A North Korean organization called Sunday for Japan's sincere apology and atonement for its wrongdoings and atrocities committed during its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, state media said Sunday. The Korean Committee on Measures for the Sexual Slavery for Japanese Army and Drafting Victims made the request in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency on the occasion of the Korean Peninsula's liberation from Japan's rule. "Still kept buried everywhere in Asia wh

South Korea's daily new coronavirus fell back to the 1,800s Sunday due to fewer tests over the weekend, but health authorities remained on alert over further spread of the virus following an extended weekend. The country added 1,817 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,749 local infections, raising the total caseload to 223,928, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Sunday's tally was down from 1,930 on Saturday and 1,990 on Friday. But the decline was attribut

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the friendly ties of their countries and vowed further bilateral cooperation as they exchanged messages to mark the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula from Japan's colonial rule, Pyongyang's state media reported Sunday. In a message sent to Putin on Sunday, Kim emphasized that the friendly ties "forged in blood in the struggle against the common enemy" have been carried forward for ge

A North Korean propaganda outlet on Saturday urged South Korea and the United States to stop their joint military exercise and pull American troops out of the South if the South wants peace on the peninsula.  Tongil Sinbo, a North Korean weekly, renewed the call in a commentary, denouncing the military drill as "an exercise taking place under the collusion with foreign forces."  "It's an operation aimed at preemptively striking our republic and a preliminary training

 Former President Chun Doo-hwan has been hospitalized for medical treatment, informed officials said Saturday, days after he made a 660-kilometer round trip to the southwestern city Gwangju to attend an appellate court hearing on a defamation case. The 90-year-old Chun, who served as president from 1980-1988, was admitted to Severance Hospital in western Seoul on Friday to receive medical treatment and undergo a checkup, the officials told Yonhap News Agency. He is expected to be discharg

A Navy court on Saturday issued an arrest warrant for a senior chief petty officer suspected of having sexually harassed a female subordinate who was found dead in an apparent suicide earlier this week. The issuance of the arrest warrant for the officer, whose identity was withheld, came after a pre-trial detention hearing held at the Navy's general military court in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul. The suspect was immediately imprisoned at a detention facility of the Navy 2nd Fleet.

The 400,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 vaccine the United States has agreed to provide are due to arrive in South Korea on Sunday, the US Embassy in Seoul said Saturday. The doses will depart from Tennessee on Saturday (US time) and land in Incheon International Airport the following day, the embassy said in a press release. The vaccines are "for use in the general population as part of the international partnership for fighting the pandemic," the embassy said

A South Korean military plane carrying a special delegation departed for Kazakhstan on Saturday to bring home the remains of a legendary Korean independence fighter, Hong Beom-do, 78 years after his death in the Central Asian country, officials said. The KC-330 multirole aerial tanker departed from Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, south of the capital, with officials tasked with the repatriation aboard. Led by Hwang Ki-chul, minister of patriot and veterans affairs, the team included Rep. Woo Won-

A group of conservative activists pushed ahead with its anti-government street rallies planned in downtown Seoul on Saturday, the eve of Liberation Day, but ran into a watertight blockade by riot police amid authorities' warning about the further spread of COVID-19. The conservatives, led by Jun Kwang-hoon, a politically controversial pastor, began a three-day street walking event at Seoul Station at 6 a.m. in defiance of warnings by the government and police, which have said the gatherings are

South Korea's military said Saturday it has added three more COVID-19 infections, raising the cumulative caseload to 1,548. The latest cases were reported from barracks in Yangpyeong and Dongducheon, located in Gyeonggi Province surrounding Seoul, and an Army unit in the southwestern city of Gwangju, the defense ministry said. The two cases in Gyeonggi were "breakthrough infections," as the service members have been fully vaccinated with Pfizer's shots. This puts the breakthrough

President Moon Jae-in vowed Saturday to strive to resolve the pending issue of wartime sexual slavery victims, saying that such efforts are the path to avoid "a repeat of the unfortunate past." Moon made the remarks in a video message, as the country marks the national memorial day for "comfort women," a euphemism referring to sexual slavery victims who were forced to work at Japanese brothels during World War II. "Resolving the comfort women issue is the way to not r

South Korea has asked US drugmaker Moderna Inc. to speed up its delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to Seoul in accordance with a prior contract, visiting government officials said Saturday. The request was made during a South Korean government delegation's visit to the headquarters of Moderna in the U.S. state of Massachusetts on Friday, they said. It came after Moderna notified Seoul that it plans to supply less than half of the 8.5 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine planned for August. Vice Mi

South Korea's daily coronavirus infections continued to stay around 2,000 on Saturday amid concerns over yet another potential virus spike after the public holiday running through early next week. The country added 1,930 COVID-19 cases, including 1,860 local infections, raising the cumulative caseload to 222,111, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Daily cases are counted until midnight and announced the following day. Saturday's tally was down by 60 from 1,990 count

Consumer complaints have erupted over a local online discount app operator's abrupt decision to significantly reduce its much-touted financial reward service. In recent months, Mergepoint has gained huge popularity in Korea for its discount service under which consumers can buy the so-called Mergepoints at a discount of 20 percent off the regular price and use them in about 60,000 places nationwide, like local retail chains, convenience stores and coffee shops. It has attracted about 1 milli

Eight American service members and a family member have tested positive for the new coronavirus upon their arrival here in the past two weeks, US Forces Korea said Friday. Four service members arrived at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on a US military flight, while the others arrived on commercial flights via Incheon International Airport, west of the capital, according to the US military. "Thorough cleaning of all transportation assets and quarantine rooms h