President Moon Jae-in returned home Saturday from a three-nation trip to the Middle East, where bolstering economic and defense cooperation was high on the agenda. In the United Arab Emirates, South Korea signed a preliminary deal to sell Seoul‘s midrange surface-to-air missiles to the Persian Gulf nation, in the latest sign of deepening defense cooperation between the two nations. The ...

South Korea‘s daily coronavirus cases jumped to over 7,000 for the first time in a month on Saturday amid the fast spread of the omicron variant. The country added 7,009 new COVID-19 infections, including 6,729 local infections, raising the total caseload to 726,274, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). It is the first time since mid-December that the num...

A court on Friday allowed a YouTube-based media outlet to broadcast most of its recordings of phone conversations between one of its staffers and the wife of main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol. In an injunction suit launched by Kim Keon-hee, Yoon's wife, the Seoul Southern District Court allowed Voice of Seoul to disclose the recordings, except for parts that delve into private...

Lotte Corp., the holding company of South Korean retail giant Lotte Group, said Friday it has acquired an entire stake of Ministop Korea Co. for 313.37 billion won ($263 million). Under the deal, Lotte will take over 2,600 Ministop convenience store outlets across the country and 12 logistics centers to strengthen its retail business, the company said in a statement. Lotte operates the country'...

Thousands of Buddhist monks held a rally in Seoul on Friday, demanding President Moon Jae-in apologize for what they called the government's anti-Buddhist bias after a ruling party lawmaker accused temples of collecting admission fees from visitors to national parks. The lawmaker, Rep. Jung Chung-rai of the Democratic Party, has been under a firestorm of criticism from South Korea's largest Budd...

South Korean stocks retreated nearly 1 percent Friday, marking the lowest closing since December 2020, due to inflation woes amid heightened expectations of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 28.39 points, or 0.99 percent, to close at 2,834.29 points. Trading volume was moderate at about ...

CHEONGJU -- A battery factory in the southern city of Cheongju caught fire Friday, leaving one person trapped inside, firefighters said. The fire broke out at the auto battery factory at around 3 p.m. in the city, 140 kilometers south of Seoul. Two people were immediately rescued, but one other is believed to be trapped inside the building, firefighting authorities said. Police initially said ...

South Korea plans to increase the supply of beef and pork by around 50 percent on-year ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in an effort to help stabilize consumer prices, a senior government official said Friday. The government plans to increase the supply of beef and pork, key foodstuff needed to prepare for holiday meals, to 18,700 tons and 67,200 tons, respectively, according to Vice First Fi...

South Korea is not considering lifting a ban on imports of Japanese seafood to win Japan's support for joining a mega free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region, Seoul's oceans minister has said. South Korea is working to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which involves 11 nations, including Australia and Japan. Japan has long been relu...

South Korea plans to host the World Forestry Congress (WFC), the world's largest gathering of foresters, in May this year, government officials said Friday. The 15th WFC is scheduled to take place at Seoul's COEX from May 2-6, according to the Korea Forest Service (KFS). The WFC is the largest and most influential gathering of the world's forestry sector, and it has been held every six years un...

JEJU -- The provincial government of Jeju said Friday it will push to raise the minimum investment required of foreigners under its real-estate investment immigration policy to 1.5 billion won. Under the current property investment immigration system, foreigners who invest 500 million won (about $419,000) or more in condominiums or other resort facilities on the southern resort island are eligib...

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung on Friday proposed an emergency meeting between all presidential candidates to discuss increasing an extra government budget under consideration to 35 trillion won ($29.3 billion) to support pandemic-hit merchants. Lee of the liberal Democratic Party (DP) made the proposal only hours after the Cabinet endorsed a 14 trillion won extra budget for t...

GANGNEUNG -- The South Korean women's curling team will go on a quest for its second straight Olympic medal at the same Beijing venue where the country's Summer Games history was written nearly 14 years ago. At the Feb. 4-20 Beijing Winter Olympics, curling matches will take place at the National Aquatics Center, which held swimming races when the Chinese capital hosted the 2008 Summer Games. It...

Nearly two-thirds of South Koreans have no interest in the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, a survey showed Friday. Gallup Korea polled 1,002 South Korean adults from Tuesday to Thursday on their thoughts on the Feb. 4-20 Winter Games in the Chinese capital. And 65 percent said they were not interested, compared with 32 percent who showed an interest in the competition. The other 3 percent decl...

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung is running neck and neck with his main opposition rival Yoon Suk-yeol at 34 percent support against Yoon's 33 percent, a poll showed Friday. Lee of the liberal Democratic Party lost 3 percentage points from last week, while Yoon of the conservative People Power Party added 2 points, according to the Gallup Korea survey conducted on 1,002 adults f...