Soldiers and civilians staged joint rallies across North Korea, calling for nationwide cooperation to carry out new policies and decisions made during a recent rare party congress, state media reported Wednesday. North Korea held the eighth congress of the ruling Workers' Party that ended last week, unveiling a new five-year economic development plan focusing on self-reliance in the face of the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and global sanctions on its regime. "Joint rallies of soldi

The nominee for US secretary of defense on Tuesday said he will seek to quickly conclude stalled negotiations with South Korea to set the latter's contribution toward maintaining US troops on the Korean Peninsula. Lloyd Austin said an early conclusion to the long-stalled negotiations would be part of efforts to enhance and modernize the US-South Korea alliance. "The US-Republic of Korea (ROK) Alliance is the linchpin of peace and security in the region. It is among the most combined, inte

Secretary of State-designate Antony Blinken on Tuesday vowed efforts to improve US relations with allies, saying the country is "far better positioned" to deal with threats from North Korea and other adversaries when it works with friendly nations. The former deputy secretary of state made the remarks at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "We can revitalize our core alliances -- force multipliers of our influence around the world," said

The new US administration of Joe Biden plans to review the country's entire approach and policy toward North Korea, Biden's secretary of state nominee said Tuesday. Antony Blinken said the new administration may also try to find ways to get humanitarian assistance to the North to help lessen the suffering of North Korean people if necessary. "I think we have to review and we intend to review the entire approach and policy toward North Korea because this is a hard problem that has plagued

Understanding North Korea's capabilities and true intentions is a critical role of US intelligence, the nominee for US director of national intelligence said Tuesday. Avril Haines also said, if confirmed, she will review existing intelligence on North Korea to discern what the regime's intentions are. "Understanding the capabilities and intentions of a country like North Korea is a critical responsibility of the intelligence community," Haines said in a written answer to questions fr

South Korea on Tuesday confirmed another case of highly pathogenic bird flu in poultry, raising the total caseload to 67. The latest case of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza came from an egg farm in Yongin, just south of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs. The ministry will administer screening tests and impose a 30-day movement ban on all poultry farms within a 10-kilometer radius of the affected farm. The restriction also applies to all poultry farms

With his South Korean national team set to face China in Olympic women's football qualifying playoff next month, head coach Colin Bell isn't daunted by past results or the air of uncertainty surrounding the competition. South Korea, dubbed the Taeguk Ladies, have lost 27 times against China in 37 previous meetings. Their most recent victory came more than five years ago. These two countries will meet on Feb. 19 and then again on Feb. 25, with the aggregate score determining who will compete at

President Moon Jae-in received a farewell courtesy call from outgoing US Ambassador Harry Harris on Tuesday and reaffirmed that his government will cooperate closely with the new US administration. During the half-an-hour meeting at his office, Moon pledged close coordination with the Joe Biden administration for a stronger alliance and progress in the Korea peace process as well as in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and other pending global issues, according to Cheong Wa Dae

The defense ministry on Tuesday launched an inspection into allegations the Navy chief failed to show up at an emergency meeting convened to discuss an officer who went missing earlier this month after having drinks that night, officials said. On Jan. 9, a Navy officer was found dead after going missing near the western border island of Baengnyeong while on guard operations the previous day. His body was found in the Yellow Sea hours later. The Navy convened an emergency meeting to monitor the

Last week's acquittals of 13 corporate executives in a deadly humidifier sterilizer case were caused by the court's wrong interpretation of the causal relations between chemicals contained in sterilizer products and victims' lung-related illnesses, a group of scholars argued Tuesday. The Seoul Central District Court ruled last Tuesday that Hong Ji-ho, former CEO of SK Chemical; Ahn Yong-chan, former CEO of Aekyung Industrial; and 11 other corporate executives are not guilty of professional negl

Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Corp. are expected to post double-digit growth in their fourth-quarter operating profit, helped by robust domestic sales despite the coronavirus pandemic. Strong local demand for their vehicles helped Hyundai Motor and Kia offset their weak overseas sales in the October-December period, analysts said. Hyundai, the country's biggest carmaker, likely posted an operating profit of 1.71 trillion won ($1.55 billion) in the fourth quarter, up 37 percent from 1.24

The leader of the Jogye Order, South Korea's largest Buddhist sect, said Tuesday that he will strive to promote inter-Korean religious exchanges this year by helping the North's battle against the novel coronavirus. "We will closely confer with our North Korean counterpart on projects to facilitate exchanges and cooperation between the Buddhist communities of the two Koreas," Ven. Wonhaeng, president of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, said in an online press conference. "I'll

South Korean stocks jumped more than 2 percent Tuesday on stellar advances by auto-related shares, backed by expectations of improved earnings. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 78.73 points, or 2.61 percent, to close at 3,092.66 points. Trading volume was high at about 1.3 billion shares worth some 23.8 trillion won ($21.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 737 to 124. Foreigners bought a net 412 billion won, while

Baekhyun, the lead singer of K-pop boy group EXO, will release his first solo album in Japan this week, his agency said Tuesday. His first Japanese EP, titled "BAEKHYUN," is set to hit Japan on Wednesday, according to SM Entertainment. It is his first time to release a Japanese album as a solo artist since his debut in 2015. The main track of the love-themed album will be "Get You Alone," which was first performed during his first solo concert held on Jan. 3 and pre-releas

Twenty-six American service members and five civilians affiliated with the US Forces Korea (USFK) have tested positive for the new coronavirus upon their arrival here over the past few weeks, the US military said Tuesday. Of them, 13 service members and three family members arrived at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on government-chartered flights, while 13 other service members, one civilian worker and one dependent came here on commercial flights via Incheon Interna

President Moon Jae-in is expected to carry out a Cabinet reshuffle as early as this week to affect Park Young-sun, minister of SMEs and Startups, and a few others, an informed source said Tuesday. Park, a former reporter and ruling Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker, is apparently seeking to run in the April 7 by-election for the Seoul mayorship. She plans to quit the job Wednesday in consideration of the schedule for the ruling party's race to pick its candidate for the all-important election, ac

The government has provided as much information about its ongoing probe as possible to the family of a South Korean fisheries official killed by North Korea's military in the sea last year, a report to a UN body showed Tuesday. South Korea made the case in the report submitted last week to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in response to concerns that the authorities have not fully disclosed to the family the information related to the incident that took place in S

Women in Seoul spend nearly four times more hours on housework than men, a city government report showed Tuesday. According to the 2020 Seoul gender statistics report, girls and women aged 15 or older spent 2 hours and 26 minutes on household chores every day, which was about 3.6 times longer than men's 41 minutes. The report was based on 2019 data from Statistics Korea and the city government's own research. Women's labor force participation rate rose to 55.2 percent in 2019, up from 52.5 pe

South Korea's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) saw their exports inch down in 2020 from a year earlier despite the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Tuesday. SMEs' overseas shipments totaled $100.8 billion last year, down 0.2 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The decrease compared with a 6.7 percent decline in exports by middling and large companies. Smaller firms' exports accounted for 19.7 percent of South Korea's tota

South Korean football icon Park Ji-sung will join the domestic club champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors as an adviser, hoping his knowledge of European football will keep the juggernauts at the top. Jeonbuk, the four-time reigning K League 1 title holders, announced Tuesday that Park, former national team captain, will work with them on a part-time basis while splitting his time in South Korea and Britain. Jeonbuk said Park will be advising in areas ranging from draft to player development, scout