A former chairman of a major dairy company has been arrested on charges of breach of trust and false advertising related to a yogurt product's benefits against COVID-19. Hong Won-sik, former chairman of Namyang Dairy Products Co., was arrested late Thursday night following the issuance of an arrest warrant by the Seoul Central District Court, which cited concerns he will destroy evidence. Hong is accused of inflicting losses of some 10 billion won ($7.16 million) on the company by needlessl

US Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg celebrated Thanksgiving in his host country, joined by a South Korean YouTube celebrity for a cooking session blending the two countries' traditional cuisines, a video released by the US Embassy in Seoul showed Thursday. The video showed Goldberg, wearing a dark apron and white cooking gloves, carefully adding toppings to a pizza-shaped "yakbap," a Korean dessert made with glutinous rice and sweetened soy sauce, using ingredients common

President Yoon Suk Yeol and his Latvian counterpart, Edgars Rinkevics, held a summit Thursday to enhance cooperation in the bio and defense industries and address shared security concerns, Yoon's office said. The two leaders agreed to expand partnerships in the bio and pharmaceutical sectors, with Rinkevics highlighting Latvia as a strategic gateway for South Korean companies seeking to enter the European market, the office said in a release. Latvia is home to prominent pharmaceutical fir

North Korea sent what appear to be balloons carrying trash toward South Korea on Thursday, military authorities said, resuming its balloon campaign after a 10-day hiatus. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said these trash bundles are expected to move toward the Seoul metropolitan area and surrounding Gyeonggi Province, considering the direction of the wind. North Korea had last floated balloons on Nov. 18. It has done so on over 30 occasions since late May in retaliation against anti-Pyongyang propagand

The South Korean government will explore measures to bolster support for children born to unmarried parents, the presidential office said Thursday, as the issue has drawn heightened attention following the news that actor Jung Woo-sung and model Moon Ga-bi, announced that they plan to raise their child without marrying each other. "Ultimately, I believe there are aspects such as discrimination in society and issues that cannot be fully addressed by existing policies," a senior presiden

The opposition-led National Assembly on Thursday passed two bills that could limit the authority and the power of the current ruling bloc. The Assembly, in a 179-102 vote, passed a bill that strips the current ruling People Power Party of the right to recommend candidates for a special counsel when investigating allegations against the president or the president’s family members. The revision to the Act on the Appointment of Independent Prosecutor bans the political party that the presiden

The South Korean presidential office on Thursday unveiled the country's dedicated support plans for premature babies, aiming to strengthen financial aid and upgrade medical infrastructure to meet the critical needs of vulnerable newborns requiring specialized care. You Hye-mi, the senior presidential secretary for low birth rate issues, described the initiative as South Korea's first-ever policy aimed specifically at supporting premature infants as part of its broader efforts to tackle

Record amounts of heavy snow blanketed Seoul and its surrounding areas for a second consecutive day, causing tree branches to snap and roofs to collapse in areas hit hard by the snowstorm on Thursday. In addition to the volume of snow, the Korea Meteorological Administration attributed the danger to its composition. The snow that has fallen in greater Seoul over the past two days has been predominantly wet snow, significantly heavier than dry snow. While dry snow weighs about 150 kilograms per c

An emergency rescue worker saved a truck driver from an 11-meter fall by holding onto the driver for 45 minutes with his bare hands, officials of the Gyeongbuk Fire Service Headquarters said Thursday. The accident occurred Wednesday at around 9:29 a.m. on a bridge on a section of the Joongang Expressway in Poongsang-eup, Andong, North Gyeongsang Province. A truck slid on the snow-covered road and collided with the railings, the impact of which almost threw the driver in his 60s out of his seat a

A roof collapsed at a major agricultural and fishery wholesale market in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday afternoon, following the heavy snowfall. One person sustained minor injuries. According to the Anyang Fire Department, the ceiling of the fruit and vegetable section at the Pyeongchon Agricultural and Fishery Wholesale Market collapsed inward at 12:06 p.m. The market had suspended operations since 9 a.m. due to concerns over a potential collapse due to the major snowfall. Some merchants w

Serbian Ambassador to South Korea Nemanja Grbic highlighted Serbia’s future opportunities and its growing role as a regional hub for innovation and investment during a session of the Global Business Forum on Wednesday. Addressing an audience of business leaders, Grbic emphasized Serbia's transition from an agriculture-dominated economy to a leader in information and communication technologies, with ICT exports now surpassing agricultural goods. Grbic also underscored the robust econom

South Korea's top diplomat said Thursday that Japan would "bear the cost" of tarnishing its international image and reputation if it continues to renege on its commitments to address the historical issue of forcibly mobilizing Korean workers during its colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul publicly criticized Japan for failing to honor its pledge to hold a memorial ceremony to sincerely honor the sacrifices of Korean forced laborers at the Sado Gold Mine in

South Korea was thrown into disarray on Thursday as unusually heavy November snowfall continued for a second day. Treacherous conditions led to widespread transportation delays and caused power outages in parts of Seoul. Heavy snowfall of over 40 centimeters blanketed the densely populated Greater Seoul area. Thursday’s snowfall was the third-highest amount ever recorded for Seoul in November, reaching up to 40.2 cm in Gwanak-gu, while Yongin and Gunpo in Gyeonggi Province saw up to 47.5 c

The delegation from Ukraine did not request that South Korea provide defensive weapons during a series of high-level meetings held Wednesday in Seoul. Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, who spoke with his visiting Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov for 30 minutes on Wednesday, said he “did not receive any proposals” from the delegation about buying the Cheongung air defense system, as some reports had speculated. The South Korean defense minister was speaking Thursday in re

Commuting has never been easy, but on Thursday morning, it became nearly impossible for some of South Korea's workers, as a severe snowstorm pounded Seoul and its surrounding areas, causing traffic disruptions. Oh Se-won, a 36-year-old secretary living in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, gave up driving to his office in Pangyo, just south of Seoul, and took the day off. Not only was his car covered in a thick layer of white, but so were the nearby roads blanketed in piles of snow accumulated over

Once again, Elon Musk is back to tracking South Korea's nose-diving birth rate. With just 0.72 births per woman in 2023, South Korea has emerged as an extraordinary case study among developed countries grappling with declining fertility rates -- a sort of petri dish for what might lie ahead for societies facing a demographic crisis. These unprecedented numbers have made the country a favorite reference point for Musk, CEO of Tesla and X and US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to le

South Korea’s state weather agency said Thursday that its short-range weather forecast will start providing an overview of potential weather conditions up to five days ahead, instead of the previous four days. The update will allow viewers to see weather predictions up to Friday when they check the system on Monday, the Korea Meteorological Administration explained. However, due to current technological limits, forecast details for the fifth day, such as precipitation probability, will b

Members of the North Gyeongsang Provincial Council have come under fire for deliberately setting a rice paddy on fire, with the purpose of checking how fast firefighters would arrive on the scene. According to the local Yonhap News Agency, members of the North Gyeongsang Provincial Council's construction and firefighting committee set the field on fire at 3:40 p.m. on Nov. 18, in Sangju city, North Gyeongsang Province. A man who called the 119 emergency hotline to report the fire turned o

Koreans born in the early 1970s bear a “triple burden,” juggling financial support for their parents and children while worrying about their own retirement, a survey revealed Thursday. Among those born between 1970 and 1974, seven out of 10 financially support their children, and four out of 10 support their own parents or those of their spouses. One in four supports both generations, spending an average of 1.55 million won ($1,114) per month. They allocate 1.07 million won ($768

Inspired by the splendor of green hues of the trees as the streetlights shone in the city's avenues during summer nights, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Thursday it has chosen "green aurora" as the city's color for next year. As the municipal government expands its color palette every year to roll out the city's identity for the coming year, officials explained that the new soft-tone color aims to offer comfort and support to citizens fatigued from their everyday