North Korea ranked the lowest in a world democracy index last year for the 16th consecutive year, a recent report showed.    North Korea placed at the bottom among the 167 countries polled, with an overall score of 1.08 out of a total of 10, according to the Democracy Index 2020 published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research division of the British weekly The Economist.    The North has ranked the lowest in the EIU index since the agency began compiling t

  South Korea and the United States conducted fewer joint military exercises last year compared with a year earlier amid the coronavirus pandemic, defense ministry data showed Saturday.    The two countries staged a total of 172 joint training sessions in South Korea last year, down from 191 in 2019.    By service branch, joint maneuvers between their armies tumbled to 29 times last year from 89 in 2019, and their marine corps' combined programs were carried out seven

  In a country where enlisting in the military for two years is mandatory for all able-bodied men, the rule has long been an unavoidable hurdle for singers and actors in their 20s who are flourishing in their career heyday.    In that sense, having completed the two-year service can be an advantage for entertainers who are now eligible to plan long-term career goals. In the music industry, some major K-pop acts are set to return to the stage after members have successfully serve

 South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell below 400 on Saturday, apparently due to fewer tests during the Lunar New Year holiday, as the government decided to ease social distancing restrictions.    The country reported 362 more COVID-19 cases, including 345 local infections, raising the total caseload to 83,199, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. It added seven fatalities, bringing the accumulative death toll to 1,514.    Saturday's inf

The parcel volume in South Korea rose 21 percent last year from a year earlier as more people shifted to online shopping amid the COVID-19 pandemic, government data showed Saturday.    A total of 3.37 billion parcels were delivered in the nation by 18 logistics companies in 2020, surpassing 3 billion for the first time, according to the data by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.     The parcel volume exceeded 2 billion in 2016 and had posted around

South Korea's four major commercial banks appear likely to maintain their creditworthiness this year due to adequate capitalization and resilient asset quality, according to a recent report from S&P Global Ratings.    Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, KEB Hana Bank and Woori Bank have emerged from a pandemic-scarred 2020 with asset quality intact.    Earnings for the whole of 2020, announced last week, show a decline in net interest margins and slightly higher credit costs f

The North Korean nuclear issue remains a top priority for the US government despite the recent lack of direct engagement with the country, a State Department official said Friday.    Ned Price, department press secretary, also said continued advancement in the North's nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities made it an "urgent" priority.    "I hope you don't confuse a lack of direct engagement with North Korea as an indication that the challenge of North Ko

The main opposition People Power Party on Friday stepped up its pressure on the chief justice to step down for his alleged role in the parliamentary impeachment of a judge, threatening to file a criminal complaint against him if he refuses to resign. "(The PPP) has a stance that it will lodge a complaint against Chief Supreme Court Justice Kim Meong-su with the prosecution if he does not step down," Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, who heads the party's campaign against the chief justice, told Yo

US electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. on Friday launched its compact sport utility vehicle, the Model Y, in South Korea as it tries to boost sales in the country. Tesla Korea said the Model Y is available in three trim levels here, with the starting price for the standard range model set at 59.99 million won ($54,191). The prices for the long-range model and the performance trim are to start from 69.99 million won and 79.99 million won, respectively. Starting this year, South Korea will give

New Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed close bilateral cooperation for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during their first phone talks Friday, the foreign ministry said. They also shared the view of the importance of their countries' trilateral cooperation with Japan in the conversation that took place three days after Chung, a former top security adviser to President Moon Jae-in, took office. The talks came as Seoul seeks to

South Korea and the United States are getting close to a new defense cost-sharing agreement for American troops here, CNN reported showed Friday, as they seek to bolster their alliance and defense posture. The two sides may be "just weeks away" from signing a deal, CNN said, citing five sources familiar with the matter. The US news outlet reported that the deal is likely to be "a multi-year agreement that increases Seoul's contribution to cover the presence of US troops at arou

North Korean Foreign Minster Ri Son-gwon has been elected a member of the powerful politburo of the ruling Workers' Party, state media reported Friday. Ri was by-elected as a politburo member during a four-day plenary meeting of the party's eighth Central Committee that wrapped up on Thursday, according to the Korean Central News Agency. Kim Song-nam, another ranking party official, was also named an alternate member of the politburo, while O Su-yong was elected as director of the party's De

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases retreated Friday, apparently due to fewer tests amid the Lunar New Year holiday, but health authorities are staying vigilant over a potential uptick after the traditional holiday. The country reported 403 more COVID-19 cases, including 384 local infections, raising the total caseload to 82,837, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Friday's daily caseload was sharply down from 504 cases reported the previous day, when the number of ne

South Korea on Thursday reported one more case of avian influenza (AI). The case of the highly pathogenic H5N8 strain of avian influenza was confirmed at an egg farm in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul. The farm was home to some 240,000 hens, according to the government's AI response headquarters. Quarantine authorities imposed a travel ban on movement into and out of the poultry farms in the affected area, having culled chickens at nearby farms as part of precautionary measur

One of the 20 crew members who were aboard a South Korean oil tanker seized by Iran last month has been released and returned home, the foreign ministry said Thursday. The Korean sailor, one of those detained along with the MT Hankuk Chemi by Teheran, entered his home country Wednesday afternoon for health reasons, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. He is the first among the detained sailors to be repatriated after the chemical carrier was seized by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Cor

Major highways across South Korea began to clog with heavy traffic Thursday as many people headed to hometowns despite the COVID-19 pandemic to celebrate Lunar New Year's Day. Many southbound sections of the Gyeongbu Expressway connecting Seoul to the southeastern port city of Busan, including those near Osan and Cheonan, both south of Seoul, were congested due to heavy traffic as of early Thursday morning, according to Korea Expressway Corp. Cars were also crawling on several southbound se

South Korea's daily virus cases bounced back above 500 Thursday, putting authorities on heightened alert over a potential surge in infections during the extended Lunar New Year holiday. The country added 504 more COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, including 467 local infections, raising the total caseload to 82,434, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. It marks the biggest daily tally since Jan. 27 when the figure was 559. The Thursday tally also marks a jump from 4

President Moon Jae-in appointed Hwang Hee, a ruling Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker, as new culture minister Wednesday, a day after the National Assembly's confirmation hearing on him. Hwang's tenure starts on Thursday, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok said in a note to reporters. Earlier in the day, a related parliamentary committee, controlled by the DP, adopted a report on the results of its confirmation hearing on Hwang, held Tuesday, amid a boycott by the main opposition People Power

South Korea's top national security officials agreed Wednesday, during a weekly meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, to continue efforts to improve Seoul-Tokyo relations long strained by disputes over shared history. In the standing committee session of the National Security Council (NSC), they decided to continue efforts to address the problem, while strengthening "communication and cooperation with other nations to keep the security situation under stable control," according to the presidentia

Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday that the current administration under President Moon Jae-in has not produced nor operated a discriminatory personnel blacklist, in reaction to the conviction of a former minister for alleged unlawful intervention in personnel decisions at state-run companies. On Tuesday, former Environment Minister Kim Eun-kyung was sentenced to two years and six months in prison in the so-called Environment Ministry blacklist case, after a court found her guilty of power abuse and