Cargo ship submerged off S. Korea's southwestern coast; no crewmen found

A cargo ship believed to be Chinese submerged in waters off South Korea's southwestern coast Wednesday, the Coast Guard said. The Mokpo Coast Guard said it received a report at around 7:28 a.m. that the 200-ton ship was sinking in waters off Gageo Island, 422 km southwest of Seoul. However, it later said the ship submerged at a 45-degree starboard angle. The Coast Guard is investigating whether there were any attempts at illegal entry into South Korea, citing no crewmen were found on the sh

Social AffairsNov. 29, 2023

S. Korea may restore disarmed guard post: sources

The South Korean military is considering restoring a disarmed guard post on the eastern front in a tit-for-tat response to North Korea's latest move to rebuild its own and redeploy weapons in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, sources said Wednesday. South and North Korea demolished 10 guard posts each in the DMZ following a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction deal, while leaving one each intact but unarmed given their historical value. Under the agreement, the

DefenseNov. 29, 2023

Criminal procedures for foreigners in Korea

As of the end of September, the number of short-term and long-term foreign residents in Korea was 2.5 million, accounting for 4.89% of the total population of 51.37 million. It is anticipated that as of 2023, South Korea will be one of the first multicultural countries in Asia as the proportion of foreign citizens is soon expected to exceed 5% of the total population, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development standards. At this juncture, a better understanding on crimina

Social AffairsNov. 29, 2023

[영어답게 표현하기] 유용한 비즈니스 영어 표현들

이번 회에는 저희 책 Advanced Vocab에서 소개한 중상급 영단어들을 알려드립니다. 단어의 우리말 뜻을 기억하는 데에 그치지 않고, 난이도 있는 단어를 실제로 활용하는 단계까지 나아가 보기 바랍니다. 〈은밀함, 어두움〉 1. clandestine [klændéstin] 은밀한 모임, 행동, 거래 등이 비밀스럽고 은밀하다는 뜻이다. ‘비밀스럽게’는 behind closed doors 혹은 under the table로 표현할 수도 있다. 특히 ‘비밀 거래’는 closed-door deal이라고 한다. Although Chairman Lee had a handshake agreement in place with a potential buyer, he held clandestine talks with another U.S. company this past July. 이 회장은 잠재적인 매수자와 임시 계약을

English EyeNov. 29, 2023

US downplays NK claim on satellite imagery of US facilities

The US Department of Defense said Tuesday that there are "plenty" of images of the White House and the Pentagon already available online, after North Korea claimed its military spy satellite took photos of key US government and military facilities. In a press briefing, Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the department's press secretary, also reiterated the United States' "ironclad" defense commitment to South Korea, as Pyongyang started reinstalling guard posts and heavy weapons along

Foreign AffairsNov. 29, 2023

Seoul shares start lower ahead of key rate decision

South Korean stocks opened a tad lower Wednesday ahead of the central bank's rate-setting meeting. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) lost 11.02 points, or 0.44 percent, to 2,510.74 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight on Wall Street, US stocks climbed modestly on a dovish comment by a Federal Reserve official, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average edging up 0.24 percent and the Nasdaq Composite adding 0.29 percent. The Bank of Korea is set to decide on its pol

MarketNov. 29, 2023

[Graphic News] Half of Russians want Putin to end war

Almost half of Russians want President Vladimir Putin to open talks to end the war in Ukraine, according to a survey. Some 48 percent of respondents agreed it was time to negotiate a peace deal, with 39 percent in favor of pressing on with the war, the telephone poll of 1,611 people by the Russian Field company found. The proportion favoring talks was the highest since the company began monitoring attitudes to the war in April last year. Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no willingness

World NewsNov. 29, 2023

[Lisa Jarvis] Hospitals are shortchanging Black cancer patients

A new analysis from researchers at the American Cancer Society suggests that the distressing disparity in outcomes for Black and white colon cancer patients could narrow if hospitals simply treated all patients with the same level of high-quality care. The disparity in rates and deaths from colorectal cancer among Black people has been a longstanding problem in cancer care. Black individuals are 20 percent more likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer and 40 percent more likely to die from it. T

ViewpointsNov. 29, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] Amid the war of political ideologies

South Korea is a country where conservatism and socialism/progressivism have been at war for the past eight decades. Unfortunately, this means that there has been no room for liberalism in the Korean political arena. Surely, there are many liberals, and yet they are invisible in the whirlwind of ideological warfare between conservatives and socialists/progressivists. Watching the chronic war, one might have the impression that the Korean people do not seem to correctly perceive the definition of

ViewpointsNov. 29, 2023

Busan loses World Expo 2030 bid

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has won the right to host the World Expo in 2030, beating South Korea's port city of Busan, results of the final vote showed on Tuesday. Members of the Bureau International des Expositions, the World Expo organizing authority, held a vote by secret ballot during a general assembly on Tuesday in Paris, following the final presentations of the bidders' proposals. Riyadh garnered 119 votes out of the 165 as Busan won 29 votes in the first round of voting by members of

Foreign AffairsNov. 29, 2023

Spike in camping enthusiasts in Korea, yet camping etiquette lags behind

“This is not a campsite,” reads a banner that hangs prominently -- yet seemingly powerlessly -- in a public parking lot at the port of a small island off the city of Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province. After gaining social media fame as a haven for fishing and camping, the island of Neokdo’s usually quiet fishing villages are grappling with visitors in camping cars and tents overstaying their welcome. Often they occupy prime spots in public space, leaving them mostly unattend

Hashtag KoreaNov. 28, 2023

Footballer Hwang Ui-jo banned from nat'l team during police probe into illegal filming charges

The South Korea football governing body announced Tuesday forward Hwang Ui-jo will be banned from the national team until the conclusion of an ongoing police investigation into charges that he'd filmed a sexual encounter with a woman without consent. The Korea Football Association (KFA) reached the decision following a meeting of representatives from its ethics committee and national team technical committee earlier in the day. The KFA held the meeting after being criticized for putting Hwa

SoccerNov. 28, 2023

S. Korea's heavyweights like ex-U.N. chief Ban to make final presentation to clinch 2030 World Expo

South Korea is set to make its final presentation for the 2030 World Expo host city bid in Paris on Tuesday, bringing in high-profile figures such as former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and K-pop stars. The host city for the globally prestigious event, overseen by the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), will be elected by member states in rounds of voting during the general assembly later in the day. Each candidate will make a final presentation prior to the voting. Sou

Foreign AffairsNov. 28, 2023

Apgujeong Rolls Royce hit-and-run victim dies after 4 months in coma

The victim of a high-profile car crash involving a driver suspected of being under the influence of illicitly prescribed drugs has died, after four months in a coma. The victim, a woman in her 20s identified by the surname of Bae, had been on life support since August, when she was hit by a vehicle driven by the suspect while walking along a sidewalk in Apgujeong, southern Seoul. The suspect, a 28-year old man identified by the surname of Shin, is believed to have been under the influence of nar

Social AffairsNov. 28, 2023

South Korea warns tit-for-tat action over North Korea’s border buildup

Adding to renewed tensions between the two Koreas, North Korean soldiers guarding the truce village appeared armed Tuesday, as Seoul expressed its willingness to reciprocate Pyongyang’s redeployment of surveillance posts and heavy weapons along the shared border. Reports said Tuesday that North Korean soldiers stationed in the Joint Security Area were armed with pistols, in the latest in a string of moves by Pyongyang to resume military activities paused by the 2018 inter-Korean agreement

PoliticsNov. 28, 2023

Court clears cabbie in death of passenger who jumped out of moving taxi

A 66-year-old taxi driver whose passenger jumped out of his moving taxi and was then killed after being hit by another car has been cleared of traffic accident charges, according to media reports on Tuesday. The Daegu District Court also cleared the 43-year-old driver of an SUV that hit the woman and killed her, saying it was impossible for the driver to evade the victim. The incident occurred in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, on March 4, 2022, when the 20-year-old victim got on the taxi in

Social AffairsNov. 28, 2023