Medical workers on Wednesday dressed up as Santa Claus at a COVID-19 testing center in Gwangju.  To celebrate the upcoming Christmas, doctors and nurses at the testing center conducted COVID-19 tests in Santa Claus outfits. The number of COVID-19 cases rapidly increased this month, with some 7,000 cases reported each day. Amid the worsening COVID-19 situation, medical workers turned into Santa Claus to light up the atmosphere of the testing center.  The Santa Claus outfit that worke

Korean Air said Thursday that it has developed drones for airplane inspection. At an airship hangar located in Gangseo-gu, eastern Seoul, Korean Air demonstrated a group of drones inspecting a Boeing 737 aircraft in front of officials from the Ministry of Land and Transportation. The drone used in the demonstration weighs only 5.5 kilograms and is relatively small in size, with the width and length both coming in at 1 meter. Four drones move in groups when they inspect an airplane, sharing

　Olaf Scholz became the ninth Chancellor of Germany on Wednesday, ending the era of Angela Merkel. Among the 707 lawmakers of the German parliament Bundestag who participated in the voting, Scholz earned 395 votes, indicating the first political transition of Germany in 16 years. 　Although Merkel was a center-right wing politician from the Christian Democratic Union while Scholz is a center-left wing politician of the Social Democrat Party, they have shown profound mutual respect. Scholz prais

Lionel Messi, the legendary 34-year-old soccer player of Paris Saint-Germain, won his seventh Ballon d’Or on Monday. Presented by the news magazine France Football every year, the Ballon d’Or is given to the best soccer player of the year. Since the Ballon d’Or Awards did not take place last year due to the pandemic, Messi has won the trophy a second time consecutively. Messi won the Ballon d’Or for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and now 2021, becoming the soccer pl

A Canadian virtual real estate company Metaverse Group, a subsidiary of investment firm Tokens.com, bought a virtual land in a metaverse platform called Decentraland for $2.4 million. Established in 2017, Decentraland is an online platform that deals with virtual assets in the form of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, based on the Ethereum blockchain. Avatars in the Decentraland can earn money by embarking on speculative investment, hosting exhibitions, and conducting advertisement campai

On Black Friday, which refers to the day after Thanksgiving in the US, stores there typically offer goods at highly discounted prices. In recent years, retailers have tended to prolong the duration of the promotion, cutting prices before Thanksgiving even starts. Korean online shoppers have bought enormous amounts of products directly from foreign websites in the past few days. Due to the Black Friday shopping spree, packages containing a variety of goods shipped from the US were piling up at

Merchants at Yukgeori Market in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, gathered Thursday to make kimchi for people who are struggling financially. 　 Approximately 80 people, including Cheongju Mayor Han Beom-deok and North Chungcheong Province Gov. Lee Si-jong, participated in the kimchi-making event using 1,000 heads of cabbage. “As merchants of the landmark traditional market of this region, all of the members of our merchant association will contribute to our local community and spread

The first snow of the season fell Monday on Hallasan, South Korea’s tallest mountain, on Jeju Island. Last year, the first snow fell on Nov. 29 in the province. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the temperature hit minus 3.1 degrees Celsius at Utse Oreum, a volcanic crater of Hallasan.  The KMA forecasts 1-5 centimeters of snow to fall by this Wednesday and warned hikers of the slippery trek up the mountain.  Meanwhile, snowfall was also recorded at Gwanak

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has given final approval to using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 5-11 years old. CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday that approximately 28 million children are now eligible to receive the vaccine for free. Last week, the FDA authorized a 10-microgram dose of the Pfizer vaccine for children under 12, which is one-third of the adult dose. Health authorities forecast that the lower dose will help reduce the chances of si

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission is set to lift off this weekend, carrying an international crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station. According to NASA, it will send SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance to space from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday. The mission will be the third operational NASA commercial crew flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft. The team members consists of three astronauts from the US and one astronaut from Germany. The commander

Marking its 5th anniversary, the Daegu International Future Auto, or DIFA, Expo kicked off on Thursday at EXCO, a convention center in Daegu, where local and global automotive firms show off their technology for eco-friendly vehicles and electric car batteries. Hyundai Motor Group displayed its new electric vehicle IONIC5 along with a model of its E-pit station, which can charge 80 percent of the vehicle’s EV battery capacity within 18 minutes.  The photo above shows NEXO, Hyu

Recent data shows that 8 out of 10 communication fraud reports filed with the financial authorities this year concerned criminals impersonating government officials. A report published by Rep. Min Hyung-bae on Oct. 7 revealed that voice phishing cases in which criminals falsely offer to lend money to their victims are becoming less common, with the figure dropping every year. In contrast, impersonation of government officials has increased in recent years, accounting for 11,732 of the 14,065 c

The 2021 Green New Deal Expo was held Oct. 6-8 at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, where 53 firms and organizations presented alternative energy visions and technologies. This year’s theme was the future of hydrogen. Automotive giant Hyundai Motor Group caught visitors’ attention with its electric and hydrogen vehicles, and group affiliate Hyundai Mobis displayed a hydrogen fueling station. The company recently invested 1.3 trillion won ($1.1 billion) to build two hydrogen fuel

Amid the rising tension between the two Koreas due to NK’s hypersonic missile test earlier this week, the Defense Ministry held the 73rd Armed Forces Day Ceremony on Friday in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. Pohang was the location where the United Nations forces made their first landing operation during the Korean War.  The photo above shows President Moon Jae-in on board the Marado, a high-tech landing platform helicopter ship. In his speech, President Moon emphasized the signif

Tangerines are one of the many reasons Jeju Island is well loved by visitors. Approximately 500,000 metric tons of the citrus fruit are produced on the island every year, accounting for a majority of the tangerine production in Korea.  Historical records show Jeju Island has a long history with the fruit. “Koryosa,” the 135-volume annals of the Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392), records that people of Jeju Island have offered tangerines to the nation’s kings as gifts since AD 105

Kyoha Central Park is one of the most scenic places to enjoy the autumn breeze in Gyeonggi Province. Visitors can walk along beautiful gardens with different themes. Each garden features traditional styles of seven countries: Korea, India, France, Italy, England, Japan, and China.  Greeting visitors from the entrance is the Korean garden. The garden has a number of replicas of historical architecture and landmarks, such as the gardens of Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung. A pavilion with a t

Since its debut at the Tokyo Olympics, the popularity of surfing has been on the rise around the world. On Sept. 14, surfers competed at the finals of the Rip Curl World Surfing League, one of the world‘s largest surfing events. The championship was held at Trestles Beach in California, a top surf destination. Trestles Beach is well known for its dynamic waves and ideal wind conditions.  Gabriel Medina, a surfer who won the 2014 and 2018 championships, defeated Filipe Toledo, after

The 20th annual 2021 Natural Week Exhibition is being held from Wednesday to Friday in Seoul at Coex.  Since the COVID-19 outbreak last year, people have started to pay more attention to healthy lifestyles and self-care than before. Reflecting such interest, the exhibition was planned with three main themes in mind: eco-friendly, organic and fermentation. 　 In the exhibition, there are booths that allow visitors to learn about organic farming processes and purchase organic products from a

Unlike other flowers that bloom in spring, the buckwheat flower blooms in September. Bongpyeong-myeon in Gangwon Province is well-known for the buckwheat flower. Inspired by breathtaking views of fields covered by a carpet of buckwheat flowers, Korean novelist Lee Hyo-seok who lived in the area wrote the bestselling novel “When the Buckwheat Flowers Bloom.” Before the outbreak of COVID-19, Bongpyeong held a buckwheat flower festival each year in commemoration of the author. Althoug