Meanwhile, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol traveled to cities in the east coastal mountain areas where wildfire damaged facilities and displaced hundreds from their homes on Tuesday. Yoon visited Uljin in North Gyengsang Province, where the country’s most devastating wildfire on record has displaced some 400 people from their homes. There, he was briefed on the situation and recovery efforts by t...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Eight-year-old Brooklynn Chiles fidgets on the hospital bed as she waits for the nurse at Children's National Hospital. The white paper beneath her crinkles as she shifts to look at the medical objects in the room. She's had the coronavirus three times, and no one can figure out why. Brooklynn's lucky, sort of. Each time she has tested positive, she has suffered no obvious sym...

SK Geo Centric announced Tuesday a $55 million investment in US-based waste plastic recycling firm PureCycle Technologies, as well as plans to create a joint venture with the US firm within this year. SK Geo Centric was the new investor taking part in PureCycle‘s $250 million private fundraising via common stocks, announced March 9, along with existing shareholders including Sylebra Capital and ...

South Korea's housing market sentiment shrank for the third straight month in March amid waning hopes of business improvements, a poll showed Tuesday. The Korea Housing Institute said its housing business sentiment index (HBSI), based on a survey of about 500 construction firms, stood at 66.2 for this month, down 1.7 points from the previous month. Yet March's on-month decrease was smaller than...

South Korea’s political circle is again discussing a special counsel inspection on the controversial Daejang-dong land development scandal, but whether it will actually start remains in question. The liberal Democratic Party of Korea’s suggestion on the matter is starkly different to that of the People Power Party, fanning the possibility that it may never materialize. The scandal revolves arou...

A departure order for a foreigner who drove approximately 1 meter while under the influence of alcohol has been ruled unfair, the Central Administrative Appeals Commission (CAAC) said Tuesday. The CAAC, under the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission, said it has repealed the immigration authorities' departure order for the foreigner, which was issued after the person was caught driving unde...

New girl group Ive will release its second single album "Love Dive" on April 5, the group's agency Starship Entertainment said Tuesday. The K-pop agency posted a teaser image about the upcoming record on social media. It will mark the first release from the six-piece group since its debut single "Eleven" last December. "Eleven" became an instant hit with K-pop fans at home and abroad, topping ...

JYP Entertainment, the K-pop label behind TWICE and Stray Kids, said Tuesday it has established a US branch to expand its reach to the North American market. "We have set up JYP USA to secure a foothold in the North American market, where the K-pop base continues to expand, and attempt a new strategic evolution," the company said in a release. The local corporation will work to help JYP-managed...

Bang Si-hyuk, founder and chairman of K-pop powerhouse Hybe that manages BTS, will receive an honorary doctorate from Seoul National University (SNU), school officials said Tuesday. Bang will be the first entertainment industry figure to get the SNU degree that is given to a person who has made a special contribution to academic development or improvement of the cultural heritage of mankind, acc...

President Moon Jae-in will hold a luncheon meeting with President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol at Cheong Wae Dae on Wednesday, the presidential office said Tuesday. Yoon will ask for a pardon for former President Lee Myung-bak. The meeting between the two is the first time in seven days since the presidential election and 21 months since Yoon visited Cheong Wa Dae to attend the Anti-Corruption Policy Cou...

SK On has long established itself as a key EV battery supplier to Ford, as at least 70 percent of Ford’s batteries will come from production lines partly or fully backed by SK On with the newest Turkey plant. Ford aims to secure plants of a combined 240 gigawatt-hour battery capacity on a yearly basis by 2030, and a combined 140 gigawatt-hour capacity of Ford‘s batteries will come from factories...

All the bandmates participated in the making of the nine tracks. Along with Soyeon, Minnie and Yuqi took part in composition and lyrics of several songs -- Minnie for “Already” and “Escape” and Yuqi for “Polaroid” and “Liar.” “As it’s our first studio album, we paid extra attention. We’re always writing songs, so we’re happy to be able to finally show them to Neverland,” Yuqi said, referring to...

South Korea announced Tuesday it has decided to provide Ukraine with non-lethal military supplies, such as bulletproof helmets and blankets, as well as medical items. Seoul's planned logistics support package worth 1 billion won ($804,181) consists of about 20 items, including tents, meals, ready-to-eat (MREs), bedspreads and first-aid kits, the defense ministry said in response to Kyiv's repeat...

South Korea said Tuesday it has eased a travel alert for its nationals on some regions of Ethiopia on Tuesday, as the civil war in the African nation has subsided in recent weeks. The Level 3 alert, which was placed on all parts of Ethiopia, was lowered to the special advisory against overseas travels on the capital city of Addis Ababa and other provinces in the southwestern region, with the res...

Outbound container shipping costs shot up in February from a year earlier on a recovery in global sea cargo, government data showed Tuesday, in a big burden to South Korean exporters. The average rate for a 40-foot container from Asia's fourth-largest economy to the European Union came to 14.02 million won ($11,300) last month, up a whopping 261.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the da...