South Korea‘s public health protection authorities said Saturday the country is maintaining a high level of vigilance to prevent the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus as people celebrate the four-day Lunar New Year holiday.The country reported a confirmed case of the new coronavirus that causes pneumonia-like sickness Monday and another Friday, and said it has checked 32 other people for the new coronavirus so far with all testing negative.“The government is checking all people who are

A petition by a South Korean nongovernmental organization calling for a ban on the use of Japan’s imperial-era flag during the upcoming Tokyo Olympics has drawn over 56,000 signatures.The Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK), a Seoul-based group that promotes South Korean history and culture, posted the petition in September as part of its key campaign to address Japanese aggression during the 1910-45 occupation of the peninsula.As of Thursday morning, some 56,800 people signed the pet

South Koreans felt traditional holidays, which some criticize for putting too much pressure on women, are becoming fairer for both genders, a poll showed Saturday.Asked what they thought about gender equality within families during the Chuseok holiday last year, 43.2 percent said they felt circumstances have improved in terms of gender equality, according to the poll by the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family.A total of 39.3 percent said they did not sense a change, while 12.3 percent said situ

The Korea Foundation, a state-run public diplomacy organization, is eyeing a project to establish an office in Sweden to assist South Korea in efforts toward winning Nobel Prizes in science, the agency‘s chief has said.In a recent New Year interview, Lee Geun said the Tokyo University of Technology, which is one of the schools with the most Nobel Prize winners, operated an office in the European country to promote theses and achievements in sciences by its scholars to the Nobel Prize commi

South Korea will host the second summit of a global public-private initiative this year to speed up efforts to tackle climate change, according to Seoul's finance ministry on Friday. The first summit of Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) was held in Denmark in 2018 with the aim of addressing challenges in the five areas of food and agriculture, water, energy, cities and circular economy.P4G is a global network of governments, businesses and civil society organizations se

South Korea said Friday it will put utmost efforts to contain the Wuhan coronavirus by enhancing preventive quarantine and screening measures at airports and other areas as the country reported the second confirmed case of the deadly virus."It will take lots of time and efforts to terminate the virus, and what's important now is to take quick and through preventive measures, thus minimizing potential fallout," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said during an emergency meeting hastily arran

An annual mass migration started in South Korea on Friday as people headed to their hometowns for one of the country's key traditional holidays.Seol, or Lunar New Year's Day, falls on Saturday this year, with the holiday period running from Friday to Monday.Along with Chuseok, the equivalent of Thanksgiving in the United States, Seol marks South Korea's traditional holiday in which many South Koreans head back to their hometowns to pay homage to their ancestors and spend time with family and fri

Buses and subways in Seoul will run on extended operating hours over the weekend to meet demand for late-hour travel during the Lunar New Year holiday, the city government said Friday.Subway lines No. 1 to 9, as well as the Ui-Sinseol Light Rail Transit, will run until 2 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.Bus routes passing through five major train stations and four express and intercity bus terminals will also run until 2 a.m. for users who are returning

South Korea on Friday reported its second confirmed case of the China coronavirus amid mounting fears the pneumonia-like illness that is spreading throughout China and other parts of the world during the Lunar New Year holiday.According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), a South Korean who arrived at Gimpo International Airport, western Seoul, late Wednesday, tested positive for the new type of virus. The 55-year-old man, who has been working in Wuhan, visited a Chin

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae expressed intent on Thursday to order an internal probe into prosecutors that brought charges against a presidential secretary for suspected misconduct, calling it a rash move that did not follow due process.Choo delivered her message to the press after an anti-corruption team at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office earlier in the day indicted Choi Kang-wook, a presidential secretary for public office discipline, for fabricating an internship certificate for

Another elderly Korean victim of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery died Thursday, the gender ministry said. The death of the woman, whose identity was withheld at the request of her family, puts the number of surviving victims at 19, according to the ministry. A total of 240 are officially registered with the government as victims of sexual enslavement by the Japanese imperial army during World War II. Five died last year. Gender Minister Lee Jung-ok expressed condolences to the family over t

The leader of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a militant labor umbrella group, was given a suspended sentence Thursday for masterminding assaults on police during outdoor rallies.The Seoul Southern District Court sentenced Kim Myeong-hwan to 2 years and six months in prison, suspended for four years, and ordered him to complete 160 hours of community service.Kim was accused of overseeing violent illegal acts during KCTU members’ four protest rallies in front of the National Assem

Millions of South Koreans will flock across the country today to reunite with family members for one of the two biggest national holidays -- Seollal. The Lunar New Year, which this year falls Saturday, is characterized by traditional food, celebrations and customs and a chance to start over again with one’s resolutions. But for many, the time of celebrations and togetherness is increasingly becoming a source of woes. According to a poll released Jan. 18 by job-hunting platform Saramin, abo

Seoul on Thursday issued a travel alert for Wuhan, the epicenter of an outbreak of a new coronavirus in China, in an effort to stop the rapid spread of the deadly respiratory disease. 　Airports, ports, train stations and hospitals were put on high alert ahead of the four-day Lunar New Year holidays, a season for travel. 　South Korea’s Foreign Ministry assigned Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province, a warning level of “restraint,” the third-highest in the country’s four-t

Four suspected Wuhan coronavirus cases tested negative amid concerns over the spread of the SARS-like disease, South Korea's public health agency said Wednesday.    The four people who visited the city of Wuhan in central China underwent so-called pancoronavirus tests earlier in the day after experiencing symptoms, such as fever and sore throat, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).     South Korea co