South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea performed data transmission and other key tests needed to develop a spy satellite, state media said Sunday, in the second such tests in about a week, indicating the country intends to conduct a prohibited long-range rocket launch soon.

The moves come as North Korea has been carrying out a spate of ballistic missile launches - including one detected by its neighbors on Saturday - in what experts call an attempt to add new weapons systems to its arsenal and pressure the United States into making concessions amid stalled diplomacy.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Saturday fired a ballistic missile into the sea, according to its neighbors’ militaries, extending Pyongyang’s streak of weapons tests this year amid a prolonged freeze in nuclear negotiations with the United States.

SEOUL, March 4 (Xinhua) -- An early voting for South Korea's presidential election kicked off Friday ahead of the election day on March 9.

The early voting, which was adopted in 2013 and first applied to the 2014 local elections, will be carried out for two days through Saturday.

Over 44 million eligible voters, who wish to cast ballots before the election day, will be allowed to vote at 3,552 polling stations across the country from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. local time.

SEOUL, Feb 28 (Reuters) - South Korea will tighten export controls against Russia by banning shipments of strategic items and join Western countries' moves to block some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments system, Seoul's foreign ministry said on Monday.

"The Korean government condemned Russia's armed invasion of Ukraine and, as a responsible member of the international community, decided to actively participate in the international community's efforts, including economic sanctions, for a peaceful resolution of the situation," the ministry said in a statement.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean health officials on Wednesday approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, expanding the country’s immunization program in the face of a massive omicron outbreak that is driving up hospitalizations and deaths.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — As South Korea enters a bitter presidential race, Hong Hee-jin is one of many young women who feel that the country’s politics has become dominated by discrimination against women, even outright misogyny.

“Women are being treated like they don’t even have voting rights,” the 27-year-old office worker in the capital, Seoul, said.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea will distribute free coronavirus rapid test kits at schools and senior care facilities starting next week as it weathers an unprecedented wave of infections driven by the fast-moving omicron variant.

Health officials on Wednesday reported its highest daily jump in coronavirus infections with 90,443 new cases, shattering the previous one-day record set on Tuesday by more than 33,000 cases. Some experts say the country could see daily cases of around 200,000 in March.

SEOUL, Feb 11 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea’s export logged a double-digit fall, in the first 10 days of this month, due to less business days, customs office data showed today.

Export, which takes up about half of the country’s export-driven economy, amounted to 15.7 billion U.S. dollars in the Feb 1-10 period, down 12.6 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Korea Customs Service.

It was attributed to less business days due to holidays. The number of working days was 6.5 in the 10-day period, down by two from a year earlier.

SEOUL, Feb 9 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea’s daily number of COVID-19 cases hit a new record high, amid the spread of the Omicron variant, the health authorities said today.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the country reported 49,567 more cases of COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 1,131,239.

SEOUL, Feb 8 (Reuters) - North Korea boasted on Tuesday that it is one of only a handful of countries in the world to field nuclear weapons and advanced missiles and the only one standing up to the United States by "shaking the world" with missile tests.

International tension has been rising over a recent series of North Korean ballistic missile tests, actions long banned by the U.N. Security Council. January was a record month of such tests, with at least seven launches of nine missiles including a new type of "hypersonic missile" able to manoeuvre at high speed.