The World Forestry Congress, the world‘s largest gathering of foresters, kicked off its five-day run in Seoul on Monday. The 15th edition of the WFC will be running from Monday through Friday at Coex in Gangnam. The WFC is the most influential global forestry gathering, held every six years under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It’s the first time the WFC has been held in South Korea, and it is also the first time in 44 years that the

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases dropped under 60,000 for the 24 hours of Wednesday, government data showed Thursday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s report, the country added 57,464 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total caseload to 17,144,065. The number of deaths from COVID-19 on the day came to 122, down 19 from the previous day’s 141. The death toll reached 22,588, with the fatality rate standing at 0.13 percent. Severe cases, ho

The South Korean government expects that the country will be able to return to normal soon, given the recent downward trend in the pandemic. “(The country) is one step closer toward a return to normal,” said Lee Seung-woo, vice minister for disaster and safety management, during the Central Disaster Management Headquarters meeting Wednesday. According to Lee, the COVID-19 pandemic here has settled down, with the country’s health care capacity sufficient to handle daily infe

South Korea added over 80,000 new COVID-19 cases during the 24 hours of Monday, bringing the total caseload to 17 million, government data showed Tuesday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country’s daily COVID-19 infections on Monday reached 80,361, while the total caseload came to 17,009,865. The daily tally increased from the previous day’s 34,370 as they tend to fall on Mondays due to fewer tests over the weekend. But, the daily count reported

The Seoul Bus Union’s planned general strike on Tuesday has been called off as the union and bus companies reached a deal on a wage hike at the last minute before the suspension of city bus services. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Tuesday, the bus union and bus companies came to a compromise at 1:25 a.m., around 2 1/2 hours before 18,600 unionized drivers were set to go on strike. The two sides agreed on a 5 percent wage increase after a 10-hour long bargain that star

Delays in subway operations will stop temporarily as a disability rights advocacy group decided to pause its daily rush-hour subway protests. Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination, Korea’s largest disability rights group, said Sunday night that it would pause its subway protests until next Monday. The disability rights advocacy group said it will wait until next Monday when finance minister nominee Choo Kyoung-ho is expected to give an official answer to its request at a hearing

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 infections fell to the 30,000s on Sunday, the first time in nearly 11 weeks, government data showed Monday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country reported 34,370 new COVID-19 cases during the 24 hours of Sunday. The total caseload reached 16,929,564. The daily figure dropped to the 30,000s for the first time since Feb. 28, when the government reported 36,713 new COVID-19 cases. It was also the lowest since the 27,435 rep

Seoul could be headed for a major public transit disruption this week, with the Seoul Bus Union set for a general strike Tuesday. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Sunday, the Seoul Bus Union is planning a general strike early Tuesday morning if wage negotiations do not come through. The general strike, if it takes place, could further disrupt public transit across the city, after a disability advocacy group recently resumed staging subway protests, demanding improvements for

COVID-19 will be downgraded in South Korea’s four-tier infectious disease categorization system starting Monday, following the recent pandemic downturn. Eating inside movie theaters, indoor gyms and religious facilities has been allowed, starting on the same day. The government’s downgrading of the COVID-19 infectious level comes with a four-week transition period, during which the government will see if it will finally downgrade the COVID-19 infectious level. For the next four

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has proposed the transition team of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to ease the country’s taxes on property, it said Wednesday. 　 The Seoul city government said it delivered its property tax revision scheme to the transition team on Tuesday. The proposal asks the transition team to bump up the minimum value of property in the highest tax bracket from the current 500 million won ($404,000) to 900 million won. Officials from the Seoul city government expl

The South Korean government will decide in early May whether the outdoor mask mandate will be lifted, Interior Minister Jeon Hae-cheol said during a COVID-19 response meeting Wednesday. Jeon noted that the mask mandate will stay in place for the moment as wearing face masks is still important for preventing the spread of infection at the current stage of the pandemic. Regarding the government’s planned downgrade of the COVID-19 infectious disease level, Jeon said that the government wil

Around 65 percent of patients infected with COVID-19 said they experienced at least three different types of post-COVID-19 symptoms, according to a local survey Friday. Myongji Hospital conducted a survey among 748 patients between March 21 and April 11 out of the 1,077 people who visited its post-COVID-19 care center. “Most of the patients who visited the post-COVID-19 care center here said they suffered from at least two or more aftereffects,” Myongji Hospital COVID-19 Sequela

South Korea will lift all COVID-19 social distancing rules, except a mask mandate, starting Monday, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said during a COVID-19 response meeting Friday. It is the first time in around two years for the government to lift all social distancing rules. South Korea first introduced social distancing measures in March 2020, when it recommended to operations be suspended at religious facilities and some businesses. Kim said, “the government has decided to boldly lift s

The number of severe COVID-19 cases dropped to three digits for the first time in almost six weeks, according to government data Thursday. The number of critically ill patients, as of midnight Wednesday, marked 962, down 52 from the previous day, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency figures showed. It was the first time for the figure to drop below 1,000 since March 7, when the country reported 955 severe cases. The occupancy rate of hospital beds for critically ill COVID-19 patient

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of two major umbrella labor groups in South Korea, on Wednesday pushed ahead with a rally of some 10,000 members at Jongmyo Park in central Seoul, calling on President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to communicate with the labor community. Since the presidential election last month, the two major umbrella labor unions – the KCTU and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions -- have asked President-elect Yoon to come to the negotiating table with the labor c

South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases came to just under 200,000, continuing the recent downward trend, government data showed Wednesday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country added 195,419 COVID-19 cases during the 24 hours of Tuesday. The total caseload reached 15,830,644. The number of new COVID-19 deaths came to 184 on Tuesday, bringing the death toll 20,034. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent. The number of severe cases also reached 1,014 as o

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said Tuesday that he would seek close cooperation with the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration on Seoul’s housing policy to increase housing supply and suppress runaway real estate prices. “I think it is important to work closely with the central government to increase the housing supply. But the city will approach the issue carefully so as not to cause any unnecessary surges of real estate prices,” Oh said during a press meeting held in line with th

The South Korean government said Monday that discussions on scrapping COVID-19 restrictions have begun as the omicron wave continues to recede. “(The government) has started a discussion over what to do with overall COVID-19 restrictions, including a mask mandate and social distancing measures,” Son Young-rae, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said Monday. Son added that the government is looking into a post-omicron scheme as well. As COVID-19 figures have tren

S. Korea’s daily COVID-19 infections remained below 200,000 for the second straight day as of midnight Saturday. As the omicron wave shows a clear downward trend, the government noted it will soon announce a post-omicron scheme, along with a decision on downgrading the infectious disease level of COVID-19. 　 According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency‘s report Sunday, the country added 164,481 new COVID-19 infections during the 24 hours of Saturday, bringing the to

US investor Jim Rogers is in the city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, which includes a portion of the Demilitarized Zone that divides North and South Korea, where he was previously tapped to become an inter-Korean project cooperation adviser. Rogers arrived in South Korea on Tuesday and was scheduled to sign the related agreement the following day. In an email interview Wednesday, Rogers expressed hopes for possible peace and exchanges despite the ongoing tug-of-war between the two countries, in