South Korea

SEOUL (Reuters) - The projectiles North Korea fired on Monday flew 240 km (150 miles) and reached 35 km in altitude, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

North Korea fired two short-range projectiles off its eastern coastal city of Wonsan - from where it has fired a series of missiles - into the sea on Monday, JCS said.

The North appears to be continuing a firing drill that leader Kim Jong Un oversaw last Friday, JCS said.

SEOUL/GAPYEONG, South Korea (Reuters) - The founder of the church at the center of South Korea’s coronavirus outbreak apologized on Monday after one of its members tested positive for the virus and infected many others, calling the epidemic a “great calamity”.

South Korea reported 599 new cases on Monday, taking its national tally to 4,335. There have been 26 deaths.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean and U.S. militaries announced Thursday that they were postponing their annual joint drills due to concern about a viral outbreak that has infected soldiers in both countries’ armed forces, put many troops in quarantine and closed base facilities.

Twenty South Korean soldiers and one American service member in South Korea have tested positive for the new coronavirus, which has infected about 1,600 people in the Asian country, the largest outbreak outside mainland China.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The number of new virus infections in South Korea jumped again Wednesday and the U.S. military reported its first case among its soldiers based in the Asian country, with his case and many others connected to a southeastern city with an illness cluster.

South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 134 of the 169 new cases were confirmed in Daegu, where the government has been mobilizing public health tools to contain the virus. Another 19 cases were in neighboring North Gyeongsang province towns.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — China and South Korea on Tuesday reported more cases of a new viral illness that has been concentrated in North Asia but is causing global worry as clusters grow in the Middle East and Europe.

China reported 508 new cases and another 71 deaths, 68 of them in the central city of Wuhan, where the epidemic was first detected in December. The updates bring mainland China’s totals to 77,658 cases and 2,663 deaths.

SEOUL (Reuters) - With South Korea’s defense minister due to meet his American counterpart on Monday in Washington, the U.S. military doubled down on calls for Seoul to pay more in defense costs, warning of the implications if a deal was not made soon.

Defence Minister Kyeong-doo Jeong and U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper are expected to discuss a standoff with North Korea, as well as plans to give South Korea control of the troops on the peninsula in the event of a war.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president has put his country on its highest alert for infectious diseases, saying Sunday that officials should take “unprecedented, powerful” steps to fight a viral outbreak.

President Moon Jae-in made the comments at the start of a government meeting as South Korean authorities reported 123 more cases on Sunday, raising the country’s total to 556 with five deaths.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Saturday reported a six-fold jump in viral infections in four days to 346, most of them linked to a church and a hospital in and around the fourth-largest city where schools were closed and worshipers and others told to avoid mass gatherings.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea reported more virus cases Friday and declared a “special management zone” around a southeastern city where the surging outbreak, largely linked to a church in Daegu, threatens to overwhelm the region’s health system.

In the capital, Seoul, officials banned major downtown rallies and shut down a big park to avoid mass public gatherings where the virus could spread. Workers in protective gear also sprayed disinfectant in the city’s subway.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The mayor of the South Korean city of Daegu urged its 2.5 million people on Thursday to refrain from going outside as cases of a new virus spiked and he pleaded for help from the central government.

Mayor Kwon Young-jin made the request in a televised news conference after the southeastern city and its nearby towns reported 35 additional cases of infection with the new coronavirus on Thursday.