The education minister on Thursday asked citizens to temporarily suspend their usual gatherings ahead of next week's nationwide college entrance exam so it won't be affected by the recent spike in new coronavirus cases. "(I) earnestly ask all South Korean people to suspend their usual gatherings for a week starting today with the hearts of parents with children who are taking the exam in mind," Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae said during a news conference held at the government complex

Prosecutors around the country held emergency meetings to discuss the justice minister's unprecedented move to suspend and discipline the chief prosecutor over allegations of his interference in sensitive investigations, legal sources said Thursday. Earlier in the day, six top district prosecutors pleaded with Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae to rethink the decision in a statement posted on the online bulletin board of the prosecution. They expressed concerns over perceived risk of political neutra

The Seoul city government plans to toughen antivirus measures following consultations with experts amid a surge in coronavirus cases in the capital, an official said Thursday. Park Yoo-mi, a disease control official at the city government, made the remark during a virtual press briefing shortly after the city reported a new high of 213 cases on Wednesday. "There appear to be blind spots that require further attention in the recent (coronavirus transmission) trend," Park said. "W

Two passenger cars crashed on an expressway leading to Incheon International Airport, the gateway to Seoul, early Thursday morning, killing two people and injuring three others, police said. The accident occurred near the North Incheon Toll Gate on the Incheon International Airport Expressway shortly before 6 a.m. when a K7 sedan collided with a Cruze sedan from behind before running into a retaining wall. The driver of the K7 car, identified only as a 26-year-old, was killed on the scene, and

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Thursday that it has succeeded in a ship-to-ship liquefied natural gas (LNG) loading test for the first time in the global shipbuilding industry. The ship-to-ship LNG loading test was aimed at streamlining procedures to verify the safety of newly built LNG carriers' tanks and to save on test costs, Daewoo Shipbuilding said. Before the ship-to-ship LNG loading test, newly built LNG carriers were usually sent to local LNG terminals far away

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Thursday it has received a 290 billion won ($260 million) F-16 maintenance order in the United States.  In the 10-year deal signed with the US Department of Defense, Korean Air will be in charge of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work for the life extension of the F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft deployed to the US air forces in South Korea and Japan, the company said in a statement. The national flag carrier has been providi

South Korea will start to unveil more digital services, from mobile identification to artificial intelligence (AI) doctors, as the pandemic limits face-to-face contact, the ICT ministry said Thursday. The Ministry of Science and ICT said it has named key services to support for digital transition amid the pandemic, including rolling out mobile identification for public servants from this year and mobile driver's licenses from next year. The ministry said it will also pursue a test service for

Samsung Electronics Co. maintained the top spot in the Western Europe smartphone market in the third quarter of the year, a report showed Thursday, despite sales decline. The South Korean tech giant shipped 10.3 million smartphones in Western Europe in the July-September period for a 35.6 percent market share, according to industry researcher International Data Corp. (IDC). The figures were slightly down from a year ago when the company shipped 11 million smartphones for a 35.8 percent marke

South Korea said Thursday it plans to reduce the operation of some coal-powered plants over the winter in line with efforts to cut the emission of fine dust. Under the plan, the country will halt the operation of from nine to 16 coal-powered plants over the season, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy. Other plants will be required to maintain their power output at 80 percent of capacity depending on demand. South Korea first adopted the reduction scheme last year. Throug

A Seoul court on Thursday sentenced the mastermind of one of the country's largest online sex trafficking rings to 40 years in prison. The Seoul Central District Court found Cho Ju-bin guilty of violating laws to protect minors from sexual abuse and of operating a criminal ring to make profits by producing and selling abusive videos. The court also ordered to make public his personal details for 10 years and ban him from working at children-related facilities for 10 years after his release. Ch

Twenty-two parents have been referred to the prosecution for potential indictment on charges of purchasing illegally leaked US Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) papers, police said Thursday. The parents allegedly bought SAT question and answer sheets leaked by brokers from 2014 to 2019, paying as much as 50 million won ($45,000) per paper, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. The brokers obtained the SAT question sheets in China and elsewhere, and handed them over to the parents, w

A newly upgraded interceptor missile, often dubbed the Korean equivalent of the US-made Patriot missile defense system, has been delivered to the military, the arms procurement agency said Thursday. Cheongung II, the upgraded version of the country's first indigenously developed medium-range surface-to-air guided missile of the same name, is equipped with multifunction radar to strike aircraft and missiles simultaneously, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. The Agenc

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said Thursday they are set to export over 100,000 electric vehicles this year on growing demand for environment-friendly cars. Hyundai and Kia shipped a combined 98,505 EVs from January to October, jumping 71 percent from 57,517 units during the same period of last year, according to the companies. "Stricter emission rules in Europe drove up demand for all-electric and less-emitting models," a Hyundai spokesman said. Hyundai's

The ruling party and the government on Thursday agreed to push to introduce a 10-year maximum post-prison segregation program for criminals convicted of brutal crimes, amid mounting public concerns ahead of the release of a notorious child sex offender. The agreement reached during a policy discussion meeting held at the National Assembly comes amid the nearing release of Cho Doo-soon, 69, one of the country's most notorious child rapists, from prison on Dec. 13. He has been serving a 12-year t

North Korea faces a serious humanitarian crisis due to shortages of food, clean water and medical services aggravated by poor governance and repressive internal political measures, a Swiss international nongovernmental organization has said. According to the annual "Inform Severity Index" report compiled by the Geneva-based Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS), North Korea faces a "very high" level of humanitarian crisis severity. This represented the highest level of a s

South Korean stocks opened slightly lower Thursday, taking a cue from overnight losses on Wall Street over disappointing US economic indices. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 0.94 point, or 0.04 percent, to 2,600.6 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.58 percent to 29,872.47 points on an increase in weekly US jobless data, weakening hopes for a quick recovery from the pandemic. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.48 percent,

The military decided to temporarily ban all troops from vacationing and taking off-installation trips after cluster infections were reported at an Army boot camp amid a nationwide spike in virus cases, the defense ministry said Thursday. Until Dec. 7, all troops will be subject to tightened social distancing rules in barracks, with vacationing and off-installation visits to be suspended starting Friday, according to the ministry. Officers are restricted from having private meetings, while in-p

The South Korean central bank on Thursday held its policy rate unchanged at a record low of 0.5 percent, while slightly revising up this year's economic outlook, amid growing concerns over a winter wave of coronavirus infections. As expected, the monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea (BOK) voted to leave the base rate steady in this year's final rate-setting meeting. Driven by signs of a modest recovery in exports, the BOK revised up this year's economic growth outlook to 1.1 percent cont

서울 성북구 장위동 사랑제일교회를 대상으로 한 3차 명도집행이 7시간여만에 중단됐다. 26일 경찰 등에 따르면 이날 오전 1시께부터 서울북부지법 집행인력 570명이 교회 시설 등에 대한 강제집행에 나섰으나, 신도 50여명이 교회 안에서 화염병 등을 던지거나 몸에 인화물질을 뿌리며 강하게 반발해 오전 8시 30분께 철수했다. 교회 지붕 등 곳곳에서는 신도들이 화염병 수십 개를 옮기는 모습이 수시로 목격됐다. 이들은 집행인력 진입을 막기 위해 교회 길목에 버스 등을 세워두고 화염병을 던져 차량이 불타거나 파손됐다. 소방당국은 법원 집행인력과 교회 관계자 등 10명이 화상·골절 등 부상을 당했다고 밝혔다. 이 가운데 5명이 병원으로 옮겨져 치료를 받고 있다. 경찰은 5개 중대 300여명을 현장에 배치했다. 명도집행을 진행한 장위10구역 재개발조합 측은 "통상 야간집행은 잘 안 하는 편이지만 이번에는 법원의 허가를 받고 실시했다"며 "안전을

Sixty newly enlisted soldiers tested positive for the new coronavirus at an Army boot camp in the central border town of Yeoncheon on Wednesday, the defense ministry said. They underwent virus tests after one of their colleagues showed symptoms and tested positive earlier in the day, even though he tested negative in an initial test taken upon his entrance into the camp, according to the ministry. They all joined the military on Nov. 10. The figure is feared to grow, as the authorities are