The Korea Forest Service will set up a three-dimensional prediction system in a bid to minimize damages from forest fires this year, after a devastating year that has ravaged forests nationwide. The new 3D forest fire spread forecast program, which recreates the shape of the mountains in digital form, utilizes advanced information and communication technology, the KFS said Monday. More precise ...

The outfits that the members of BTS wore in the music video for their chart-topping single “Dynamite” sold for $162,500 at a charity auction in Beverly Hills, California, on Sunday. The septet’s pastel colored ensembles were purchased by Japanese art collector Yusaku Maezawa and YouTuber Hikakin. The outfits included the colorful T-shirts, hats, shirts, pants, shorts and sneakers that BTS wear ...

The Voluntary Agency Network of Korea has launched a global campaign to build Korean War memorials in 67 countries that helped South Korea during the Korean War. To this end, the civic group started a petition Monday on the world’s biggest petition website, change.org. The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs is currently working with the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation to build wh...

The South Korean government will expand the project to replace liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) hoses used in people’s houses with safe metal pipes nationwide, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Sunday. The central and local governments will spend 2.9 billion won ($2.6 million) this year for the replacement project that will cover 14,000 households across the country, according to the ...

BTS has been named one of the 10 best bands ever by US magazine Esquire. The popular men’s magazine, with an 87-year history, revealed its list over the weekend. “While K-pop as a genre has been around for decades, BTS is arguably one of the vanguard acts to pioneer K-pop’s immeasurable worldwide success,” Esquire said. “With a fan base that is aptly described as ‘ARMY,’ BTS’s beloved septet h...

Koreans have broken less traffic rules last year, but concerns still remain as an official report showed an increasing frequency of jaywalking and a growing number of drivers using smart devices on the road, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Wednesday. The Transport Culture Index, which measures driving and walking behaviors and the level of transport safety across 229 citi...

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has found hundreds of advertisements falsely promoting certain cosmetics as the answer to skin troubles caused by wearing a face mask everywhere during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Altogether, 413 websites have been found to be in violation of the Cosmetics Act because of misleading or exaggerated advertisements, the Drug Ministry said Thursday. The pages h...

The team compared the sensitivity of the nanofiber cylinders with cotton and flocked swabs, which are commonly used for COVID-19 testing, and found that the nanofiber cylinders reduced the rate of false negative test results. They detected the coronavirus at concentrations 10 times lower than the other swabs. Apart from allowing more accurate and sensitive COVID-19 testing, the ultra-absorptive ...

Young people in South Korea eat too much sugar from processed food, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Wednesday, citing the World Health Organization’s recommendations. Using data from a health and nutrition survey conducted by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the Food Ministry looked into the daily sugar consumption patterns of some 7,000 Koreans in 2018. The daily suga...

A man in his 30s surnamed Kwak signed up for an online subscription service that provides movies. Kwak tried to download videos from the webpage, but it never worked, even after multiple tries. So he contacted the service provider and asked for a refund. The service provider turned him down, saying that the error in Kwak’s case could not be identified. Amid the increasing demand for online sub...

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,”...