The main opposition Democratic Party urged President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday to withdraw the appointment of the new chief of the Independence Hall of Korea amid criticism of his controversial views accused of justifying Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. The appointment of Kim Hyoung-suk as head of the museum focusing on the country's independence movement during the colonial rule has sparked criticism over some of his past remarks seen by critics as "New Right" and pro-Japanese

Politics Aug. 12, 2024

The government will bring in 300 immigrant workers annually through a pilot visa program to address workforce shortages in power transmission line construction, officials said Monday. Under the two-year trial program, the government will issue E-7 work visas to 300 foreign workers annually, who will be employed in the country's power line construction industry, the justice and industry ministries said. The industry is struggling to hire new workers due to its dangerous and demanding work en

Social Affairs Aug. 12, 2024

South Korea and the United States will begin a major combined military exercise next week to strengthen their joint defense readiness in the face of evolving North Korean military threats, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday. The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise is set to take place from Aug. 19-29, featuring the main computer simulation-based command post exercise, concurrent field training and civil defense drills. The move comes amid heightened cross-border tensions due to Pyongyang

Defense Aug. 12, 2024

The chief of the financial regulator called on local companies to actively join the government-initiated corporate value-up program Monday, stressing the need to build a stock market that is "stronger" and can "recuperate faster." Kim Byoung-hwan, head of the Financial Services Commission, made the call in a meeting with the heads of eight local businesses that have made public disclosures about their corporate value-up efforts or promised to do so in the near future. "I

Market Aug. 12, 2024

South Korean stocks opened higher Monday on eased woes over a US recession after last week's rout. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 26.81 points, or 1.04 percent, to 2,615.24 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Major US indexes finished higher Friday following a rout as recession woes diminished thanks to better-than-expected unemployment data. Investors' eyes are now on the US consumer price, producer price and retail sales data due out later this week. In Seoul,

Market Aug. 12, 2024

PARIS(Yonhap) -- South Korea capped its better-than-expected run at the Paris Olympics with two more medals on the final day of the competition Sunday. Seong Seung-min grabbed bronze in the women's modern pentathlon and became the first Asian to reach the podium since the women's event was added to the Olympics in 2000. After equestrian show jumping, fencing, swimming and laser run, which combines running and laser pistol shooting, Seong finished in third place with 1,441 points, behin

More Sports Aug. 11, 2024

PARIS(Yonhap) -- Park Hye-jeong captured silver in the heaviest weight class in women's weightlifting Sunday for South Korea's final medal of the Paris Olympics. Park finished with the total of 299 kilograms, with 131kg in the snatch and 168kg in the clean and jerk in the women's +81kg event at South Paris Arena 6 in the French capital. Both the snatch mark and the total weight are new South Korean national records. Park, 21, became the first South Korean medalist in the women&#

More Sports Aug. 11, 2024

PARIS (Yonhap) -- Kim Woo-jin and Lim Si-hyeon, a pair of triple gold medalists in archery, were named the MVPs of the South Korean delegation to the Paris Olympics on Sunday. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) announced that Kim and Lim were voted as the country's top athletes at the 33rd Summer Games by South Korean media. The KSOC created the MVP awards for a multisport competition for the first time at the Hangzhou Asian Games last fall. Lim, who had also won three archery

More Sports Aug. 11, 2024

North Korea has sent around 240 balloons carrying trash toward South Korea and about 10 of them landed in the South, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. As of 10 a.m., there had been no balloons detected floating midair, after North Korea launched such balloons Saturday, according to the South Korean military. A very few balloons landed in northern areas of Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul, as North Korea appears to have sent them despite winds blowing in northern and northeastern directions.

North Korea Aug. 11, 2024

Lee Da-bin grabbed a bronze medal in the women's heaviest weight class in taekwondo Saturday, giving South Korea its third medal in its traditional martial art at the Paris Olympics. Lee defeated Lorena Brandl of Germany 2-1 (4-2, 5-9, 13-2) in one of the two bronze medal contests in the women's +67-kilogram event at Grand Palais in the French capital. South Korea sent four taekwondo practitioners to Paris, and three of them came away with medals. Before Lee, Park Tae-joon won the men&

More Sports Aug. 11, 2024

  PARIS -- South Korea defeated Germany to claim the bronze medal in the women's table tennis team event at the Paris Olympics on Saturday. The trio of Shin Yu-bin, Jeon Ji-hee and Lee Eun-hye beat Shan Xiaona, Wan Yuan and Annett Kaufmann by 3-0 after taking one doubles and two singles matches at South Paris Arena 4 in the French capital. This was South Korea's second medal in the women's team event, which was added to the Olympics in 2008. South Korea won bronze that first year and went 1

More Sports Aug. 10, 2024

LPGA veteran Amy Yang is six shots off the lead heading into the final round of the women's golf tournament at the Paris Olympics. Yang, world No. 3, shot a two-under 70 in the third round on Friday at Le Golf National in Guyancourt, south of Paris, to reach three-under for the tournament. She had four birdies and two bogeys for her best round of the tournament so far. Yang is tied for 11th place with Hannah Green of Australia. They are six strokes behind two co-leaders, Lydia Ko, a South

Golf Aug. 10, 2024

South Korea came within a win of collecting its third straight taekwondo medal on Friday, with Seo Geon-woo losing in the bronze medal match of the men's -80-kilogram event. No other South Korean athlete came close to contending for a medal on this day, as the competition heads into its final weekend. South Korea's gold medal tally remained at 13, tied for its record for the Summer Games. Earlier on Friday, Seo seemed to be on his way to delivering the record-breaking gold medal. But

More Sports Aug. 10, 2024

The number of foreign medical doctors in South Korea has been on a steady increase, data showed Saturday, amid a prolonged walkout by doctors and trainee doctors here over a government-proposed spike in the medical school quota. The report comes amid plans by the health ministry to allow foreign medical doctors to practice medicine in the country when needed, even before they obtain local licenses. According to the data submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to Rep. Kim Mi-ae of the r

Social Affairs Aug. 10, 2024

South Korea and the United States will hold their sixth round of negotiations in Washington next week to determine Seoul's share of the cost for stationing the 28,500-strong US Forces Korea (USFK), the chief US negotiator said Friday. Linda Specht, US lead negotiator for security agreements at the State Department, released a statement on the plan to hold the negotiations in the US capital from Monday through Wednesday. South Korea's delegation is led by Lee Tae-woo, a senior diploma

Defense Aug. 10, 2024