Five service members and a civilian worker for the military tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Wednesday. A soldier and an Air Force officer were confirmed to have been infected after coming into contact with members of their respective bases who tested positive earlier, according to the ministry. A Marine and the civilian worker tested positive following infections of their family members, the ministry said, adding that contact tracing is under way on the remai

South Korea said Wednesday it plans to raise its guard against the new coronavirus at beaches here as more people are expected to travel locally during the summer season. Starting July, the country will operate a three-level alert system -- green, yellow and red -- to warn visitors of congestion at beaches, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The system will be applied to all 277 local beaches, compared to just 50 the previous year. The information will be available on popular p

Military prosecutors sought an arrest warrant Wednesday for an Air Force noncommissioned officer on charges of sexually harassing a female colleague, the defense ministry said, amid mounting criticism that the military's mishandling of the case led to the victim taking her own life. Investigators also took the suspect, identified as master sergeant Jang, into custody. He is suspected of sexually harassing the victim of the same rank inside a car on their way back to the base in the western city

South Korean movie theaters said Wednesday that they have started a program to give price discounts to vaccinated people for this month as part of marketing strategies to fill virus-hit empty cinemas. Under the one-month campaign starting Tuesday, those who have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccines can buy two tickets at 5,000 won ($4.50) or 6,000 won each at three major multiplex chains, CJ CGV, Lotte Cinema and Megabox. A ticket for a weekday movie screening costs around 12,000 wo

South Korean female golfers will try to crash the party at the American national championship for the third straight year this week. The US Women's Open, the second major tournament of the LPGA season, will tee off in San Francisco on Thursday, with 20 South Koreans in action. The country has produced the past two champions and three of the last four: Park Sung-hyun (2017), Lee Jeong-eun (2019) and Kim A-lim (2020). The Lake Course at the Olympic Club, the par-71 layout at 6,547 yards, will p

The Supreme Court said Wednesday it has confirmed the not-guilty verdict for South Korean-born short track speed skater Lim Hyo-jun in a sexual harassment case. The top court has upheld the appellate court's decision to acquit Lim of sexually harassing a male teammate at South Korea's national skating team in June 2019. The 2018 Olympic gold medalist was accused of pulling down his male teammate's pants and exposing a body part, with female skaters present, during practice at a national train

Financially troubled SsangYong Motor Co. has offered unpaid leave and a wage cut to its employees in its efforts to stay afloat, industry sources said Wednesday. SsangYong Motor, under court receivership, offered a two-year unpaid leave to half of its 4,732 employees, while demanding them to accept an extension of lower wages and suspended welfare benefits until June 2023, a person familiar with the matter told Yonhap News Agency over the phone. The company also offered an additional 20 percen

KT Corp., a South Korean telecom giant, said Wednesday it has teamed up with local virtual reality (VR) content and visual effects companies to develop "metaverse" services in a move to boost its efforts in virtual platforms. The metaverse refers to virtual environments, in which users interact with one another often through virtual or augmented reality technology, and is found in the form of online games or social networking services. KT said in a statement it has formed the "M

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases bounced back to over 600 for the first time in six days Wednesday due to continued cluster infections, while health authorities are ramping up efforts to speed up the nationwide vaccination campaign to slow down the spread of the virus. The country reported 677 more COVID-19 cases, including 654 local infections, raising the total caseload to 141,476, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily caseload stayed in the 400s for

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday as strong economic data fueled expectations of an increase in corporate earnings and quick economic rebound from the pandemic. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 6.23 points, or 0.19 percent, to 3,228.1 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks were lifted by the announcement that South Korea's consumer price index rose 2.6 percent on-year in May, marking the fastest on-year increase since April 2012. Top cap Samsun

President Moon Jae-in talked about whether to grant Lee Jae-yong, the de-facto head of Samsung Group, a special pardon, during a meeting with a group of business leaders, Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday. Moon had a luncheon meeting with the leaders of South Korea's four major conglomerates -- SK, Hyundai, LG and Samsung -- at Cheong Wa Dae earlier in the day. The attendees were SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun and LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo. Samsung E

Former US Forces Korea Commander (USFK) Vincent Brooks has not been given any offer from the administration of US President Joe Biden to serve as the new ambassador to South Korea, an aide said Wednesday. A local TV station reported earlier this week that Brooks is likely to be nominated for ambassador to South Korea. The post has been vacant since former Ambassador Harry Harris left it in January following Biden's inauguration. "General Brooks has not been contacted by anyone from the U

Transactions among affiliates of South Korea's major family-controlled conglomerates fell nearly 9 percent in 2020 from a year ago due to tough regulations, data showed Wednesday. The value of in-house transactions by 2,197 units of 54 business groups came to 158.9 trillion won ($143 billion) last year, down 8.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by corporate tracker CEO Score. Internal transactions accounted for 11.7 percent of their total sales in 2020, down from 12.5 percent

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on NATO members to deepen their cooperation with South Korea, the State Department said Tuesday, amid US efforts to enhance cooperation between US allies. "Secretary Blinken underscored the importance of Alliance partnerships, including NATO-EU cooperation, and encouraged NATO to deepen its cooperation with Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea," the department said, referring to South Korea by its official name. Blin

WASHINGTON -- The United States' commitment to the defense of South Korea remains unaffected following the lifting of decades-old guidelines on South Korean missiles, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday. John Kirby also said the removal of the missile guidelines will not lead to any change to the South Korea-US alliance. "Nothing about this changes the alliance between South Korea and the United States or our commitments to that alliance, which...is a defensive alliance," the departmen

Global monitor panel shipments declined in the first quarter of the year, a report showed Wednesday, mainly due to Samsung Display Co.'s exit from the monitor LCD display manufacturing business and a shortage of semiconductors. The worldwide monitor panel shipments fell 8.6 percent on-quarter to 39.9 million units in the January-March period, according to the latest report from market researcher TrendForce. "TrendForce indicates that SDC will exit the monitor LCD panel manufacturing busin

South Korean investors' purchase of shares in electric vehicle leader Tesla Inc. hit a one-year low in May amid a drop in its price, data showed Wednesday. Domestic investors bought a net $80.8 million worth of Tesla shares in May, the lowest amount in one year, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository. It was down 45 percent from the previous month and less than one-tenth of the $939 million in January, when Tesla's share price hit an all-time high. The May tally also repre

South Korea's consumer prices grew at the fastest pace in more than nine years in May on higher prices of farm and oil products, data showed Wednesday, underscoring that inflationary pressure is building up amid an economic recovery from the pandemic-caused slump. The consumer price index rose 2.6 percent on-year in May, faster than a 2.3 percent on-year gain the previous month, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the fastest on-year increase since April 2012, when th

The defense ministry said Tuesday it will directly investigate the death of an Air Force officer who died of apparent suicide, allegedly after suffering harassment by a colleague, amid criticism the military failed to properly respond to the victim's call for support. In March, the female master sergeant stationed in the western city of Seosan was sexually harassed by the man surnamed Jang inside a car on their way back to the base after a private gathering that she was forced to attend, accor

President Moon Jae-in called Tuesday for new Prosecutor-General Kim Oh-soo to play a role in his administration's tumultuous drive to reform the state prosecution service. Presenting Kim with a letter of appointment during a Cheong Wa Dae ceremony, Moon said he expects him to "play a great role in transforming the prosecution to become a fair organization that meets the people's expectations," according to presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. Kim, a veteran prosecutor, served as