프랑스 파리 개선문에서 27일(현지시간) 오후 폭발물로 의심되는 상자가 발견돼 2시간 넘게 인근을 통제하는 소동이 벌어졌다. 경찰은 이날 오후 3시부터 개선문 안에 있는 사람들을 모두 대피시키고 수상한 상자를 제거하는 작업을 벌였다고 일간 리베라시옹, BFM 방송 등이 보도했다. 그사이 파리 교통 중심지인 개선문을 지나가는 차량과 지하철은 모두 운행을 중단했다가 오후 5시 30분부터 통행을 재개했다. 상자의 실체가 무엇이었는지 관계 당국이 공식적으로 확인하지 않았으나 현지 언론들은 소식통을 인용해 폭발물이 아니었다고 전했다. 비슷한 시각 에펠탑 앞 마르스 공원에서는 탄약으로 가득 찬 가방이 발견돼 경찰이 오후 3시 45분부터 에펠탑 인근을 통제하다가 오후 6시 해제했다. 행인이 발견에 경찰에 신고한 가방에는 구경이 서로 다른 탄약이 여러 발 담겨있었다. RTL 라디오는 개선문에서 발견된 상자와 에펠탑에서 발견된 탄약 사이에는 아무런 연관이 없는 것으로 확인됐다고 전했다.

WASHINGTON -- South Korea's participation in a NATO-like multilateral military alliance in the Indo-Pacific may destabilize, rather than promote security, in the region as China will treat Seoul as an enemy, a special adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday. The adviser, Moon Chung-in, also insisted the US' drive to form a regional coalition against China may prompt a counter-reaction from Beijing to form an alliance with Russia and North Korea. "The United States is ou

Samsung Group chief Lee Kun-hee, one of most influential businessmen in South Korea's post-war era, was laid to rest in a funeral Wednesday as his family, friends and associates mourned his death. Lee, who built the country's largest conglomerate, died Sunday at age 78, more than six years after being hospitalized for a heart attack. The send-off ceremony for Lee was held in a private manner at a funeral hall at Samsung Medical Center in southern Seoul around 7:30 a.m., with his wife, Hong Ra-

DAEJEON -- A professional football player in the central city of Daejeon has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, becoming the first athlete from his sport to be infected during the pandemic. According to the municipal authorities in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of Seoul, late Tuesday, a member of Daejeon Hana Citizen in the second-tier K League 2 has tested positive for COVID-19. The player, whose identity is being withheld, had come in direct contact with another patient based in Hana

South Korean shares opened lower Wednesday as new coronavirus outbreaks in major economies increased at alarming rates, raising concerns that the worsening pandemic may deliver heavy damage to the global economy. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 4.47 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,326.37 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Investor sentiment grew risk-averse, as US COVID-19 hospitalization soared in the past week, with parts of Europe pushing or having adopted stric

WASHINGTON -- Former US President Barack Obama criticized President Donald Trump Tuesday for coddling dictators, including North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and giving them everything they want. "You think he is going to stand up to dictators?" the former president asked while speaking in support of his former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden. Obama's remarks came one day after Trump said Kim, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President

Popular clubs in Seoul's hip districts of Itaewon, Hongdae and Gangnam will close this Halloween weekend to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. According to customer notices seen Wednesday, these large-capacity clubs will close the same day until next Tuesday. "Following consultations with health authorities and local governments, we came to our own decision to close temporarily during the Halloween period as a precaution against COVID-19," one such notice read. Health authoritie

South Korean companies' bond sales rose 12.9 percent in September from a month earlier and their share offerings jumped 49.1 percent, data showed Wednesday. Local businesses raised 16.47 trillion won ($14.6 billion) by selling bonds in September, up 1.88 trillion won from August, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Increased sales of debt by financial and nonfinancial companies led the overall rise, offsetting a fall of 409.3 billion won in the issuance of asset

South Korea's consumer sentiment rose by the most in nearly 12 years in October as the economic outlook improved amid relaxed social distancing measures, central bank data showed Wednesday. The composite consumer sentiment index (CCSI) came in at 91.6 for October, up 12.2 points from 79.4 recorded for September, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marks the largest on-month increase since April 2009 when the index rose by 20.2 points. It also marks the highest mark since Februar

South Korea's National Pension Service decided Tuesday to oppose LG Chem Ltd.'s plan to spin off its battery business at a shareholders' meeting later this week. In September, LG Chem, the country's leading chemical company, announced a plan to separate the battery business to better cope with growing demand for electric vehicle batteries. The company plans to hold a shareholders' meeting for approval on Friday. The state pension fund, the second-largest shareholder of LG Chem with a 10.2 pe

A sitting prosecutor was indicted Tuesday on charges of assaulting a suspect accused of being involved in an alleged blackmail case during a raid on his office. The Seoul High Prosecutors Office charged prosecutor Jeong Jin-woong with assaulting another prosecutor, Han Dong-hoon, while exercising a search warrant against Han in July. Han was accused of colluding with a former reporter at local cable television network Channel A to blackmail a jailed businessman to dig up dirt on a pro-governm

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's public activities have increased sharply since July, suggesting that he has better control in containing the coronavirus, a researcher at a state-run think tank said Tuesday. Koh Jae-hong, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), said in a report that Kim's face-to-face activities dropped sharply in the first half of the year and were limited to the Pyongyang area or meeting only a few specific officials. But such face-to-face meeti

A former prosecutor, who was sentenced by a Seoul district court to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, after being convicted of repeated drunk driving, drew the same sentence from an appeals court Tuesday. The former prosecutor of the Seoul High Prosecutors Office, identified only as Kim, was indicted in March 2019 for scratching another car while parking his car under the influence of alcohol at his apartment complex in southern Seoul two months earlier. Kim ignored protests from t

South Korea's drug safety agency said Tuesday that it is reviewing whether to grant fast-track approval of a vaccine candidate developed by British-Swedish bio giant AstraZeneca Plc. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it has formed a team of officials dedicated to evaluating whether to give the green light to the vaccine candidate. Pharmaceutical companies from both home and abroad have joined the global race to develop vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 virus, with 27 of them having

South Korean shares closed lower Tuesday, falling for the second straight session, amid concerns of a global resurgence in COVID-19 cases and growing uncertainties over the US presidential election. The Korean won continued to rise against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 13.07 points, or 0.56 percent, to close at 2,330.84. Trading volume was moderate at 643.2 million shares worth 9.9 trillion won ($8.8 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 555

Samsung Group on Tuesday was preparing for the send-off ceremony for its late chief Lee Kun-hee as more leaders from business and political communities mourned the death of one of South Korea's most influential tycoons. Lee died Sunday at age 78, more than six years after being hospitalized for a heart attack. The funeral ceremony for Lee, scheduled for Wednesday, is expected to start with eulogies featuring his decadeslong commitment to the country's top conglomerate and his achievements, tho

It depends on what you define K-pop as, but the Refund Sisters are probably not your typical K-pop stars. Brimming with confidence and bad girl vibes, nothing seems to daunt the group's four divas -- soloists Uhm Jung-hwa and Lee Hyori, rapper Jessi and Hwasa of girl group MAMAMOO -- who seem to get along pretty well despite their age gap and different backgrounds. In fact, the moniker Refund Sisters, otherwise known as Refund Expedition in Korean, comes from their strong girl demeanor that no

President Moon Jae-in had phone talks with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday mainly as part of efforts to broaden international support for South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee's candidacy to lead the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the conversation that lasted around 25 minutes, Moon and Trudeau exchanged opinions on issues of mutual concern, which include the WTO chief race, cooperation in the response to the new coronavirus and partnerships on the global stage, accord

Public interest members of a presidential panel on social dialogue on Tuesday issued written advice calling for increasing quotas at local medical schools starting in 2022. In the controversial recommendation, Seoul National University professor Kim Yoon and five other public interest members of the Economic, Social & Labor Council's health care committee said that expansion of medical school quotas is inevitable to raise the number of doctors in South Korea to the average of member countri

South Korea will launch an ecological survey on its side of the Han River's estuary along the inter-Korean border early next month as part of efforts to implement an agreement with North Korea to jointly use the now-restricted waterway, an official said Tuesday. Under a military agreement signed at a 2018 summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the two sides agreed on the joint use of the Han River estuary along their western border and conducted joint waterway