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 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

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

Heavy snow beset Seoul and the surrounding areas for a second consecutive day Thursday, with the total snowfall in the capital marking the third heaviest snowfall on record in the city. At 8 a.m., Seoul’s accumulated snowfall reached 28.6 centimeters at the capital's official measurement site in the Jongno-gu district. This was the most in November since records began in 1907. The heaviest snowfall ever recorded in Seoul was 31 cm on March 24, 1922, followed by 30 cm on Jan. 31, 1969. Unti

A heavy snowstorm forced schools in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province to delay classes or close temporarily, as a crippling snowfall paralyzed much of South Korea on Thursday. The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education announced that it had advised approximately 4,700 schools under its jurisdiction — including kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools — to consider delaying class hours or temporarily closing at their discretion. Some schools, such as Munwon Elem

Heavy snow blanketed South Korea's capital area for the second consecutive day Thursday, with up to 40 centimeters of snowfall seen in parts of Seoul. A heavy snow advisory was in effect in all of Seoul as the accumulated snowfall reached 40.2 cm in Gwanak Ward and 27.1 cm in Seongbuk Ward. On Wednesday, Seoul saw the heaviest November snowfall since modern weather observations began in 1907, with 16.5 cm of snowfall. The record coincided with the first snow of the season in the city. Traffic wa

The Japanese cities of Osaka, Fukuoka and Tokyo emerged as the top destinations for repeat overseas travel among South Koreans, according to data from Triple, a travel platform run by Interpark. These three destinations accounted for over half of all demand for multiple visits, reflecting strong interest in tourism to Japan. Osaka topped the list with 18.6 percent of respondents reporting at least two visits, followed by Fukuoka (16.6 percent), Tokyo (15.2 percent), Bangkok, Thailand (7.9 perc

More than 50 cars crashed into each other on an icy road in Wonju, Gangwon Province, injuring 11 people as record heavy snow hit the country on Wednesday. The crash occurred at 5:49 p.m. on National Route 409, between Manjong and Simpyeong intersections in Wonju, according to the Gangwon Fire Headquarters. The accident began when a Matiz compact car skidded to a stop on a downhill stretch of a highway. The vehicles that followed were unable to stop because the road was icy and collided in a ch

Seoul subway Line No. 2 was delayed over 20 minutes during morning rush hour due to a conductor taking an urgent toilet break on Monday, according to Seoul Metro. The conductor who was driving a train on the outer lane of the circular route had to leave the train urgently to use the toilet in a station at 8:11 a.m. While an engineer watched the train, the conductor ran down the platform and returned in 4 minutes 16 seconds after using the restroom on another floor. However, the 125 trains follow

South Korea in September saw the largest on-year increase in the monthly number of childbirths in nearly 14 years, government data showed Wednesday. According to Statistics Korea, 20,590 babies were born in September, which was 1,884 more than the same month in 2023. The on-year increase was the largest since January 2011 percentage-wise, and the most since March of 2015 in terms of the number of babies born. It was the third straight month in which 20,000 or more babies were born, with 20,601 i

Heavy snow warnings were issued across the country as South Korea -- especially the Greater Seoul area and Gangwon Province -- experienced heavy snowfall nationwide, with more expected overnight. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, more than 20 centimeters of snow covered parts of Seoul as of 7 a.m., Wednesday morning. Normally, a warning is issued by the KMA when snowfall is expected to reach above 20 cm within 24 hours. The last time a snowfall warning was issued by the KMA

Several stories of police officers stepping up to provide urgently needed medical attention have been reported across the country this week. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Tuesday that a quick-thinking police officer saved a woman suffering from hypoglycemia by buying candy for her. In a video posted on the SMPA's official YouTube page, the woman can be seen falling to the floor in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul on Nov. 18, shaking and unable to communicate. A police officer from the Seoul

Two student organizations hosted a peace forum and concert at Imjingak, a site near the Demilitarized Zone, the buffer zone between South and North Korea, to commemorate the Korean War and honor its veterans. The groups -- the Mind Shelter Project and Past for Present -- organized the "Youth International Peace Forum and Concert" in the lead-up to UN Veterans International Memorial Day on Nov. 11, building on their inaugural event from last year. The program, themed, "Unforgetting

A joint South Korean-Chinese fraud ring that swindled of 12.2 billion won ($8.73 million) from more than 80 victims in a romance scam has been caught, police said Tuesday. The Busan Metropolitan Police arrested 12 suspects, including a Korean leader in his 20s and a Chinese leader in his 30s, on charges including conspiracy to defraud. Eight additional suspects were charged without detention. According to police, the group recruited South Korean accomplices in their 20s and 30s and flew them to

One in three students in Jeju Province is either overweight or obese, giving the island the highest student obesity rate among regions in South Korea, data shows. Approximately 33.4 percent of students enrolled in Jeju’s elementary, middle and high schools had a body mass index over 23, the threshold for an overweight classification in South Korea, according to an analysis of student health data from 2022 led by the Education Ministry. This was the highest rate nationwide, compared to th