Seoul, January 5 (IANS): The South Korean government on Tuesday called for the early release of an oil tanker which was seized by Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the Gulf over what Tehran claimed to be "repeated violations" of environmental protocols. Following the seizure on Monday, the IRGC said: "The tanker (Hankuk Chemi), departing from the Saudi port of Al-Jubail, was seized when sailing in the Gulf by the Zulfiqar fleet in the first Naval Di

SEOUL, October 28 (Reuters): President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, one of the world's most fossil-fuel reliant economies, said on Wednesday the country will go carbon neutral by 2050. The announcement comes after Japan earlier this week said will cut greenhouse gases to zero by 2050 and become a carbon-neutral society, a major shift in position on climate change. "Together with the international community, we will actively respond to climate change and target carbon

HONG KONG, October 26 (Reuters): South Korean striker and Asian Champions League record goal scorer Lee Dong-gook has said he will bring an end to his 23-year career at the end of the season. The 41-year-old, who has won two Asian club titles, will play his last domestic league game for Jeonbuk Motors against Daegu on Nov. 1, a match that could bring him an eighth Korean league crown. "It’s been 23 years for me as a pro, however it felt like one lost year for me b

SEOUL, October 21 (Reuters): Five people have died after getting flu shots in South Korea in the past week, authorities said, raising concerns over the vaccine's safety just as the seasonal inoculation programme is expanded to head off potential COVID-19 complications. Authorities said there was no reason to believe the deaths were linked to the vaccine but an investigation, including post mortems, was underway. "It makes it hard for us to put out a categorical stat

SEOUL, OCTOBER 20 (IANS): A North Korean media outlet on Tuesday slammed South Korea for its recent defence talks with the US, terming the discussions as a "reckless scheme to crush its own race with its master". Last week, Seoul and Washington held their annual ministerial talks, the Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), and reaffirmed their joint efforts to denuclearize North Korea, noting that the Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs continue to pose se

SEOUL, October 11 (Reuters): South Korea urged the North on Sunday to stick to agreements that bar armed clashes between the neighbours, in comments made a day after North Korea unveiled new strategic and tactical weapons at a predawn military parade. The massive parade on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the North's ruling Workers' Party showed off new weapons, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLB

SEOUL, October 7 (Reuters): South Korea on Wednesday proposed allowing abortion up until the fourteenth week of pregnancy as part of a new law designed to comply with a landmark ruling by the constitutional court that struck down a decades-long ban. South Korea criminalised abortion in 1953 when its leaders wanted to boost the population, but exceptions to the law were introduced in 1973, including when the pregnancy was caused by a sexual crime. However, the Constitutional

SEOUL, September 27 (Reuters): North Korea said on Sunday it is searching for the body a South Korean official killed by its troops, but warned that South Korean naval operations in the area threatened to raise tensions by intruding across a disputed sea border. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a rare apology on Friday for the fatal shooting of the South Korean fisheries official in North Korean waters, according to Seoul. South Korea's military has accused th

Seoul, September 26 (IANS): Seoul will demand North Korea for an additional probe into the killing of a South Korean official near the sea border, the presidential office here said on Saturday. According to the South Korean military, North Korean troops on September 22 shot the 47-year-old official who was adrift in its waters and incinerated his body. He was reported missing the previous day while on duty near the Yellow Sea border island of Yeonpyeong. Although North Korea admi

TOKYO/SEOUL, September 24 (Reuters): Japan's new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, spoke to South Korea's president for the first time on Thursday, calling for both countries to repair their frayed ties and cooperate to counter any threat from North Korea. Relations between the two U.S. allies have deteriorated sharply over the past year over war-time history and trade, in particular the issue of Korean labourers forced to work at Japanese firms during Japan's 1910-19

SEOUL, September 24 (Reuters): North Korean troops shot dead a South Korean fisheries official who went missing earlier this week, before dousing his body in oil and setting it on fire in what was likely an effort to prevent a coronavirus outbreak, South Korea's military said on Thursday. South Korea's military said evidence suggested the man was attempting to defect to the North when he was reported missing from a fisheries boat on Monday about 10 km (6 miles) sou

SEOUL, September 21 (Reuters): Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has expressed hopes for improved relations in a letter to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Moon's office said on Monday, amid strained ties over history and trade. Feuds dating back to Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea continue to dog bilateral relations, including the issues of Korean labourers forced to work at Japanese firms and women at military brothels during World War II.

SEOUL, September (Reuters): The metropolitan government in South Korea's capital Seoul said on Friday it would seek 4.6 billion won ($4 million) in damages against a church for causing the spread of the coronavirus by disrupting tracing and testing efforts. A fresh wave of infections erupted at a church whose members attended a large protest in downtown Seoul in mid-August, becoming the country's largest cluster in the greater capital area. The outbreak has driven triple-dig

SEOUL, September 16 (Reuters): South Korean President Moon Jae-in has told Japan’s new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, that he was willing to sit down anytime in a bid to improve ties strained by historical and economic disputes, Moon's office said on Wednesday. Disputes dating from the neighbouring nation's colonial occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945 deepened over a 2018 order by South Korea’s Supreme Court for a Japanese steelmaker to pay compensat

SEOUL, September 8 (Reuters): South Korea's latest COVID-19 outbreak has triggered a public backlash against conservative Christian churches for defying government orders aimed at preventing the disease's spread. At least a third of the 4,500 COVID-19 cases confirmed in the greater Seoul area over the past three weeks have been traced to church members and others who attended a Aug. 15 anti-government rally, the country's largest cluster in months. Authorities sa

SEOUL, September 8 (Reuters): South Korea's Celltrion Inc will begin commercial production of its experimental treatment for COVID-19 this month, it said on Tuesday, as it pushes ahead with clinical trials of the antibody drug. The company said it planned to make a request soon to regulators for emergency use authorisation of the drug, but that it would start mass production - likely to amount to around 1 million doses - before receiving that approval. The treatment beca

SEOUL/TOKYO, September 7 (Reuters): South Korea hunkered down as Typhoon Haishen rolled northwards along the country's east coast on Monday, a day after the powerful storm battered Japan's southern islands, where four people are missing following a landslide. The storm, packing sustained winds of up to 112 km (70 miles) per hour, temporarily cut power to more than 75,000 households and displaced some 3,100 people in South Korea after making landfall on the southeastern

SEOUL, September 6 (Reuters): South Korea on Sunday reported the smallest daily rise in coronavirus infections in three weeks as tighter restrictions cap a second wave. The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 167 new cases of the virus in the 24 hours until midnight on Saturday, down from 168 the previous day. This brings South Korea's total number of COVID-19 infections to 21,177, with 334 deaths. South Korea's success in crushing early o

SEOUL, SEPTEMBER 4 (IANS): South Korea on Friday announced its decision to extend the tightened social-distancing campaign for one more week through September 13 amid the continued triple-digit growth in daily Covid-19 cases. Under the tightened social-distancing guidelines, only takeaway or delivery are permitted to restaurants from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., while doing normal business during the remaining hours, reports Xinhua news agency. Franchise coffee shops and bakeries are banned

SEOUL, September 3 (Reuters): At least two people were reported killed and thousands were temporarily without power as Typhoon Maysak smashed into the Korean peninsula on Thursday, bringing heavy rain and lashing winds to areas still recovering from Typhoon Bavi. The ninth typhoon of the season and the fourth to hit the peninsula this year left about 120,000 households without power across South Korea, officials said. Flights were cancelled or delayed and downed trees and ot