South Korea’s daily COVID-19 infections on Thursday hit a fresh high of 27,443 amid the omicron wave, government data showed Friday. The government also announced Friday that it has decided to extend the current social distancing restrictions for two more weeks until Feb. 20. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the daily cases went up by 4,536 from the previous day’s 2...

BEIJING -- Still feeling effects of career-threatening injuries she suffered three years ago, South Korean luger Aileen Frisch feels the time has come for her to leave the sport for good. And she wants to make her second and final Winter Olympics here in Beijing a memorable one. "I think (Beijing 2022) will be my last big competition as an athlete. Therefore, I really want to perform my best," ...

“Still, the shift is necessary. The point is to make the system more sustainable against an avalanche of cases,” Jung said, adding, omicron was turning out to be even less severe than initially calculated. Though health officials said the Pfizer oral antiviral treatment was expected to somewhat cushion the blow, its effect had been only slight so far, mainly due to how sparsely it is being distr...

South Korean consumers are ramping up credit and debit card balances and their spending could exceed 1,000 trillion won ($832 billion) for the first time this year, data showed Friday. South Koreans spent 977 trillion won on credit and debit cards last year, up 10 percent from the previous year. The uptrend in spending has been the norm since 2018, when it totaled at 810 trillion won, according ...

A South Korean anti-prostitution activist, who fled to the United States in 2019 after being sought on charges of extortion, has been repatriated home, prosecutors said Friday. The Supreme Prosecutors Office (SPO) said the 40-year-old fugitive, whose name was withheld, was captured in the US in December and was returned to South Korea on Thursday in the form of forced deportation. He was put on...

BEIJING -- In August 2008, Beijing took center stage as the host of the Summer Olympics, with the quadrennial athletic competition serving as China's coming-out party. Nearly 14 years later, Beijing is under the spotlight again as the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Once the Games are officially declared open later Friday at the National Stadium -- the same stage for the ceremonies of the 2008...

Police have opened an investigation into embezzlement allegations raised against the head of a state-funded association of national independence fighters and their descendants, officials said Friday. Kim Won-wung, a former three-term lawmaker who heads the Heritage of Korean Independence, is facing allegations that he misappropriated a total of 45 million won ($37,465) last year of the business ...

North Korea has convened a national response committee to prepare emergency measures against natural disasters, including typhoons and floods, according to its state media Friday, as the impoverished country stated plans to focus this year on developing its agriculture sector. In the session chaired by Premier Kim Tok-hun the previous day, the members of the ad hoc committee for natural disaster...

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned North Korea's recent missile launches Thursday, while reaffirming the US-South Korea alliance as the linchpin of peace, in bilateral talks with his South Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong. Blinken also reaffirmed US commitment to engage with North Korea in dialogue. "Secretary Blinken reaffirmed the alliance as the linchpin of peace, ...

South Korea's Army has received the first batch of new homegrown 120-mm self-propelled mortar systems to replace existing decades-old mortars, the state arms procurement agency said Friday. The latest systems will supplant the Army's aging 4.2-inch mortars that have been in service for more than 40 years, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). Under a deployment pro...

South Korea's military on Friday reported 298 additional COVID-19 cases, more than doubling from the previous day, raising the total caseload among its domestic personnel to 5,490. The new cases included 195 from the Army, 43 from the Air Force, 19 from units under the direct control of the defense ministry, 15 from the Navy, and 12 from the Marine Corps. There were also four cases from the min...

BEIJING -- South Korea has been the most successful country in Olympic short track speed skating history with 24 gold medals, and it will look to add to that total in a relay event making its debut at the Beijing Winter Games on Saturday. Following Friday's opening ceremony, the first medals of Beijing 2022 will be awarded Saturday. South Korea's first shot at a medal will come in the mixed team...

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics officially begin today. It‘s the second Olympics to take place under strict COVID-19 restrictions, as the global pandemic enters its third year. South Korea has sent 64 athletes competing in six sports and set a modest goal of winning one or two gold medals and finishing around the top 15 in the medal race. Short track champion Choi Min-jeong, skeleton slid...

필자가 만난 가장 유명한 저자는 Grammar in Use의 저자이자 Cambridge 대학 원로교수이신 Raymond Murphy이다. 이 분이 한국 사람은 영어를 어떻게 가르치는지 보고 싶다고 대표적인 강의를 소개해 달라는 요청을 Cambridge 출판부에 했고 영광스럽게도 필자의 강의가 선정되어 강의 참관, 식사, 커피까지 마시고 친필 싸인까지 받은 것을 종종 자랑한다. Raymond Murphy는 그렇게 유명하신 분이 소탈하시다. 또한 커피를 마시면서 삼성동 봉은사의 모습을 멋지게 감동하면서 바라보던 모습이 기억에 남는다. 이 분의 책은 참 쉽게 쓰여 있어서 경지에 오른 분은 말을 어렵게 하지 않는다는 것을 배웠다.. 이 분께 그 분의 Grammar in Use에 한가지 빠진 부분이 있다고 감히 ...

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