South Korea will extend its current virus restriction measures for another three weeks and plans to adopt eased measures as part of a set of new distancing rules afterward, health authorities said Friday. Currently, the greater Seoul area, along with the southeastern city of Daegu and the resort island of Jeju, is under Level 2 distancing in the five-level scheme, while the rest of the country is under Level 1.5. The ban on gatherings of five or more people nationwide will be also in place, bu

A scheduled policy meeting between the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the government was canceled Friday after an aide of DP Chairman Song Young-gil was confirmed to have COVID-19. "An aide of Chairman Song tested positive for COVID-19 this morning. We're aware that a member of the Seoul city council who the aide met Wednesday also tested positive," a DP official said. Following the news, the party called off its scheduled policy coordination meeting with senior government official

Restaurants, cafes and entertainment facilities in the greater Seoul area will be able to open until midnight starting next month as the country is moving to gradually ease virus curbs in line with an accelerating vaccination rate, the health ministry said Friday. Starting in July, restaurants, cafes, karaoke businesses and other entertainment establishments can operate until midnight in the greater Seoul area, two hours more than the current curfew at 10:00 p.m., according to the Ministry of H

South Korea will prepare for an "orderly" exit from the pandemic-era monetary easing policy if an economic recovery remains solid, the head of the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Friday. It was the second time in a month that BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol hinted at the normalization of monetary policy amid market concerns about the US Federal Reserve's tapering. "If our economy is expected to continue its solid pace of recovery, we will orderly normalize the current easing of monetary policy

South Korea's export prices rose in May, marking the sixth straight monthly gain amid a robust recovery in exports, central bank data showed Friday. The country's export price index, in terms of the local currency, rose 1.5 percent in May from the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marked the sixth consecutive month of an on-month rise. In April, the index rose 2.2 percent on-month. From a year earlier, the index jumped 12.3 percent,

South Korean stocks opened higher Friday despite the steep hike in the US price gauge, as investors expect the price pressure is still short of starting Federal Reserve discussions to pull back its accommodative policies. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 24.91 points, or 0.77 percent, to reach 3,249.55 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Kospi got off to a strong start on overnight Wall Street tech gains, as investors shrug off signs of high price pressur

President Moon Jae-in departed Friday for Britain to attend an annual Group of Seven (G-7) summit, the outset of his weeklong trip to Europe that will take him to Austria and Spain as well. He is joining the G-7 session as a guest invited by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the host of the three-day event to take place until Sunday at the Carbis Bay Hotel in the southwestern county of Cornwall. At the "expanded" forum on Saturday and Sunday, Moon plans to have discussions on how

WASHINGTON -- North Korea continues to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, posing an increasing threat to the United States and its allies, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Thursday. "Pyongyang continues to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, posing an increasing threat to regional allies and partners and with ambitions to be able to strike the US homeland," Austin said in written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee before a he

Rep. Ahn Gyu-back of the ruling Democratic Party tested positive for the coronavirus Thursday, his office said. He is the second sitting legislator to be diagnosed with COVID-19 after Rep. Lee Gae-ho of the same party, who tested positive in April. Ahn's office said the four-term lawmaker came into contact with a local party official, who was infected with the coronavirus, during an event on Sunday. His aides went into self-isolation, it said. (Yonhap)

South Korean stocks rebounded Thursday on the quadruple expiration day of options and futures, buoyed by strong advances in tech stocks and massive foreign buying. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 8.46 points, or 0.26 percent, to close at 3,224.64 points. Trading volume was high at about 1.9 billion shares worth some 18.8 trillion won ($16.8 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 426 to 418. Foreigners scooped a net 71

Jung Il-hoon, former member of K-pop boy band BTOB, was sentenced by a local court Thursday to two years in prison for habitually smoking marijuana, a banned substance in South Korea. The 27-year-old Jung was indicted without detention in April on charges of smoking marijuana worth 133 million won ($119,300) that he had bought from an acquaintance on 161 occasions between July 2016 and January 2019. The Seoul Central District Court also ordered Jung to forfeit 133 million won for violating the

South Korea has begun preparation to secure more vaccines for next year as the COVID-19 pandemic here is expected to continue even after achieving much-awaited herd immunity this year, a ranking health official said Thursday. The country has already secured enough vaccines to inoculate some 100 million people in a country of 52 million. The vaccines are made by five pharmaceutical firms -- AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen, Moderna and Novavax. Over 10 million of the populat

President Moon Jae-in approved the retirement of South Korea's Air Force chief Thursday, a week after he offered to resign over the suicide of a female service member sexually assaulted by her male colleague. Moon was quick in accepting the resignation of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Lee Seong-yong but waited until the end of an inquiry into whether he is involved in any wrongdoing subject to legal punishment to approve his retirement. A review by such organizations as the state prosecution s

Rep. Ryu Ho-jeong of the progressive minor Justice Party apologized Thursday for using photos of BTS member Jungkook to promote her bill on legalizing tattooing. "I want to give my apology if there were people hurt (by the action)," Ryu told a radio program by local broadcaster MBC. "As a fan of BTS myself, I hated their acts of artistic expression getting restricted," the lawmaker noted. Ryu came under heat for uploading photos of Jungkook on her Twitter account on Tues

China hopes its relations with South Korea will move forward unaffected by the country's growing rivalry with the United States, the top Chinese envoy here said Thursday. Ambassador Xing Haiming made the remark in a radio interview after China expressed discomfort over the mention of the Taiwan Strait in last month's summit statement adopted by President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden. "Our relations have developed over the past 30 years. We should value that, and I think it wou