A South Korean Air Force unit conducted a cold weather training Thursday on rescuing downed pilots.The Special Airforce Rescue Team (SART) held the drill at the Chopyeong Reservoir in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, with more than 20 members and HH-32, HH-47 and HH-60 search and rescue chopper
A monthlong extraordinary parliamentary session is set to begin Tuesday with rival parties likely to wrangle over a series of pending bills, a constitutional revision and other political issues.The parties are expected to first pass a set of bills aimed at bolstering the country's firefighting c
President Moon Jae-in was set to hold a special meeting with top government officials Tuesday to share his policy objectives and discuss ways to implement them, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said.The meeting will start at 2 p.m., involving ministers and vice ministers from all major governme
South Korea's trade ministry said Monday it will hold talks with China to expand the scope of the two countries' free trade agreement (FTA) to the service and investment sector in a way to create new business opportunities for local companies in the tourism, culture, legal and medical indust
President Moon Jae-in on Monday ordered thorough inspections of all public and private facilities frequented by the people, also calling for new methods to inspect and ensure the safety of such facilities.The call came after a fire at a large hospital in the southeastern city of Miryang left 37 peop
Prosecutors demanded an eight-year prison term Monday for a former presidential aide involved in a corruption scandal that led to the removal of then-President Park Geun-hye from office last year.Woo Byung-woo, 50, whho served as senior presidential secretary for civil affairs from 2015-2016, was in
South Korea's top defense official voiced doubt Monday that North Korea will use its nuclear weapons, saying that such an act would be "suicidal.""The North Korean regime will probably be removed from the map if it uses developed nuclear weapons against South Korea or the United States," Def
The government will consider limited or temporary visa waiver programs for Chinese nationals and Southeast Asian group tourists during next month's PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the ruling Democratic Party said Monday.During a policy coordination meeting, the government and ruling party also agre
South Korea imported fewer agricultural products overall from China last year, but shipments in fruits, vegetables and meats increased, data from the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) showed Monday.According to KREI's analysis of figures from the Korea Trade Statistics Promotion Institute, S
Faulty wiring in the ceiling could be the cause of fire that killed more than 30 people and injured over a hundred in a hospital in the southeastern city of Miryang, police said Saturday.A blaze gutted the emergency room of Sejong Hospital in the city, some 380 kilometers away from Seoul, early Frid
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Friday expressed his support for fresh inter-Korean rapprochement during his first visit to the heavily-fortified border between the two Koreas."National division is not something that can be overcome overnight, it needs a long time," he said during a
A fire gutted the ground floor of a hospital in southeastern South Korea and sent toxic fumes raging through the six-story building, killing at least 37 people and injuring 131 others in one of the country's deadliest blazes in a decade.Nearly 180 people were inside Sejong Hospital in Miryang, s
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon ordered a thorough investigation Friday into what caused the massive death toll in a hospital fire in the southeastern city of Miryang, after the blaze left at least 37 people dead and more than 70 others injured.Lee made the remark during a visit to the situation room set
South Korea and the United States plan to resume their delayed joint military exercises after the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Paralympics, the defense ministry said Friday."The exact date and size of the planned joint exercises cannot be disclosed, but they will be carried out after the cl
Political parties called Friday for the government to make every effort to handle the aftermath of a hospital fire in the city of Miryang, which left more than 30 people dead.In a rare show of unity, senior officials of the ruling and opposition parties traveled to the city, about 380 kilometers sou
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said Thursday he does not believe North Korea will abandon its nuclear weapons in exchange for a suspension of U.S. joint military exercises with South Korea.Kissinger, who served under the administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford in the 1970s,
An advance team of South Korean officials returned home from North Korea on Thursday after inspecting venues for joint events on the occasion of next month's PyeongChang Winter Olympics in the South.A 12-member team led by Lee Joo-tae, director-general at Seoul's unification ministry, came b
The Japanese government has officially requested talks with South Korea about the possibility of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attending the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, an official from Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday."The Japanese Embassy in South
The government plans to require cryptocurrency exchanges to share users' transaction data with banks, in a potential move to impose taxes on the transactions, an official at financial authorities said Sunday.Currently, financial authorities ban banks from offering virtual accounts, which are nee
South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Sunday that North Korean athletes' participation in the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics will help ease tensions on the peninsula and serve as a stepping stone to establishing peace."The PyeongChang Winter Olympics will work to lay th