Professors at four hospitals affiliated with Seoul National University have voted to go on strike later this month if the current impasse over striking trainee doctors is not resolved, their representative said Thursday. The hospitals conducted surveys on whether to go on strike after the health ministry announced Tuesday it will allow hospitals to accept the resignations of trainee doctors, who have remained off the job since late February in protest of the government's plan to raise the n

An advisory body to a committee of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has deferred the nomination of a controversial former Japanese gold mine as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Japanese government said Thursday. The International Council on Monuments and Sites, one of the three advisories to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, recommended "withholding" Sado mine's designation and demanded additional documents, the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs said

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he highly appreciates South Korea's position not to directly supply weapons to Ukraine, and that Moscow is ready to restore relations with Seoul. Putin made the remark during a meeting with representatives of leading international news agencies, including Yonhap News Agency, which was held on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The remark drew attention in that Putin, who began his fifth term as president last mon

South Korea, the United States and Japan held an economic security dialogue in San Diego on Thursday to discuss cooperation on supply chains and emerging technologies, the presidential office said. The fourth session of the dialogue was attended by Wang Yun-jong, presidential secretary for economic security; Tarun Chhabra, senior director for technology and national security on the White House National Security Council; and their counterpart from the Japanese prime minister's office, Yasuo

An alliance involving South Korea, the United States, Japan, India and the European Union has been launched to put joint efforts to build a resilient supply chain in the biopharmaceutical sector, the presidential office said Thursday. The inaugural meeting of the Biopharmaceutical Alliance was held in San Diego during the Bio International Convention 2024, the world's largest biopharmaceutical exhibition. Government officials and representatives from bio and pharmaceutical companies from th

A security expert on Wednesday cited "hybrid" threats, economic coercion and other common challenges as a driver of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's engagement with South Korea and other Asia-Pacific partners, as a NATO summit is set to take place in Washington next month. Kristine Berzina, managing director of GMF Geostrategy North, an institute analyzing various security issues, made the remarks, anticipating that the NATO summit, set for July 9-11, will bring together t

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that South Korea will establish a critical mineral partnership with major African nations to develop resources on the continent in a "mutually beneficial" way. Yoon made the remark during a business summit attended by industry leaders from Korea and Africa, an event on the second day of the first-ever Korea-Africa Summit. On the first day of the summit, Korea and delegates from 48 African countries adopted a joint declaration to boost trade and in

The United States on Wednesday deployed one B-1B bomber for joint bombing drills in South Korea for the first time in seven years amid heightened tensions over North Korea's trash balloon campaign and GPS jamming attacks. The US heavy bomber from Andersen Air Base in Guam and two South Korean F-15K fighters released live GBU-38, 500-pound joint direct attack munitions, to strike multiple simulated targets at Pilsung Range in Taebaek, Gangwon Province, according to the US 7th Air Force in So

A transgender soldier who died in an apparent suicide in 2021 after forcible discharge will be laid to rest at a national cemetery in the central city of Daejeon, a veterans ministry official said Wednesday, after a state panel recently recognized her as having died in the line of duty. In March, the state review committee affiliated with the defense ministry recognized Sergeant Byun Hee-soo's death as an on-duty one, overturning a previous classification and allowing her remains to be inte

South Korean stocks rose more than 1 percent Wednesday backed by gains of chip and battery shares amid hopes for a rate cut by the Federal Reserve. The local currency rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 27.40 points, or 1.03 percent, to close at 2,689.50. Trade volume was heavy at 871 million shares worth 13.4 trillion won ($9.76 billion), with gainers far outpacing losers 642 to 226. Foreign investors bought shares worth a net 589 billion won, while

Choi Jae-young, a Korean American pastor who secretly filmed himself handing over a luxury Dior handbag to first lady Kim Keon Hee in 2022, persistently demanded a meeting with Kim by sending a photo of the gift to her via a chat app, according to records of messenger dialogue obtained by Yonhap News Agency on Wednesday. Choi sent a photo of the Dior handbag and a gift box to Kim via the messaging app KakaoTalk on Sept. 7, 2022, saying he wants to give Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) greetings to

South Korea is set to restart artillery drills near the Military Demarcation Line and the northwestern border islands as early as this month, military sources said Wednesday, after the country effectively suspended a 2018 inter-Korean tension reduction pact. On Tuesday, President Yoon Suk Yeol endorsed a motion calling for the full suspension of the Comprehensive Military Agreement in response to the North's trash-carrying balloon campaign and GPS jamming attacks in recent days. The move en

South Korea's spy agency said Wednesday it has detected signs that North Korea has recently been demolishing some sections on the northern side of the inter-Korean railway on the east coast in an apparent move to erase the legacy of inter-Korean exchange and cooperation. South and North Korea agreed to restore two railways -- the Gyeongui and Donghae -- in 2000, when the divided countries held the first summit of their leaders. The Donghae railway linked eastern coastal cities across the he

WASHINGTON -- A Korean American lawmaker won the Democratic Party's nomination for New Jersey's Senate seat in a primary Tuesday, reports said, as he has vowed to play a role as a "bridge" between South Korea and the United States and cement the bilateral alliance. Rep. Andy Kim, a third-term, 41-year-old congressman, bested two long-shot rivals to become his party's standard-bearer for the Nov. 5 election, according to The New York Times. If elected, Kim would become

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Wednesday backed by gains of chip and battery shares amid hopes for a rate cut by the Federal Reserve. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 7.42 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,669.52 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the US stock market closed slightly higher on softer-than-expected labor market data that bolstered hopes for an interest rate cut by the Fed. In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics jumped 1.99 percent f

South Korea's economy grew at the fastest pace in over two years in the first quarter of the year as the recovery in exports continued and private spending remained firm, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's real gross domestic product -- a key measure of economic growth -- increased 1.3 percent on-quarter in the January-March period, matching an earlier estimate, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. The first-quarter expansion compares with the 0.5 percen

Monalisa Co., a major South Korean toilet paper company, said Tuesday it has been sold to Indonesian paper-manufacturing company Arch Peninsula SDN.BHD. NHPEA Tissue Holdings AB, the largest shareholder of MSS Holdings Co. which has Monalisa as a major affiliate, signed an agreement Saturday to sell its entire stake in MSS to the Indonesian firm, Monalisa said in a regulatory filing. The share purchase agreement will be finalized when the seller and the buyer satisfy each other's precedin

The owner of US-based geoscience research company Act-Geo said Tuesday he was traveling to South Korea to discuss Seoul's newly envisioned offshore oil and gas exploration project on the east coast. On Monday, President Yoon Suk Yeol said South Korea will push to embark on the project in the East Sea after a study suggested significant oil deposits may be buried in the deep sea off the coast of Yeongil Bay in Pohang, about 260 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The decision came after the gov

Leaders of the southeastern metropolitan city of Daegu, 240 kilometers from Seoul, and the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province on Tuesday agreed on plans to launch an integrated provincial government in 2026 with support from the central government. The agreement was made at a meeting attended by Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, North Gyeongsang Gov. Lee Cheol-woo, Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min and Woo Dong-gi, chairman of the Presidential Committee for Decentralization and Bala

China's embassy in South Korea on Tuesday expressed "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition" to South Korea for making "consecutive erroneous remarks" regarding the Taiwan issue in coordination with the United States and Japan. On Friday, senior South Korean, US and Japanese diplomats met in the US, and announced that they oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the waters of the Indo-Pacific and recognize the importance of opposing unlawful mari