President Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday the government will take necessary and timely steps to protect the people against increasing financial volatility. Yoon made the remark while presiding over a macrofinancial meeting with government and business officials, citing an "unprecedentedly strong dollar" and the US Federal Open Market Committee's decision last week to raise the interest rate. "The level of shock from the crisis that began from external factors will depend on how we

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Friday submitted a resolution urging National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo to step down for putting to a vote the main opposition party's motion calling for the dismissal of the foreign minister the previous day. In the resolution unanimously signed by PPP's lawmakers, the party accused Kim of "violating his duty to keep political neutrality" as the assembly speaker and "seriously hurting the parliamentary democracy" by working

South Korea will raise natural gas prices for civilian use next month amid high international gas prices, the industry ministry said Friday. Starting in October, natural gas prices for households and commercial use will be hiked by 2.7 won ($0.002) per megajoule, the ministry said in a press release. Natural gas prices for households will climb 15.9 percent, with the growth rate for commercial use ranging from 16.4 percent and 17.4 percent. "The hike reflects soaring global natural gas pric

All five members of veteran K-pop idol group g.o.d will meet fans in person in a year-end concert in Seoul. According to IOK Co., organizer of the upcoming concert, on Friday, the quintet is scheduled to kick off a three-day concert on Dec. 9 at KSPO Dome at Olympic Park in southern Seoul. The event will mark the band's first time together in four years, since the act’s last concert “Greatest” in celebration of the 20th anniversary of its debut. The group has been unable t

Korean Air Lines Co. said Friday it has signed a five-year deal with Royal Dutch Shell plc. to purchase sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from the British firm beginning in 2026 to help combat climate change. SAF is non-conventional aviation fuel derived from alternative raw materials, such as cooking oil waste, household waste and industrial waste gas. SAF has emerged as a key carbon reduction tool in the aviation industry to cope with global climate change as it may reduce carbon emissions by up

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell below 30,000 on Friday, as the virus wave has been gradually slowing down in recent weeks. The country reported 28,497 new COVID-19 infections, including 276 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,769,101, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily count grew to nearly 40,000 on Tuesday from around the 20,000 level but has since been constantly decreasing. The comparable figure for a week earlier came to 29,097. The

Seoul stocks opened lower Friday, taking a cue from overnight losses on Wall Street that stemmed from growing recession fears. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) retreated 7.64 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,163.29 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The market has been in the doldrums, as the key stock index closed at the lowest since July 2020 this week. In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics slid 0.962 percent, while chip giant SK hynix jumped 2.35 percent.

WASHINGTON -- The United States reaffirmed its "ironclad" commitment to the defense of South Korea and Japan on Thursday, hours after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles in its latest provocation. North Korea launched what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Thursday (Seoul time). "We are aware of the two ballistic missile launches and are consulting closely with our allies and partners," US Indo-Pacific Command said in a released state

　A total of 630 elementary to high school students took their own lives over the past four years, due mainly to family feuds, an Education Ministry report showed. 　According to the report submitted to Rep. Kim Byong-wook of the People Power Party, 388 high school students died by suicide between 2018-2021, followed by 216 middle school students and 26 elementary school kids. 　Family feuds and parental abuse were the reason behind 196 of the suicide cases reported, followed by unknown reasons

President Joe Biden’s foreign policy deserves higher marks than most have given it. Biden boldly pulled the plug on the Afghanistan quagmire, so that Americans could stop hemorrhaging blood and treasure in an endless war. He has performed a delicate “Goldilocks routine” with respect to Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine: giving a vital assist to save Kyiv, while balancing that support with caution, asserting, “We’re trying to avoid World War III.” That

N.Korea fires two missiles hours after Harris denounced North Korea’s “brutal dictatorship” during her visit to DMZ

Seoul Fashion Week will fully return with in-person runway shows next month, presenting spring-summer 2023 collections by 30 Korean designers at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul. The country’s largest fashion event will take place from Oct. 11 to 15 indoors and outdoors at DDP with participation by 23 established designers for Seoul Collection and seven rookie designers with less than seven years in the business for the Generation Next shows. Designer Park Choon-moo will open Seoul Fashi

The new president of the Seoul Arts Center on Thursday unveiled plans to focus on “pure art," such as opera and ballet, as the organization seeks to return to its original goals. Chang Hyoung-joon, who was appointed in June as the 17th president of South Korea’s top art complex by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, "The Opera Theater, which was built as an opera and ballet theater, will regain its original position by presenting pure art works centered on op

Yang Hae-gue has immersed herself in holding and cutting “hanji,” or Korean traditional mulberry paper, for a new paper collage series. The artist began presenting her works last year, continuously evolving an artistic world of her own. Kukje Gallery has shown 18 works of her hanji collages in Seoul, the second exhibit of the artist’s latest series at the gallery. The paper collage series, named “Mesmerizing Mesh,” is based on her research on the Korean shamanistic