At least 26 foreign nationals are among the 155 confirmed deaths from Saturday night's crowd crush that occurred amid Halloween celebrations in Seoul's Itaewon. According to authorities, foreign casualties stood at 26 as of Monday. They are from Iran, China, the US, Japan, France, Australia, Norway, Vietnam, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Austria and Russia. Foreign Minister Park Jin ordered officials to urgently notify relevant embassies in Seoul of the current status

The area around Itaewon in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul, full of excited Halloween partygoers on Saturday night, turned into a catastrophic scene in an instant. At least 153 people died and dozens were injured in a crowd crush that took place in a narrow alley near the neighborhood’s famous Hamilton Hotel. The celebratory scene quickly turned into a nightmare as screams and cries for help erupted from the crowd, and the sounds of ambulance sirens mixed with thumping music that continued to fl

President Yoon Suk-yeol held an emergency meeting and instructed officials to quickly dispatch the disaster medical assistance team, the presidential office said at around 1 a.m. on Sunday as dozens of people are reported to be in cardiac arrest in Itaewon, central Seoul, where large crowds were celebrating the first outdoor no-mask Halloween since the pandemic. "The top priority right now is saving and evacuating patients, and providing prompt transportation and treatment to victims (hea

At least 153 people died and more than 103 were injured in a crowd crush in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, central Seoul, according to fire authorities at 5 p.m. on Sunday. The fire department began to receive reports of patients having difficulty breathing at 10:22 p.m. on Saturday. Of the people who died, more than 100 were transferred to the hospital. The remaining bodies were kept on site and later moved to a nearby multi-purpose indoor gymnasium. Identifying the deceased is expected to take some ti

From the stance of Korean diplomacy, relations with Japan are the primary dilemma. Although there may be some differences in degree compared to the US according to political orientation, an alliance has immutable value. It has an absolute influence on daily life in Korea. At the same time, though we may have a different perspective from China, we cannot neglect China’s influence on Korea’s economy and policies toward North Korea. The US and China are like two strong wings flanking K

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday addressed the National Assembly amid escalating partisan conflict that led to an unprecedented complete boycott by the main opposition party. Doubling down on defense In the address, Yoon stressed the need to strengthen deterrence against North Korea, saying that another nuclear weapons test by Pyongyang is imminent. “It is judged that North Korea has already completed preparations for its seventh nuclear test,” Yoon said. "North Korea has rece

Tensions between the ruling and main opposition parties are intensifying, as prosecutors investigations close in on Democratic Party Chairman Rep. Lee Jae-myung. After a previous failure to raid the party’s Institute for Democracy think tank in Yeouido, Seoul, the prosecution again raided the institute Monday morning as part of its investigation into its Vice President Kim Yong, a close aide to Lee Jae-myung. The Democratic Party immediately criticized the move and postponed the ongoing

Main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung urged President Yoon Suk-yeol and the ruling People Power Party to accept the special prosecution of controversial property development as political tension escalates after the prosecution arrested Lee’s close aide on election violation charges. As the prosecution's investigation into the property development related to Daejang-dong spread to allegations of illegal presidential campaign funds, Lee counter-attacked by raising suspic

President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday that the spirit of freedom and solidarity pursued by the Korean government is no different from the spirit of the Olympics, adding that global challenges should be overcome with the Olympic spirit. “We will do our best to bring the spirit of freedom and solidarity into the overall sports field and do our best to contribute to the international community through sports,” Yoon said in a keynote speech at the 26th General Assembly of the Associa

President Yoon Suk-yeol expressed concerns about the service failures of the nation's most popular message app KakaoTalk in an emergency such as war, according to local media outlets Tuesday. During a meeting of the president's chief secretaries on Monday, Yoon expressed concerns, asking what would happen KakaoTalk becomes unavailable in an emergency such as war as the majority of members of the public and public organizations use the service, according to Yonhap News agency, citing a

President Yoon Suk-yeol is likely to move into the new presidential residence in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, within this month after a monthslong delay. Yoon has been commuting to work from his home in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul since his inauguration in May. An official from the presidential office said at a briefing on Monday, "We are currently conducting a final inspection of the security and safety (for the relocation)." Most of the construction at his official residence in Hann

KakaoTalk's outage over the weekend has spilled over into the political arena, with the president and political parties honing in on the nation's largest messaging app operator. On Monday, President Yoon Suk-yeol said that the state would respond to revamp the system, considering communication networks as a part of the national infrastructure. The government is also looking at whether a Kakao monopoly could distort the communication network services market. Lawmakers hurriedly promis

Bibongi, the last Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin held in captivity in South Korea, was returned to the wild after 17 years. The government said on Sunday it had released Bibongi, at 9:40 a.m. in the sea after 70 days of training. There were a total of eight in domestic aquariums in 2012, but seven returned to nature from 2013 to 2017.

Boy band BTS is set to hold a concert in Busan on Saturday night to support the city's bid to host the 2030 World Expo. The free show will be the group’s first performance in South Korea since March, when they staged the Permission to Dance on Stage shows in Seoul. It will also be the first BTS concert at a fully packed stadium, where most of the 50,000 seats will be taken by its fans, in three years. The singers are expected to perform their hit singles, such as "Butter,"

While North Korean threats intensify, concerns are growing as the nation’s grave security issues could become political strife. Although President Yoon Suk-yeol and his office did not publicly admit to reviewing the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons amid constant threats from North Korea, the information about their moves is constantly being leaked from the government and the ruling party. When asked about Yoon’s position on related reports, Yoon told reporters Thursday mo

While the prosecution is stepping up the investigation of Democratic Party leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung over his alleged involvement in Seongnam FC sponsorship, the opposition leader is facing yet another controversy over his holding defense stocks. According to local media outlets, Lee, who is also a member of the National Assembly's Defense Committee, is found to have stocks worth 231 million won ($162,000) in some defense-related companies, including Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engi

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday criticized North Korea for making nuclear threats against the world, saying there is nothing to be gained through nuclear weapons. Yoon also vowed to establish solid security cooperation with the US and Japan amid growing criticism from the opposition party. North Korea has launched ballistic missiles 23 times and cruise missiles twice this year, with 11 missile launches since Yoon took office in May. “As North Korea continues to develop and upgrade i

Korea, once touted by the government as "drug-free," is seeing a fast rise in drug offences. Experts say the government’s belated crackdown is not enough, and prevention and rehabilitation efforts are needed alongside it. A country with 20 or fewer offenders out of every 100,000 people is generally considerd a drug-free nation, although there is no international index to measure it. Based on that figure, Korea hasn't been drug-free since 2015, and the number of offenders

  President Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday he agreed with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a phone call that relations between the two nations should be restored as early as possible and agreed to firmly respond to North Korean provocations. “We agreed that if Korea-Japan relations go back to the good times as early as possible and smooth corporate and public exchanges return, it will be beneficial to the economies of both countries,” Yoon told reporters when asked about the

President Yoon Suk-yeol discussed security issues related to North Korea’s successive ballistic missile provocations in a phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida early Thursday evening. “President Yook Suk-yeol had a 25-minute phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida about the recent North Korean ballistic missile launch from 5:35 to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday,” the presidential office said in a written statement following the talks. “The two leade