Anyang City, located in Gyeonggi Province, is expecting big changes this year, such as expansion of the local job market, improvements in its railroad network, upcoming renovation projects and more. Mayor Choi Dae-ho addressed some important agenda for the city in his New Year’s message. Amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, Choi, who took the helm in July 2018, stressed community health to be the foremost agenda of the year, highlighting that the city would strengthen its disease contr

Of Seoul’s 25 districts, Gangnam-gu has the largest economy, with its total output being nearly 22 times the size of the smallest, Gangbuk-gu, data showed Thursday. 　 According to the Seoul metropolitan government, Gangnam-gu’s gross regional domestic product in 2019 stood at 71.85 trillion won ($6 billion), followed by Jung-gu’s 53.8 trillion, Yeongdeungpo-gu’s 36.1 trillion and Seocho-gu’s 35.6 trillion won. The smallest economy in terms of GRDP was Gangbuk-gu at

Rescue workers found one person trapped under the rubble at an apartment building collapse site in the southwestern city of Gwangju on Thursday, but his fate is not yet known. The unidentified man was discovered near the handrail of stairs on the first basement floor of the damaged building in Gwangju, about 330 kilometers south of Seoul, and rescue workers were trying to remove concrete debris and iron wires to save him. He could be one of the six people unaccounted for after the exterior wal

The Seoul city government said Thursday it will invest a total of 345.9 billion won ($291.4 million) this year in projects harnessing such cutting-edge digitization technologies as metaverse, big data and artificial intelligence (AI). Up to 1,067 projects, including those to be pursued by the city's 25 districts, will benefit from the city's investment plan for "paradigm shift to digitization," according to the city government. A chunk of 112.6 billion won of the total investment all

South Korea will consider introducing a new visa category for foreign startup entrepreneurs to vitalize the domestic startup ecosystem, according to Seoul's justice minister. At a South Korea-Germany startup industry roundtable meeting in Berlin on Wednesday (local time), Justice Minister Park Beom-kye said Seoul will "review the adoption of a startup visa." "In order to vitalize our startup ecosystem, we need to have an influx of foreigners who want to launch startups in South

South Korea said Thursday it will ban all entrants from using ordinary public transportation to try to stem the inflow of the omicron variant from overseas as the number of imported cases reached an all-time high. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said all entrants must use their private vehicles, or officially designated infection-proof taxis, buses or trains. They will also be required to present negative test results issued within 48 hours before their departure for Sou

South Korea's military on Thursday reported 11 additional COVID-19 cases, including 10 breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 3,537. Of the new cases, seven are from the Army, three from the Air Force, and one from a unit under the direct control of the ministry. Currently, 212 military personnel are under treatment. Of the total military caseload, 1,718 are breakthrough cases. (Yonhap)

A nuclear reactor automatically shut down Thursday after a coolant pump stopped working, but no radiation leak was found, the operator of the country's nuclear plants said. The Reactor-5 at the Hanul Power Plant in Uljin, some 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was shut down at around 1:26 a.m., according to the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said it is currently looking into the stoppage to find the exact cause of the automatic shutdow

Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, located about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, has grown into a city of more than 1 million known for a clean environment with citizen-friendly policies.  With Mayor Baek Kun-ki heralding the city’s remarkable change, Yongin transformed into a greener and more balanced city with improved standards of living for its citizens -- when it comes to the economy, job opportunities, transportation and education, among others.  On Thursday, Yongin will start a ne

Yongin, which received ‘special city’ status on Thursday, will use all possible resources to speed up development of its semiconductor cluster while making improvements in living environments and welfare programs

The white peaks of Mount Hallasan on Jeju Island has gained notable popularity this winter, promoting hikers to pay extra cash to get access to the snowy landscape. Dozens of postings seeking to sell, buy or exchange QR tickets to Hallasan National Park have been posted at secondhand online stores. Offered by the national park, tickets are available online for free on a first come first serve basis. One post uploaded on Joonggonara, the country‘s largest online used goods marketplace, sh

Everyone talks about the March 9 presidential election. But the local elections to be held in June are the big day Park Hye-min, 29, has been counting down the days to. Park is the executive director of Newways, a nonprofit organization that she founded about a year ago with a friend she met at a book club. The organization’s goal is to discover rookie politicians who speak the same language they do, and foster them as city or provincial councilors who represent young people’s inte

Second Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, leading to 16 Cabinet members taking virus tests and canceling their schedules as they attended the same Cabinet meeting with Choi the previous day. Choi attended Tuesday's meeting on behalf of Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong. The 16 other Cabinet members also in attendance included Interior Minister Jeon Hae-cheol, Defense Minister Suh Wook, Unification Minister Lee In-young, Land Minister Noh Hyeong-ouk and

Things are about to get really bad before they get better

The Ministry of Education is again drawing fire over sharing cartoons encouraging students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 despite the court order suspending vaccine mandate measures on education facilities for young students. On Friday, the ministry posted a cartoon on its social media account, titled “Why did these friends have to take out tteokbokki (rice cakes in a red chili sauce)?” The cartoon shows two students going to a diner for tteokbokki. The owner asks them whether