The Seoul metropolitan government said Tuesday it will ban drinking at Han River parks every night between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. starting the next day. The ban was announced Sunday as part of the central government's toughened social distancing guidelines for the capital area, which has recently seen a spike in COVID-19 cases. The city government said it will begin enforcing an administrative order on the ban at midnight Tuesday, with no predetermined end date. Violations will be punishable with

South Korea confirmed over 1,000 new coronavirus cases Tuesday for the first time in six months amid a resurgence in the Seoul metropolitan area, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The country reported 1,006 more COVID-19 cases from 12 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the number is expected to further rise when the daily total is announced Wednesday morning. The figure shot up to over 1,000 for the first time since Jan. 3 when the nation was undergoing a third wave of the pandemic,

SEJONG -- South Korea and the European Union on Tuesday agreed to work together against climate change in line with their shared target to achieve zero net emissions of carbon by 2050. Industry Minister Moon Sung-wook met Frans Timmermans, who serves as the executive vice president for the European Green Deal, in Seoul to share ideas on ways to cooperate in coping with climate change, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It was the first time for a high-ranking European cli

South Korea's main opposition party leader on Tuesday thanked the acting US ambassador to South Korea for his country's COVID-19 vaccine provision. Lee Jun-seok, head of the People Power Party (PPP), noted that he was one of the beneficiaries, during his meeting with Robert Rapson, the acting US ambassador to Seoul, at the National Assembly. "I was among those who benefited from the US' recent provision of 1 million doses of the Janssen vaccine," Lee said. "It is something that

The leaders of South Korea and Fiji have exchanged letters on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the two sides establishing diplomatic ties, Cheong Wa Dae said. In a letter to his Fijian counterpart, Jioji Konousi Konrote, President Moon Jae-in pointed out that bilateral relations have constantly developed since 1971, according to Moon's spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. Moon expressed hope that the two countries will expand cooperation in various fields, including politics, business and cultu

South Korea said Tuesday it plans to consider normalizing eased rules on banks' foreign exchange (FX) derivative positions as FX liquidity conditions have improved amid the global economic recovery. In March 2020, the country relaxed rules on banks' FX forward positions after the country's FX and swap markets suffered a severe dollar crunch caused by market routs over the pandemic. Last year, the country raised the cap on the holding of local banks' FX forward positions to 50 percent of their

South Korean stocks advanced for the second consecutive day to close at a fresh record high Tuesday as hopes for strong second-quarter corporate earnings drove up tech stocks. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) increased 12 points, or 0.36 percent, to close at 3,305.21 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1 billion shares worth some 14.5 trillion won ($12.8 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 476 to 344. Foreigners

A group of Russians left North Korea en masse last week after living in the country for the past several years, Russia's Embassy in Pyongyang said. Photos released on the embassy's Facebook page on Tuesday showed dozens of Russians waving as they prepared to depart from Pyongyang Station. "On July 2, many of our colleagues and friends returned to their homeland - those who have worked with us in Russian missions abroad in the DPRK for the past few years, including during these difficult c

The Seoul metropolitan government said Tuesday it will ban drinking at Han River parks every night between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. starting the next day. The ban was announced Sunday as part of the central government's toughened social distancing guidelines for the capital area, which has recently seen a spike in COVID-19 cases. The city government said it will begin enforcing an administrative order on the ban at midnight Tuesday, with no predetermined end date. Violations will be punishable with

South Korea will receive 700,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine by Pfizer Inc. from Israel under an exchange deal, health authorities here said Tuesday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the expiring COVID-19 vaccine doses will arrive in the country early Wednesday and will be used for inoculation starting next week. The KDCA said the country will return the same number of Pfizer vaccine doses from a future order to Israel later, possibly between September and Novem

Hyundai Rotem Co., a South Korean railway system and plant equipment maker, said Tuesday it has received a 335.4 billion-won ($297 million) order for electric locomotives and electric multiple units in Tanzania. Hyundai Rotem will supply 80 electric locomotives and 17 electric multiple units to the Tanzanian railway corporation by 2024, the company said in a statement. It is the first time for the company to win an order in Tanzania. Hyundai Rotem expects to win further deals as the local gove

South Korea's top economic policymaker and the head of the central bank will attend a Group of 20 (G-20) meeting of finance ministers and top central bankers this week, the finance ministry and the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Tuesday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki and BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol will head to Venice, Italy, on Wednesday to attend the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' meeting set for Friday and Saturday, according to the ministry and the BOK. The meeting will center on eco

Imported carmakers are planning to introduce 53 all-electric models in South Korea by 2023 as they quickly move toward future vehicle technologies amid toughened regulations, the chief of a trade association of foreign automakers here said Tuesday. They also plan to launch 46 mild hybrid electric vehicles, as well as 32 hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, for the next three years, Rene Koneberg, chairman of the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA), said in a

South Korean shipbuilders saw their new orders rise over sevenfold in the first half of the year from a year ago, and they have achieved more than half of their annual order targets for the year, industrial data showed Tuesday. During the January-June period, Korean shipbuilders bagged new orders totaling a combined 10.47 million compensated gross tons (CGTs), up more than seven times compared with 1.35 million CGTs the previous year, according to data provided by global market researcher Clark

South Korea's ICT ministry said Tuesday the country reported 78 ransomware attacks in the first half of the year in the latest sign of growing cyberattacks. Ransomware is a type of malware that holds a target's data hostage or locks up its systems until a ransom is paid. It is not immediately clear whether the targeted companies paid ransoms to hackers in return for restoring access to their data. The latest figure represents a rising trend, compared with 22 in 2018, 39 in 2019 and 127 cases