The number of foreign nationals staying in South Korea shrank nearly 4 percent on-year in 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Korea Immigration Office said Wednesday. The number was tallied at 1.96 million as of the end of last year, a 3.9 percent decrease from 2.04 million in 2020 and down 23 percent from a record high of 2.52 million in 2019. They include 1.57 million long-term residents and 386,000 people staying for fewer than 90 days. its data showed. It is the first time that the fo

The number of babies born in South Korea fell to a record low in November last year, data showed Wednesday, underpinning the country's gloomy demographic situation with the chronically low birth rate. A total of 19,800 babies were born in November, down 1.3 percent from the previous year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest for any November since 1981, when the statistics agency began compiling related data. In the first 11 months of last year, 244,016 bab

Drug smuggling caught by South Korea's customs agency hit a record high last year as trafficking via non-contact delivery means shot up amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The Korea Customs Service said it confiscated a total of 1,272 kilograms of drugs in 2021, up 757 percent from the previous year. Drug smuggling via international mail and cargo sharply increased as drug delivery by international travelers declined due to the pandemic, according to the customs agency. The con

South Korea's military on Wednesday reported 160 additional COVID-19 cases, including 147 breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 4,180. The latest virus count was up from 78 reported the previous day as the military remains on high alert to fight the omicron variant. The country as a whole added 13,012 new cases Wednesday. Of the new military cases, 101 are from the Army, 28 from the Air Force, 15 from the Navy, five from the Marine Corps and 11 from units u

A man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for forming a criminal organization and distributing marijuana in South Korea through the dark web, a court said Wednesday. The 40-year-old man, surnamed Kim, was found to have created a criminal organization with six accomplices and sold 1,992 grams of marijuana worth about 230 million won ($192,000) from 2017 to April after growing the plant at an isolated factory building. They were paid in cryptocurrency from buyers on the dark web, an area

South Korea for the first time entered five digits in daily new COVID-19 cases for Wednesday, just days after omicron officially replaced delta as the dominant variant here. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum told a meeting of the government COVID-19 response headquarters that in the latest 24 hours 13,012 cases had been recorded -- marking a stark jump from the prior record of 8,571 cases set the previous day. “Omicron spread is beginning,” the prime minister said. &l

South Korea is hinted to report nearly 10,000 cases for a single day as coronavirus variant outbreak continues to take center stage in the ongoing pandemic. The Yonhap News Agency reported late Tuesday afternoon that South Korea reported 9,218 cases as of 9 p.m. Tuesday with the number of cases escalating due to increasing prevalence of omicron variant of coronavirus cases. A day earlier, South Korea reported 8,571 cases throughout Monday, according to tally form the Korea Disease Control and

Rescue workers found personal items presumed to be from a missing worker at the site of a collapsed apartment building under construction in the southwestern city of Gwangju on Tuesday. Work clothing and bloodstains were detected at a room on the 27th floor of the damaged building in Gwangju, about 330 kilometers south of Seoul, as the search and rescue operation continued for 14 days, according to the local disaster management authorities. They assumed that one of the five workers still mis

Chang Yong-joon, better known as rapper No:el and the son of lawmaker Rep. Chang Je-won, had insulted and assaulted a police officer after refusing to comply with a breathalyzer test that followed a car accident in September, according to a video shown in court. Prosecutors revealed the video during a trial at Seoul Central District Court on Monday, where Chang refused to admit his noncompliance with the breathalyzer test and that he had physically attacked a police officer. In the video, Ch

Central Seoul’s iconic Gwanghwamun Square will reopen to the public in July after undergoing a complete makeover, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said on Thursday. The symbolic square, which has been under construction since November 2020, will return doubled in size to include a park, adding more green space to the area, the city said. According to the city government, the total size of the square has increased from 18,840 square meters to 40,300 square meters. After turning some o

South Korea‘s daily coronavirus cases hit an all-time high of 8,571 as of midnight Monday, with the quickly spreading omicron variant now dominant, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Tuesday. It is the first time the daily figure has topped 8,000 cases dating back to when the country reported the first COVID-19 infection in January 2020. The previous all-time high was 7,848 on Dec. 15, 2021. Despite the sudden increase in daily cases, the number of critically ill CO

Public installations to measure one’s waist size irk some amid growing body positive movement

JEJU -- More than 200,000 people are expected to travel to Jeju Island during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday despite growing concerns over the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant, according to travel industry officials Tuesday. According to the Jeju Tourism Association, the number of visitors to the resort island during the extended holiday period, from Saturday to Feb. 2, is expected to reach 207,000, up 35.2 percent from a year ago. The number of scheduled Jeju-bound flights durin

Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul will reopen in July after completing over 1 1/2 years of renovation that will more than double the total area, including tripling the space for trees and other plants, the city government said Tuesday. The square, located in front of the royal Gyeongbok Palace and the US Embassy, has been one of the must-visit places for tourists and citizens. Since November 2020, construction has been under way to expand the square from 18,840 square meters to 40,300 square

South Korea's military on Tuesday reported 78 additional COVID-19 cases, including 67 breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 4,020. Of the new cases, 63 are from the Army, seven from the Marine Corps, four from units under the direct control of the defense ministry and four from the Air Force. The Army infection count included 30 trainees based at a boot camp in Nonsan, 213 kilometers south of Seoul. Currently, 406 military personnel are under treatment. Of