[Domestic] :
Medical students will be allowed to take a leave of absence as long as the request is for personal reasons.   The education ministry revealed the decision on Tuesday after holding a closed-door meeting with the presidents of 40 universities that have medical schools.   Previously, medical students were ...

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[Domestic] :
More than 50 percent of South Koreans in their 30s were unmarried as of last year’s census. According to the census results released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, as of November 1, 2023, the proportion of unmarried people among all people in their 30s stood at 51-point-three percent. Of the ...

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[Domestic] :
The nation has confirmed its first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza so far this fall season at a poultry farm in Gangwon Province.  Quarantine authorities said Wednesday that the birds at the farm in Donghae had the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus. The farm, which raises some 700 ...

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[Domestic] :
Ahead of the College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT), several companies have been caught illegally distributing medications to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) and posting misleading advertisements for the pills.  According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Monday, an intensive ...

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[Domestic] :
A new online labor union welcomes all members, regardless of occupation or industry, including job seekers who are not currently employed. The civic group Workplace Gapjil 119 announced the union’s launch Monday, saying it is based on an internet community and anyone can participate. The group said ...

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[Domestic] :
The defense ministry’s website fell victim to a cyberattack Tuesday, prompting the military to take response measures.  According to the ministry on Wednesday, the distributed denial-of-service(DDoS) attack struck at about 5:30 p.m. the previous day, adding that the website is currently back ...

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[Domestic] :
Two people are dead and 12 others are missing after a fishing boat sank in waters off Jeju Island on Friday morning.  The Jeju branch of the Korea Coast Guard said it received a distress call around 4:46 a.m. on Friday, indicating that a 129-ton vessel Geumseong was sinking 24 kilometers northwest of ...

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[Domestic] :
The number of patients with the bacterial disease scrub typhus has increased eightfold over the past three weeks, prompting health authorities to urge caution. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) on Friday, the number of scrub typhus patients jumped from 58 between October 13 ...

[more...]

[Domestic] :
Rescue workers are continuing the search for 12 missing crew members of a fishing boat that sank in waters off Jeju Island early on Friday.  The Jeju branch of the Coast Guard said it is mobilizing all available resources for the search, as the first 24 hours are considered crucial with water ...

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[Domestic] :
Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kang Do-hyung has held an emergency meeting to check up the search of 12 missing crew members of a fishing boat that sank in waters off Jeju Island on Friday morning.  Officials from the interior, defense ministries, the Korea Coast Guard and governments of Busan and Jeju ...

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[Domestic] :
Search for 12 missing crew members of a fishing boat that sank in waters off Jeju Island continued for the second straight day on Saturday. According to the Jeju branch of the Korea Coast Guard, a remotely operated vehicle(ROV) is set to be submerged once in the morning and again in the afternoon for ...

[more...]

[Domestic] :
Testimonies from surviving crew members who were aboard the fishing boat that sank in waters off Jeju Island on Friday suggest that the excessive amount of fish caught may have caused the ship to go down. According to the Jeju branch of the Korea Coast Guard on Saturday, all of the rescued crew members ...

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[Domestic] :
A fire that broke out at a POSCO factory in the southeastern city of Pohang early on Sunday has been put out after five hours. Fire authorities of North Gyeongsang Province announced on Sunday that the fire, which broke out at the third Finex furnace of the nation's largest steelmaker at 4:20 a.m., ...

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[Domestic] :
Rescue workers on Saturday found the body of one of the 12 missing crew members of a fishing boat that sank off Jeju Island on Friday. According to the Jeju branch of the Korea Coast Guard, a body was retrieved in waters 24 kilometers northwest of Hallim Port at 11:18 p.m. Saturday and transported to Jeju ...

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[Domestic] :
Another body was found in the search for missing crew members after a fishing boat sank off Jeju Island last week.  According to the Jeju branch of the Korea Coast Guard on Monday, the body was found close to the sunken boat around 4 p.m. Sunday during an underwater search using a remotely operated ...

[more...]

[Domestic] :
The nation’s annual college entrance exam will be distributed across the nation from Monday to Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT).  The education ministry said the CSAT question and answer sheets will be transported to all 85 test zones across the nation starting ...

[more...]

[Domestic] :
The search for missing crew members continued for the fourth straight day on Monday, after a fishing boat sank in waters off Jeju Island. According to the Jeju branch of the Korea Coast Guard, 47 vessels and eight aircraft were dispatched to search for the eight South Koreans and two Indonesians who remain ...

[more...]

[Domestic] :
The Seoul Metropolitan Government will enforce comprehensive measures to control traffic when the annual college entrance exam takes place on Thursday. According to city officials on Monday, work hours at public offices in the city will start an hour late at 10 a.m. Thursday to prevent exam-takers from ...

[more...]

[Domestic] :
The prosecution has sought a pretrial detention warrant for Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed political consultant, and former ruling People Power Party(PPP) lawmaker Kim Young-sun, as part of its probe into a 2022 political funding case. The Changwon District Court said it received such a request from ...

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[Domestic] :
The number of female executives in the country's top 100 companies has reached a record high. According to global headhunting firm Unico Search on Monday, the number of female executives in South Korea's top 100 companies reached 463 this year, up five-point-five percent, or 24 from last ...

[more...]

[Domestic] :
Police have requested arrest warrants for six members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU) who took part in a large protest in downtown Seoul on Saturday urging President Yoon Suk Yeol to step down. The police said Monday that they detained eleven people on Saturday and asked the Central ...

[more...]

[Domestic] :
The transport ministry will restrict the takeoff and landing of all aircraft for about half an hour on Thursday to prevent distractions during the English listening portion of the annual College Scholastic Ability Test. The ministry said Tuesday that the restrictions will be in place from 1:05 p.m. to 1:40 ...

[more...]

[Domestic] :
A death from whooping cough or pertussis has been reported in South Korea for the first time since the government began compiling related data in 2011. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) on Tuesday, an infant less than two months old died from the disease on November 4. The ...

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[Politics] :
A special counsel bill aimed at investigating various allegations surrounding First Lady Kim Keon-hee was passed at the National Assembly's legislation and judiciary committee meeting on Friday. The bill was passed unilaterally at the parliamentary judiciary subcommittee by members of the opposition after ...

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[Politics] :
Newsweek reported that the biggest problem plaguing President Yoon Suk Yeol is not North Korea but domestic matters. In an interview with the U.S. weekly released on Friday, President Yoon emphasized the need for “structural reform” in the country.  Yoon said that the previous governments feared ...

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[Politics] :
The average prices of gasoline and diesel both increased for the fourth consecutive week. According to the Korea National Oil Corporation's(KNOC) price information system Opinet on Saturday, the average price of gasoline rose 13-point-one won on-week to one-thousand-613-point three won per liter, or ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed political consultant and a key figure in a high-profile scandal involving the president and first lady, appeared for questioning for the second consecutive day. Prior to interrogation by the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office on Saturday, Myung once again denied ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
K-pop boy band SEVENTEEN has received a certificate of appreciation from Los Angeles for their contribution to music and youth empowerment.  Joshua, the LA-native of the 13-member group, accepted the honor on behalf of SEVENTEEN at the invitation of the LA City Council on Friday, local time. The ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
Massive rallies by labor and civic groups are set to take place in Seoul on Saturday afternoon. The Federation of Korean Trade Unions(FKTU), one of the nation's two umbrella groups, staged a rally in Yeouido at 2 p.m., denouncing what it calls the government's "anti-labor policies." The other umbrella ...

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[Politics] :
John Bolton, former national security advisor under the first Donald Trump administration, warned that U.S. isolationism is expected to further intensify as Trump returns to office for a second term. In an interview with Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun a day before the election on Monday and published on ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
The ruling People Power Party has launched a consultative body with the government and some doctors’ groups, but without the participation of the main opposition party, a trainee doctors’ group or the country’s largest group of doctors.  The body held its inaugural meeting at the National Assembly on ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged efforts to overcome polarization in South Korean society, as he passes the halfway point of his five-year presidency. According to presidential spokesperson Jeong Hye-jeon on Monday, Yoon, during a meeting with his aides, called for forward-looking efforts to resolve ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
The opposition will submit a revised version of its bill mandating a special prosecutor to investigate allegations against first lady Kim Keon-hee, limiting the scope of the probe in an apparent effort to win votes from the ruling party when the bill returns to parliament for a revote after an expected ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun on Monday reiterated that sending an observation team to Ukraine is necessary for protecting national interest. During a National Assembly National Defense Committee session, Minister Kim said sending an observation team differs from troop deployment. He explained that a ...

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[Politics] :
If the opposition unilaterally passes a bill mandating a special counsel investigation targeting first lady Kim Keon-hee, ruling People Power Party floor leader Choo Kyung-ho has said he will strongly recommend a presidential veto.  At a party Supreme Council meeting Monday, Choo said the ruling party ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo has ordered officials to prepare for potential policy changes in the United States upon Donald Trump’s reelection. The prime minister issued the instruction Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting, saying the U.S. is expected to seek “considerable policy shifts” in foreign ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul said he is confident that the South Korea-U.S. alliance will continue to grow stronger under the incoming Donald Trump administration. At a press conference on Tuesday, Cho said President-elect Trump’s foreign policy, which prioritizes U.S. allies’ expanded role and ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
The Supreme Court has ruled against a man who cited his socialist beliefs as grounds for objecting to military service.  In upholding a lower court decision to dismiss the man’s case against the state conscription agency, the top court said Oct. 25 that there had been no error in interpreting the legal ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
The South Korean military announced Tuesday that North Korea has attempted to disrupt GPS signals in the western inter-Korean border region for the fifth straight day. During a regular press briefing, Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) spokesperson Lee Sung-jun said the latest GPS-jamming attempts occurred ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
The presidential office says it is working to arrange a meeting between President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. A senior official told reporters on Tuesday that the top office is in close communication with Trump’s team. This comes as the Yoon administration is preparing for the ...

[more...]

[Inter-Korea] :
North Korea has reiterated its accusation that the South Korean military flew a drone over Pyongyang earlier this month, claiming it took off from South Korea’s Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea.  In a report on Monday, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) said the country’s ...

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[Inter-Korea] :
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has derided South Korea over its refusal to respond to the North’s allegations of a drone incursion over its capital city earlier this month. In a statement carried by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) on Monday, ...

[more...]

[Inter-Korea] :
The South Korean military has dismissed North Korea’s claims that a drone invaded its airspace earlier this month after taking off from the South’s Baengnyeong Island near the western de facto maritime border. At a press briefing Monday, spokesperson Lee Sung-joon from Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of ...

[more...]

[Inter-Korea] :
The Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) has warned that North Korea will face corresponding countermeasures if it infiltrates drones into South Korean territory. JCS spokesperson Lee Sung-joon unveiled such a stance to reporters on Monday when asked to comment on Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim ...

[more...]

[Inter-Korea] :
A new survey finds that three-quarters of South Koreans believe unification of the two Koreas is necessary.  According to the national unification survey for the third quarter released by the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council on Monday, 74-point-six percent of respondents answered in the ...

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[Inter-Korea] :
North Korea’s foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, has reportedly left Pyongyang to visit Russia amid international criticism over the North’s participation in the war between Russia and Ukraine.  According to the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) on Tuesday, a delegation led by Choe ...

[more...]

[Inter-Korea] :
South Korea’s intelligence agency believes some of the North Korean troops deployed to Russia in support of its military offensive in Ukraine may have been transported to the front lines, including high-ranking generals. According to senior members of the rival political parties on the parliamentary ...

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[Inter-Korea] :
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) suspects that North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile(ICBM) toward the East Sea on Thursday morning.  The JCS said it detected the launch from the Pyongyang area around 7:10 a.m., adding the missile was fired at a steep angle and flew about ...

[more...]

[Inter-Korea] :
The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States have condemned the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia in the “strongest” terms with “one voice.” Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued the condemnation on Wednesday in a joint statement after ...

[more...]

[Inter-Korea] :
Defense minister Kim Yong-hyun said Wednesday that South Korea is not considering sending troops to support Ukraine.  The minister made the remarks during a meeting with reporters in Washington, while visiting the United States to attend the annual Security Consultative Meeting. When asked how the ...

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