The Korean National Police Agency received the lowest "C" rating in the government's annual performance evaluation over its response to the Itaewon crowd crush that claimed 159 lives in October 2022, the report showed Tuesday. "The lack of measures to prevent the Itaewon crowd crush and the response to address it was why we came up with the rating," Paek Il-hyun, deputy minister for government performance evaluation at the Office for Government Policy Coordination, told

The high-profile daughter of the disgraced former Justice Minister Cho Kuk has said she does not feel ashamed of herself at all despite her parents' conviction for forging her academic documents. Cho Min, who has made headlines over suspicions that her parents fabricated various academic documents to get her into a medical school, made the remarks in a YouTube interview on Monday, three days after her father was given a two-year prison sentence on multiple charges, including those related t

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed below 20,000 for the sixth straight day Tuesday, signaling a downtrend in the virus wave. The country reported 16,120 new cases, including 29 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,279,381, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The Tuesday tally is down from 19,617 of the previous week and up from 5,850 of the previous day, the lowest daily count in 224 days. The country added 10 COVID-19 deaths Tuesday, bringing the

Prosecutors have summarily indicted a former foreign ministry employee on charges of attempting to sell BTS member Jungkook's lost hat online for 10 million won ($7,950), legal sources said Tuesday. The former government employee, whose identity has been withheld, allegedly shared a photo of the bucket hat on an online flea market, claiming the K-pop superstar had left it at the ministry building in Seoul when he visited to apply for a passport. The seller further said he had acquired the o

Prosecutors raided Seongnam City Hall on Tuesday as part of a high-profile development corruption investigation involving opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, officials said. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office sent investigators to the City Hall and Asia Developer, a private real estate developer, to seize evidence related to the investigation. The probe centers on allegations that the municipal government of Seongnam gave special administrative favors to Asia Developer in 2015, which led

Concerns grow over teenagers using cheap, quasi-motels; experts say proper sex education is needed instead of telling them just not to go

Military police said Monday they had launched an investigation after a report that a sergeant had abused a soldier with a motor drill. According to a military statement, a sergeant at a unit located in the greater Seoul metropolitan area was reported Sunday for using a motor drill on the arm of a soldier on Friday. The names of the perpetrator and victim have not been disclosed. The sergeant appeared at the unit's cafeteria with a motor drill in his hand and, without warning, began to drill

Average age of elderly Seoulites who consider themselves “seniors” are 72.6 years old, 7.6 years older than legal standard

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell to the lowest tally in 224 days on Monday, a week after the country lifted most mandatory indoor mask-wearing rules amid a COVID-19 downtrend. The country reported 5,850 new cases, including 20 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,263,261, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. It is the lowest daily count since June 27 last year when the figure came to 3,419. The country added 18 COVID-19 deaths Monday, bringing the d

YouTube is home to a myriad of creators catering to people interested in Korean language and culture, but not many have the presence of Billy Go. The 36-year-old American has nearly 544,000 followers, amassed through a decade of engagement and several hundreds of tutoring clips and posts. His YouTube channel, which started in 2012, “Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean” mostly features short-form videos of 10 minutes or less that teach the Korean alphabet, words and phrases, as well

SINAN -- 5 of crew members missing from fishing boat capsizing found dead Rescuers searching a 24-ton fishing boat that capsized off the southwestern coast found five missing crew members dead inside the shipwreck Monday, Coast Guard officials said. Seawater started to flood the ship's engine room, causing the vessel, the Cheongbo, to overturn at 11:19 p.m. Saturday in waters 16.6 kilometers west of the uninhabited island of Daebichi that lies some 20 km from the southwestern county of

South Korea’s population shrank last year, continuing its downward trend for three years in a row with the number of single-person households close to 10 million, government data showed. The Ministry of Interior and Safety said the country’s registered population stood at 51,439,038 as of Dec. 31 of last year, down 0.39 percent from a year earlier. Single-person households continued to rise to 9,724,256, accounting for 41 percent of the total of 23,705,814 households. Combined with t

Three crew were rescued from a fishing boat after it capsized off the southwestern coast late Saturday, and a search is underway for the other nine missing crew, South Korea’s Coast Guard said Sunday. The Mokpo Coast Guard received a report at 11:19 p.m. Saturday that the 24-ton fishing boat had overturned 16.6 kilometers west of Daebichido, an inhabited island in Sinan, South Jeolla Province. Two Koreans and one Indonesian were rescued by the Coast Guard and taken to the hospital. Nine ot

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed below 15,000 on Sunday amid the view that the winter wave of infections has probably peaked. The country reported 14,018 new cases, including 34 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,257,411, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The daily caseload fell to the lowest Sunday tally in 31 weeks. The country added 22 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the death toll to 33,596. The number of critically ill patients came to 313, do

Bereaved families of the victims of the Itaewon crowd crush on Saturday took to the streets of downtown Seoul and installed a memorial altar in a public square without approval from authorities, one day before the 100th day of the tragedy. About 5,000 people, including about 150 family members, marched from a memorial altar at Noksapyeong Station, near the site of the Oct. 29 accident that killed 159 people during Halloween festivities, to Sejongno Street, where they held a memorial rally for th