South Korea saw a 25 percent decline in airborne nitrogen dioxide levels between January and May from the previous three-year average, a lawmaker said Wednesday, attributing the decline to coronavirus lockdowns in China. Rep. Jang Chul-min of the Democratic Party cited Korea Environment Corp. data available on AirKorea that showed Korea’s average concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, a key air pollutant, during the first five months of this year reached 0.017 parts per million, 25.4 percen

The tourist attraction looks to solidify its lesser-known core initiatives while its complex is void of tourists

REUTERS -- Scientists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of a method for genome editing, the award-giving body said on Wednesday. “Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna have discovered one of gene technology’s sharpest tools: the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement on awarding the 10 million Swedish crown ($1.1 million) prize. “This technology

South Korea is on track for its first lunar mission, with its first launch of a lunar orbiter slated for the second half of 2022, the country's space research institute said Sunday, after the country's lunar project suffered multiple delays. South Korea, a relative latecomer to the global space race, has been working on a lunar orbiter program since 2016. The spacecraft is expected to reach the moon by Dec. 16, 2022, and conduct a yearlong mission that could even be extended, according to the

South Korea is set to carry out a critical ignition test for the first-stage engine of its locally built space rocket later this year, a senior researcher at a state-run aerospace institute said Sunday. The process involves the clustering of four 75-ton thrust motors into the main stage rocket and actually starting the engine of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-2 (KSLV-2) rocket, said Cho Sang-yeon, head of the launcher assurance team at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). The KSLV-2

　The number of animals used for experiments in South Korea nearly tripled in 2019 from 10 years earlier, data showed, with private firms carrying out most of the related research. 　South Korea used 3.71 million animals for research purposes last year, up sharply from just 1.32 million in 2010, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The figure, however, remained nearly flat from 3.72 million in 2018. 　Rodents accounted for the majority at 87 percent in 2019, follo

Yonsei University’s Van der Waals Materials Research Center is leading the search for next-generation 2-D materials that could revolutionize the field of semiconductors. Led by professor Im Seong-il, the Van der Waals Materials Research Center has been at the frontier of research to overcome the limitations presented by current materials. According to Yonsei University, the center’s research is focused on developing new materials whose industrial potential that goes beyond even

South Korea plans to spend around 615.8 billion won ($516.5 million) on space development projects this year as the country gears up to launch its first domestically-built rocket and next generation satellites, the science ministry said Sunday. The investment is a 6.4-percent increase from 2019, with the earmarked budget to be focused on building up the country's capability to use space more effectively and bolster related industries, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. Of the total

South Korea's geostationary environmental monitoring satellite has successfully reached its designated orbit around the Earth, the science ministry said Sunday. The Chollian-2B that blasted off atop the Ariane-5 rocket from French Guiana on Feb. 18 (local time) is now in fixed orbit some 35,786 kilometers above the equator, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. The 3.4-ton satellite stationed at 128.25 degrees longitude will undergo a full systems optimization process in the coming mo

A cloned dog of a native breed close to extinction, the Sapsaree, gave birth to puppies last year, and one of them became pregnant recently. According to professor Kim Min-kyu of Chungnam National University -- whose team conducted the genetic experiment -- on Tuesday, the cloned Sapsaree gave birth to seven puppies through artificial insemination last December. Two of the seven pups were short-haired.The cloned dog had its genes reproduced from a male short-haired badugi (meaning “spotted

BUSAN -- A special exhibition highlighting the rich ecology surrounding the Mekong region and various uses of the biological resources, such as in skin care and cosmetic products, commemorating the 1st Mekong-ROK Summit in Busan that opened Wednesday for a monthlong run. “Life on the Mekong; Connecting People, Creating a New Future,” held by the National Institute of Biological Resources, under the Ministry of Environment, kicked off Wednesday at Nurimaru APEC House in Busan on the s

South Korean astronomers have discovered an asteroid that could potentially collide with Earth, although the odds are extremely low, marking the first finding of a hazardous asteroid by the country's scientists, a state-run science institute said Tuesday. The potentially hazardous astroid (PHA), provisionally labeled 2018 PP29, earlier this month by the International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center was discovered via orbital data collected from the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KM

South Korea will spend 300 billion won ($264 million) on developing three medium-sized next-generation satellites to improve the country's knowledge of space science and permit better management of agricultural resources and the environment, the science ministry said Sunday.The 2019-2025 plan approved by the National Space Committee calls for the private sector, with the support of the government, to place locally built, high performance satellites weighing around 500 kilograms into Earth's orbi

A hospital in Seoul said Wednesday it has successfully conducted South Korea's first simultaneous transplants of a liver from a donor with the same blood type and a kidney from another donor, with a different blood type, to a man in his 60s.In June this year, a team of doctors at Saint Mary's Hospital performed the transplantations to the man, who was suffering liver cirrhosis and chronic renal insufficiency. (Yonhap)The case, published on the website of the journal Transplantation Proceedings,

A South Korean taxi driver burned himself to death on Monday in protest at an Uber-like ride-sharing service being introduced by the country's largest mobile chat app, reports said.(Yonhap)South Korean taxi drivers have angrily protested against the car-pooling service created by KakaoTalk, saying it would threaten their jobs and livelihoods. US giant Uber has only a minimal presence in the country, offering only taxi- and licensed-hire vehicle hailing after closing its main ride-sharing service