A child makes a snowman at a playground in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province on Saturday. The weather agency issued heavy snow advisories for Incheon, Daejeon and many other western parts of the country. Authorities said they expect 5 to 15 centimeters of snow in North and South Jeolla provinces.

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases remained above 60,000 for the fifth straight day Saturday amid concerns of a surge in cases during the winter season. The country reported 66,930 new COVID-19 infections, including 56 from overseas, bringing the total to 28,129,431, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. It marks the highest daily figure for a Saturday in 15 weeks, after the country reported 79,708 cases on Sept. 3. The daily caseload jumped to over 86,000 on Tuesday, t

South Korea's first lunar orbiter Danuri started entering the orbit of the moon Saturday, 135 days after its launch, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said. The unmanned space vehicle carried out its first lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuver at 2:45 a.m., KARI said, as part of five rounds of such maneuvers in the coming days for Danuri to be captured in the lunar orbit on Dec. 29. In the first maneuver, KARI researchers used Danuri's thrusters for about 13 minutes to slow

The weather agency issued heavy snow advisories Saturday for Incheon, Daejeon and many other western parts of the country. The interior ministry also raised the disaster alert level to "caution," the third highest in the four-tier system, as of 7 a.m. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) forecast 5 to 15 centimeters of snow will fall in western parts of South Chungcheong and North and South Jeolla provinces Saturday. Jeju Island and coastal areas of North and South Jeolla pr

Prosecutors on Friday indicted Hur Young-in, the chair of the nation's largest bakery chain, SPC Group, on breach of trust charges for underselling stocks held by group affiliates in a suspected attempt to evade the gift tax. Hur was accused of selling stocks of Mildawon, a grain company wholly owned by his family, at 255 won ($0.19) per share in December 2012, far cheaper than the estimated 2011 price of 1,180 won or their 2008 acquisition price of 3,038 won. The chairman allegedly dumped

Opposition leader urges President Yoon to apologize

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed above 60,000 for the fourth straight day Friday amid lingering concerns of another surge as the government mulls easing the indoor mask mandate. The country reported 66,953 new COVID-19 infections, including 82 from overseas, bringing the total to 28,062,679, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The daily caseload jumped to 86,852 on Tuesday, the highest in three months since Sept. 14, when the daily figure reached 93,949. Daily infec

Residents of Daehyeon-dong in Daegu in opposition to the construction of a mosque in the neighborhood on Thursday cooked a whole pig near the construction site, stepping up the ongoing clash with Muslim residents of the city. On the same day, the Daegu anti-mosque committee, which was formed to stop the construction, held a press conference at the west gate of Kyungpook National University, announcing the assault by a Pakistani international student. “The Pakistani student was charged with

Footage from a deadly car crash in Gangneung, Gangwon Provinc is raising public suspicions about whether the cause was “sudden unintended acceleration.” The videos of the accident show a car driven by a 68-year-old woman running amok for about 600 meters on Dec. 6. The car crashed into a trench by the road, claiming her 12-year-old grandson’s life and leaving the driver seriously injured. “Oh my God, why doesn’t this work? Oh, something is wrong,“ the frighten

For people with ‘unusually long’ names, life in Korea fraught with frustrations

A key suspect of a high-profile land corruption scandal in South Korea was sent to hospital Thursday after he stabbed himself with a knife in an apparent suicide attempt. The suspect Kim Man-bae was in stable condition, but was hospitalized in an intensive care unit of Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, due to injuries in his neck and chest. Kim was found by his attorney inside his private car on Wednesday. Kim, a former journalist, is one of the shareholders in asset manageme

A woman in her 20s has been taken into custody, charged with murdering her blind 4-year-old daughter on Thursday, authorities said. The 26-year-old mother is accused of repeatedly beating the 4-year-old on Wednesday around 6 a.m., at home in Geumjeong-gu, Busan. The 4-year-old was taken to the hospital later that day at around 7:35 p.m. when the mother found her unconscious, but the child was already dead before arrival. Police immediately apprehended the mother, following the doctor's repo

An official from the United Arab Emirates government who participated in an international conference in South Korea was handed over to the prosecution on charges of sexually harassing a Korean female staff member. According to police and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Wednesday, a local secretary accompanying the UAE's health minister is alleged to have sexually harassed a Korean female worker at the Global Health Security Agenda meeting event in Seoul on Nov. 30. The GH

Prosecutors sought arrest warrants Thursday for two men on suspicion of helping a key suspect in a high-profile real estate development scandal conceal his assets. The scandal centers on the allegations that a small private asset management company, Hwacheon Daeyu, was allowed to reap astronomical investment profits from the development project in Daejang-dong in Seongnam, just south of Seoul. Lee Han-sung, co-CEO of Hwacheon Daeyu, and Choi Woo-hyang, director of the company, allegedly helped t

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed above 70,000 for the third straight day Thursday amid lingering concerns of another surge as the government mulls easing the indoor mask mandate. The country reported 70,154 new COVID-19 infections, including 38 from overseas, bringing the total to 27,995,726, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The daily caseload jumped to 86,852 on Tuesday, the highest in three months since Sept. 14, when the daily figure reached 93,949, KDCA data