President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday expressed gratitude to the Buddhist community for its decision to call off an annual lotus lantern festival as a precaution against the coronavirus pandemic as he issued a message marking the Buddha's Birthday holiday. "Last year's listing of Yeondeunghoe as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage marked a big joyous occasion. It's natural wanting to celebrate the feat, but the Buddhist community decided to cancel this year's lantern festival and hold an on

BUSAN -- A landfill-turned-botanical garden will be temporarily opened to the public in the southeastern port city of Busan this week, the municipal government said Wednesday. Haeundae Arboretum built on a former landfill site in Seokdae-dong, northern Busan, will partially open Thursday as the first phase of its construction has been completed, the government said. The arboretum, which will eventually cover 628,275 square meters, far bigger than the 473,911-square-meter Busan Citizens Park, c

WASHINGTON -- The US administration of President Joe Biden will build on a 2018 summit agreement with North Korea, White House Asia czar Kurt Campbell said Tuesday, extending overtures to Pyongyang after completing a monthslong policy review on the North. "Our policy review took a careful look at everything that has been tried before. Our efforts will build on Singapore and other agreements made by previous administrations," Campbell, White House policy coordinator for the Indo-Pacifi

WASHINGTON -- US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will discuss ways to address COVID-19 vaccine shortages in the South and forge "tangible partnerships" on semiconductor supply chains, White House Asia policy chief Kurt Campbell said Tuesday. Moon is set to visit Washington for his first in-person talks with Biden set for Friday, where cooperation on coronavirus vaccines and semiconductor supplies are expected to be among the key agenda items, along with how

North Korea's foreign ministry on Tuesday accused Western countries of spreading false information "under the signboard of freedom of speech" in an attempt to meddle in the internal affairs of other states. The ministry made the criticism in an article posted on its website, saying that "some specific states" are interfering with the internal affairs of other sovereign countries after spreading false information while posing as "guardians of freedom." Such false i

South Korea will take part in an annual US-led multinational air force exercise for the first time in three years next month, joining Japan and other countries in the maneuvers designed to improve interoperability, the Air Force said Tuesday. The Air Force plans to send F-15K fighter jets, cargo planes and dozens of troops to the Red Flag-Alaska 21-2 exercise set to take place in Alaska from June 10-25 involving around 1,500 service members and 100 aircraft. Earlier, the US Seventh Air Force s

South Korean stocks closed higher Tuesday, rebounding from a decline the previous session, on bargain hunting for tech and semiconductor shares. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 38.53 points, or 1.23 percent, to 3,173.05. Trading volume was moderate at 774.38 million shares worth some 13.71 trillion won ($12.07 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 571 to 279. Foreigners sold a net 347.2 billion won, and retail in

Developing trusted supply chains is one area that South Korea and the United States can work together to reduce economic dependence on China, a joint report by Korean and American experts showed Tuesday. A total of 27 experts, including former high-level government officials in Seoul and Washington, made the case in the report, noting how the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the vulnerability of the global supply chains heavily dependent on Beijing amid the virus-driven border controls across the wo

A group of civic activists on Tuesday called for the removal of a stone monument related to former President Chun Doo-hwan in Incheon, west of Seoul, condemning him as the mastermind of a bloody massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in the southwestern city of Gwangju in 1980. Marking the 41st anniversary of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, the activists demanded that the stone monument erected by Chun in 1984 in memory of the 1950 Incheon landing operation during the Korean War b

Construction materials and daily necessaries were brought onto the US THAAD missile defense base in South Korea on Tuesday to improve living conditions for service members, the defense ministry said. Earlier in the day, the military moved construction equipment and materials, as well as daily necessaries for service members, such as water onto the US Forces Korea (USFK) base in the central town of Seongju, which hosts the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. Residents opposed to

South Korea has confirmed 247 more cases of major variants of the new coronavirus, raising the total caseload to over 1,000, amid concerns that the country's fight against the pandemic may be stressed by more transmissible strains of the virus. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said of the newly identified variant cases from May 9 to 15, 195 were local infections, while 52 were imported cases, bringing the total variant cases the country has confirmed since October last yea

A total of 38 South Koreans who arrived from India this month on special flights tested positive for the new coronavirus, health authorities said Tuesday. Of 1,039 Koreans brought home from the pandemic-ravaged country, 3.2 percent were confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Of the patients, 15 Koreans were screened at the airport and the reminder tested positive while being placed under quarantine at state-designated

GWANGJU -- South Korea marked the 41st anniversary of the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in Gwangju on Tuesday, as the historic incident drew fresh attention amid Myanmar citizens' struggle against the military junta. About 200 people were killed and thousands injured in the southwestern city from May 18-27, 1980, as the military brutally cracked down on protestors who rose up against the ruling junta led by Chun Doo-hwan. In a commemorative social media message, President Moon Jae-in expressed s

Investigators from the defense intelligence command raided the arms procurement agency over allegations that an agency official leaked confidential information on major defense projects, officials said Tuesday. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) official is suspected of leaking internal documents on several military technology development projects to private defense firms, including the development of a submarine sonar system, according to the officials. During Monday's raid

The employment rate of North Korean defectors in South Korea fell 3.8 percent last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, the unification ministry said Tuesday. The ministry released the latest data in a new master plan on settlement support for North Korea defectors for 2021-2023 and the implementation plan for this year. The employment rate of North Korean defectors last year was 54.4 percent, down from the previous year's 58.2 percent, behind that of South Korean-born citizens (60.4 percent).

One member of the South Korean national women's hockey team tested positive for the new coronavirus Tuesday, a local government said. The athlete, in her 20s, received the positive result while training in Jecheon, about 170 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to the city government. On Monday, she got tested for the virus after being notified that she had come into contact with a COVID-19 patient living in Goyang, just north of Seoul. The national team has been training at a hockey stad

Hybe Edu, an affiliate of K-pop powerhouse Hybe, plans to develop learning material for Korean classes at overseas elementary and middle schools, the company said Tuesday. The company said it recently signed a business partnership with the International Korean Education Foundation to develop support material for Korean language classes at overseas schools. The new learning material will be distributed at elementary and middle schools abroad through Seoul's education ministry starting early nex

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will make a five-day trip to the United States this week for his first face-to-face summit talks with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, Cheong Wa Dae announced Tuesday. Their summit will be held at the White House on Friday afternoon (local time) followed by a joint press conference, according to Chung Man-ho, senior Cheong Wa Dae secretary for public communication. Moon plans to leave for the US capital on Wednesday afternoon. He is scheduled to begin hi

Samsung Electronics Co. on Tuesday unveiled new power-controlling chips that minimize overall power consumption while boosting performance of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). The world's largest memory chip producer said its three power management integrated circuit (PMIC) products -- S2FPD01, S2FPD02, and S2FPC01 -- are available for DDR5 DRAM modules. A PMIC is an integrated circuit that receives the main power input and distributes the power to each electronics part with efficiency an

A civilian worker for the military tested positive for the new coronavirus even though he received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, marking the fifth such case among the military population, the defense ministry said Tuesday. The employee working on an Army base in the southern city of Busan was confirmed to have been infected after coming into contact with one of his colleagues who earlier tested positive, according to the ministry. He got the first jab of AstraZeneca's vaccine late la