South Korea's new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday bounced back to nearly 40,000 from a two-month low amid concerns over a "twindemic" of coronavirus and seasonal influenza. The country reported 39,425 new COVID-19 infections, including 308 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,673,663, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. It marked a surge from 14,168 cases reported the previous day, when the daily count fell to a more than two-month low apparently due

A hospital's refusal to operate on a human immunodeficiency virus-positive patient was ruled as discrimination, the state human rights watchdog said Monday. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea announced that it had recommended the hospital, which was not named, to provide training sessions for employees about the treatment of patients with HIV and come up with measures to prevent recurrence. Earlier in June last year, the HIV/AIDS patient filed a petition to the NHRC after the hos

Some 150 Iranians and Koreans took to the streets on Sunday, in solidarity with the widespread protests in Iran sparked by the death of a young Kurdish woman while in Iranian police custody. The protesters gathered at Teheran Street in southern Seoul, a road that was named after the Iranian capital to celebrate the two countries’ friendship. Participants chanted the name of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died in the custody of Iran's "morality police" for all

A Busan court issues arrest warrants for the suspects

The death toll from an outlet mall fire in the central city of Daejeon has risen to seven, officials said Monday, as a search is under way to determine whether there are any other victims. The blaze is believed to have started from the basement parking lot at Hyundai Premium Outlet in Daejeon, about 160 kilometers south of Seoul, at 7:45 a.m. and spread quickly on cardboard boxes, sending dark smoke filling the entire floor, according to witnesses and survivors. Two men, one in his 50s an

Guryong Village, a shantytown in Gangnam, becomes a symbol of wealth divide in Seoul

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell to the lowest number in more than two months on Monday, as the virus wave has been slowing down at a steady pace and the government has fully lifted outdoor mask mandates. The country reported 14,168 new COVID-19 infections, including 220 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,634,296, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. It is the smallest figure since July 11, when the daily figure came to 12,672. The latest count is

South Korea will no longer require masks for outdoor group activities, starting Monday. The government also plans to ease other antivirus measures down the road. The outdoor mask mandate ended May 2, but was kept for outdoor gatherings of 50 or more people. The rule remained due to concerns amid the recent resurgence of COVID-19. The government is expected to further ease the country’s antivirus measures for COVID-19. The government said it would soon introduce its future adjustments to

Calls for measures to counter sex crimes in the metaverse are rising with an increasing number of predators targeting teenagers. Huh Kyung-mi, a professor of police administration at Keimyung University, said that legal measures are essential to respond to sexual exploitation in the metaverse in a paper published on Sunday. According to Huh, 70 percent of metaverse service users are teenagers, and criminal attempts on the metaverse platform, especially those that target youthful avatars, has bee

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases remained below 30,000 for the third straight day Sunday in a sign that the virus wave is slowing down at a steady pace. The country reported 25,792 new COVID-19 infections, including 248 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,620,128, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Newly reported virus cases have shown a steady downward trajectory as of late after the COVID-19 omicron variant surged again in early July and peaked above

Antibody survey shows 57 percent recently infected

The ban on free single-use cups will kick off in December, going on a test trial run in Sejong and on Jeju Island. A recent report by the Environment Ministry showed the use of disposable cups has soared during the pandemic. The number of single-use plastic and paper cups consumed at 14 cafes and four popular fast-food chains reached 1.02 billion last year, marking a huge surge from 770 million in 2019. After postponing the introduction of a ban on single-use cups at franchise stores due to opp

Prosecutors on Friday raided the Korea Communications Commission, the state media regulator, over suspicion of score manipulation in the process of its license renewal for some general programming cable TV channels two years ago. The Seoul Northern District Prosecutors Office sent prosecutors and investigators to the KCC building in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, to secure documents related to the reapproval of cable TV channels in 2020. The raid came after the Board of Audit and Inspection rais

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell to the lowest Friday tally in 11 weeks in the latest sign of a downward trend ahead of the planned lifting of all outdoor mask mandates next week. The country reported 29,108 new COVID-19 infections, including 303 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,565,021, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The new daily figure is the lowest of all Friday tallies since cases dropped to 19,295 on July 8. The daily caseload decreased from

TORONTO -- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol met with June Huh, the Korean American mathematician who won this year's prestigious Fields Medal, in New York on Thursday, and discussed ways to foster talented people in science and technology, his office said. Yoon, who was in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, congratulated the 39-year-old professor of Princeton University once again on winning the Fields Medal, which is often dubbed the Nobel Prize in mathematics. He was awarded