Walt Disney Co. has said it will launch its flagship streaming service Disney+ in South Korea next year, a move that could intensify competition between local and global streaming giants in the country. Disney said in a tweet for its investor day presentation on Thursday that South Korea is among the major markets, including Eastern Europe and Hong Kong, in which Disney+ will roll out next year. Disney+ has seen rapid growth since its launch in November last year, and the latest announcement f

With just two weeks left until Christmas, BTS on Friday unveiled a holiday remix version of its upbeat chart-topping song "Dynamite." The remix version, released at 2 p.m., shows the band singing in front of a Christmas tree holding selfie sticks. The jolly ambience and Christmas bells in the background heighten the festive mood. "The BTS digital single 'Dynamite' made history throughout the second half of 2020 thanks to the incredible affection and support shown from all fans,&

The dismantling of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex should not be underestimated in the denuclearization process, an American nuclear expert said Friday. Siegfried Hecker, known for his 2010 visit to the Yongbyon complex, made the remarks during a video conference with Unification Minister Lee In-young and Moon Chung-in, special foreign policy adviser to President Moon Jae-in, also stressing the need for a "flexible approach" in dealing with the North, including sanctions relief

South Korean stocks gained nearly 1 percent to a fresh all-time high Friday, as hopes for new coronavirus vaccinations boosted investor sentiment. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 23.6 points, or 0.86 percent, to close at 2,770.06. Trading volume was high at about 1.1 billion shares worth some 18 trillion won ($16.5 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 659 to 192. Foreigners bought a net 163 billion won, while retail

Cheong Wa Dae said Friday it reviewed the government's wintertime disaster response system in an annual interagency high-level meeting. Suh Hoon, director of national security, presided over the session joined by vice ministerial officials of 27 related ministries and other organizations. They discussed the potential causes of "disaster crises," which often occur in winter, and countermeasures, according to the presidential office. Those include heavy snow, inferno and wildfire, as

Short-term stay foreigners are obliged to report their places of accommodation here to immigration authorities under the government's latest measure to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Justice said Friday. The ministry said the accommodation reporting system for short-term visitors went into effect on Thursday to help find the whereabouts of foreigners swiftly. Under the system, any foreign national staying in South Korea for fewer than 90 days with a short-term vis

President Moon Jae-in made an on-site inspection Friday of a major public rental housing complex south of Seoul, as a public outcry has been mounting over soaring home prices and rental costs. Cheong Wa Dae described Moon's move as meant to demonstrate the government's policy commitment to improving the public-sector supply of such rental homes in both quantity and quality. Moon stressed the importance of providing "houses in which everyone wants to reside" during the visit to the co

The United States on Friday returned 12 American military sites to South Korea, including some in central Seoul, amid persistent concerns that an additional delay would further dampen regional development efforts. During a virtual joint committee session of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), Seoul and Washington agreed on the return of the sites, though they failed to bridge differences on who and how to shoulder environmental cleanup costs, Seoul officials said. But the two sides agreed t

WASHINGTON -- The United States strongly believes its cooperation with South Korea in the Indo-Pacific region will continue to advance regardless of who is in power in either country, a senior US diplomat said Thursday. Marc Knapper, deputy assistant secretary of state for Korea and Japan, also argued the South Korea-US relationship is no longer a bilateral alliance but a global alliance that helps promote their shared values in the region. "My government is incredibly optimistic about th

Almost half of South Koreans either lost their jobs or saw their income fall due to the new coronavirus outbreak, a report showed Friday, in a sign that the job market remains sluggish amid the pandemic. The report by Statistics Korea showed that 49.7 percent of respondents said the pandemic affected their income level or job posts, with 26.7 percent of them saying that their income shrank, though they kept working. The statistics agency said 50.3 percent said they had not lost their jobs and

The Seoul metropolitan government said Friday it will light up its city hall in green this weekend as part of a global event to mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement. The main building of the Seoul City Hall complex will glow green for an hour from 6 p.m. Saturday, according to the city government. A total of 96 cities around the world, including Paris, New York and Los Angeles, will bathe their landmark buildings in green that night, joining an event hosted by the C40 Cities Clima

Overseas inquiries about South Korean movies have been on the rise thanks to the Oscar-winning Korean film "Parasite," the national film archive said during a forum in Seoul. The Korean Film Archive (KFA) has produced DVDs of major Korean films, ranging from the early years of the 1950s to the present, every year since 2012 and distributed them to overseas research institutions for Korean studies, cultural centers, Korean language institutes and university libraries as part of efforts

South Korea will dispatch a special envoy to Russia next week to commemorate the 30th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and explore ways for the development of their relations, Cheong Wa Dae announced Friday. Woo Yoon-keun, a former three-term ruling Democratic Party lawmaker, is scheduled to visit Russia on Sunday for a week in his capacity as President Moon Jae-in's special envoy. Woo, who served as ambassador to Russia from 2017-2019, is scheduled to meet with senior officials of Rus

North Korea has conducted tests on more than 9,000 people, but there has been no reported outbreak of the coronavirus in the country, a World Health Organization report showed Friday. The North has conducted tests on 9,373 people and claims that no cases have been reported as of Dec. 3, according to the agency's latest weekly situation report on COVID-19. Nearly half of those tested had influenza like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) or were people who developed fev

신종 코로나바이러스 감염증(코로나19) 최초 발병지인 중국 우한(武漢)에서 상황을 알려 구속된 시민기자가 구금시설에서 단식투쟁을 벌였으나 당국이 강제로 유동식을 공급한 것으로 알려졌다. 10일(현지시간) 가디언과 국제앰네스티에 따르면 시민기자 장잔(張展·37)의 변호사는 8일 상하이(上海) 인근 한 구금시설에 구속된 그를 면회한 뒤 몸에 이상이 있음을 확인하고 9일 블로그를 통해 이를 알렸다. 변호사는 "면회 때 장잔은 두꺼운 파자마를 입었고 허리에 큰 벨트가 채워져 있었다. 또 왼손은 몸 앞에, 오른손은 몸 뒤에 고정된 상태였다"고 전했다. 장잔은 두통과 복통, 어지럼증과 함께 입과 목구멍의 염증 탓에 고통스럽다고 호소했는데 이는 장잔이 단식투쟁을 벌이자 교정당국이 관을 삽입해 강제로 유동식을 공급했기 때문이었다. 양손을 몸 앞뒤로 고정한 건 삽입된 관을 빼지 못 하게 하기 위해서였다. 장잔은 무고함을 주장하고 구금에 항의하고자 9월 단식투쟁을 시작

South Korea's daily number of new cases neared 700 for the third consecutive day Friday amid concerns over a bigger and longer-than-expected wave of the pandemic during the winter. But health authorities remained cautious in adopting the toughest virus curbs as they could deal a hard blow to the economy. The country reported 689 new virus cases, including 673 domestically transmitted ones, raising the total caseload to 40,786, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Samsung Electronics Co.'s share in the global wireless earphone market dropped slightly in the third quarter of the year, a report showed Friday, as more consumers lean toward cheaper products amid the pandemic. Samsung accounted for 5 percent of the global truly wireless stereo (TWS) product shipments in the July-September period, down 1 percentage point from the previous three months, according to market tracer Counterpoint Research. Apple Inc. remained the top wireless earphone vendor in

WASHINGTON -- South Korea is "very encouraged" by signs coming from the incoming US administration regarding the South Korea-US alliance and cooperation, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Thursday. Kang also said working with the incumbent US administration of President Donald Trump has been great but challenging. "We are very encouraged by the signs coming from the new incoming administration, although we are not able to coordinate or collaborate because this is

North Korea has designated restaurants, bus stops, public squares and other venues as nonsmoking areas after adopting an anti-smoking law last month, a propaganda outlet said Friday. DPRK Today, one of the North's propaganda websites, pointed out that smoking is banned in several public spaces, including hotels, stores, restaurants, public baths, cinemas, libraries, gymnasiums, public squares and (bus) stops. Also designated as nonsmoking areas are ideological education centers, nurseries, sc

South Korea's benchmark stock index opened sharply higher Friday, as optimism over new coronavirus vaccinations gained ground in the financial markets. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 25.87 points, or 0.94 percent, to 2,772.33 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Local stocks traded bullish, as vaccine hopes offset concerns over increasing COVID-19 cases at home and disappointing jobless data in the United States. Investor sentiment was boosted following a US government advisory p