A panel of medical experts on Friday said the vaccine for the novel coronavirus developed by US pharmaceutical company Moderna Inc. showed enough efficacy and safety, and recommended the use of the product. In the previous two rounds of review on Moderna's two full-dose regimen, the panel already concluded that the product is eligible for all adults. The Moderna vaccine, finally approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, marks the country's fourth COVID-19 vaccine, following the ones by

South Korean stocks closed in negative terrain on Friday as investors sold stocks to lock in profits. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 5.86 points, or 0.19 percent, to close at 3,156.42 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 787 million shares worth some 14.6 trillion won ($13 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 674 to 189. Foreigners sold a net 135 billion won, while retail investors purchased 59 billion won.

South Korea on Friday confirmed the first case of so-called breakthrough COVID-19 infection, in which a person tests positive for the novel coronavirus even after being fully vaccinated. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the person in his or her 20s, whose identity has been withheld, contracted COVID-19 more than 14 days after receiving two doses of a vaccine. A "breakthrough case" is when a person tests positive for COVID-19 between their first and second d

Both the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and President Moon Jae-in saw their approval ratings rebound this week, an opinion poll showed Friday. According to the poll by Gallup Korea, conducted from Tuesday-Thursday on 1,001 people age 18 or over, the approval rating for the DP stood at 32 percent, up 4 percentage points from a week earlier. The main opposition People Power Party, meanwhile, saw its approval rating edge down by 1 percentage point to 26 percent, while 30 percent of the total respon

South Korea should make a strategic decision in the face of intensifying rivalry between the United States and China, an American expert said Friday, warning that Seoul has been increasingly isolated from the region's multilateral diplomacy due to its "ambivalent" stance. Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, made the point in a presentation for a seminar on the South Korea-US alliance, saying that such isolation will ultimately leave South Kor

Unification Minister Lee In-young on Friday expressed hope that this week's summit between President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden will provide new momentum for dialogue with North Korea. Moon and Biden are set to hold their first face-to-face summit talks in Washington on Friday (US time), with North Korea expected to be one of the key agenda items, along with cooperation on COVID-19 vaccine and semiconductor supplies. The summit comes after the US completed its monthslong review of

Four Army officers and five soldiers tested positive for the new coronavirus, the latest in a series of infections at barracks, the defense ministry said Friday. Of them, four soldiers were from the same unit in Hongcheon, about 100 kilometers east of Seoul, which reported nine COVID-19 cases earlier, according to the ministry. Three officers from another unit in the country also tested positive, prompting the military and health authorities to conduct contact tracing. The remaining officer a

However temporary it may be, South Korean pitcher Yang Hyeon-jong has earned a place in the starting rotation for the Texas Rangers. In a pregame interview before hosting the New York Yankees in Arlington, Texas, on Thursday (local time), Rangers manager Chris Woodward said Yang, who started the previous day in place of the injured Kohei Arihara, will get more looks in the rotation. "As of right now, I'd say Yang probably stays in that spot," Woodward said in a Zoom call. "We're

The Navy, the Coast Guard and police were to stage joint helicopter landing drills on an amphibious assault ship Friday in an effort to enhance their disaster relief capabilities, officials said. The training will take place in waters near the southern island of Geoje, involving the 14,500-ton Dokdo ship and two helicopters from the Coast Guard and the police, according to the Navy. The event is in part to help the chopper pilots earn qualifications for deck landing necessary to operate on la

North Korea's official newspaper on Friday urged young people to tighten their ideological discipline, expressing concerns that "bourgeois" culture and "individualism" could make it hard to safeguard socialism. "In a country where younger people stay morally sound and civilized, the country would not wobble under any circumstances but if younger people go corrupt, there would be no future," the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the North's ruling party, said. The paper

South Korea's exports jumped 53.3 percent on-year in the first 20 days of May on the back of robust demand for chips and automobiles, data showed Friday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $31.1 billion in the May 1-20 period, compared with $20 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Over the period, imports also moved up 36 percent to reach $31.4 billion. By sectors, South Korea's outbound shipments of chips, the mainstay export product, advanced

The South Korean men's Olympic football team will host Ghana twice next month for tuneup matches ahead of the Tokyo Summer Games. The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced Friday the two countries will play at 7 p.m. on June 12 and again at 8 p.m. on June 15. Both matches will be played at Jeju World Cup Stadium in Seogwipo, Jeju Island. These will be the first official matches for South Korea's under-23 Olympic team since November last year, when they faced Egypt and Brazil in a friendly

South Korea will extend its current social distancing measures for another three weeks, the prime minister said Friday, amid continued cluster infections and spreading variant cases. "The number of new daily average patients as of late remains in the 500 level, not budging below that point, and infections are continuing from all quarters in our daily lives," Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said as he announced the extension of virus curbs during a regular COVID-19 response meeting in Seou

After missing the first quarter of the 2021 season, Tampa Bay Rays' first baseman Choi Ji-man is playing as though he wants to make up for all that lost time. The South Korean infielder went 1-for-3 with three walks and an RBI in a 10-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore on Thursday (local time). Choi missed the first 41 games of the season following arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on March 31. He made his season debut last Sunday and went 3-for-4

South Korea's producer prices increased 0.6 percent on-month in April due to a modest rise in commodity prices, extending their monthly gains for the sixth straight month, central bank data showed Friday. The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, stood at 107.68 in April, compared with 107.04 a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The index advanced 5.6 percent from the previous year, the BOK data showed. The prices of agricultural goods fell 8.2 p