More than 20 centimeters of snow blanketed parts of the capital city overnight, prompting heavy snow alerts in the greater Seoul area and Gangwon Province, the state weather agency said Wednesday. A heavy snow warning was issued in parts of northeastern Seoul, including Nowon, Seongbuk, and Dobong districts, shortly after the city experienced its first snow of the season, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration and the Seoul metropolitan government. An advisory is issued when snowfa

President-elect Donald Trump's team is considering "pursuing direct talks" with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in hopes of reducing the risks of armed conflict, Reuters has reported. Citing two sources, Reuters reported Tuesday that "several" members of Trump's team see "a direct approach" from the president-elect as most likely to break the ice with Kim. It said that the policy discussions are "fluid" and Trump has not yet made a final decision

The top diplomats of South Korea and Japan agreed Tuesday to keep the momentum alive for bilateral cooperation, despite discord over a memorial event for Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor, Seoul's foreign ministry said. Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya shared the understanding during their "pull-aside" meeting that took place in Italy on the sidelines of the foreign ministers' gathering of the Group of Seven advanced n

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday denounced "political agitation" leaflets, accusing South Korea of sending them across the border. "Various kinds of political agitation leaflets and dirty things sent by the ROK scum were dropped again in different areas near the southern border of the DPRK" on Tuesday, the North's Korean Central News Agency quoted Kim Yo-jong as saying in a statement. ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, the official n

The Supreme Court chief on Tuesday recommended a senior judge from the Seoul High Court, known for his expertise in legal principles, as a new justice for the top court. Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae recommended Ma Yong-joo to President Yoon Suk Yeol as a new Supreme Court justice to replace Kim Sang-hwan, who is scheduled to retire on Dec. 27. Once Yoon submits a motion seeking the National Assembly's approval for Ma's appointment, the Assembly will hold a confirmation heari

National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik met with his Lithuanian counterpart, Kestutis Budrys, on Tuesday and discussed coordinated responses against the military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, the presidential office said. The top security officials agreed that North Korea's deployment of troops to Russia in support of its war against Ukraine poses a grave threat to global security, with implications reaching beyond the Korean Peninsula and Europe, the office said in a release.

With most parts of South Korea expected to experience the season's first snowfall on Wednesday, the weather agency announced Tuesday that the snowfall could trigger heavy snow warnings in some areas. The Korea Meteorological Administration said snow will fall intermittently Wednesday morning, with heavy snowfall of 1 to 3 centimeters per hour when it intensifies. Intense bursts of snow could occur during the morning rush hour in Seoul and central regions, it added. Heavy snow warnings hav

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday vetoed a bill mandating a special counsel investigation into multiple allegations against first lady Kim Keon Hee, including her alleged meddling in past elections, with the legislation marking the third of its kind. Tuesday’s approval comes 12 days after the National Assembly passed the bill on Nov. 14, in a vote boycotted by the ruling People Power Party. Yoon has already vetoed two similar special counsel bills passed in December 2023 and September, wh

South Korea's decision to skip a memorial ceremony hosted by Japan on Sunday reflects its "strong protest and regret" over Tokyo proceeding with the event in a way that fell short of the standards it had publicly pledged to uphold, Second Vice Foreign Minister Kang In-sun said Tuesday. Kang, however, sidestepped criticism of the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s failure to coordinate effectively with Japan on the ceremony, which Seoul had envisioned as an occasion to genuinely

Prosecutors have requested seven-year prison sentences for a bar hostess and a former actress accused of extorting a total of 350 million won ($250,000) from the late actor Lee Sun-kyun. At a hearing on Monday at the Incheon District Court, prosecutors argued that the defendants -- a 30-year-old hostess surnamed Kim and a 29-year-old former actress surnamed Park -- committed the crime with malicious intent, exploiting Lee’s celebrity status. Kim was arrested and indicted in January for a

Police awarded a man who rescued a student on a bridge over the Han River, Seoul’s Seongdong Police Station announced on Tuesday. While crossing the bridge, the man found the student standing on the opposite side of the guardrail of the Dongho Bridge in eastern Seoul around 5 a.m. on Friday. He immediately grabbed the student’s hands and pulled him back over the rail. After trying to calm the student down, he took the student to the Oksu patrol box in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, which was n

South Korea’s fertility rate is projected to reach 0.74 this year, which would mark the first increase in nine years, according to a government body addressing the country’s declining birth rate and aging society. Joo Hyung-hwan, vice chairman of the Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy, announced the estimate during a keynote address at the Global Symposium on Low Fertility and Aging organized by Statistics Korea and UNFPA on Tuesday in central Seoul. &ldquo

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on Tuesday refuted allegations that he received help during the 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election from Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed power broker at the center of a growing political scandal. With a background in public opinion polling, Myung Tae-kyun has claimed he supported Oh's victory by providing polling data and strategic advice. Speaking at a press briefing at City Hall on Tuesday, Oh denied ever commissioning polls from Myung or receiving any related data. Th

North Korea may officially acknowledge its troop deployments to Russia to secure strategic gains by formalizing its role as an official war participant amid mounting internal challenges in concealing such actions, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said Tuesday. The ministry suggested Seoul detected "signs of unease" within North Korean society, as rumors, including accounts of families in tears, have surfaced and spread despite Pyongyang's efforts to keep its troop deployment to R

Seoul’s iconic yet aging Apgujeong Hyundai Apartments, located in the heart of Gangnam, look likely to be replaced by a towering residential complex, rising up to 70 floors, under an urban planning plan approved by the city government. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Tuesday, the city’s Urban Planning Committee approved an eased maximum floor ratio of 300 percent for residential complexes aged over 50 years in the southern Seoul districts, including Apgujeong Hyun

North Korea has been dismantling power lines installed just north of the shared border with the South from Sunday in the latest of a series of demolitions of past inter-Korean peace efforts. According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff on Tuesday, the North Korean military was spotted taking down power transmission systems on its side of the Military Demarcation Line dividing the Korean Peninsula. The JCS said the North Korean military cut off high-voltage wires from the transmission t

Eighteen people were injured Monday after a motel caught fire in Bongdam-eup, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, according to local media. One person was found on the second floor in a state of cardiac arrest, but recovered. The fire reportedly began on the first floor of the four-story building at 10 p.m., but the smoke quickly spread to the entire building. At the time, 22 people were staying in the motel and many of them were foreign workers at a nearby employer who was using the motel to accommoda

A 44-year-old man, who had asked soccer superstar Son Heung-min's father Son Woong-jung for a settlement related to the elder Son's child abuse accusation, recently received a suspended jail term for false accusation and stalking in a separate case. The appellate division of the Incheon District Court on Nov. 15 upheld an earlier court ruling that sentenced the defendant, surnamed Kim, to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years, for stalking and false accusation against multip

Singer Psy recently had his luxury home in Seoul temporarily seized by authorities after he failed to pay an administrative penalty imposed by the district office, local media outlets reported Monday. According to a report by Biz Hankook, the 46-year-old's home located in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, was recently reported to the district office for an illegal modification. The home is a unit in a luxury apartment complex in the affluent Hannam-dong district, in which the star's family has live

Actor Jung Woo-sung’s recent admission that he fathered a child with model Moon Ga-bi has reignited conversations in South Korea about societal attitudes toward children born out of wedlock. While Jung pledged to fulfill his responsibilities as a father without pursuing marriage, the public response has been largely critical, highlighting the nation’s deeply conservative stance on non-traditional family structures. Many online users criticized Jung for his decision not to marry Moo