About 10,000 police officers will be deployed for security and safety activities related to this week's College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), the National Police Agency (NPA) said Monday. On Thursday, about 509,800 high school seniors and graduates are set to take this year's CSAT, seen as one of the nation's most important annual academic events. The NPA said 10,506 officers will be mobilized to safeguard the delivery of exam papers and answer sheets from Monday to Thursday and guard the te

South Korea on Monday reported more than 2,000 daily coronavirus cases for six days in a row, fueling worries of a surge in COVID-19 infections after the country relaxed its virus-related restrictions early this month. The country reported 2,006 new COVID-19 cases, including 1,986 local infections, raising the total caseload to 397,466, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The number of daily cases has stayed in the quadruple digits since July 7, with the tally peaking

Male population slides to 70-month low in October

Two weeks into Korea’s “living with COVID-19” scheme, the number of critically ill patients in intensive care is inching closer to the government’s threshold. The number of coronavirus patients undergoing intensive care treatment reached 483 as of Saturday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The figure is just short of the record high of 485 reported on the previous day. Of the 483 critically ill patients, 82.2 percent were over the age of 6

South Korea's COVID-19 cases stayed above 2,000 for the fifth consecutive day Sunday amid worries over a resurgence of infections, as the country relaxed its social distancing restrictions earlier this month in line with the campaign of "living with COVID-19." Throughout the previous day, 2,419 new coronavirus cases were confirmed nationwide, raising the total caseload to 395,460, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The daily caseload has stayed in th

Korea has extended its special advisory against overseas travel for another month due to the continued spread of COVID-19, the foreign ministry said Saturday.    Citizens are recommended to cancel or postpone non-essential trips abroad until Dec. 13, as the rise of variant cases in many countries poses risks to their health, the ministry said.    The travel advisory was first imposed in March and has been extended every month as many countries struggle with the outbreaks o

    South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed above 2,000 for the fourth consecutive day Saturday amid concerns over a growing number of serious cases following eased virus curbs.    The country reported 2,325 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total caseload to 393,042, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).    The daily caseload has stayed in the quadruple digits since July 7, including the record high of 3,272 cases on Sept. 2

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Friday launched a COVID-19 immunization safety surveillance and research committee, to be operated by the National Academy of Medicine of Korea. The committee’s head Dr. Park Byung-joo, the national academy’s vice president, said the committee aimed to provide a scientific basis for assessing each adverse event’s potential link to vaccination. Asked how the committee’s role would differ from the KDCA’s existing

Cheong Wa Dae's National Security Office (NSO) and the Coast Guard were ordered Friday to provide undisclosed information in connection to North Korea's killing of a South Korean fisheries official near the inter-Korean sea border in September last year to his family. The Seoul Administrative Court made the ruling in an information disclosure suit launched by the family of the then 47-year-old official, who was fatally shot and then set on fire by North Korean soldiers while on duty near the we

South Korea marked a record high for a third consecutive day in the number of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals’ intensive care units, amid the country’s phased return to normal. According to a situation report from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, 475 COVID-19 patients were undergoing intensive care treatment as of Thursday at midnight, on top of the 4,178 patients who were hospitalized but did not require intensive care. In Seoul, which accounted for abo

JEONJU -- An appeals court upheld prison sentences for five illegal immigrants from Vietnam for attacking each other with weapons in a fight over unpaid wages at an apartment complex in the southwestern city of Jeonju earlier this year, court records showed Friday. The incident happened on April 12 when a 33-year-old Vietnamese punched and stabbed a 39-year-old coworker in an apartment complex parking lot in Jeonju, about 245 kilometers southwest of Seoul. One of the three other Vietnamese han

Secretly urinating on a stranger constitutes forced molestation, the Supreme Court said Friday, overturning a not guilty verdict by lower courts. The unnamed defendant in the unusual legal case was charged with secretly peeing on a girl's hair, hoody and padded jumper from behind while she was talking on a cell phone on a bench at an apartment playground in the central city of Daejeon around 11 p.m. on Nov. 25, 2019. The 33-year-old defendant, known only as a theater actor, allegedly committed

A 2.1 magnitude earthquake struck the southeastern city of Pohang early Friday but is not expected to cause any damage, the state weather agency said. The quake occurred at 1:31 a.m. in a region about 12 kilometers north of the Buk ward office in Pohang, some 375 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). The epicenter was at a depth of 8 km. The quake's tremor was recorded at Level 2 on the seismic intensity scale in North Gyeongsang Provinc

South Korea said Friday the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition hit a record high as the daily caseload stayed above 2,300 for the third consecutive day amid eased antivirus curbs. The country reported 2,368 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total caseload to 390,719, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest tally marked a fall from the previous day's 2,520, but the daily caseload has hovered over 2,000 for three days in a row. The daily tally

    The National Assembly voted Thursday to abolish a decade-old controversial anti-online gaming rule banning minors from late night access to online games.    Parliament held a plenary session and passed a revision to the youth protection act, which no longer includes the previous rule banning online game access to minors under 16 between midnight and 6 a.m.    Discussions surrounding the so-called gaming shutdown rule first surfaced in the early 2000s amid grow