President Moon Jae-in's approval rating dropped to its lowest in nine weeks, a poll showed Monday, as his administration struggles to calm public outcry over alleged speculative land purchases by officials at the state-owned housing supply enterprise. Public support for the ruling Democratic Party (DP) also dipped, while that for the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) ascended, with less than a month left before the all-important Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections, according to Realmete

성폭력 가해 의혹에 휩싸인 앤드루 쿠오모 미국 뉴욕주지사가 전 배우자를 학대했다는 의혹도 나왔다. 쿠오모 주지사를 수년간 취재하고 그의 전기까지 쓴 기자 겸 작가 마이클 슈나이어슨은 12일(현지시간) 연예전문지 배너티페어 기고문에서 쿠오모 주지사가 전 배우자 케리 케네디를 학대했다고 주장했다. 로버트 케네디 전 법무장관 딸이며 존 F. 케네디 전 대통령 조카인 케리는 인권 변호사로도 유명하다. 그는 케리와 가까운 지인을 인용해 케리가 2002년 9월 쿠오모 주지사에게 이혼을 요구한 직후 학대를 피해 한 차례 이상 화장실에서 문을 잠그고 잠을 자야 했다고 전했다. 당시 케리는 친구에게 "남편에게 학대받는 여성을 위한 인권활동가인 내가 현재 그러한 학대를 견디고 있다"라고 말한 것으로 전해졌다. 케리는 1990년 쿠오모 주지사와 결혼했고, 당시 이혼을 요구한 이유는 쿠오모 주지사가 '아버지로서 평범한 역할'을 하지 못했기 때문으로 알려졌다. 슈나이어슨은 쿠오

Tottenham Hotspur didn't just lose to Arsenal in their latest North London derby; they also lost South Korean star Son Heung-min to a hamstring injury. Son pulled up clutching his left hamstring in the 19th minute of a 2-1 loss to Arsenal at Emirates Stadium in London on Sunday (local time). The match was scoreless as Son walked off the pitch, and Tottenham failed to stay in front after Erik Lamela put them on the board in the 33rd minute. Arsenal tied things up late in the first half, and Alex

WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to embark on a trip to Asia on Sunday to discuss major challenges in the region, including China and North Korea, with two key US allies there -- Japan and South Korea. The top US diplomat will first visit Tokyo where he will be joined by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for a Two-Plus-Two meeting with their Japanese counterparts. Austin left Saturday for a stop in Hawaii before his trip to Japan. Both Blinken and Austin will v

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., a major builder in South Korea, said Sunday it has secured an order worth 158.2 billion won (US$139 million) in Peru for a site preparation of the country's new airport.  Hyundai E&C said it beat rivals from Spain, Portugal and China to win the land preparation work for the Chinchero International Airport in Cusco, Peru, after forming a joint venture with local builder HV Constratistas. The Peruvian government hopes the Chinchero Internati

Yangyang, a Gangwon Province county on the east coast, has emerged as one of the nation's hottest travel destinations, as it registered the highest rate of growth in visitor numbers among all local governments nationwide last year, the county office said Sunday. The county office, citing data from the Korea Tourism Organization, said the number of outsiders who visited Yangyang last year totaled 15,226,306 people, marking a rise of 9.8 percent, or 1.37 million, from 13,857,308 in 2019. Yangyan

South Korea's information security market grew to hit nearly 12 trillion won ($10.6 billion) last year on the back of increasing demand for online services amid the pandemic, the ICT ministry said Sunday. Total sales of the industry, which includes digital and physical security sectors, reached 11.9 trillion won in 2020, up 6.4 percent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT, citing a report from the Korea Information Security Industry Association. The ministry sai

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Sunday it has decided to fine a super supermarket (SSM) unit of Emart Inc., the country's biggest discount store chain, 582 million won ($515,000) over unfair business practices. Emart Everyday Inc. unfairly returned unsold seasonal products, such as sunscreen and ice boxes, to suppliers after it bought them between January 2015 and May 2018, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). The company shifted inventory costs of unsold goods to suppli

SK global chemical Co., an affiliate of South Korea's top refiner SK Innovation Co., said Sunday it will build a packaging material plant in China. Under the deal, SK global chemical will set up a joint venture with Satellite Petrochemical to build a plant that produces ethylene acrylic acid (EAA), a high-end eco-friendly material used for packaging. The plant, to be in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, eastern China, will be able to churn out 40,000 tons of EAA a year, according to the company

The South Korean all-female band BLACKPINK's music video "How You Like That" has garnered 800 million views on YouTube in what its agency said was reached in the shortest time for a female K-pop act. The quartet's music video of the hit song reached the milestone at 9:58 p.m. a day earlier, roughly 260 days after it was released on June 26, according to YG Entertainment. The agency said the band set the record about two months earlier than "Ddu-du Ddu-du," another of its hi

South Korea's exports to the United States have jumped a whopping 26 percent since the implementation of their bilateral trade agreement in 2012, data showed Sunday, expanding at a faster pace compared with other global counterparts. Asia's No. 4 economy's exports to the .S reached $74.1 billion in 2020, compared with $58.5 billion posted in 2012, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The two countries' free trade agreement (FTA) went into effect in 201

SEJONG -- The education ministry said Sunday that it has nearly doubled its budget for Korean language education overseas this year amid growing demand for Korean as a second language thanks to the global popularity of K-pop and other Korean cultural content. According to the education ministry's 2021 plan, the country will spend 23.6 billion won ($20.8 million) this year to help expand the opening of Korean language classes overseas. The earmarked budget nearly doubles the amount set aside

Prices of eggs in South Korea may jump by up to 68 percent in the March-May period this year, as the spreading avian influenza is expected to further exacerbate the supply shortage, a state-funded think tank said Sunday. In the three-month period, the supply price of a large-size 10-egg carton is estimated at 1,600 won ($1.41) to 1,800 won, considerably higher than the 1,069 won-1,158 won per carton a year ago, according to the forecast by the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI). As of Frida

China's imports of South Korean products last year stayed nearly the same as the previous year despite the novel coronavirus pandemic, a report showed Sunday, as the world's second-largest economy bought more consumer goods like cosmetics. China imported $173.5 billion worth of goods from South Korea in 2020, only 0.03 percent down from 2019, according to the report from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). South Korea was the third-largest exporter to China last year behind

그룹 방탄소년단(BTS)과 배우 윤여정이 같은 날 미국에서 한국 대중가수, 한국 배우 최초의 기록에 도전한다. 신종 코로나바이러스 감염증(코로나19) 여파로 일정이 연기된 미국 최고 권위의 음악 시상식 그래미 어워즈와 영화 시상식 아카데미 어워즈의 후보 발표가 오는 15일 동시에 열리게 됐기 때문이다. 미국 현지 시간은 14일 밤과 15일 오전으로 다르지만, 한국 시간으로는 15일 오전과 오후 한국 대중가수 최초의 그래미 수상과 한국 배우 최초의 아카데미 연기상 후보가 탄생할지 여부가 판가름 나는 것이다. 방탄소년단이 한국 대중가수 최초로 후보에 오른 제63회 그래미 어워즈는 한국 시간 15일 오전 9시(미국 동부시간 14일 오후 8시) 열린다. 앞서 클래식 부문에서는 소프라노 조수미와 음반 엔지니어 황병준 씨가 그래미를 수상한 이력이 있지만 대중가수가 후보에 오른 것은 방탄소년단이 처음이다. 방탄소년단의 메가 히트곡 '다이너마이트'는 최고의 팝 그룹 또는 컬래버레이션 곡들

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed above 400 for the sixth consecutive day Sunday as health authorities struggled to bring down infections amid a nationwide vaccination campaign. The country reported 459 more COVID-19 cases, including 436 local infections, raising the total caseload to 95,635, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The country added two more deaths from COVID-19, increasing the total to 1,669. One fatality came from a patient in his or her

South Korea's agicultural authorities confirmed Saturday one more case of highly pathogenic bird flu amid growing concerns over a prolonged battle against the animal disease. The latest case of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza was identified at an egg farm that raises 550,000 chickens in Chungju, 147 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.  A travel ban within a 10-kilometer radius of the farm has already been imposed. Birds and

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has asked US President Joe Biden to overturn a US trade panel's decision against SK Innovation Co. in a trade secret case over electric vehicle batteries. Kemp repeated his request to save thousands of jobs in northeast Georgia directly tied to an SK Innovation's EV battery plant in Commerce, Georgia, in a letter to Biden on Friday (US time). SK Innovation has been building a plant in the US state of Georgia, to be completed by 2022, to provide EV batteries to Ford Moto

Spring flowers of Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910) royal palaces and tombs in and around Seoul are expected to blossom in the middle of this month before reaching peak blooms in April, a government agency said Saturday. The state-run Cultural Heritage Administration Royal Palaces and Tombs Center issued its spring flowering forecast for the four main royal palaces and Jongmyo Shrine in Seoul and royal tombs around the capital, saying this year's flowering time is expected to be two to seven da

The World Health Organization said there was no reason to stop using AstraZeneca's COVID-19 jab after several countries suspended rollout over blood clot fears, while the hard-hit United States exceeded 100 million doses of vaccine administered to its people. The WHO, which said its vaccines advisory committee was examining the safety data coming in, Friday stressed that no causal link has been established between the AstraZeneca vaccine and clotting. "Yes, we should continue using the A