National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han was briefed on North Korea's firing of a rocket launcher and monitored South Korea's military's readiness, the presidential office said Sunday night. “From 7 p.m. to 8:08 p.m, Kim received a report from the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the National Crisis Management Center regarding North Korea's estimated launch of a rocket launcher into the Yellow Sea and che...

The tiny Baltic country of Lithuania has always been ahead of the curve in predicting Russia’s aggressive intentions. Five decades under Soviet rule, and many more under Russian czars, have left few illusions about Moscow in the elegant Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. Even before Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Lithuanian leaders warned about the risk he posed to Western democracies. Lithuan...

North Korea fired artillery shots Sunday, presumably from multiple rocket launchers, South Korea's military said, in what would be yet another show of force by the regime. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters that it had detected “trajectories” believed to be artillery shots from around 6:21 p.m. to 6:37 p.m. It gave no additional details, such as the exact number of sho...

South Korea is warily eyeing its latest bump in cases as omicron’s new and likely more elusive subvariant, BA.5, begins to dominate. For two consecutive days on Sunday, the number of cases counted daily topped 20,000 -- a mark that has not been passed since mid-May in the aftermath of the spring omicron wave. Over the most recent seven-day period, 17,467 cases were reported per day on average, ...

Yayoi Kusama’s “Statue of Venus Obliterated by Infinity Nets” (1998), at 4.4 billion won, fetched the highest price at an auction in the first half. “From Point” (1982) by Lee U-fan and “Atelier” (1957) by Kim Whan-ki sold for the most among works by Korean artists, each selling at 1.7 billion won. The online art market continued to boom thanks to growing interest in “fractional ownership” and n...

Meth overdoses could be the cause of the two deaths – just hours apart – of a patron and a staff member of a late-night bar in Seoul’s Gangnam, police investigating the case said Sunday. On July 5, at around 8 a.m., a man in his 20s was found unconscious in his car at a park in southern Seoul. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. About two hours later, a woman in her 30s wa...

From mental health care to special school North Korean defectors under the age of 19 are educated at the Hanadul special school before they are transferred to a mainstream school in South Korea. A school official said around 2,600 defector students have attended since the school opened in September 2009. The Hanadul school aims to help its students “establish an identity as a citizen of the Rep...

President Yoon Suk-yeol will soon visit a memorial altar set up by the Japanese Embassy in Korea to pay his respects to Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the presidential office said Sunday. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Foreign Minister Park Jin are expected to accompany Yoon. The Japanese Embassy in Seoul is preparing to run a memorial altar for former Prime Minister Abe early this w...

The 20th edition of NYAFF is scheduled to present Korean period film “Hansan: Rising Dragon” as its centerpiece film. Korean director Choi Dong-hoon’s sci-fi epic “Alienoid,” starring NYAFF 2019 Screen International Rising Star Asia recipient Ryu alongside Kim Tae-ri and So Ji-sub will close the festival Both films will be released in the US later this year by distributor Well Go USA. Jang, Ryu...

Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai, the three retail giants in South Korea, are scrambling to be the first to build a new mega shopping complex in the southwestern city of Gwangju, one of the key campaign pledges of President Yoon Suk-yeol that is aimed at facilitating the local economy. Hyundai Department Store on Wednesday announced that it is in talks with Humans Holdings, a local real estate devel...

The ruling People Power Party has been left mired in confusion by its leader’s refusal to step down from his post despite the suspension of his party membership in connection to allegations of sexual bribery. On Friday, the party’s internal ethics panel decided to suspend Chairman Lee Jun-seok’s membership for the next six months in connection to allegations that Lee received sexual favors as we...

Women occupied only about 6.3 percent of corporate board positions at South Korea’s 353 largest companies in the first quarter this year, according to a survey released by corporate tracker Leaders’ Index on Sunday. The survey shows there are still fewer than a thousand women in executive positions, with 914 among a total of 14,418 board members in the latest survey, even though the female propo...

NARA – A day after the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, a steady stream of mourners, many in tears, arrived at the scene of his murder in western Japan to offer flowers and prayers. People from all walks of life formed a long line on Saturday on the otherwise ordinary street outside a train station where Abe was shot while campaigning ahead of weekend elections. Afternoon down...

South Korea's military reported 565 additional COVID-19 cases Sunday, raising the total caseload among its service members to 182,022. The new cases confirmed as of 2 p.m. on the day included 445 from the Army, 60 from the Air Force, 28 from the Navy and 16 from the Marine Corps, according to the Ministry of National Defense. There were also 16 cases from units under the direct control of the m...