The number of highly pathogenic bird flu cases in South Korea is nearing 100, with the prolonged battle against the animal disease set to further push up the price of poultry products. Two new cases of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza (AI) were reported from a duck farm in Goesan, about 160 kilometers south of Seoul, and an egg farm in Hwaseong, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on Friday. On Friday, yet another suspected cas

전남 여수의 한 해안가 공사 현장에서 정체를 알 수 없는 땅굴이 발견돼 관심을 끈다. 오랫동안 일제강점기 등 여수 지역의 근현대사를 연구해온 전문가는 일제시대 항공기지 시설과 일치한다는 입장이어서 귀추가 주목된다. 18일 '역사공간 벗' 대표 연구원인 주철희 박사에 따르면 최근 여수시 신월동의 한 공사장에서 발견된 지하 구조물이 일제 강점기에 만들어진 항공기지 위치도와 일치한 것으로 확인됐다. 콘크리트로 만들어진 이 지하 구조물은 사람이 서서 걸을 수 있을 정도로 넓고 길이도 수십m에 달한 것으로 알려졌다. 구조물 안에는 모래주머니를 비롯해 정체를 알 수 없는 장비도 발견됐다. 여수시가 보유한 하수관로에도 기록이 없고, 과거 이 부지를 소유했던 공장에도 관련 기록이 없는 것으로 알려졌다. 지난 2015년 여수 지역에 남아 있는 일제 강점기 시설을 조사해 책을 펴낸 주철희 박사는 "구조물이 발견된 위치가 일본 강점기에 만든 항공기지와 정확히 맞아떨어진다"며

Gold prices in South Korea hit a 10-month low as hope of an economic recovery has made the bullion less attractive, data showed Friday. A gram of gold changed hands at 63,900 won ($57.7) on the domestic market Friday, down 0.48 percent from the previous session, according to the Korea Exchange. It marked the lowest price since April 6 last year, when the price stood at 63,780 won. The closing prices were also down 20.22 percent from an all-time high of 80,100 won per gram recorded on July 28

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell back to below 600 on Friday, while authorities are stepping up monitoring of manufacturing plants and hospitals to slow the rapid pace of virus transmission. The country reported 561 more COVID-19 cases, including 533 local infections, raising the total caseload to 86,128, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The country added six more deaths, raising the total to 1,550. Friday's caseload was down from the previous two day

South Korean stocks opened nearly flat Friday as foreign and institutional investors continued to sell over the yield hike concerns on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 0.57 point, or 0.02 percent, to 3,086.09 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Top cap Samsung Electronics slipped 0.12 percent, but No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix gained 2.78 percent. Leading chemical firm LG Chem climbed 0.32 percent, while rechargeable battery maker Samsung SDI retreated 1.6

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min has scored his 18th goal of 2020-2021 while setting a new career high in combined goals and assists for a season. Son opened the scoring for the Spurs in their 4-1 victory over the Austrian side Wolfsberger AC 4-1 in Budapest on Thursday (local time) in the first leg of the round of 32 at the UEFA Europa League. Son's header, set up by Gareth Bale, came in the 13th minute. The second leg is scheduled for next Thursday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. S

The US State Department said on Thursday that Japan's trafficking of women for sexual services during World War II was a serious violation of human rights, flatly contradicting a controversial claim by a Harvard professor that such women were rather voluntary prostitutes. "As the United States has stated many times, the trafficking of women for sexual purposes by the Japanese military during World War II was an egregious violation of human rights," a department spokesperson told Yonha

South Korea's producer prices rose 0.9 percent on month in January, supported by a modest rise in prices of farm goods and energy, central bank data showed Friday. The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, stood at 104.88 in January, compared with 103.90 a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The index gained 0.8 percent from the previous year, the BOK data showed. The prices of agricultural goods gained 7.9 percent on-month in January, compared with

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has agreed to regularly meet with his counterparts from three other countries that form a regional forum known as the Quad, the State Department said Thursday. The agreement was made in a virtual meeting that included Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Indian Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. "They reiterated their commitment to the Quad meeting at least annually at the ministerial level

  South Korea confirmed another case of highly pathogenic bird flu in poultry Thursday, bringing the total caseload to 98. The latest case of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza (AI) came from a duck farm in Goesan, some 160 kilometers south of Seoul, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said. All poultry within a 3-kilometer radius of the infected farm were culled, officials said. The authorities are investigating another suspected case in Gyeonggi Province near Seoul,

More than half of the residents of Jeju Island are opposed to a new international airport on the southern island, polls showed Thursday. However, residents of the town selected as the site of the airport were in favor of the project in separate surveys by the same pollsters. All of the surveys were conducted from Monday to Wednesday. Nine local news outlets commissioned Gallup Korea to conduct a poll on Jeju residents' view of the central government's drive to build a second international air

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said Thursday that South Korea and Japan can seek help from their shared ally, the United States, if it is needed to address their protracted historical rows. Chung made the remarks in a parliamentary session, amid worries that persistent diplomatic tensions between South Korea and Japan could hurt Seoul's efforts to deepen cooperation with the administration of US President Joe Biden, which is intent on tightening its regional alliances. "As I recently he

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung has widened his lead in a poll of potential presidential candidates released Thursday, with his closest rivals falling behind marginally compared to two weeks ago. In the survey conducted jointly by four polling agencies on 1,007 people over the age of 18 from Monday to Wednesday, 27 percent picked Gov. Lee as their favored candidate in next year's presidential election. The poll was conducted by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research International

A group of civic activists and residents lost a lawsuit against a state nuclear safety commission Thursday, in which they sought to suspend the operation of a nuclear power plant in the southeastern provincial city of Ulsan for safety reasons. The Seoul Administrative Court handed down the ruling against 723 complainants who claimed that the Shin Kori-4 plant poses dangers to the protection of people's lives and that the operator, the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Plant (KHNP), should suspend

South Korea's top security officials voiced concern Thursday about political instability in Myanmar in connection with a recent coup. They also agreed to cooperate with the international community for the "restoration of constitutional order" through a legitimate, democratic and peaceful manner in the Southeast Asian country, according to Cheong Wa Dae. It was briefing media on the results of the weekly session of the National Security Council (NSC) standing committee, presided over

South Korea said Thursday the accumulated number of eco-friendly cars running in the country will reach 7.85 million by 2030, in line with its vision to go fully carbon-neutral by 2050. The target will mark a sharp rise from 820,000 units tallied in the previous year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The emission of greenhouse gases from cars will also fall 24 percent over the period. The announcement came as a part of the five-year fourth basic plan on promoting the ec

Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea fell in January on a decline in corporate holdings of the US dollar deposits, central bank data showed Thursday. Outstanding foreign currency-denominated deposits held by residents amounted to $89.3 billion as of end-January, down $4.8 billion from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The decline came as companies repaid their US dollar-denominated debts last month, the BOK said. Residents include local citiz

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Thursday that the value of corporate mergers and acquisitions declined 53.1 percent on-year last year due largely to a lack of mega deals. Corporate deals were valued at 210.2 trillion won ($190 billion) last year, compared with 448.4 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). But the total number of corporate mergers and takeovers rose 12.9 percent on-year to 865 last year, it added. Under the country's fair trade

South Korean households' income earned through wages and business operations fell for the third straight quarter in the fourth quarter of last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Thursday. The average household earned 5.16 million won ($4,670) per month in the October-December period, up 1.8 percent from the previous year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. But household income earned through wages and business operations declined for the third consecutive quarter

Jang Hye-young, a novice female lawmaker with the progressive minor Justice Party, has been listed among the Time magazine's "100 Next" emerging leaders for 2021. The 34-year-old lawmaker made the annual Time list in the advocates category, out of the total five categories that also include artists and leaders. She was the only South Korean on the list featuring "100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future," according to the magazine's website on Wednesday. "Jang