WASHINGTON -- The United States supports the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games, but only "very limited" categories of Americans, including athletes, will travel to the host nation, a White House spokeswoman said Tuesday. Jen Psaki also said US athletes and other visitors will follow a very strict set of safety protocols while taking part in the quadrennial sporting event that has already been delayed by a year. "Our position has not changed on the Olympics. We respected the decision

South Korea announced Wednesday that people who have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be required to wear masks outdoors starting in July, as part of incentives for those participating in the public vaccine campaign. The incentive program announced at a daily interagency coronavirus response meeting also included a plan to lift the gathering ban for direct family members who have had their first vaccine dose. South Korea launched its two-dose vaccination regimen campa

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases sharply bounced back to a nearly two-week high Wednesday as sporadic cluster infections, along with more transmissible variant cases, continued to pop up across the country. The health authorities said those who are vaccinated will be partly exempted from wearing masks and other virus restrictions in an effort to encourage more people to get COVID-19 jabs. The country reported 707 more COVID-19 cases, including 684 local infections, raising the total c

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday, helped by expectations of a fast economic recovery from the pandemic. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 6.76 points, or 0.21 percent, to 3,178.08 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks advanced despite the overnight losses on Wall Street, as local economists increasingly speculate that the central bank may raise its 2021 growth forecast to some 4 percent this week. A strong 41.1 percent jump in April exports

South Korea plans to invest about 73 trillion won ($65.4 billion) in its signature green energy projects by 2025 as it seeks to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the finance minister said Tuesday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the country is working to attain the goal of going carbon neutral in a bid to transform the country‘s fossil-fuel reliant economy into an eco-friendly one. “We plan to invest 3.8 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025 in Green New Deal proj

South Korean stocks ended their three-day losing streak Tuesday, following the US Federal Reserve's comments that helped ease concerns of early post-pandemic inflation. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 27.02 points, or 0.86 percent, to close at 3,171.32 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 603 billion shares worth some 11.5 trillion won ($10.2 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 618 to 224. Foreigners bought

South Korea plans to provide tax incentives and financial support to makers of automotive chip parts and other key parts and materials, the finance minister said Tuesday. Hong Nam-ki said the country plans to offer support to corporate projects to develop eight key parts and materials, including automotive chip parts and rare-earth permanent magnets used for electric vehicles. Hong said at a meeting on the parts and material industries that the move will help attract private investments worth

North Korea's official newspaper on Tuesday called for all-out efforts to promptly finish planting rice within the optimal period at all costs amid concerns unexpected rainfall could hamper rice planting. Ri Jae-hyon, department director at the North's agriculture ministry, made the appeal in a contributory piece carried by the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the North's ruling Workers' Party. "Rice planting may not go as planned due to unfavorable farming conditions," Ri said, urging of

A total of 52 South Koreans who arrived from India this month on special flights have tested positive for the new coronavirus, health authorities said Tuesday. Of 1,718 people who returned home from the pandemic-ravaged country, 3 percent were confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). South Korea has airlifted its nationals from India 10 times via special flights since May 4 after the South Asian country became a virus h

South Korea has refrained from specific comments about China's internal affairs and that stance was reflected in last week's joint summit statement with the United States, Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said Tuesday. Chung made the remarks during a briefing on the outcome of the summit between President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden in response to a question why their joint statement, which calls for improvement in North Korea's human rights situation, made no mention of human rights

South Korea on Tuesday confirmed three more cases of so-called breakthrough COVID-19 infections, bringing the total caseload here to four. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the four people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus even after receiving two doses of a vaccine.   A "breakthrough case" is when a person tests positive form COVID-19 between their first and second doses of a two-dose regimen or a person tests positive after full vac

South Korea's ICT ministry on Tuesday said it has approved LG Uplus Corp.'s plan to phase out its 2G services by the end of June, which will mark the complete termination of the country's old telecommunications network. LG Uplus, the country's third-largest mobile carrier, will begin closing its 2G network here on June 11 following the ministry's approval. SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest wireless provider, ended its 2G services in July last year, while rival KT Corp. shut down 2G operat

South Korea has reported no additional highly pathogenic bird flu cases for nearly two months, the environment ministry said Tuesday, indicating the latest wave of the animal disease has virtually come to an end. No additional cases of the H5N8 strain of bird flu have been reported among wild birds since April 1, according to the Ministry of Environment. There have been no new cases traced to poultry farms since April 6 as well. The alert level for the animal disease was already lowered to &q

About 1 in 3 young South Koreans picked the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic as the biggest source of social anxiety last year, a poll showed Tuesday. The survey by Statistics Korea showed 32.2 percent of Koreans aged between 13 and 24 said they viewed the outbreak of the pandemic as the biggest threat to society. This marked a rise of 29.9 percentage points from 2.3 percent tallied two years earlier. Crimes ranked second with 22.6 percent, followed by unstable economic situations with 10.1 perc

South Korea's household credit grew at a slower pace in the first quarter, as banks tightened rules on loans, central bank data showed Tuesday. Household credit reached a record high of 1,765 trillion won ($1.56 trillion) as of March, up 37.6 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Household credit refers to credit purchases and loans for households that have been extended by financial institutions, including commercial lenders and mutual sav

Exports of South Korean bigger companies declined 7.3 percent last year from a year earlier amid the pandemic, led by a fall in shipments of petrochemicals, data showed Tuesday. Overseas shipments by the country's conglomerates were valued at $322.5 billion last year, compared with $347.7 billion the previous year, according to Statistics Korea and the Korea Customs Service. The decline was led by the manufacturing sector, the backbone of the country's economy, the data showed. Exports of larg

Samsung Electronics Co. maintained its status as the world's leading TV vendor with a record market share in the first quarter, a report showed Tuesday, as the tech giant posted robust growth on the back of its QLED and large TVs. Samsung represented 32.9 percent of the global TV market in terms of sales revenue in the January-March period, its largest share for a first quarter, according to data from industry researcher Omdia. Samsung was followed by its South Korean rival LG Electronics Inc.

South Korea's prime minister on Tuesday instructed the Cabinet to make thorough efforts in preparing follow-up measures to the agreement reached in last week's summit between South Korea and the United States, saying the summit produced "never-before-seen" outcomes. On Friday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his US counterpart, Joe Biden, held their first face-to-face summit in Washington and agreed on a wide range of issues, including a vision to pursue a global COVID-19 vacci

Three Marines and three Army members tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Tuesday, the latest in a series of confirmed cases at barracks across the country. The Marines from the same unit in the southeastern city of Pohang were confirmed to have been infected in tests required to exit quarantine. They have been in isolation after their base reported COVID-19 cases earlier, according to the ministry. Two soldiers and an Army officer tested positive following thei

North Korea may approach South Korea to figure out what the new US policy on Pyongyang looks like, as last week's summit between President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden did not offer any concrete specifics, a former security adviser to Moon said Tuesday. Moon Chung-in, currently the chairman of the think tank Sejong Institute, made the remarks, expressing hope that Seoul and Pyongyang can reactivate bilateral hotlines to resume cross-border communication. "It is very likely that