South Korea will demand North Korea carry out another investigation into its recent killing of a Seoul fisheries official near the tense sea border, as the North's explanation bore some key discrepancies from Seoul's account, the presidential office said Saturday. On Tuesday, North Korean troops shot the 47-year-old man who was adrift in its waters and incinerated his body, according to the South Korean military. He went missing the previous day while on duty near the Yellow Sea border islan

North Korea warned South Korea on Sunday to stop violating its western sea border in searching for the body of a citizen shot and killed in North Korean waters, saying it will search for the body on its own and hand it over if it's found. South Korea has been searching for the body of the 47-year-old fisheries official shot and killed by North Korean soldiers earlier last week after he drifted into their waters near the Yellow Sea border between the two sides. South Korea claims the North shot

The remains of 117 Chinese soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War were casketed Saturday to be sent back to their homeland the following day, the defense ministry said. In 2014, Seoul pledged to repatriate the remains of fallen Chinese soldiers in a symbolic gesture of friendship, and 599 sets have since been returned, including 10 last year. This year's repatriation ceremony will take place at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on Sunday, according to the ministry. Of the tot

North Korea's apology over its recent fatal shooting of a South Korean government official is a "helpful step," the US State Department said Friday, while reaffirming its support for South Korea's condemnation and demand for a full explanation. The reaction came shortly after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he felt "very sorry" in a message sent to South Korea. "We understand that the DPRK has conveyed an explanation and apology to the ROK. This is a helpful step,

Big Hit Entertainment, the label-management agency of BTS, has won multiple defamation suits against an individual who has repeatedly posted malicious comments about the global K-pop group on the internet. According to Big Hit Entertainment, the person, whose identity was withheld, was recently fined 4 million won ($3,400) in total by the Seoul Eastern District Court for three separate criminal complaints for defamation. Big Hit added that the company was filing additional separate criminal co

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 100 for the first time in four days Saturday, as the country is struggling with sporadic cluster infections in the greater Seoul area and persisting untraceable cases ahead of a major holiday. South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 100 for the first time in four days Saturday, as the country is struggling with sporadic cluster infections in the greater Seoul area and persisting untraceable cases ahead of a major holiday. The Korea Disease

Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co. voted to accept a wage freeze for the first time in 11 years as the nation's largest carmaker struggles to cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the company said Saturday.  In a vote held Friday, 53 percent of 44,460 workers who cast a ballot approved this year's wage agreement between the labor union and management, the company said in a text message. Hyundai Motor and its union reached a wage deal without a strike for the second cons

Three in four Seoul citizens don't have any plans to visit their hometowns or travel long distances during the Chuseok holiday due mainly to fears of coronavirus transmission, a poll showed Saturday. In the survey of 849 citizens aged 18 or older, 56.8 percent said they have no plans to travel long distances during Chuseok, while another 16 percent said they have canceled their holiday travel plans due to COVID-19. Merely 12.4 percent said they have travel plans during the Korean equivalent of

Marshall Billingslea, special US presidential envoy for arms control, will visit Seoul next week for talks with his South Korean counterpart on international arms control and nonproliferation issues, the foreign ministry said Friday. Billingslea of the US State Department will arrive here Sunday for a two-day visit. He plans to hold talks with Seoul's Deputy Foreign Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Ham Sang-wook on Monday. "South Korea and the United States have been closely

A Seoul court on Friday sentenced a former executive of Shinhan Investment Corp., one of South Korea's major financial investment companies, to eight years in prison for deceiving investors to buy faulty fund products related to a massive fund scandal that has shaken the country since last year. The Seoul Southern District Court handed down an eight-year prison term and a fine of 300 million won ($256,235) to the man, surnamed Lim charged with fraud and violation of capital market and financial

President Moon Jae-in and Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed their desire Friday to further develop bilateral relations, Cheong Wa Dae said, as the two countries mark the 30th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties. The two men exchanged messages for the Sept. 30 anniversary, noting progress in various areas of cooperation, including politics, business and culture. "President Moon, in particular, hoped that the 9-Bridge cooperation projects for Eurasia's co-prosperity will bu

South Korean shares closed higher Friday, as investor sentiment was improved by hopes for a new stimulus package for the US economy. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. After trading in a choppy session, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 6.09 points, or 0.27 percent, to close at 2,278.79. Trading volume was moderate at about 687 million shares worth some 9.9 trillion won ($8.4 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 530 to 318. Foreigners sold a net 90 bil

South Korea on Friday unveiled a set of detailed social distancing guidelines for upcoming holidays to stem the nationwide spread of the novel coronavirus, which center on limiting operations of risk-prone facilities and banning gatherings of a certain number of people. The government set the two weeks starting Monday as a special period for its antivirus fight, as many people are expected to travel during the Chuseok holiday, which runs from Wednesday to Oct. 4. Millions of South Koreans tra

K-pop supergroup BTS' upcoming Seoul concert in October will be held virtually only, according to the band's management agency Friday, canceling the in-person element that was planned together. The Oct. 10-11 Seoul concert, "BTS Map Of The Soul ON:E," was announced in August as an in-person show with government-mandated seat distancing measures for COVID-19 prevention. Big Hit also planned to livestream the two-day event online as paid content. Big Hit Entertainment announced on its

South Korea will spend a total of 94 billion won ($80.3 million) this year to help local firms develop homegrown vaccines and treatment drugs to fight the coronavirus pandemic, officials said Friday. The government also plans to set aside 260.4 billion won next year to develop vaccines and treatment drugs against the new coronavirus, officials said. The plan came after senior officials held a pan-government meeting with executives from pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms earlier in the day.

More than 100 South Korean have been injected with seasonal flu vaccines that should not have been administered due to storage problems, but there have been no reported side effects, health authorities said Friday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said hospitals and public health centers in Seoul and three other areas gave flu shots to 105 people with some of the vaccines that weren't supposed to be administered after being exposed to room temperature. The agency said the

The government and the medical sector are still at odds over whether to give a second chance to fourth-year medical students to take the state medical licensing exam. Senior students had been boycotting the state licensing exam -- which took place earlier this month -- in protest of the government's medical workforce reform plan. The students joined a nationwide strike by doctors, urging the government to withdraw its plan to increase admission quotas at medical schools. Representatives of d

K-pop project group SuperM said Friday it hopes to deliver positive energy through its inaugural studio album "Super One" to fans during the difficult times of the pandemic. "We've felt a lot of pressure from the great achievement we had from our debut album. We'd be satisfied if (fans) become encouraged through 'Super One' in these difficult times," SuperM leader Baekyuun said during an online press conference Friday in Seoul for the group's first studio album. "We hop

The South Korean official shot dead by North Korean troops this week was lost for two hours before he was found again and killed, lawmakers here said Friday. Citing South Korean military intelligence, Rep. Min Hong-chul of the ruling Democratic Party said the North Korean soldiers watched the fisheries official for three hours on Tuesday as he floated on a raft in waters near the western inter-Korean sea border. "(South Korea's) military reported that he was then lost, but in fact (the No

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has offered an apology to the South Korean people for the killing of a fellow citizen by its military earlier this week, Cheong Wa Dae announced Friday. In a formal notice sent to the South, the North conveyed Kim's message that he feels "very sorry" for greatly "disappointing" President Moon Jae-in and other South Koreans with the occurrence of the "unsavory" case in its waters, instead of helping them amid their suffering from the