South Korea's military reported 19 additional COVID-19 cases, all of which are breakthrough ones, Monday, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 2,531. Of the new cases, 13 people are from the Army, one from the Air Force, two from the Marine Corps and three from units under the direct control of the defense ministry, officials said. Of the cumulative cases in the military, 279 patie...

Helping economically vulnerable people hit by the COVID-19 pandemic will be the top election pledge of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP)'s presidential candidate, Yoon Seok-youl, the party's campaign chief said Monday. Kim Chong-in, a veteran politician who recently accepted an offer to head Yoon's campaign, said the PPP nominee will focus on providing solutions for economically disad...

South Korea's Navy has selected the 2,500-ton frigate, Jeonbuk, as this year's "top gun" ship following an annual assessment of its warships' combat capabilities, officials said Monday. The frigate of the Third Fleet Command based in Mokpo, 410 kilometers southwest of Seoul, won the title after it passed final gunnery competitions that took place from September to October, the officials said. T...

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 5,000 for the first time in three days Monday as the country reimposed toughened social distancing rules amid concerns over the spread of the omicron variant. The country added 4,325 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total caseload to 477,358, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Daily infections soared to a recor...

Amid liquidity-driven booms in the real estate and stock markets during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people with assets of more than 1 billion won ($838,000) increased by over 10 percent last year from a year earlier, a report showed. The number of Koreans with financial assets worth over 1 billion won stood at 390,000 last year, taking up 0.76 percent of the total population, accordin...

- Saudi Arabia partners with France to host Villa Hegra at AlUla - Cultural complex to mark arrival of the 'French villa' model in the Middle East - Agreements with Ferrandi Paris , Dassault Systèmes and RATP DeV Saudi Arabia to develop AlUla into a global smart city for residents and visitors JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia , Dec. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)...

As a former stolen base king himself, new Kia Tigers manager Kim Jong-kook would like to see more thieveries from his players going forward. Kim, having been a coach with the Tigers for a decade before being named skipper on Sunday, knows as well as anyone that the Tigers aren't going to slug their way to prominence. But it could be a different story when it comes to stealing bags, Kim said. "O...

South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to address sticky issues in customs procedures for better implementation of their free trade agreement (FTA), the finance ministry said Monday. Under the agreement, South Korean firms will be able to receive tariff benefits if they submit a copy of certificates of origin when they export goods to the 10 member states ...

South Korean stocks opened steeply lower Monday, tracking losses on Wall Street that stemmed from worries about the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 30.26 points, or 1.02 percent, to 2,938.07 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks came off to a weak start, led by foreign and institutional sell-offs. The Dow Jones Indust...

South Korean small merchants' business confidence worsened for December in the wake of a surge in coronavirus infections, a poll showed Monday. The Small Enterprise and Market Service said its business survey index (BSI) for small merchants came to 85.4 for this month, down 2.2 points from the previous month. It marks the first time in four months that the small merchants' BSI has gone down fro...

South Korean insurance companies saw their lending grow at a slower pace in the third quarter from three months earlier due to tougher rules on household loans, data showed Monday. Insurers' outstanding loans totaled 262.4 trillion won ($222 billion) as of the end of September, up 2.1 trillion won from the prior quarter, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Yet th...

Having recently ended a scoring drought, Son Heung-min has now found the back of the net in the second straight match for Tottenham Hotspur. The South Korean forward had a goal and an assist in Tottenham's 3-0 win over Norwich City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday (local time). For the season, Son has six goals in 13 Premier League matches and seven goals in 19 games across all ...

South Korean tour star Choi Hye-jin has made the initial cut at the LPGA Tour's qualifying tournament in Alabama. Choi, a three-time Korea LPGA (KLPGA) Tour Player of the Year, was one of five South Koreans to finish inside the top 70 and ties after the first phase of the LPGA Q-Series concluded in Mobile, Alabama, on Sunday (local time). After the first 72 holes, Choi is in second place at 17-...

South Korea will focus on containing the omicron variant of the novel coronavirus till the end of this year as the country started to enforce tightened social distancing measures amid rising daily infections, Prime Minster Kim Boo-kyum said Monday. "The threat of the omicron variant is becoming apparent," Kim said during a COVID-19 response meeting in Seoul. "Although we do not have a clear gras...

Three members of the K-pop superband BTS returned home Monday from Los Angeles where it secured a top music honor and had four sold-out live concerts. Jimin, Jin and Jungkook arrived amid a flurry of camera flashes from their fans and journalists at Incheon International Airport at about 5 a.m. and returned home after undergoing a quarantine procedure. BTS took home the artist of the year, cons...