China's birth rate plummeted to a record low last year, official data showed, as analysts warn that faster-than-expected aging could deepen economic growth concerns. Beijing has been grappling with a looming demographic crisis as it faces a rapidly aging workforce, slowing economy and the country's weakest population growth in decades. The birth rate of the world’s second-biggest economy slippe...

South Korea's enlisted troops began casting votes for next week's presidential election as the two-day advance voting opened Friday at 3,552 polling stations across the nation. Troops from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps have been encouraged to cast their ballots at polling stations near their bases during the early voting period, as they can only vote in their legal residential distr...

SEOUL, South Korea , March 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Genome and Company (KOSDAQ: 314130, CEO∙CTO: Jisoo Pae∙Hansoo Park), a leading global microbiome anti-cancer drug development company, announced it has entered into a first Clinical Trial Collaboration and Supply Agreement (CTCSA) with MSD (a tradename of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J. , USA). Upon the execution of the agreement, Genome ...

South Korea will begin a domestic performance test on a homegrown radar system this month as part of the country's major fighter development project, the state arms procurement agency said Friday. The military plans to kick off the test program in mid-March for the active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar to be installed on the KF-21 jet currently under development. It is set to run thro...

A group of US senators has expressed concerns over the possibility of such "adversaries" as North Korea and Russia using cryptocurrency to evade international sanctions and urged relevant authorities to ensure strong enforcement of sanctions compliance in the cryptocurrency industry. In a joint letter sent to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday (Washington time) amid Russia's invasion o...

The sports ministers of 26 countries, including South Korea and the United States, agreed to ban athletes from Russia and Belarus from international sports games to be held in their countries as part of sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, officials said Friday. The ministers reached the agreement during a videoconference hosted by British Sports and Culture Minister Nadine Dorries at mi...

South Korea’s filmmaking industry contracted for a second straight year in 2021 due mainly to the yearslong COVID-19 pandemic, government data showed. The aggregated revenue of the local film market, which includes domestic sales of movie tickets, online releases and exports, reached 1.02 trillion won ($855 million) last year, according to data from the Korean Film Council. It is a slight on...

영어를 공부하시는 분들에게도 각자 개인적인 어려움이나 미래에 대한 불안감이 있을 수 있다. 필자가 수강생들에게 하는 말이 있다. "불안하십니까? 단어와 문장을 외우세요!" 영어 단어와 문장 암기는 안전한 투자이다! 오늘은 비교급 강조 부사들과 재귀대명사를 공부해 보자. 글을 읽다가 마음에 드는 문장을 한 두 문장 암기하시면 좋을 것이다! There are far better things ahead.(우리 앞에는 훨씬 더 좋은 일들이 있다.) 과거에 후회할 일이 많아도, 뒤돌아보지 말고 앞으로 있을 좋은 일들과 행복을 기대하며 살자. 이 문장은 영화로도 만들어진 나니아 연대기 작가로 유명한 C.S.Lewis가 한 말이다. 그는 작가였을 뿐만 아니라 케임브리지 대학 교수이자 비평가였다. 이 문장에서 fa...

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases exceeded 260,000 for the first time Friday as the highly transmissible omicron variant rages across the country. The country reported 266,853 new coronavirus infections, including 266,771 local cases, raising the total caseload to 3,691,488 according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Daily infections jumped from 198,803 cases Thursd...

South Korea's state arms procurement agency plans to check potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities of all local defense firms starting in May, its officials said Friday, in the wake of continued hacking incidents targeting them. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) will conduct the security assessment on 85 companies from May through the end of this year with a budget of 2.64 bi...

The government will push back the anti-COVID-19 business curfew on cafes, restaurants and other multiuse facilities by an hour to 11 p.m. starting Saturday, Interior Minister Jeon Hae-cheol said. Despite soaring infections, the government decided to extend the operating hours for 12 kinds of multiuse facilities in an effort to help small businesses suffering from prolonged anti-virus restriction...

South Korean stocks opened lower Friday tracking overnight plunges on Wall Street that stemmed from rising tensions in Ukraine. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) retreated 19.79 points, or 0.72 percent, to 2,727.29 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 1.56 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.29 perce...

President Moon Jae-in cast his ballot Friday, as South Korea began two-day early voting for next week's presidential election. Wearing a face mask and disposable gloves, Moon and first lady Kim Jung-sook voted at a polling booth inside the Samcheong-dong community service center near Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Moon's office said. Earlier in the day, Moon encouraged people to cast their ballots, sa...

South Korea will extend fuel tax cuts by three months as the country is striving to ease the burden on consumers and a build-up of inflationary pressure, the country's top economic policymaker said Friday. On Nov. 12, the government lowered fuel taxes by a record 20 percent in a bid to tame inflationary pressure. The tax reduction was set to expire at the end of April. The government decided to...

South Korea won an exemption from the United States' expanded export restrictions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, Seoul's industry ministry said Friday. The move came as South Korea's Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo met with senior US officials in Washington on Thursday and the two sides agreed to include South Korea in the US' list of exempt countries. Last week, the US government announced...