Former President Chun Doo-hwan has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that affects plasma cells, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday. The 90-year-old former military strongman has been hospitalized in Yonsei Severance Hospital in western Seoul since he returned from a 660-kilometer round trip to the southwestern city of Gwangju to attend an appellate court hearing on a defamation case. The gaunt-looking Chun appeared at the Gwangju District Court's appellat

President Moon Jae-in said Saturday that South Korea's vaccinations are proceeding at a faster pace than expected as over half of the population has received at least one shot as he vowed to speed up the inoculation drive to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 25.7 million people have received their first shots of COVID-19 vaccines as of 11 a.m., accounting for around 50 percent of the country's population, while those who are fully vaccinated reached 11.5 million, according to the Korea Dis

The number of daily passengers at Incheon International Airport, South Korea's main gateway, rose to the highest point this year in early August as more people traveled during the summer holiday season amid the vaccination drive, data showed Saturday. An average of 10,987 passengers used the Incheon airport a day from Aug. 1-19, up 47 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to the data by the Incheon International Airport Corp. On Aug. 13, two days ahead of Liberation Day, 15,55

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell below 2,000 for the first time in two days Saturday, while authorities are set to extend the tough restrictions to battle the fast surge of the virus driven by the more transmissible delta variant. The country added 1,880 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,814 local infections, raising the total caseload to 234,739, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The daily caseload was down from 2,152 on Thursday and 2,052 on Fr

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases remained in the 2,000s for the second straight day Friday amid little signs of letup, triggering the extension of the toughest level of virus restrictions for two more weeks. The country added 2,052 more COVID-19 cases, including 2,001 local infections, raising the total caseload to 232,859, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The daily caseload reached 2,152 the previous day, the second-largest number recorded since th

The chief nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States will hold talks next week to discuss efforts to resume dialogue with North Korea, the foreign ministry said Friday. Sung Kim, the US special representative for North Korea, will arrive in Seoul on Saturday for a four-day visit and will hold talks with his South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, on Monday, the ministry said in a release. It will mark his second trip to South Korea since taking office as the US nuclear envoy under the

South Korean stocks retreated more than 1 percent Friday as concerns about the possibility of the US Fed's earlier-than-expected tapering pulled down the stock prices. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) dipped 37.32 points, or 1.2 percent, to close at 3,060.51 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 660 million shares worth some 16.1 trillion won ($13.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 829 to 70. Foreigners sold a

Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co. (HHIH), the world's largest shipbuilding group, said Friday that it has completed the process to acquire South Korea's top construction equipment maker Doosan Infracore Co. HHIH formed a consortium with KDB Investment Co., a private equity firm wholly owned by the state-run Korea Development Bank, to buy Doosan Infracore from cash-strapped Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. for 850 billion won ($720 million) late last year. In July, HHIH establ

First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun has met with Nigeria's top diplomat during a visit to the African nation and agreed to work together to move forward economic and other ties between the two countries forward, the foreign ministry said Friday. In Thursday's meeting with Foreign Minister Zubairu Dada, Choi said that the relations between the two countries have steadily developed based on decadeslong economic cooperation and offered to further strengthen the ties to that end, the ministry

Former Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon announced Friday he will run in the presidential election slated for March as an independent. "I will run in next year's presidential election," Kim said during a press conference in his hometown of Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province. He added he would win the race outside of the political establishment, explaining the ruling and main opposition parties are only interested in maintaining their vested rights rather than improving the livelihoods

For the past two decades, South Korean-born taekwondo coach Choi Young-seok has made efforts to help Thailand make its presence felt in the international sporting world and finally accomplished the goal at the Tokyo Olympics. His longtime student Panipak Wongpattanakit won the women's 49-kilogram title at the Summer Games that closed Aug. 8. It was the Southeast Asian country's first Olympic taekwondo gold medal and the only gold won in Tokyo. Thailand previously had two Olympic silvers and th

The arms procurement agency said Friday it will set up an anti-hacking agency next year to help protect defense firms in the wake of a recent series of hacking attempts targeting them. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said the envisioned organization, tentatively named Defense Industry Technology Management Institute, will focus on how to better protect defense technologies and prevent cyber attacks. The government also plans to set up an interministerial task force involv

K-pop sensation BTS' planned world tour, which has been put off for more than a year due to the protracted COVID-19 pandemic, has been officially canceled, its agency here said Friday. "Our company has worked hard to resume preparations for the BTS Map of the Soul Tour, knowing that all fans have been waiting eagerly and long for the tour," Big Hit Music said in a statement released via its fan community Weverse. "Due to changing circumstances beyond our control, it has become d

South Korean stocks turned to losses late Friday morning as concerns about the possibility of US Fed's earlier-than-expected tapering pulled down stock prices. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) retreated 20.52 points, or 0.66 percent, to 3,077.31 points as of 11:20 a.m. Stocks opened with mild gains after the Kospi retreated nearly 2 percent Thursday, marking the biggest daily loss since Feb. 26 and the lowest closing price since early April. But stocks fell back below t

An additional seven video conference facilities for separated family reunions will be completed by the end of this month, the unification ministry said Friday. Earlier, a civilian-government committee on inter-Korean exchanges approved the decision to establish the additional video reunions centers outside Seoul, in addition to the existing 13. "We believe it is very important to build the conference centers in advance so the reunions can resume immediately when inter-Korean relations are