The chief of the ruling Democratic Party on Sunday pledged efforts to start administering coronavirus vaccines in South Korea before March. Rep. Lee Nak-yon made the remark during a press conference marking the 100th day since he took the helm of the party, saying he will do his best to move up the use of coronavirus medicines and vaccines as much as possible while ensuring their safety and efficacy. "We will do our best to expedite the use of coronavirus medicines and vaccines as early a

The military reported two new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday. A civilian worker for the Navy in Jinhae in the southeastern city of Changwon tested positive for COVID-19 before his release from quarantine, after a fellow worker was confirmed to have been infected on Dec. 1 upon returning from a recent business trip to Colombia, according to the defense ministry In Samcheok, Gangwon Province, an Army officer was also confirmed to have been infected with the virus following his recent trip t

SUWON -- Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung said Sunday that he will seek an emergency measure to mobilize a private university dormitory to accommodate new coronavirus patients. In a tweet, Lee announced his first such plan to mobilize a private facility to tackle the public health care crisis, as the province is running short on hospital beds and other facilities to treat the growing number of COVID-19 patients. Earlier in the day, the provincial government sent a document to Kyonggi Unive

President Moon Jae-in will preside over an emergency anti-coronavirus meeting on Sunday, officials said, after South Korea's daily virus cases hit an all-time high of over 1,000. It will be the first time in about 10 months for Moon to chair an anti-virus meeting since he did so on Feb. 23. That underlines how seriously he views the recent spike in virus cases. Such meetings have usually been presided over by the prime minister. Cheong Wa Dae said Moon's decision to preside over the meeting is

South Korean steelmaker Posco said Sunday it will expand hydrogen production capacity in the next three decades to meet growing demand for the clean energy source and foster new growth drivers. Posco, the world's fifth-largest steelmaker by output, said it will produce up to 5 million tons of hydrogen by 2050 to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy sources. The company plans to launch a hydrogen business unit next month and collaborate with research agencies

Starbucks has opened seven new stores in South Korea, bringing the total number of outlets that the US coffee giant has launched since its debut here 21 years ago to 1,503 amid a coffee craze among locals, industry sources said Sunday. Five of the seven new outlets opened Tuesday are drive-thru stores, the sources said. As social distancing guidelines for COVID-19 require coffee shops to adopt tougher virus measures, Starbucks has increased drive-thru outlets to allow customers to buy coffee w

Tours to the truce village of Panmunjom will be suspended again this week due to coronavirus concerns, the unification ministry said Sunday, just about a month after the program resumed following a yearlong suspension over worries about African swine fever. The ministry made the announcement to suspend the program on Tuesday as South Korea's single-day coronavirus cases broke the 1,000-mark for the first time since the country saw its first COVID-19 case in January. "We have decided to te

Health authorities will begin offering free virus tests at 150 new makeshift COVID-19 testing sites in Seoul and its surrounding areas under a three-week containment campaign, officials said Sunday, as the daily virus count breached the 1000 mark. The Central Disease Control Headquarters said that from Monday until Jan. 3, it will administer the tests at facilities at Seoul and Yongsan Stations, major university districts and other high-risk areas in the greater Seoul metropolitan area. They wi

President Moon Jae-in told global leaders Sunday that South Korea is seeking to raise the 2030 greenhouse gas emission reduction target in line with its stated aim of going carbon neutral by 2050. Participating in the Climate Ambition Summit, held via video links, Moon said his country plans to submit a long-term low-carbon growth strategy and its 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), newly converted into absolute terms, to the United Nations within this year. "Furthermore, we wi

Seoul received the first measurable snowfall of the season on Sunday as the state weather agency issued a heavy snow advisory for the metropolitan area and other parts of the country. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), Seoul received about 0.8 centimeters of snow as of 6 a.m. and is expected to receive up to 7 centimeters later in the day. KMA issued the advisory for Seoul and parts of the Gyeonggi Province, as well as for the eastern province of Gangwon. The advisory

1년 전 부산 시내 한 언론사 전광판에 조롱성 문구가 등장한 것은 중학생의 소행인 것으로 확인됐다. 부산경찰청은 정보통신망법 위반 혐의로 중학생 A군을 붙잡아 조사하고 있다고 13일 밝혔다. A군은 지난해 12월 14일 오후 1시 28분 부산 부산진구 부전동 한 건물에 설치된 디지틀조선일보 전광판에 '조선일보 전광판 중학생한테 다 털렸죠? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ'라는 문구를 띄운 혐의를 받고 있다. 경찰에 따르면 당시 전광판 운영 업체가 원격 제어 용도로 사용하던 외국 프로그램이 자동 업데이트되면서 아이디와 비밀번호를 포함한 로그인 화면이 전광판에 표출됐다. 이를 본 A군은 이 프로그램에 접속해 조롱성 문구를 게시한 것으로 조사됐다. 경찰은 사건 발생 직후 내사에 착수, 인터폴 등과 국제 공조 수사까지 벌여 A군 신원을 특정했다. A군은 경찰 조사에서 호기심 때문에 했다고 진술한 것으로 알려졌다. 경찰 관계자는 "A군이 형사미성년자여서 가정법원으로 송치할 예정"이라고

President Moon Jae-in vowed Saturday to use all available resources to stem the spread of the new coronavirus as the country's new daily infection number hit a record high of 950. Calling the current state an "emergency," Moon apologized for failing to promptly stabilize the COVID-19 situation despite tightened social distancing measures taken at the cost of citizens' inconvenience and economic damage. "We will consider this as an emergency situation and put all out efforts in a

Five more soldiers and a Marine have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Saturday. Three Army officers and a Marine officer at the Sangmudae Artillery School in the southwestern county of Jangseong were confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 before their release from quarantine following a series of infections at their base, according to the ministry. In the northeastern county of Hwacheon, a soldier and an officer were also confirmed to have been infected with th

Cho Doo-soon, one of South Korea's most notorious child rapists in recent memory, was released from prison on Saturday amid strong protests against the heinous criminal's return to society. Cho served a 12-year term for kidnapping and raping an 8-year-old girl in a church bathroom in Ansan, 42 kilometers southwest of Seoul, in December 2008. A huge public outcry has erupted over what has been seen as too lenient a punishment for a horrendous sexual crime against a minor. He left the correction

South Korea's Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee has met with US President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for US trade representative, the trade ministry said Saturday. Yoo discussed pending trade issues with Katherine Tai, the chief trade counsel for the US House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee, during her four-day trip that ended on Friday, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said, without elaborating. The meeting came before media reports that Biden nominated Tai, a China trade exp

A Seoul court has reversed the prison sentence delivered to a man more than 40 years ago for watching North Korean propaganda TV content and praising the communist country's late founder, judicial sources said Saturday. The man was initially convicted of violating the now-defunct anti-communist security law and served 10 months behind bars in the 1970s, when anti-communist sentiment was running high in South Korea. In a recent retrial of the case, the Seoul Central District Court found him, no

Filmmaker Kim Ki-duk, who is known to have died from COVID-19 complications in Latvia, was one of South Korea's most decorated film directors, especially on the international stage. He rose to global fame after winning best director and best film awards at two of the three major international film festivals. But he left his home country after becoming embroiled in the #MeToo movement, facing accusations of sexual and physical abuse from an actress in 2017. Born to an impoverished family in th

South Korean stocks are likely to further rise next week despite some correction, as investors pin high hopes on a quick economic recovery from the pandemic's fallout. Despite a surge in new daily COVID-19 cases, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at an all-time high of 2,770.06 points Friday, up 1.41 percent from a week ago. The KOSPI moved like roller coaster on vaccination reports, rising more than 2 percent Wednesday on the world's first mass COVID-19 vaccination in Britain. The

A South Korean court struck down appeals filed by a Japanese firm against a ruling that ordered a freeze of its assets here to compensate victims of wartime forced labor. According to the Daegu District Court in southeastern Korea on Friday, its Pohang branch rejected Thursday two appeals filed earlier this week by Japan's Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp over the court's decision to seize its assets. The court dismissed a similar appeal in August, calling the plaintiff's claim "ba

US Forces Korea said Friday it will strengthen anti-coronavirus restrictions for its personnel in the greater Seoul area following a resurgence in the number of virus cases in the country. Effective 6 p.m. Saturday, the US military will heighten the Health Protection Condition by one notch to Charlie for Area II that encompasses Seoul, the surrounding Gyeonggi Province and the western city of Incheon, until further notice. Under the tightened rules, "only mission essential individuals wil