,429,571, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. It marked a decline from 12,042 a week earlier. On Saturday, 10,718 new cases were posted. The KDCA reported 12 new deaths from COVID-19, putting the death t

A South Korean relief team sent to Turkey earlier this month to support rescue work following the devastating earthquake there returned home Saturday, Seoul's foreign ministry said. The 118-member Korea Disaster Relief Team arrived at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, just south of the capital, at 7 a.m., according to the ministry. Last week, South Korea dispatched the team, mostly comprised of search and rescue personnel, to the city of Antakya, having offered $5 million in emergency humanitaria

The South Korean government on Friday announced its plan to introduce an "anti-drone system" to prevent terrorist attacks from targeting key national facilities with drones. The meeting of the 16th National Counter Terrorism Committee, convened by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, approved the government's plan of deploying the anti-drone system to key facilities, including oil refineries and power plants, in stages of order of importance. The government will also seek to actively supp

Quarantine measures likely to be eased following tempered COVID-19 restrictions and visa tensions

A two-kilogram brick thrown from the top of a five-story building by children smashed the outdoor condenser of an air-conditioner, and a second one fell right in front of a shopkeeper who came out to see what caused the crashing sound. The shopkeeper is getting medical treatment for the traumatic experience, but because the children are aged under 10, the police can’t do anything other than write down their personal details, a local broadcaster reported Thursday. The children were caught b

Two foreign nationals residing in South Korea have been arrested for funding an al-Qaida-linked terrorist group using cryptocurrency, police said Thursday. A 31-year-old Uzbek man and a 29-year-old Kazakh man were sent to the Supreme Prosecutors Office on Jan. 17 on charges of breaking the anti-terrorism and anti-terrorist funding acts, according to the National Office of Investigation of the National Police Agency. The funds were delivered to Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad, or KTJ, an anti-Syrian

The Blue Tree Foundation, an institution for victims of school violence, held a meeting Monday on the sidelines of the 61st Session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development, to discuss the prospect of sustainable development in the era of digital transformation. The 61st plenary session of the UN Commission for Social Development was held online and offline at the UN headquarters in New York from Feb. 6 to Wednesday with the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United

A state reconciliation panel confirmed Thursday that a civilian was shot by soldiers during a military coup 62 years ago, recommending compensation be paid by the state. The victim, who suffered a lifetime of pain from the gunshot wound, has finally been granted the possibility of receiving financial reparation. On May 16, 1961, then-Major General Park Chung-hee led a military coup against former President Yun Po-sun's government. The victim, who is only identified by the surname Cho, was s

A six-year-old boy who was found facedown in a swimming pool in Busan during a 3:1 lesson died Wednesday afternoon, the Busan police said Thursday. The boy had been in critical condition for a week since the accident. The child was found unconscious near a pool ladder at around 7:45 p.m. on Feb. 8, and it was determined that he drowned after his life jacket became stuck between the ladder’s rungs while he was diving into the water. Surveillance camera footage shows the swimming instructo

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell below 13,000 on Thursday, logging a marked on-week decline amid a gradual virus downtrend. The country reported 12,519 new infection cases, including 24 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,397,720, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. It was a decline from 14,957 cases a day earlier. Compared with the previous week, the latest figure marked about a 15 percent fall. The KDCA reported 22 deaths from COVID-19, putting the deat

Experts call for thorough geological investigation, seismic reinforcement plan and technology monitoring minor changes