DAEGU -- A person was sentenced to two years in prison for defrauding people of more than 200 million won ($179,000) by promising to buy them protective face masks at a cheap price, among other things, a local court said Wednesday. The Daegu District Court, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, convicted the 48-year-old of fraud, saying the defendant used the money to repay personal debts and cover entertainment expenses. "Stern punishment is required as there are serious concerns the

South Korea's health authorities said Wednesday they have identified five more cases of contagious variants of COVID-19, which were all domestically transmitted, sparking concerns over the spread of the more transmissible virus here. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said four people were confirmed to have been infected with a variant from Britain and one tested positive for the South African variant, raising the total caseload to 39. Four patients with the British strain

The defense ministry said Wednesday it cannot accept Japan's "unjust complaint" over Seoul's latest white paper blaming Tokyo for straining relations between the two countries with a claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo. On Tuesday, Japan's defense ministry called in South Korea's military attache in Tokyo to complain about the 2020 white paper's statement that military cooperation between the two countries has been hampered due to Japan's continued claim to Dokdo and a

North Korea is accelerating efforts to improve its irrigation system and recover from last year's flood damage ahead of the spring farming season, state media said Wednesday. Last summer, North Korea was hit hard by heavy rains and back-to-back typhoons in several regions, including the rice-producing areas in its southern parts. As part of recovery efforts, the North is repairing its reservoirs and building waterways in typhoon-hit regions, including in Gangwon and South Hamgyong provinces, a

South Korea said Wednesday it has clinched a free trade deal with Cambodia, the latest in a series of its free trade pacts to revitalize its ailing exports amid the new coronavirus pandemic. Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee and her Cambodian counterpart Pan Sorasak held a virtual meeting and declared that Seoul and Phnom Penh have completed FTA negotiations, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. "The FTA will pave the way for the two countries to overcome challenges from th

Online shopping in South Korea hit a fresh record high in December as more people purchased products via e-commerce platforms amid tougher virus curbs caused by the pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The value of online transactions stood at 15.9 trillion won ($14.2 billion) in December, up 26.1 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The use of online shopping sharply rose amid the pandemic as people refrained from visiting stores over concerns about infecti

A heavy snow advisory has been issued for Wednesday evening in the greater Seoul area, the state weather agency said. The advisory goes into effect at 5 p.m. in Incheon and parts of Gyeonggi Province and at 7 p.m. in Seoul and the rest of Gyeonggi, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. The warning is given when the snowfall is expected to reach 5 centimeters or more within 24 hours. Snowfall will be heaviest between 9 p.m. Wednesday and 3 a.m. Thursday in the capital area, the

Rep. Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the main opposition party, proposed Wednesday the ruling party and the government form a consultative body with it to coordinate COVID-19 relief measures. "I propose that concerned officials of the ruling and the main opposition parties and the government form a consultative body to enable the speedy and practical provision of assistance to victims reeling from (antivirus business restrictions)," the floor leader of the People Power Party (PPP) s

South Korea will invest 202.4 billion won ($181.8 million) this year in virtual reality (VR) technology and devices to support the growth of the country's digital content industry, according to the ICT ministry on Wednesday. The move comes after the government unveiled a broader interagency investment plan for the industry last year, setting aside over 400 billion won for this year, in line with its digital New Deal program, which aims to spend 58.2 trillion won in key tech industries to create

Seoul's landmark Mount Nam will have a new park by May, offering plenty of greenery and memorials to the country's turbulent history under military dictatorships and Japanese colonial rule, the city government said Wednesday. The park, which was built on the former martial arts training grounds of soldiers during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), is made up of an upper area consisting of a 13,036-square-meter forest and a lower underground area dedicated to memorializing the past, according to th

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun has called for Protestant churches' cooperation with state antivirus measures amid a string of outbreaks tied to churches throughout the country. On Tuesday, Chung met with leading members of the United Christian Churches of Korea and the National Council of Churches in Korea at the government complex in Seoul and asked for their help in containing the new coronavirus pandemic. "Last week, COVID-19 cases spiked again after showing a decrease," Chung said

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea jumped 27 percent in January from a year earlier on robust sales of German cars, an industry association said Wednesday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles climbed to 22,321 units last month from 17,640 a year ago despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. The three bestselling models last month were the Mercedes-Benz E 250 sedan, Mercedes-Benz E 350 4MATIC seda

Ahn Cheol-soo, the chief of a minor opposition party and a leading Seoul mayoral contender, on Wednesday accepted an independent rival's offer to compete in a preliminary race as a step to field a single candidate for the opposition bloc in the April 7 mayoral election. The latest decision by Ahn, the chief of the People's Party, will pit him against former lawmaker Keum Tae-sup and other potential contenders in a preliminary election to pick a common opposition candidate outside the main oppos

Samsung Electronics Co.'s foundry capacity share in legacy nodes is estimated to rank fourth in 2021, a report showed Wednesday, amid its push to increase its presence in the contract chipmaking sector with advanced fabrication processes. Samsung, the world's largest memory chipmaker, was projected to account for 10 percent of global foundry capacity in matured nodes, which refers to the 40-nanometer and below chipmaking technology process, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research.

South Korea confirmed another case of highly pathogenic bird flu in poultry Wednesday, bringing the total caseload to 85.    The latest case of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza came from a duck farm in Chungju, about 150 kilometers south of Seoul, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said.    The farm was raising 7,000 birds. All poultry within a 3-kilometer radius of the infected farm were culled, officials said.    The country has now confir

President Moon Jae-in made an on-site inspection Wednesday of South Korea's preparations for COVID-19 vaccine receipt, handling and distribution, as inoculations are scheduled to begin here later this month. He visited the Korean Air's cargo terminal station at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, where a pan-governmental mock drill was under way ahead of the shipment of the initial batch of foreign-made vaccines.    Later in the day, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety sa

South Korea said Wednesday it will allocate 23 billion won ($20.6 million) to build testing infrastructure for local producers of materials and parts for rechargeable batteries in line with its efforts to foster the sector as a new growth engine. The test center will allow small and midsized businesses to run tests on their materials used to produce battery products with high-end infrastructure, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The ministry said it has decided to establ

South Korea's outbound shipments of pet food products soared 83.5 percent in 2020 from a year earlier on strong demand from the Asia region, data showed Wednesday. Exports of pet food products reached $67.4 million last year, jumping from $36.7 million in 2019, according to data by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on the local pet industry. By country, Japan accounted for 36.4 percent of the total, trailed by Thailand with 26.4 percent and Vietnam with 8.4 percent. The coun

Two South Korean Army officers on a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon and one Navy officer dispatched to Bahrain have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Wednesday. It is the first time that the country reported COVID-19 cases among its service members stationed overseas. The two Army officers affiliated with the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNFIL) underwent tests after one local worker on their base tested positive, and they were confirmed to have been

Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Corp. said Wednesday their sales in the United States rose 7.9 percent in January from a year earlier on robust SUV sales. Hyundai Motor and Kia sold a combined 91,173 vehicles in the world's most important automobile market last month, up from 84,498 units a year ago, according to sales data from the companies. Hyundai's sales rose 4.7 percent on-year to 46,208 units last month from 44,143, while Kia's jumped 11 percent to 44,965 from 40,355 over the cited