South Korean IT giant Naver has become an open target on Thursday for selling fashion items suggestive of Japanese outfits that were popular when Korea was under colonial rule on its metaverse platform Zepeto. Fashion items evidently inspired by styles that were trending during the 1912-26 Taisho era were on sale from Tuesday, according to users. Naver seems to have not considered the cultural an...

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 infections surged to surpass 600,000 for the first time, the country’s health authorities reported Thursday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country added 621,328 new COVID-19 infections during the 24 hours of Wednesday. The total caseload also jumped to 8,250,592. South Korea has been the world‘s largest COVID-19 hot spot in recent...

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday expressed concerns over further disruption of global supply chains, as China's COVID-19 lockdowns sent ripples through the global auto industry. Moon instructed officials to come up with thorough measures to prepare for disruptions of supply chains after being briefed about difficulties facing South Korea's auto-parts industry from lockdowns in some Chinese regi...

South Korea's trade commission said Thursday it plans to launch an antidumping investigation into seamless copper pipes from China and Vietnam. The Korea Trade Commission under the industry ministry said it has decided to launch the antidumping probe on the judgment that cheap imports of such products caused damage to the related industry in South Korea. Seamless cooper pipes are commonly used ...

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum embarked on a five-day trip to Turkey and Qatar on Thursday to discuss ways to strengthen diplomatic ties and expand economic cooperation. Kim will visit Turkey from Thursday to Saturday during which he will attend the opening ceremony of the 1915 Canakkale Bridge following an invitation from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The 1915 Canakkale Bridge in northw...

K-pop boy group EXO will celebrate the 10th anniversary since its debut with an in-person fan meet in Seoul next month, the group's agency said Thursday. The "2022 Debut Anniversary Fan Event: EXO" will take place at Jamsil Gymnasium in southern Seoul at 7 p.m. on April 9, SM Entertainment said in a release. The event will also be streamed live on Beyond Live for the group's fans outside the co...

GWACHEON -- Justice Minister Park Beom-kye has tested positive for COVID-19 and is under self-treatment at home, his ministry said Thursday. Park tested positive in a rapid antigen test late Wednesday night, the justice ministry said, adding he plans to get treatment at his home for a week till Tuesday. "Park plans to cancel all schedules that require face-to-face contact, such as on-site visit...

The interior ministry said Thursday it plans to inject 1.9 trillion won ($1.63 billion) this year to finance development projects in neighborhoods close to current and former US military bases. The ministry said it finalized the size of this year's fund that will be used in 115 projects in 13 cities and provinces to improve infrastructure where development has remained slow due to restrictions. ...

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and the fashion event’s global ambassador Lee Jung-jae will attend the opening ceremony at 1 p.m. Friday at the Seoul Museum of Craft Art in central Seoul, where girl group Kep1er is scheduled to perform. Three designer brands -- Bonbom, C-Zann E and Beyond Closet -- will present in-person runway fashion shows at the event. Seoul Fashion Week will hold an on-site exhibitio...

The annual overseas K-pop concert series organized by entertainment giant CJ ENM will resume in-person this year after a two-year hiatus. This year’s KCON will be the first on-site festival since the coronavirus crisis began three years ago. CJ ENM held the festival as online events in 2020 and last year. The upcoming K-pop concert series will hit five cities around the world this year, includi...

SEJONG -- The number of South Koreans getting married tumbled to a new all-time low in 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic and young people's changing attitude toward marriage, government data showed Thursday. The number of couples tying the knot in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 193,000 last year, down 9.8 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The n...

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's scheduled meeting with the Japanese ambassador to South Korea on Thursday has been postponed after the envoy tested positive for the coronavirus, Yoon's spokesperson said. Yoon had been scheduled to meet with Koichi Aiboshi at 2 p.m., but the meeting has been postponed, Yoon's spokesperson Kim Eun-hye said, without elaborating on when the meeting will be reschedul...

BUSAN -- Two people have been indicted on charges of smuggling in 902 kilograms of methamphetamine from Mexico, the biggest amount of drug smuggling ever, prosecutors said Thursday. A 38-year-old Australian, whose name was withdrawn, was indicted under detention on drug charges, along with a 36-year-old accomplice who was indicted without detention, the Busan District Prosecutors Office said. I...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un views US forces stationed in South Korea as a counterweight and “bulwark” against China’s “real threat” to his sovereignty, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday. The former top US diplomat underscored that a critical lesson he learned from nuclear talks with Pyongyang is Kim’s perception of the United States Forces Korea, although the Trump admi...

T'way Air, a South Korean low-cost carrier, said Thursday it targets to achieve 3 trillion won ($2.5 billion) in sales by 2027, as it aims to expand its fleet and serve long-haul routes. T'way Air added an A330-300 chartered plane last month for operations on the Gimpo-Jeju route from later this month, with two more A330-300s scheduled to arrive by May. "We are planning to operate 20 large-size...