With one key player after another suffering injury and illness, South Korea's trip to Austria for men's football friendly matches seemed doomed before it began. The team's worst nightmares materialized in the form of a coronavirus outbreak, with six players and two staffers testing positive over the weekend. Those infections left an already banged-up team decimated. Considering the circumstances, head coach Paulo Bento did an admirable job guiding South Korea to a win and a loss in two matche

WASHINGTON -- South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook and acting US Defense Secretary Christopher Miller spoke by phone and reaffirmed their commitment to the alliance between the two countries, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Miller also reaffirmed the US commitment to South Korea's defense in his first phone call with Suh since taking office earlier this month after President Donald Trump fired Miller's predecessor, Mark Esper, just a few months before leaving office. "On November 17, Acting

K-pop superstar BTS has unveiled a teaser music video for "Life Goes On," the lead track of its much-anticipated album "BE." The 26-second video, uploaded on its management agency's social media accounts on Wednesday, shows the septet smiling and contemplating in front of a camp fire. It then rotates to a scene where the septet is comfortably sitting around in pajamas. Like the band had hinted about its behind-the-scene production roles, the band's youngest member Jungkook

WASHINGTON -- The United States has successfully intercepted and destroyed a mock intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in its latest test of a sea-based missile defense system, the Defense Department said Tuesday. The field test involved a threat-representative ICBM, launched from a US missile test site in the Marshall Islands early Tuesday morning (Washington time). A Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA missile launched from a US destroyer out in the sea intercepted and destroyed the tar

President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday congratulated four Korean-Americans on their recent election to the US House of Representatives. "Delighted and thrilled! Together with the Korean people, I extend my congratulations to newly elected Congresswomen Young Kim, Michelle Park Steel, and Marilyn Strickland, and Congressman Andy Kim who won a second term," Moon tweeted. "They have friendly Korean names – Young-oak, Eunjoo, and Sun-ja," Moon said, adding "Today, your f

Hanjin KAL, the parent company of Korean Air Lines, on Tuesday signed an agreement with Asiana Airlines Inc.'s main creditor Korea Development Bank for its acquisition of the smaller carrier. The investment agreement calls for the KDB to inject 800 billion won ($723 million) into Hanjin KAL through a rights offering and convertible bonds. Under the deal, Hanjin KAL is required to select three of its outside directors and members of an inspection committee, which will all be designated by the

More than 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been offered to South Korea for purchase, the health minister said Tuesday. "The combined amount (of vaccines) offered by (vaccine) companies to us surpasses 30 million doses," Health Minister Park Neunghoo said in a parliamentary session. He was responding to Rep. Kim Mi-ae of the main opposition People Power Party who called on the minister to hasten the purchase of coronavirus vaccines. "In contact with individual companie

Ethnic Koreans of foreign nationality stranded in South Korea due to the protracted outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic will be allowed to extend their stay here more conveniently, the Ministry of Justice said Tuesday. According to the Korea Immigration Service under the ministry, only one member of an ethnic Korean family can now leave the country and visit their home country as a representative before applying for visa extension for the rest of his or her family members. Previously, all fam

The South Korean economy is maintaining its recovery momentum amid the fallout of the new coronavirus outbreak, the country's chief economic policymaker said Tuesday. During a conference call with global credit appraiser Standard & Poor's (S&P) earlier in the day, Hong discussed the country's overall economic situation and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Every year, delegations from key global credit rating agencies visit South Kor

The latest album by K-pop boy band Tomorrow X Together (TXT) ranked 26th on Billboard's main album chart this week. Released on Oct. 26, five-track EP "Minisode1: Blue Hour" debuted at No. 26 on the latest Billboard 200 chart, the US music tracker said in a Twitter post on Tuesday. The chart will be refreshed later in the day. This is the first time that the boy band entered the top 100 on Billboard 200. Its debut album, "The Dream Chapter: Star," released in March last yea

A former Navy officer was sentenced to a year and a half in prison on Tuesday for leaking confidential information related to a project to build a next-generation destroyer, the defense ministry said. A general military court under the ministry said the former officer is guilty of leaking to defense company officials classified information related to the Korea Destroyer Next Generation (KDDX) project to build a 6,000 ton-class Aegis destroyer while in active service, according to the ministry.

North Koreans left every other seat empty at theaters this week in an apparent social distancing measure against the coronavirus pandemic, according to state media photos. Photos released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Tuesday showed several performances in Pyongyang marking Mother's Day on Nov. 16, with empty seats in between audience members as part of social distancing measures. A performance at the Pyongyang Circus Theatre showed every other seat empty at the center of the the

President Moon Jae-in will participate in back-to-back major multilateral summits to be held via video links this week, Cheong Wa Dae announced Tuesday. He is scheduled to attend an annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting on Friday, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok. In the session, the president plans to share South Korea's experience in the fight against COVID-19 and introduce its related contributions to the international community, such as the provision of

South Korea has called for countries to actively share information about policies on allowing the entry of essential travelers from overseas as part of efforts to facilitate trade and investment amid the pandemic, officials said Tuesday. Seoul made the proposal during a ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) held virtually on Monday (Seoul time) and attended by senior government officials of 21 member countries, the foreign ministry said. The meeting came ahead o

South Korean shares snapped their two-day gains Tuesday after hitting a nearly three-year high the previous session, as valuation pressure offset optimism over Moderna's experimental COVID-19 vaccine. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 3.88 points, or 0.15 percent, to close at 2,539.15. Trading volume was high at about 1.2 billion shares worth around 17.5 trillion won ($15.8 billion), with losers outnumb

Fitch Ratings said Tuesday that it holds a negative outlook on two South Korean carmakers -- Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. -- due to uncertainties over the COVID-19 pandemic and hefty quality-related expenses. Fitch holds the BBB+ rating for the two Korean carmakers with negative outlook despite their "resilient performance" since the start of the pandemic this year. Hyundai and Kia's operations and profitability have been resilient so far, and Fitch expects

People in South Korea are violating mask-wearing rules more than any other regulations in place against COVID-19, government data showed Tuesday. Restaurants are where such breaches of antivirus restrictions occur most frequently, followed by indoor gyms and religious facilities, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The ministry said it has received a total of 25,392 reports via its system responding to public petitions in connection with the violations, and 20,151 cases were

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Lee Seong-yong will visit Hawaii this week for talks on alliance issues with US military leaders in charge of space and air operations, his office said Tuesday. Lee will depart South Korea on Wednesday for a five-day trip at the request of US chief of space operations, Gen. John Raymond, to take part in the Chief of Space Operations and Air Chiefs Visit event hosted by the US military, according to the Air Force. During his stay, Lee will hold his first bilateral

North Korea's official newspaper on Tuesday demanded Tokyo apologize for its colonial-era atrocities and compensate victims, as it marked the 115th anniversary of the signing of a treaty that led to Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The treaty, which was signed on Nov. 17, 1905, deprived the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) of its diplomatic sovereignty and made the country a protectorate of imperial Japan. Japan has been criticized for various atrocities during the period, incl

Nearly half of the population in South Korea's farming areas was aged 65 and older last year as younger people flocked to cities for education and jobs, data showed Tuesday. The portion of those aged 65 and above accounted for 46.6 percent of the total population residing in rural areas last year, sharply up from 4.9 percent in 1970, according to Statistics Korea. The number of people engaged in the farming industry came to 2.25 million in 2019, down 84.4 percent from 14.42 million in 1970. S