Prosecutors have raided the office of the anti-corruption team at the Supreme Prosecutors Office, intensifying an investigation into an allegedly illegal ban on a former vice justice minister from leaving the country two years ago. The Suwon District Prosecutors Office, in charge of the probe, sent prosecutors and police investigators to the team's office in southern Seoul on Tuesday afternoon to secure documents and data compiled when the justice ministry issued an urgent overseas travel ban o

Superstar BTS has earned five nominations for the 2021 Korean Music Awards with its record-breaking albums and songs released last year. BTS has been named in the Musician of the Year, the Album of the Year, the Song of the Year, the Best Pop Album and the Best Pop Song categories, becoming one of the five acts with the most nominations, the awards' selection committee said in an online press conference held Tuesday. The four other most-nominated acts were Leenalchi, a sensational alternative

Rep. Jang Hye-young of minor progressive opposition Justice Party has expressed her “regret” that a civic group filed a criminal complaint against former party leader who had sexually harassed her. She says recalling the damage again during an unwanted investigation “is a hindrance to her return to daily life.” Jang’s remarks on her social media comes after conservative civic group Hwalbindan said Tuesday it would file a complaint with the Seoul Southern District

The number of babies born in South Korea hit a new record low in November last year, data showed Wednesday, underscoring the country's chronic low birth rate. The number of deaths rose to the highest in 37 years, leading to the population declining for the 13th straight month, according to Statistics Korea. The data showed that 20,085 babies were born in November, down 15.3 percent from a year earlier. It marked a record low for the month of November since 1981, when the statistics agency beg

Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed his active support for Seoul's initiative to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, calling the efforts in line with the common interests of both countries, according to Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday. It said Xi delivered the comments during his phone talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday. During the talks, Moon said he hopes Seoul and Beijing can work together to open a trilateral summit between the two countries along with Japan. Xi repl

SEOUL/WASHINGTON -- Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and new US Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed Wednesday that the North Korean nuclear issue is an urgent matter that the two countries should work closely to resolve. They shared the understanding in their first phone talks that came just hours after Blinken officially took office as the country's top diplomat following the Senate confirmation on his nomination. "The two ministers shared the understanding that the North Korean nucl

The deputy nuke envoys of South Korea and Russia held phone talks to discuss the latest developments on North Korea, including the recent key party congress, Seoul's foreign ministry said Wednesday. Lee Moon-hee, director-general for North Korean nuclear affairs at Seoul's foreign ministry, and his Russian counterpart, Oleg Burmistrov, shared assessments on the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula, including the eighth congress of the Workers' Party that ended earlier this month, the minist

North Korea's official newspaper on Wednesday stressed the importance of admitting flaws and fixing them at the right time as the country steps up efforts to carry out key policy goals unveiled in a rare party meeting earlier this month. "Revolutionaries must strictly stay away from praising one's own accomplishments and drifting into indolence, which is equal to giving up their struggle for the revolution," the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North's ruling party, said i

A conscientious objector, now carrying out his alternative military service as a prison staff member under the current law after refusing to enlist for religious reasons, has filed a constitutional appeal contending that the alternative military service law is unconstitutional due to its punitive nature, judicial officials said Wednesday. By law, all able-bodied South Korean men must carry out military service for 18 to 22 months. But the National Assembly passed the Act on the Assignment and P

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Wednesday urged health authorities to remain vigilant against new virus outbreaks linked to unregistered regional schools operated by a Christian missionary group with a vast national network. "The number of daily cases has risen back to above 500. We've confirmed a mass outbreak at an unauthorized school owned by the Gwangju branch of IM missionary society," Chung said during an interagency meeting on the COVID-19 response held at the government compl

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases soared over 500 for the first time in 10 days Wednesday as infections at religious educational facilities flared up this week. The country added 559 more COVID-19 cases, including 516 locally transmitted infections, raising the total caseload to 76,429, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The figure was sharply up from 354 on Tuesday and 437 on Monday. The sharp rise in cases of locally transmitted infections came from

LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday it has won a prestigious TV technology and engineering award in the United States for its high-end OLED TV as the South Korean tech giant tries to expand its presence in the global TV market. LG said it has been named one of the recipients at the 72nd Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards organized by the US National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS). The Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards honor those who contributed to technic

　The number of North Koreans defecting to South Korea dropped sharply last year apparently due to the North’s border closure to prevent an outbreak of the coronavirus, government data showed. 　According to the data provided by the Unification Ministry, a total of 229 North Koreans settled down in South Korea last year. 　The number was far fewer than the 1,047 tallied a year earlier and 1,137 registered in 2018. 　During the first quarter, 135 North Koreans defected to the South. The

South Korea will invest 45 billion won ($41 million) in the next five years to develop next-generation technologies to track and monitor space objects, a state-run research center said Wednesday. The new laser-based technologies are aimed at better monitoring objects that fly over the Korean Peninsula amid an increase in the use of satellites for military purposes, according to the Defense Industry Technology Center. Hanwha Systems Co. will lead the research project that will be joined by a nu

KT Corp., a major South Korean telecom operator, said Wednesday it has started testing standalone 5G on its commercial network in its latest push for 5G technology. Currently, South Korean mobile carriers operate the non-standalone version of the latest generation network, requiring support from the previous 4G LTE network. The standalone version has benefits as it solely uses the 5G network, leading to decreased latency and improved battery life for devices, according to KT. While local mobi