“The policy is inherently racist. I understand some of these countries have low vaccination rates, but all countries are suffering from the omicron variant, not just these countries. Why single them specifically out? The blatant discrimination is worrying and deeply saddening,” said the 41 year-old English teacher. Last week, the US announced the decision to lift similar travel restrictions on e...

A since-deleted video on mobile app Snapchat showed participants -- many not wearing masks --- seated at round tables as they are served meals, with female performers dancing along to a song by girl group Blackpink. At that time, such an event was allowed with a maximum capacity of 499 people, if all are fully vaccinated or have received a negative PCR test result. The USKF said the medical uni...

The year is at its end, but the problems that many had hoped to see the ends of still aren’t. At its start, the year was “supposed” to bring hope. Hope in the form of vaccines to end the pandemic. Hope in the form of the UN Climate Change Conference. Hope in the form of a new US administration and the changes its rise would set in motion. The reality, however, has fallen far short of the hopes....

Girl group fromis_9 is returning with its fourth EP, “Midnight Guest,” on Jan. 17, agency Pledis Entertainment announced Thursday. The nine-member act uploaded a teaser video for the EP in which they sneaked out into the dark after Lee Seo-yeon cautiously peeked out a window. It has been only four months since its special single, “Talk & Talk,” the first music the band put out after signi...

SEJONG -- Korean businesses, including those in the manufacturing and service industries, saw the index for their retail sales decline sharply last month despite brisk industrial output, state data showed Thursday. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki also commented on the weakening sentiment index over private consumption, picking negative factors like bolstered quarantine aga...

Music as a new endeavor “Show Me The Money” discovered a gem and built the rapper into a star. But surprisingly, Jo Gwangil said music was something he had never dreamed of. “I’ve always wanted to be a StarCraft gamer. I actually participated in some competitions. But the company suddenly halted its service, and my dreams went up in smoke,” he said. “I questioned myself about what I wanted to d...

Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition party, on Thursday denounced the anti-corruption agency for checking phone logs of his family and dozens of lawmakers from his party. The day before, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials came under fire over revelations that it had checked phone logs of hundreds of people, including the People Power Party’...

BEIJING , Dec. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, SENSORO, an IoT and artificial intelligence unicorn company from China , announced the release of a new ESG solution brand named "SENSORO SOLUTION". The program aims at climate monitoring, ecological protection, livelihood improvement, animal welfare, garbage classification and other applications. Its smart city benchmark case has been built ...

Imported commercial car sales in South Korea surpassed 200,000 units again this year despite an automotive semiconductor shortage, an industry association said Thursday. According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, imported commercial car sales for the January to November period this year increased 3.6 percent from the same period last year, selling a total of 252,242 ...

The Fair Trade Commission Chairperson Joh Sung-wook discussed how to regulate online platform monopolies with Cedric O, French secretary of state for the digital transition and electronic communications, officials said Thursday. The two representatives found the need to revise the law and regulations to establish order in the digital market in response to tech giants abusing their market power a...

Hyundai Motor Co. said Thursday it will suspend one of its seven domestic plants next month to prepare for the production of electric vehicles. Hyundai Motor will halt the Asan plant from Jan. 3-28 to upgrade the facilities before beginning production of EVs next year, the company said in a regulatory filing. The company plans to resume operations of the 300,000-unit-a-year Asan plant, which pr...

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to dominate news in 2021, impacting all areas of life from the economy to politics. Hopes of vaccines ending the pandemic were quashed, and daily caseloads around the world soared to new highs. The year also saw an unexpected wave of Korean popular culture, surges in stock markets, deaths of old dictators and rise of new, and intensifying rivalries on the global s...

Fuel cell batteries, which work as the engine in the combustion model, is a core part of fuel cell EVs. The third-generation fuel cell battery that was being developed was unveiled in September, with the carmaker touting a 30 percent reduction in volume and two to three times higher capacity and durability compared to the previous version. But cost became an issue as the carmaker sought to secu...

The South Korean stock market finished the final session of the year with lackluster trading Thursday as investors took to the sidelines amid a lack of market-moving events. The local currency gained ground against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 15.64 points, or 0.52 percent, to finish at 2,977.65. Trading volume was a bit slim at about 454.04 millio...

“I don’t want to do a movie that shows bromance anymore. I don’t know why I keep getting a role that involves bromance,” he joked. Cho then spoke about what it was like to work with one of the stars of the Oscar-winning “Parasite.” “I thought of him as a cute chirping chick, but if you have seen the movie you would know that he has grown. You can find out what masculine charm really is through ...