The South Korean government said Friday it would resume radiation testing for defectors from near North Korea’s nuclear test site in Punggye-ri to check for possible exposure. Lee Hyo-jung, the Ministry of Unification’s deputy spokesperson, said in a briefing that from this year testing will be offered to North Koreans who lived in Kilju or nearby regions after North Korea’s first nuclear test i...

Many universities in South Korea held commencement ceremonies on Friday, filling the air with the excitement of new beginnings. Cadets marched in file during a commencement ceremony at the Korea Air Force Academy in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province.

Trees were decorated with Taegeukgi, South Korea’s national flag, near Hyochang Park in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul on Friday. Yongsan-gu on Monday announced its plan to install the flags along the 600-meter walkway between Hyochang Park subway station and the park in celebration of the 104th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement, a nationwide uprising in 1919 against Japan's colonial r...

North Korea launched cruise missiles it said clearly demonstrated the country’s readiness for nuclear conflict, a day after South Korea and the US held their nuclear drills and three-way maritime exercises with Japan in response to the North’s separate ballistic missile test this week. According to the North Korean state-run Korean Central News Agency on Friday, the North fired off Thursday four...

Hopes high on bots helping improve English, while educators remain mindful of limits

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases continued the downward trend Friday, with daily infections falling by nearly 1,400 cases compared with a week earlier. The country reported 10,051 new infection cases, including 26 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,479,753 the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The daily caseload stayed above 10,000 for the fourth straight day Frida...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a letter to his Syrian counterpart hoping the country makes a speedy recovery from damage wrought by a devastating earthquake that recently struck the region, Pyongyang's state media said Friday. In the message sent to President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday, Kim also expressed "deep appreciation" to Syria for extending warm congratulations on the occasion...

WASHINGTON -- The United States will likely limit the level of advanced semiconductors produced by South Korean companies in China to prevent the advanced technology from falling into the wrong hands, a ranking US official said Thursday. Alan Estevez, under secretary of commerce for industry and security, said the US is also working closely with South Korean companies that produce semiconductors...

Twenty-five lawmakers on Thursday together signed a bill to investigate the war crimes of South Korean troops during the Vietnam War. “For years the Vietnamese victims have asked for the South Korean government’s acknowledgement of the civilian killings linked to South Korean soldiers, as well as an official apology and compensation. No such steps have been taken by the South Korean government t...

The launch event for a foundation aimed at connecting Korean diaspora youth called K-Diaspora World Solidarity was held Thursday at a National Assembly building. Democratic Party of Korea Rep. So Byung-chul said in an address that he hoped the foundation would serve as “a platform for networking among young Koreans all over the world” and that it would “connect a scattered diaspora.” “I hope th...

The Democratic Party of Korea’s legally troubled Chairperson Rep. Lee Jae-myung went on a lengthy rant at a press conference Thursday, just days ahead of a National Assembly vote that could send the arrest warrant filed for him to court. Lee, once again denying any wrongdoing, called the prosecutors’ investigations into corruption controversies from his time as Gyeonggi Province governor and Seo...

South Korea has asked the US Indo-Pacific Command to revise the US military’s reference to international waters between Japan and South Korea from the “Sea of Japan” to a neutral description, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed Thursday. The navies of South Korea, the United States and Japan conducted a trilateral missile defense exercise outside the territorial waters of South Korea a...

Ukraine, Polish ambassador join forces in Seoul to condemn Russia's continued aggression, Kyiv envoy suggests Yoon-Zelenskyy dialogue

President Yoon Suk Yeol has set a target of exporting $685 billion this year, an increase of 0.2 percent year-on-year, vowing to mobilize all the nation's capabilities to achieve this goal at an export strategy meeting Thursday. The meeting was attended by related ministers and leaders of major exporters, including CJ CheilJedang, LG Energy Solution, HMM and CJ ENM. Despite difficult economic c...

Two Korean Americans and one Korean national died over the weekend after being swept up in an avalanche on a mountain in Washington state, US, officials said Thursday. The three climbers, who were part of a six-person group, were attempting to climb a 2,650-meter peak in Washington’s Cascade Mountains on Sunday when the avalanche was “triggered,” the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said in a pres...