Amid speculation that Tokyo may pass on the Summer Olympics due to a recent surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country, Florida has proposed relocating the Games from Japan to the Sunshine State. Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday, offering the state as a replacement host. In his letter to the IOC, Patron...

Job losses and reduced working hours due to the COVID-19 pandemic cost the world the equivalent of 255 million jobs last year alone, the International Labor Organization said Monday. The losses led to an 8.3 percent decline in global income, which equals about $3.7 trillion or 4.4 percent of the gross world product, according to the ILO report. “This has been the most severe crisis for the worl...

Pohang city has ordered its residents to have at least one person get tested for the coronavirus from each household. “Although the spread of COVID-19 is on the decrease across the country, the city of Pohang is seeing an increase in the number of local community transmissions including infections stemming from the Sangju evangelical church facility and sauna-related cases,” said Pohang Mayor Le...

Police will start cracking down on unauthorized entertainment facilities that hinder quarantine efforts in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the National Police Agency said Sunday. Starting Monday, police will team up with local governments across the country and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for a 3-week long special inspection period. As the government’s ban on gatherings...

Kim Si-woo won the American Express and captured his third PGA Tour title, securing his first victory since 2017. Kim birdied two of the final three holes to card a bogey-free 8-under 64 in the final round to edge out late-storming Patrick Cantlay, who got 11 birdies in the final round alone, by a stroke on Sunday. “My heart was very firm in the last five holes and Patrick kept making birdies,”...

Korean rock icon Jeon In-kwon is facing a police investigation over a dispute with his neighbor, multiple media reported Friday. Seoul’s Jongno Police Station called in the legendary rocker on Wednesday over property damage allegations, according to reports. Jeon allegedly threw a roof tile at his neighbor’s front door in September. The rocker had gotten into a dispute with his neighbor, claimi...

Amid social distancing measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more people have turned to home training instead of going to the gym. But working out at home with training equipment should be handled with care, the Korean Consumer Agency (KCA) says. Over 4,000 accidents related to training equipment have been reported across the country every year since 2015, according to the annual data from the...

The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) has proposed unmanned submarines, flying bikes, and artificial intelligence (AI) pilots as the future game changers. In a collaboration with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, the ADD unveiled the Novel Weapon Systems Yearbook in booklet form for free on its website Wednesday. Introduced in the booklet, the state-of-the-art weapons systems c...

The Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK), a Korean language exam for nonnative speakers of Korean, will take place three times outside of South Korea this year, according to test administrators. The overseas exams are slated for April 10-11, July 11 and October 16-17 and the registration periods for each test are January 29-February 3, May 21-27 and August 3-9, respectively. Two more exams wil...

Remote work and more home entertainment could present a grave danger to the environment, according to a recent study. Published in the Resources, Conservation and Recycling journal earlier this month, the study points to how internet data is stored and transferred across the globe and how it impacts the environment. The study says just one hour of videoconferencing or streaming emits 150-1,000 ...

The state-run Youth Startup Academy has recruited 1,065 students so far, already a record-high number, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said Monday. Established in 2011, the Youth Startup Academy has so far fostered 4,798 young entrepreneurs and created 13,718 jobs while generating 4.78 trillion won ($4.35 billion) in cumulative sales from startups that began with its support. South Korea’s le...

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has launched an online simulator to help manufacturers create standardized labels for packaged products. Dubbed a “labelbot,” the simulator was developed to help packaged food manufacturers meet the requirements more easily, the ministry said Tuesday. According to the Food Ministry, about 12,000 inquiries about what must be included on packaged food labels w...

Four types of heated vest products were found to fail safety standards due to high surface temperatures, the Korea Consumer Agency said Monday. Based on a consumer survey, the watchdog selected 10 heated vests, one each from among the top 10 most popular brands, and conducted various tests on the safety, warmth and usability of the products. As the vests use batteries for the heating element, t...

If carbon emissions are kept at the current level, the temperature on the Korean Peninsula could rise by 7 degrees Celsius within the next 60 years, the Korea Meteorological Agency said Monday. Based on a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the state-run weather agency released its Korean Peninsula Climate Change Forecast Report 2020. The KMA’s report divided the c...

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs will begin training officials and workers in the agricultural and food sectors to lead the post-coronavirus era, the Food and Agriculture Officials Training Institute said Sunday. The plan is to foster 32,000 agricultural and food experts through 162 different training courses this year. As the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult...