Amid speculation that Tokyo may pass on the Summer Olympics due to a recent surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country, Florida has proposed relocating the Games from Japan to the Sunshine State. Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday, offering the state as a replacement host. In his letter to the IOC, Patronis cited “recent media reports” about leaders in Japan privately having concluded that t

Job losses and reduced working hours due to the COVID-19 pandemic cost the world the equivalent of 255 million jobs last year alone, the International Labor Organization said Monday. The losses led to an 8.3 percent decline in global income, which equals about $3.7 trillion or 4.4 percent of the gross world product, according to the ILO report. “This has been the most severe crisis for the world of work since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Its impact is far greater than that of the

Pohang city has ordered its residents to have at least one person get tested for the coronavirus from each household. “Although the spread of COVID-19 is on the decrease across the country, the city of Pohang is seeing an increase in the number of local community transmissions including infections stemming from the Sangju evangelical church facility and sauna-related cases,” said Pohang Mayor Lee Kang-deok in a press conference Monday. “We are issuing an administrative orde

Police will start cracking down on unauthorized entertainment facilities that hinder quarantine efforts in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the National Police Agency said Sunday. Starting Monday, police will team up with local governments across the country and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for a 3-week long special inspection period. As the government’s ban on gatherings at five types of entertainment facilities such as bars and pubs still remains in effect, the

Kim Si-woo won the American Express and captured his third PGA Tour title, securing his first victory since 2017. Kim birdied two of the final three holes to card a bogey-free 8-under 64 in the final round to edge out late-storming Patrick Cantlay, who got 11 birdies in the final round alone, by a stroke on Sunday. “My heart was very firm in the last five holes and Patrick kept making birdies,” Kim said in the interview after winning the tournament. “But I was not trying

Korean rock icon Jeon In-kwon is facing a police investigation over a dispute with his neighbor, multiple media reported Friday. Seoul’s Jongno Police Station called in the legendary rocker on Wednesday over property damage allegations, according to reports. Jeon allegedly threw a roof tile at his neighbor’s front door in September. The rocker had gotten into a dispute with his neighbor, claiming that the neighbor re-constructed their house to raise the height of the roof by one

Amid social distancing measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more people have turned to home training instead of going to the gym. But working out at home with training equipment should be handled with care, the Korean Consumer Agency (KCA) says. Over 4,000 accidents related to training equipment have been reported across the country every year since 2015, according to the annual data from the KCA’s Consumer Injury Surveillance System. The number of injury reports has increased stea

The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) has proposed unmanned submarines, flying bikes, and artificial intelligence (AI) pilots as the future game changers. In a collaboration with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, the ADD unveiled the Novel Weapon Systems Yearbook in booklet form for free on its website Wednesday. Introduced in the booklet, the state-of-the-art weapons systems cover a wide range of technologies in line with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including AI, synt

The Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK), a Korean language exam for nonnative speakers of Korean, will take place three times outside of South Korea this year, according to test administrators. The overseas exams are slated for April 10-11, July 11 and October 16-17 and the registration periods for each test are January 29-February 3, May 21-27 and August 3-9, respectively. Two more exams will be held only in South Korea in May and November. Anyone who wishes to apply to take the test can

Remote work and more home entertainment could present a grave danger to the environment, according to a recent study. Published in the Resources, Conservation and Recycling journal earlier this month, the study points to how internet data is stored and transferred across the globe and how it impacts the environment. The study says just one hour of videoconferencing or streaming emits 150-1,000 grams of carbon dioxide. In comparison, a car burning a gallon (3.8 liters) of gasoline emits less t

The state-run Youth Startup Academy has recruited 1,065 students so far, already a record-high number, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said Monday. Established in 2011, the Youth Startup Academy has so far fostered 4,798 young entrepreneurs and created 13,718 jobs while generating 4.78 trillion won ($4.35 billion) in cumulative sales from startups that began with its support. South Korea’s leading fintech unicorn Viva Republica’s Toss and one of the country’s most popular

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has launched an online simulator to help manufacturers create standardized labels for packaged products. Dubbed a “labelbot,” the simulator was developed to help packaged food manufacturers meet the requirements more easily, the ministry said Tuesday. According to the Food Ministry, about 12,000 inquiries about what must be included on packaged food labels were submitted in 2020 alone. The labelbot provides label templates for 130 types of pr

Four types of heated vest products were found to fail safety standards due to high surface temperatures, the Korea Consumer Agency said Monday. Based on a consumer survey, the watchdog selected 10 heated vests, one each from among the top 10 most popular brands, and conducted various tests on the safety, warmth and usability of the products. As the vests use batteries for the heating element, they have to follow electrical appliance safety standards, which require heated clothing’s sur

If carbon emissions are kept at the current level, the temperature on the Korean Peninsula could rise by 7 degrees Celsius within the next 60 years, the Korea Meteorological Agency said Monday. Based on a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the state-run weather agency released its Korean Peninsula Climate Change Forecast Report 2020. The KMA’s report divided the climate change outlook into two scenarios -- “high-carbon” and “low-carbon.&r

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs will begin training officials and workers in the agricultural and food sectors to lead the post-coronavirus era, the Food and Agriculture Officials Training Institute said Sunday. The plan is to foster 32,000 agricultural and food experts through 162 different training courses this year. As the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to conduct large, offline classes, the Food and Agriculture Officials Training Institute said 27.5

The Korea Gas Corporation said Friday that it will partner with the cities of Changwon and Tongyeong in South Gyeongsang Province to build a hydrogen fusion charging station by 2022. The plan to build a hydrogen fusion charging station came after Kogas and the two southern cities were recently tapped as the operator of a pilot project for establishing a hydrogen transportation complex by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The construction project of a hydrogen transportation

South Korea’s taxi drivers and the police are joining forces to find missing people, the National Police Agency said Thursday. In the event of a missing persons report, depending on the details and circumstances of the case, the police will first determine whether to dispatch a message to KaKao Mobility, the operator of Korea’s biggest taxi-hailing app Kakao T. Once the police decide to do so, they will set the scope of the targeted search area and send a description of the missi

The year 2020 was one of the three warmest years ever on record, the World Meteorological Organization, a world weather body under the United Nations, said Thursday. “The confirmation by the World Meteorological Organization that 2020 was one of the warmest years on record is yet another stark reminder of the relentless pace of climate change, which is destroying lives and livelihoods across our planet,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The UN chief pointed out that th

Only 3.6 percent of companies have adopted artificial intelligence technology, a report from the Korea Development Institute showed Thursday. To see how AI is being used or perceived in different sectors, the KDI conducted a survey of 1,000 companies with at least 20 employees, including conglomerates and small and midsized businesses. Conglomerates made up 91.7 percent of all AI-using companies, according to the report. By industry, 55 percent of AI-using companies were in the service secto

Half of patients with Alzheimer’s disease have mild symptoms of dementia, a group of researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine said Wednesday. Using data from the Framingham Heart Study, the researchers found that 50.4 percent of the patients had mild symptoms, 30.3 percent had moderate symptoms and 19.3 percent had severe cases. The Framingham Heart Study is a long-term cardiovascular cohort study of residents of the city of Framingham, Massachusetts. The study began in