Parliamentary Speaker Park Byeong-seug will visit China next month and attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the National Assembly said Tuesday. He is scheduled to visit Beijing from Feb. 3-6 at the invitation of Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. They will discuss ways to boost exchanges between the parliaments of the two countries, which mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year, the National Assembly said

Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul will reopen in July after completing over 1 1/2 years of renovation that will more than double the total area, including tripling the space for trees and other plants, the city government said Tuesday. The square, located in front of the royal Gyeongbok Palace and the US Embassy, has been one of the must-visit places for tourists and citizens. Since November 2020, construction has been under way to expand the square from 18,840 square meters to 40,300 square

South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo will visit the United States from this week to discuss bilateral cooperation on global supply chains and other trade issues, the ministry said Tuesday. During his weeklong visit from Tuesday (US time), Yeo will meet his US counterpart Katherine Tai, lawmakers and governors to bolster economic ties between the countries. Yeo is scheduled to hold talks with Tai on Thursday to exchange views on the 10-year-old bilateral free trade agreement, the US-led Indo

With or without their captain and best player, South Korea will try to extend their World Cup appearance streak to 10 with a win over Lebanon when the final Asian qualification round resumes this week. South Korea will travel to Sidon for their Group A match against Lebanon at Saida Municipal Stadium on Thursday. The kickoff is at 2 p.m. local time, or 9 p.m. in South Korea. With six out of 10 matches in the books in the ongoing round, South Korea are in second place in Group A with 14 points,

South Korea's military on Tuesday reported 78 additional COVID-19 cases, including 67 breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 4,020. Of the new cases, 63 are from the Army, seven from the Marine Corps, four from units under the direct control of the defense ministry and four from the Air Force. The Army infection count included 30 trainees based at a boot camp in Nonsan, 213 kilometers south of Seoul. Currently, 406 military personnel are under treatment. Of

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top wireless carrier, said Tuesday it will speed up the development of urban air mobility (UAM) services. In 2020, South Korea unveiled its plan to commercialize UAM services by 2025 to help overcome urban traffic congestion by using unmanned drone taxis. Last year, SK Telecom signed a partnership with local defense company Hanwha Systems Co., Korea Airports Corp. and the Korea Transport Institute to develop the infrastructure and aircraft required for UAM service

South Korea said Tuesday it will seek to provide low-rate loans up to 11.4 trillion won ($9.5 billion) to emerging countries for their projects by 2024. The government plans to set the yearly approval ceiling of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) at 3.6 trillion won this year, and raise it to 3.8 trillion won next year and 4 trillion won in 2024, according to the finance ministry. The government also plans to set the implementation goal of the EDCF at 4.5 trillion won over the ne

Global TV sensation "Squid Game" and the music video for "My Universe," a collaborative single between BTS and British rock band Coldplay, have been nominated for the 26th annual US Art Directors Guild (ADG) Awards. The ADG on Monday (US time) announced nominations for this year's awards show, which will return to a live ceremony on March 5 in Los Angeles. The ADG Awards honor excellence in production design in theatrical motion pictures, television, commercials, music vide

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung pledged Tuesday to provide a basic income of up to 1 million won ($836) to residents of farming and fishing villages if elected in March. Lee of the liberal Democratic Party announced the pledge at a press conference in Pocheon, 46 kilometers north of Seoul, as he canvassed voters in Gyeonggi Province for a third day. Lee said he will increase the agriculture and fisheries industries' share of the government budget to 5 percent and conduct deve

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases hit a record high of 8,571 on Tuesday, driven by the fast spread of the new dominant omicron variant, as the country is set to put in force revised virus curbs to rein in the highly transmissible variant. Tuesday's cases, including 8,356 local infections, took the total caseload to 749,979, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. It marks the first time the daily caseload has surpassed the 8,000 mark since the country reported the firs

　Four out of 10 self-employed people in South Korea are considering closing their businesses due to sluggish sales amid the long-enforced strict social distancing rules during the coronavirus pandemic, a survey showed. 　According to the survey of 500 people operating restaurants, retail and other service businesses by the Federation of Korean Industries, a major business lobby group, 40.8 percent said that they are considering discontinuing their operations. 　Of them, 28.2 percent cited decli

Since Paulo Bento took over as head coach of the South Korean men's national football team in August 2018, no Korean player has scored more goals than Hwang Ui-jo's 13. After years of relative anonymity, the 29-year-old forward for FC Girondins de Bordeaux has emerged as the go-to striker for Bento, the safety valve that can find the back of the net in desperate moments. And as South Korea prepare to resume their World Cup qualifying bid this week, Hwang may finally have some worthy opponents i

South Korea's top 30 family-controlled conglomerates have seen their stock market capitalization spike more than 30 percent over the past four years, with Samsung Group taking the top spot, a market tracker said Tuesday. The combined value of 201 listed firms belonging to the leading business groups, known as chaebol here, came to some 1,504 trillion won ($1.26 trillion) as of Friday, up 33.2 percent from Jan. 2, 2018, according to the Leaders Index. The number of their listed units was up 16

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday, as investors await the US Federal Reserve's stance about rate hikes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 19.65 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,772.35 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to end its two-day monetary policy meeting Wednesday (local time), which is expected to give clues on its monetary policy direction. South Korea's record high virus tally also added to the concerns about str

South Korea's economy posted the highest growth rate in 11 years as consumption and exports bounced back from the pandemic-caused slump, central bank data showed Tuesday. The gross domestic product is estimated to have grown 4 percent in 2021, marking a turnaround from a year earlier when the economy contracted 0.9 percent, the worst performance since 1998, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The 2021 growth rate marked the highest tally since 2010, when the economy expanded 6.