North Korea on Tuesday test-fired an apparent ballistic missile from an inland area toward its east coast in its second weapons test in less than a week, while the South Korean military said the missile has “advanced” capabilities compared to the previous one. The United States Forces Korea said it was “aware of the DPRK’s most recent ballistic missile launch and are consulting closely with our ...

A growing number of crosswalk traffic signals are finding their way onto the ground in Seoul as a way to enhance the safety of pedestrians glued to their smartphones, according to the city's ward offices Tuesday. Nearly 1,200 in-ground crosswalk traffic signal systems were in operation across the city's total 25 boroughs as of Tuesday, led by the southern ward of Gangnam, which was operating 138...

A cold wave hit South Korea on Tuesday, with temperatures in Seoul dropping to minus 9.3 C as of 8 a.m. and expected to remain below zero in the afternoon too, the state weather agency said. The apparent temperature for Seoul was minus 15.6 C, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said. Cold wave alerts were issued in the northern part of Gyeonggi Province and some parts of the eastern ...

South Korea's military on Tuesday reported 17 additional COVID-19 cases, including 15 breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 3,461. Of the new cases, 12 are from the Army, three from the Air Force and two from a unit under the direct control of the defense ministry. Currently, 182 military personnel are under treatment. Of the total military caseload, 1,646 a...

SEOUL/PAJU -- Police have booked three family members of a dental implant maker employee arrested for allegedly embezzling 221 billion won ($185 million) in company funds on suspicions of possible collusion. Police were looking into whether the father, the wife and the sister-in-law of the 45-year-old Osstem employee, identified only by his surname Lee, played a part in the suspected embezzlemen...

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases stayed below 4,000 for the fifth consecutive day Tuesday amid tightened antivirus restrictions, but concerns linger over a possible resurgence due to the continued spread of the omicron variant. The country added 3,097 new COVID-19 infections, including 2,813 local infections, raising the total caseload to 670,483, according to the Korea Disease Control and ...

South Korea’s imports via e-commerce reached a new all-time high in 2021 as more people purchased foreign goods online, government data showed. The country’s e-commerce imports stood at $4.15 billion in the first 11 months of last year, up 25.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. The amount for the 11-month period surpasses the full-year figure ...

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday as investors sought to buy oversold stocks. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 12.44 points, or 0.43 percent, to 2,939.16 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks started solid after the KOSPI's recent slump, which stemmed from worries that the US Federal Reserve may push harsher-than-expected tapering and rate hikes. Most l...

WASHINGTON -- The United States and five other countries called on North Korea to cease its missile tests and engage in denuclearization negotiations on Monday. The joint call came shortly before the UN Security Council was set to hold a meeting behind closed doors on North Korea's missile test that Pyongyang claims to have involved a newly developed hypersonic missile. "We stand today unified ...

South Korea logged a current account surplus for the 19th straight month in November, but the surplus was much smaller than a year earlier due to increased imports driven by high energy and raw material prices, central bank data showed Tuesday. The current account surplus amounted to $7.16 billion in November, down from a surplus of $9.18 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the prelimin...

WASHINGTON -- North Korea's latest missile test is in violation of UN Security Council resolutions regardless of whether it involved a hypersonic missile as claimed by the North, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Monday. Kirby said the US was still assessing the details of last week's missile test. "We don't have any updates to an assessment ... with more specificity as to what was fired...

North Korea on Tuesday test-fired an unidentified projectile(s) toward its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, without further details. Tuesday’s launch came less than a week after North Korea on Jan. 5 test-fired what it claimed to be a “hypersonic missile.” This marks Pyongyang’s second weapons test this year. The consecutive show of force is noteworthy given that Pyongyang...

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020 and the federal government began using extraordinary measures to support workers, households and businesses, Republicans have been concerned that expanding the eligibility and generosity of unemployment benefits could slow the recovery and keep workers on the sidelines. So why have a handful of Republican-led states now extended unemployment benefits t...

Protests that began in western Kazakhstan over a sharp rise in fuel costs have turned into days of upheaval, with demonstrators storming government buildings and the airport in Almaty, the country’s largest. That’s bad enough for President Vladimir Putin, who is wary of unrest on Russia’s fringes. But the crisis in what has been one of the region’s most stable countries is not about inflation alo...