North Korea sent more balloons likely carrying trash toward South Korea on Saturday, the South's military said, just three days after it floated similar balloons southward. In a message sent to reporters at 10:26 p.m., the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the North's balloons could travel to Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul, warning the public of falling objects and asking people to report balloons to the military or police. On Wednesday, North Korea sent around 20 balloons likely carrying

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Sunday that addressing the issue of family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War is "the most pressing task." Yoon made the remark in a speech read on his behalf by Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho at a ceremony marking the second Separated Families Day. "The issue of separated families is the most pressing task we must resolve," Yoon said, noting that around 3,000 of the 130,000 applicants for government-arranged reunions die every year wit

A heat wave watch was issued for all parts of Seoul on Sunday, the first time it was issued this late in the year, according to the weather authorities. A heat wave watch is issued when the highest sensible temperature is expected to reach 33 C or higher for two or more consecutive days or when major damage is anticipated from the heat. Other parts of the country, meanwhile, including Gongju and Cheongyang in South Chungcheong Province, and Yongin and Anseong in Gyeonggi Province, were issued he

Nearly 2,000 separated family members in South Korea died in the first eight months of this year without having an opportunity to reunite with their loved ones in North Korea after being separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, government data showed Sunday. A total of 1,961 applicants for government-arranged reunions for separated families died in the January-August period, raising the total number of such people to 96,352, according to the data from the unification ministry. As of end-August, arou

Naver Corp.'s mobile map application has begun providing real-time service on natural disaster information starting this week, the company said Sunday. Naver Map now provides information about earthquakes, typhoons, heavy snow and rain downpours affecting South Korea on its app based on sources from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and other weather authorities, according to the company. In detail, users can check information about earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.5 or higher

Only about 12 percent of food imports determined to be unsafe have actually been taken off the market, a lawmaker said Sunday, citing related government data. According to the data from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, an average of 12.5 percent of 141 import food items that had been ordered to be recalled since 2022 have actually been removed from the local market. Rep. Seo Mi-hwa of the main opposition Democratic Party said some of the recalled food items had a collection rate of over 80

South Korean high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok has finished third in the Diamond League Final, coming up short in his title defense at the prestigious athletics competition in Belgium. Woo ranked third among six high jumpers after clearing 2.25 meters at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on Saturday (local time). Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy won the title at 2.34m, followed by Oleh Doroshchuk of Ukraine at 2.31m. The Diamond League Final is an exclusive-field event, open only to the best-performing athle

Homebound traffic on expressways is expected to be heaviest Sunday, the second day of the extended Chuseok holiday, according to the expressway operator. As of 9 a.m., travel time from Seoul to the southeastern city of Busan is estimated at 7 hours and 30 minutes, 7 hours to the southeastern city of Ulsan, 6 hours and 40 minutes to the southwestern city of Mokpo, and 6 hours and 30 minutes to the southeastern city of Daegu, according to the Korea Expressway Corp. Travel times to Seoul are estima

Traffic was backing up heavily on many expressways across the country Saturday and is expected to ease at around 8 p.m., on the first day of the Chuseok holiday. Chuseok, which falls on Tuesday this year, is the Korean autumn harvest celebration during which people head to their hometowns to get together with family members and relatives and visit their ancestors' graves. The Chuseok break runs for five days from Saturday to Wednesday. According to the Korea Expressway Corp., major highways

The beleaguered national governing body of badminton has pushed back against the embezzlement allegations recently raised by the sports ministry, threatening to take legal action in response. The Badminton Korea Association released a statement late Friday, three days after the ministry of culture, sports and tourism announced interim results of its probe into the badminton body's administration. The ministry launched the investigation last month after An Se-young, the women's single

The number of emergency patient transports to hospitals that took more than an hour increased by 22 percent this year compared with the previous year, a National Fire Agency report showed Saturday, amid the protracted doctor walkout. According to the report submitted to Rep. Chai Hyun-il of the main opposition Democratic Party, the number of such cases from March to August came to 13,940 this year, up 22 percent from 11,426 cases tallied during the same period last year. In Seoul, 1,166 cases

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday he will be able to solve "most of the problems" related to North Korea and Iran through "phone calls" and possibly in-person talks, as he commented on Pyongyang's rare disclosure of a nuclear facility and Tehran's supply of missiles to Russia. Trump highlighted his foreign policy chops during a press conference as various polls have shown the former president and his Democratic rival, Kamala

WASHINGTON -- The "only viable path" toward lasting peace is through the "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a State Department spokesperson said Friday, after North Korea made a rare disclosure of a uranium enrichment facility this week. The spokesperson made the remarks, renewing calls for Pyongyang to return to "constructive" dialogue and reaffirming America's "ironclad" security commitment to South Korea and Japan. The North'

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has met with the head of Russia's Security Council in Pyongyang and vowed to deepen the bilateral ties between the two countries, state media said Saturday. The meeting came on the anniversary of a rare summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin last year at the Vostochny Cosmodrome space center in Russia's Amur region, during which Kim pledged his "full support" for Moscow. During their talks Friday, Kim and Sergei Shoigu, secreta

South Korea's central bank is likely to cut its policy rate in November, rather than in October, as it wants to be confident of a slowdown in household debt increase amid moderating inflation, analysts have said. The Bank of Korea has only two rounds of its monetary decision meetings left this year in October and November. Last month, the BOK kept interest rates unchanged at 3.5 percent, the highest level in about 16 years, for the 13th straight time. The central bank delivered seven cons

The United States on Friday highlighted it has "devoted" more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets for security on the Korean Peninsula, after North Korea made a rare disclosure of a uranium enrichment facility this week. White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby commented on the North's nuclear facility, saying that the US continues to monitor developments in the recalcitrant regime's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The North&#

Suwon FC announced Friday they have terminated their contract with Son Jun-ho, three days after the Chinese Football Association slapped the midfielder with a lifetime ban for match fixing. The CFA banned Son for participating in illegal transactions and manipulating matches while playing for Shandong Taishan FC in the top Chinese league from 2021 to 2023. Son was detained by the Chinese police in May 2023 over bribery allegations and was released in March this year. In a teary press conferenc

Doctors and medical professors announced a decision Friday not to join a consultative body proposed by the government and the ruling party to resolve the monthslong medical standoff, saying that it is "premature" to do so unless the government changes its course. Earlier this month, the government and the ruling People Power Party proposed the establishment of a joint consultative body involving rival parties and the medical community to discuss the government's medical reform plan tha

President Yoon Suk Yeol visited hospitals in Seoul on Friday to encourage medical staff and reaffirm the government's commitment to carry out health care reform measures to enhance essential medical services. The visit to two public emergency hospitals, the Seoul Medical Center and National Medical Center, came a day before the five-day Chuseok holiday to address concerns about potential disruptions in medical services amid a prolonged walkout by trainee doctors. It marks his second hospita

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating fell to 20 percent, marking its lowest level since he took office in May 2022, a poll showed Friday. The survey, conducted by the polling agency Gallup Korea, showed that the positive assessment of Yoon's performance plunged 3 percentage points from the previous week, while his negative assessment reached an all-time high of 70 percent, up 3 percent from a week earlier. Yoon's handling of medical school quotas, the economy, and lack of com