Following back-to-back incidents of public servants illegally going on livestreaming platforms to create sexual content, the government has rolled out a set of guidelines for public officials’ duties to prevent such incidents from happening, according to reports on Friday. On Monday, the Ministry of Personnel Management reportedly distributed a document to all ministries on the ethical conduct of national public service officials and specified guidelines for public officials’ persona

President Yoon Suk Yeol has conveyed a message of condolences following the passing of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the South Korean presidential office said on Friday. Yoon called Kissinger the "strategist and international political scholar who laid the foundation for US foreign policy, and I deeply appreciate his lifelong dedicated efforts toward global peace and freedom" in his message. "I cherish the memory of your unwavering support for the South Korea-US allia

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called on the air force to enhance its combat posture to immediately respond to military threats by enemies, Pyongyang's state media reported Friday. Kim's remarks came amid fresh tension on the Korean Peninsula following the launch of a North Korean military spy satellite. South Korea partially suspended a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction deal in response to the satellite launch, condemned as a violation of U.N. Security Council resoluti

The United States on Thursday sanctioned a North Korean cyber espionage group and eight foreign-based agents of the reclusive regime in response to Pyongyang's spy satellite launch last week, the Department of Treasury said. The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control added to its sanctions list KIMSUKY, a cyber incursion group, and the individuals who facilitated sanctions evasion to support the North's weapons of mass destruction programs, the department said. OFAC enforce

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will preside over an extraordinary Cabinet meeting this week over proposals requesting President Yoon Suk Yeol exercise his veto power against four contentious bills unilaterally passed by opposition parties earlier this month, his office said Thursday. The meeting, scheduled for Friday, is expected to handle the motions asking Yoon to reject a pro-labor bill, commonly known as the "yellow envelope bill," and three other bills on broadcasting laws. The &

Korean American singer Steve Yoo, known here as Yoo Seung-jun, won the final trial that overturned the initial denial of his visa and passport issuance, according to legal professionals on Thursday. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the disgraced K-pop singer in his case against the South Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles, which turned down his request for an F-4 visa issuance, upholding an appellate court’s ruling. The Seoul High Court ruled in favor of Yoo in July. The court judg

A tour program to the truce village of Panmunjom on the inter-Korean border has been suspended again as safety concerns increased due to North Korean soldiers armed with pistols in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, the unification ministry said Thursday. The government partially resumed the tour program on Nov. 22, after it had been halted since mid-July following US Army private Travis King crossing the border into North Korea. But the ministry said it has recently decid

A group of adults in their 20s and 30s have been arrested for purchasing cigarettes for teenagers for a commission. In South Korea, teenagers cannot purchase cigarettes under the Youth Protection Act, and the standard for teenagers under the Act is under the international age of 19. According to Jeju police, three suspects -- two in their 30s and one in his 20s -- have been referred to the prosecution. The three have no prior relationship and were caught committing the crime individually. They w

High income has become the top reason elementary and middle school students choose becoming a medical doctor as their desired career path, a study by a state-run research institute showed Thursday. The scholars at the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training analyzed government surveys on students across the country and compared the responses of students who said they hoped to become a doctor in the 2018 and 2022 reports. The data was from the joint annual survey conducte

A 30-something man currently on trial for physical abuse against his girlfriend has been nabbed for allegedly attacking the victim again, this time with a weapon. Ulsan Dongbu Police said Thursday that the suspect has been arrested after attacking the victim at around 12:30 a.m. at an apartment in Ulsan. The suspect fled the scene in a car after calling the police to report that he knocked her unconscious. Officials arrived on the scene to find the victim bleeding from her abdomen. She was taken

South Korea's Labor Ministry will launch an investigation into workplaces suspected of screening out job applicants who graduated from women's universities, a ministry official said Thursday. The investigation plans have come after a post on anonymous online employee forum Blind went viral. “As a corporate recruiter, It's not like we exclude all women but if (the applicant) is from a women's college, we don't even read the resume," the author of the post, who

A 4.0 magnitude earthquake hit the southeastern city of Gyeongju at 4:55 a.m. on Thursday, the state weather agency said, prompting mobile phones across Korea to blare en masse from the emergency text alert. No damage has been reported as of Thursday afternoon. The second-strongest quake to hit Korea this year struck the historical city of Gyeongju, located 277 kilometers southeast of Seoul in the wee hours of the morning. The quake's depth was measured at a shallow 12 kilometers and it was

The Seoul Metropolitan Government on Thursday chose “sky coral,” a color derived from the pink sky when the sun sets over the Han River, as the city's color next year, as part of its new annual initiative called “Color of Seoul.” Prior to developing the Color of Seoul, the city government analyzed places frequently visited by Seoul citizens and their key interests between 2022 and 2023 based on the 2022 Seoul Survey results and the 2022 Korea Tourism Data Lab resul

A man in his 30s has been arrested for lighting fire to a piece of paper placed between the toes of a sleeping co-worker, as well as for filming and sharing about the action on social media, local news media reported Wednesday. The incident occurred on Oct. 12, when the suspect, who works at a bar located in Sangmu-Jigu in Gwangju, put a piece of tissue between his co-workers toes and lit it on fire. He then filmed the scene while sharing the video on his social media account, as well as in the

North Korea will never discuss its "sovereignty" in negotiations with the United States in any circumstances, Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said Thursday in a statement, framing the recent launch of a purported military spy satellite as an assertion of sovereignty. Kim, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, denounced Washington for publicly criticizing Pyongyang’s launch of what it claimed to be a military

An online threat claiming a bomb had been sent to Yonsei University in Seoul sparked a midnight scramble for police and firefighters, resulting in the evacuation of some 100 people on campus. Police received a report at 11:38 p.m. Wednesday of an online post that claimed a package carrying a bomb would be delivered to the campus, according to Seodaemun Police Station and Seodaemun Fire Department on Thursday. The post had been uploaded at around 10 p.m. on the bulletin board for Yonsei Universit

A 60-something man in Busan in the early hours of Thursday fell out of the bed and injured himself, shaken not by the 4.0 magnitude earthquake that rocked nearby Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province but ironically by a state-issued emergency mobile alert about the tremor. The man, who lives in Haeundae-gu, Busan, received the notification, together with its loud warning alarm, on his phone at 5:39 a.m. and fell, injuring his face, resulting in him getting rushed to a nearby hospital for medical t

Members of a drug ring engaged in the production and distribution of methamphetamine derived from off-the-shelf cold medicine have been arrested, police authorities said. According to Jeju Provincial Police on Thursday, two individuals, both in their 50s, were sent to the prosecution Wednesday on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act. The accused include a man responsible for manufacturing the drug and his accomplice. Both men are suspected of manufacturing a total of 20 grams of meth

Foreign Minister Park Jin on Thursday said South Korea "gave its best" in its campaign to host the 2030 World Expo, after the southeastern city of Busan lost to Saudi Arabia's Riyadh in a vote earlier this week. Park made the remarks responding to reporters at the 5th International Conference on Action with Women and Peace in Seoul amid speculation he could be replaced in an upcoming reshuffle. "The government gave its best," Park said when asked whether he had heard any

President Yoon Suk Yeol revived the presidential office for policy which he ditched last year and replaced all of his senior secretaries, effective on Monday, the presidential office announced Thursday. Yoon promoted Lee Kwan-sup, the incumbent senior presidential secretary in charge of state affairs coordination, to become the first chief presidential secretary for policy in Yoon's term. Yoon abolished the post to reduce the team of presidential advisers upon his inauguration in May 2022.