North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is in a coma, and his decision to delegate some of his power to his aides is proof, a former aide to the late President Kim Dae-jung claimed Friday.  Jang Sung-min, who served Kim Dae-jung as a political affairs secretary and as head of the state affairs monitoring office, insisted that Kim Jong-un is comatose but his sister Kim Yo-jong is not his successor despite the power restructuring. On Friday, Seoul’s spy agency briefed lawmakers in a cl

The conservative pastor of a Seoul-based church that became a key source of mass infections of the novel coronavirus has alleged that the government manipulated virus-related data to blame his church for a second wave of the virus outbreak. Jun Kwang-hoon, who leads the 4,000-member Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul and is a vocal critic of President Moon Jae-in, criticized the government for forcibly conducting diagnostic tests and enforcing isolation on them in a full-page advertisement that ran

A COVID-19 patient who ran away from a hospital was apprehended in the early hours of Wednesday. The man, in his 50s, was confirmed to have the coronavirus after attending a service at the Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul. He was apprehended at about 1:15 a.m. at a coffee shop in Sinchon, Seoul, after running away from the hospital in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, 25 hours earlier. It has been reported that there were about 40 people at the coffee shop when the man was taken into custody. His mot

Public anger toward Jun Kwang-hoon, the conservative pastor at the center of a sprawling COVID-19 outbreak, intensified Tuesday when he was seen improperly wearing a face mask even as he was taken to a hospital for treatment after testing positive for the coronavirus. In photos taken and revealed Monday, Jun is seen wearing a mask on his chin, with his mouth and nose uncovered, as he talks on his phone while walking toward the vehicle that would take him to the Seoul Medical Center for treatm

Foreigners who test positive for the new coronavirus upon entering South Korea will have to pay for their own treatment if they violate the country’s disease prevention guidelines. The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that should foreigners who are diagnosed during quarantine or isolation violate the disease control guidelines, they will have to pay all their own medical fees. The new measure we

Thousands of doctors on Friday staged a nationwide walkout as talks with the government over medical reform plans fell through. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 24.7 percent of 33,836 medical clinics, hospitals and institutions announced Thursday that they would be closed on Friday. The ministry said the actual closure rate for Friday could be higher considering the ongoing vacation season. Under the lead of the Korea Medical Association, which represents 130,000 doctors, medi

Popular webtoon, or digital comic, writer Kian84 apologized and revised his latest work “Bokhakwang,” as controversy over the latest episode posted Tuesday sparked online protests. “Bokhakwang,” which means king of returning to school, is the most popular work by Kian84 that is uploaded at around 11 p.m. on Tuesdays on web portal Naver. “I am very sorry for causing concern with inappropriate depictions in my work,” Kian84 wrote on his webtoon page on Thursd

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said on Wednesday that it has requested 14 organizations to cancel their plans for mass rallies on Aug. 15 Liberation Day in a bid to keep COVID-19 from spreading. Seoul City said that should the organizations go ahead with their rallies, it will use all means including an order that prohibits rallies to prevent the coronavirus from spreading. “Various organizations are planning to hold mass gatherings downtown. ... We have officially requested them yes

Authorities unsure who is responsible for management of explosive ammonium nitrate in Korea

Military police wrapped up an investigation into allegations that an enlisted airman enjoyed preferential treatment due to his father's influence, recommending that the military prosecution charge him with going absent without leave, officials said Monday. The probe began in June after an online petition at the presidential office website claimed that the conscript enjoyed a variety of privileges, including having a noncommissioned officer do errands for him, thanks to his father's position as

Sam Okyere apologizes for social media post after Koreans lash out at his remarks, past behavior

Days of torrential downpours have flooded hundreds of houses and vast rice fields in North Korea, with damage expected to grow further, dealing a blow to a regime already grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and a flailing economy under international sanctions.  Nearly 730 homes and 600 hectares of rice fields have been flooded. Some 179 houses were destroyed in Taechong-ri, Unpha County, northwest of capital Pyongyang, after a water levee broke due to the heavy rains, according to the No

Young doctors plan to walk off job Friday to protest government’s health reforms

Another psychiatrist has been murdered by his patient following two similar incidents over the past two years, police said Wednesday. Police said a doctor in his 50s died Wednesday morning after being stabbed with a knife by a patient at his psychiatric hospital in the southern port city of Busan at 9:25 a.m. The patient, identified only as a man in his 60s, was arrested on the scene after spraying flammable materials and hanging from the window of the hospital in a confrontation with the pol

The Ministry of Justice is pushing for amendment to the Civil Law to abolish parents’ right to physically discipline their children in a bid to better protect children from abusive parents.  The plan is to delete the Article 915, which has been interpreted by some as giving legal grounds for corporal punishment. The clause itself does not say anything about the use of physical force as a means of discipline.  “Through the revision, we expect to contribute to forming an en