Four Army officers and five soldiers tested positive for the new coronavirus, the latest in a series of infections at barracks, the defense ministry said Friday. Of them, four soldiers were from the same unit in Hongcheon, about 100 kilometers east of Seoul, which reported nine COVID-19 cases earlier, according to the ministry. Three officers from another unit in the country also tested positive, prompting the military and health authorities to conduct contact tracing. The remaining officer a

However temporary it may be, South Korean pitcher Yang Hyeon-jong has earned a place in the starting rotation for the Texas Rangers. In a pregame interview before hosting the New York Yankees in Arlington, Texas, on Thursday (local time), Rangers manager Chris Woodward said Yang, who started the previous day in place of the injured Kohei Arihara, will get more looks in the rotation. "As of right now, I'd say Yang probably stays in that spot," Woodward said in a Zoom call. "We're

The Navy, the Coast Guard and police were to stage joint helicopter landing drills on an amphibious assault ship Friday in an effort to enhance their disaster relief capabilities, officials said. The training will take place in waters near the southern island of Geoje, involving the 14,500-ton Dokdo ship and two helicopters from the Coast Guard and the police, according to the Navy. The event is in part to help the chopper pilots earn qualifications for deck landing necessary to operate on la

The South Korean men's Olympic football team will host Ghana twice next month for tuneup matches ahead of the Tokyo Summer Games. The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced Friday the two countries will play at 7 p.m. on June 12 and again at 8 p.m. on June 15. Both matches will be played at Jeju World Cup Stadium in Seogwipo, Jeju Island. These will be the first official matches for South Korea's under-23 Olympic team since November last year, when they faced Egypt and Brazil in a friendly

South Korea will extend its current social distancing measures for another three weeks, the prime minister said Friday, amid continued cluster infections and spreading variant cases. "The number of new daily average patients as of late remains in the 500 level, not budging below that point, and infections are continuing from all quarters in our daily lives," Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said as he announced the extension of virus curbs during a regular COVID-19 response meeting in Seou

After missing the first quarter of the 2021 season, Tampa Bay Rays' first baseman Choi Ji-man is playing as though he wants to make up for all that lost time. The South Korean infielder went 1-for-3 with three walks and an RBI in a 10-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore on Thursday (local time). Choi missed the first 41 games of the season following arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on March 31. He made his season debut last Sunday and went 3-for-4

South Korea's producer prices increased 0.6 percent on-month in April due to a modest rise in commodity prices, extending their monthly gains for the sixth straight month, central bank data showed Friday. The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, stood at 107.68 in April, compared with 107.04 a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The index advanced 5.6 percent from the previous year, the BOK data showed. The prices of agricultural goods fell 8.2 p

WASHINGTON -- A Korean captain and four crew members of a fishing boat have been kidnapped in waters off Ghana, in west Africa, a report said Thursday. The five crew members of the Atlantic Princess, a tuna boat, were kidnapped on Thursday (local time), according to the report from Dryad Global, a maritime security and intelligence provider. "The vessel is understood to have been approached by one speedboat with 8 pirates onboard," it said, adding the incident reportedly took place 6

WASHINGTON -- A US lawmaker proposed a bill on Thursday that calls for US efforts to declare a formal end to the Korean War and exchange liaison offices with North Korea. The bill, proposed by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), also seeks to require the State Department to consider lifting its travel ban on North Korea for Korean Americans with separated families in the North. "The United States should pursue a sustained and credible diplomatic process to achieve an end to the Korean War, and ever

South Korean stocks opened higher Friday on hopes for a quick economic rebound, backed by overnight gains on Wall Street and strong local exports data. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 26.77 points, or 0.85 percent, to 3,189.05 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks got off to a strong start, tracking a 1.77 percent gain on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 finished up 0.55 percent and 1.06 percent, re

A state agency affiliated with the Korea Customs Service (KCS) has come under probe from the prime minister's office over its alleged construction of a "ghost" building in the central administrative city of Sejong, informed officials said Thursday. The Office for Government Policy Coordination sent its inspectors to the Customs Valuation and Classification Institute (CVNCI), a KCS affiliate headquartered in Daejeon, central South Korea, to look into its controversial construction of a

The new North Korea policy of the Joe Biden administration is designed to be flexible to enable the "best chance of diplomatic success" by learning from past unsuccessful efforts, a senior US administration official said Thursday. "We are not going to lay out exactly our diplomatic strategy here and now, I would simply say that we've tried to design it to be flexible," the official told reporters while speaking on condition of anonymity. "We understand where previous e

South Korea reiterated concerns Thursday over the worsening humanitarian crisis from the fighting between Israel and the Hamas militant group, backing international efforts to broker a ceasefire. Since May 10, Israel and Hamas militants have launched deadly rocket attacks against each other. The United States, the United Nations and others have beefed up mediation efforts to stop the conflict from escalating into a full-blown war. "Our government again expresses deep concerns over the rap

The ruling Democratic Party's (DP) push for the sweeping revision of its real estate policy has hit a snag due to strong opposition from its hard-line members who are against "cutting taxes for the rich." The party's new leadership led by Rep. Song Young-gil has set out this week to alter the policy widely blamed for its crushing defeat in the latest local elections seen as a key barometer of public sentiment ahead of the presidential election next year. DP's newly refurbished specia

Two people were killed and six others injured in a car crash and subsequent building collapse in Seoul on Thursday, officials said. The accident occurred on a road in southwestern Seoul at around 11 a.m. when two trucks collided and one of them ran into a nearby five-story building, according to police and firefighters. An explosion and fire broke out at the building after gas leaked from a pipe hit by the five-ton freight vehicle, they said. An adjoining single-story building collapsed appar

A Seoul family court on Thursday sided with the ex-husband of Gerhard Schroeder's South Korean wife and ordered the former German chancellor to partially compensate the man for destroying his marriage. The man, whose identity was withheld, filed a lawsuit in 2018 seeking 100 million won ($81,708) in compensation, claiming Schroeder was responsible for the destruction of his marriage with the woman, Kim So-yeon. The Seoul Family Court on Thursday partially accepted the claim and ordered Schroed

South Korea will hold a series of climate change forums next week in the run-up to a global summit on climate change and sustainable development set for late this month, its preparatory committee said Thursday. A total of 10 sessions will take place during the "Green Future Week" from Monday to Saturday to enhance the international community's awareness and resolve to fight climate change ahead of the virtual Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals (P4G) summit slated for May

Unification Minister Lee In-young called Thursday for nonpartisan parliamentary support for the ratification of a 2018 inter-Korean summit agreement, saying such cross-border issues should be shielded from "wasteful" political controversies. Lee made the remark during a forum in Seoul, saying that the government will soon officially ask for the ratification of the "Panmunjom Declaration" signed by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after their first su

The American business lobby group here has submitted a petition for the pardon of Lee Jae-yong, the imprisoned de facto leader of Samsung Group, to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae ahead of a bilateral summit between South Korea and the United States, its officials said Thursday. The American Chamber of Commerce in South Korea (AMCHAM) last week sent a letter to President Moon Jae-in asking him to consider pardoning Lee ahead of his visit to Washington for talks with US President Joe Biden

POSCO, the world's fifth-largest steelmaker by output, said Thursday it has signed a deal to buy a 30 percent stake in the Ravensthorpe Nickel Operation in Australia for $240 million in the latest move to boost its electric vehicle battery business. Under the deal with Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals Ltd., POSCO will be provided with a long-term offtake agreement for 7,500 tons of nickel in mixed nickel-cobalt hydroxide precipitate (MHP) per year produced at Ravensthorpe, beginning in 202