South Korea is looking to bring in alternative therapies amid a shortage of Paxlovid, the COVID-19 antiviral pill from Pfizer. The only antibody drug on the market here, Celltrion’s Regkirona, was suspended from use a month ago after evidence emerged that it was ineffective against omicron. Being distributed from Saturday is Merck’s antiviral pill Lagebrio, whose approval here was delayed until Wednesday, nearly four months since the company applied for emergency use review in No

The lights of key landmarks in Seoul, such as City Hall and Han River bridges, will be turned off for an hour Saturday evening as part of an annual global lights-out campaign raising awareness on climate change, city officials said. The landmarks, which also include Namsan Seoul Tower, the National Assembly building and Lotte World Tower, will go dark for an hour from 8:30 p.m. as part of the 2022 Earth Hour campaign, according to the city government. Other large buildings, such as department st

South Korea reported fewer than 400,000 new cases for the second day in a row Friday as the omicron variant tightens its grip on the country. The country reported 339,514 new infections as of midnight, raising the total caseload to 11,162,232, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Friday's daily tally was down from 395,597 on Thursday and 490,881 on Wednesday, which was the second-highest daily caseload. The death toll from COVID-19 came to 14,294, up 393 from Thursday,

  Experts have discussed the current status and direction of the platform economy as part of policy seminar series of “The Digital Age, the Road to the Cooperative Economy of Korea” organized by the UN-Habitat Korean National Committee on Wednesday.  In this seminar, experts from each field participated in resolving the monopoly on platform profits and legislating. They discussed regulations on “dinosaur” platforms for two hours and policy recommendations for p

With the lifting of the IT-based COVID-19 contract tracing scheme, owners of cafes, restaurants, and small and medium-sized shops now ponder over what to do with the digital devices they used for scanning personal QR codes. Since March 1, the government scrapped electronic contact tracing and vaccine passes in which visitors to public facilities including singing rooms, indoor gyms and residential nursing homes were required to get checked through mobile applications on their smartphones.

Science Ministry survey shows 37 percent of the youth rely heavily on smartphones

South Korea reported the highest number of daily COVID-19 deaths during the 24 hours of Wednesday, the country’s health authorities said Thursday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country added 470 deaths in a single day, breaking the previous record of 429 reported a week ago. The total deaths from COVID-19 reached 13,902. Of the total, 7,130 deaths were reported between February and March, along with the rapid spread of the omicron variant here. The

South Korea reported nearly 400,000 new cases and record high deaths Thursday as the omicron variant is tightening its grip on the country, sickening nearly 20 percent of the 52 million population. The country reported 395,598 new infections as of midnight, raising the total caseload to 10,822,836, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. While the daily tally was a sharp drop from the previous day's 490,881, which was the second-highest daily caseload, deaths hit a new rec

The number of teenage felons aged between 10 and 13, with no criminal responsibility, has been on a steady rise in recent years, a police report showed Thursday. Last year, 8,474 people in the age group committed violent crimes, marking an increase for the third consecutive year from 7,081 in 2019 and 7,535 in 2020, according to a National Police Agency report submitted to Rep. Kim Hoi-jae of the ruling Democratic Party. Currently, those aged 14 and younger cannot be held criminally responsible

South Korea added nearly 500,000 daily COVID-19 cases during the 24 hours of Tuesday, pushing the country’s accumulated figure over the 10 million mark. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country’s daily COVID-19 cases reached 490,881, the second-highest daily tally, after 621,205 cases reported Thursday last week. The country’s accumulated caseload surpassed 10,427,247, which accounts for around 20 percent of the country’s total populat

Registered as Cultural Heritage No. 428, the former Yongsan Railway Hospital has been reborn as a local history museum, representative of Yongsan’s historicity and identity. The 2,775-square-meter museum is comprised of two stories above the ground, with a viewing capacity of 100 people. The space is divided into exhibition, education, administration, preservation, landscaping and public use. The Yongsan History Museum’s building in itself is a cultural heritage. The building, buil

The South Korean government has approved the emergency use of anti-COVID-19 pill Lagevrio, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Wednesday. The medicine, co-developed by US pharmaceutical company MSD and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is the second anti-coronavirus pill to be authorized by the country’s health officials, following the approval of Pfizer’s antiviral drug Paxlovid in December. Amid the surging number of COVID-19 cases, the ministry said the approval decision was ma

Some self-employed merchants shun test to continue working, while others are tempted to get omicron to ‘escape from work’

A woman who killed her husband’s dog after blaming it for premature birth of her child was sentenced to a 3 million won ($2,470) fine on violation of the Animal Protection Act at a district court on Wednesday. The accused, whose identity has been withheld by authorities, had been under trial for throwing her husband’s poodle out the window of their 11th floor apartment in Ulsan, last March.  After the premature birth of her child, she suggested to her husband that they should

The Seoul city government announced Wednesday it plans to offer subsidies for public transportation costs of young citizens regardless of income level starting next month as part of its new youth support scheme. According to the city's new comprehensive youth support plan announced by Mayor Oh Se-hoon, the government plans to offer up to 100,000 won ($82) won in annual transportation subsidies for those aged between 19 and 24, while providing up to 400,000 won for moving expenses for those aged