South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A top North Korea official has visited a mountain resort that had been jointly run with rival South Korea during past rapprochement and discussed efforts to unilaterally rebuild it into “a cultural resort envied by the whole world,” state media reported Sunday.

Some experts say North Korea may be putting pressure on South Korea in order to benefit from an economic engagement as the pandemic is aggravating North Korean economic woes.

SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said on Monday that 14 more U.S. soldiers and two civilians have tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in South Korea between Nov. 28 and Dec. 11.

The USFK said in a statement that the 16 USFK-affiliated individuals included three service members and one dependent who arrived at Osan Air Base on U.S. government-chartered flights from the United States on Nov. 30, Dec. 7 and Dec. 9. The Osan Air Base is located in Pyeongtaek, 70 km south of Seoul.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Tuesday it had signed deals to provide coronavirus vaccines for 44 million people next year but it would not hurry inoculation to allow more time to observe potential side effects.

Its cautious approach comes as the country of almost 52 million people battles surging COVID-19 infections that health authorities say threaten to overwhelm the medical system.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will impose heightened social distancing rules for the capital Seoul and surrounding areas, health officials said on Sunday, as authorities struggle to contain the nation’s largest wave of coronavirus infection in nine months.

The decision comes after the government implemented unprecedented measures on Saturday in a country that had seen initial success through aggressive contact tracing and other steps.

SEOUL (Reuters) - China has provided North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his family with an experimental coronavirus vaccine, a U.S. analyst said on Tuesday, citing two unidentified Japanese intelligence sources.

Harry Kazianis, a North Korea expert at the Center for the National Interest think tank in Washington, said the Kims and several senior North Korean officials had been vaccinated.

It was unclear which company had supplied its drug candidate to the Kims and whether it had proven to be safe, he added.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea is further toughening restrictions on entering seawaters as part of elevated steps to fight the coronavirus pandemic, state media said Sunday, two days after South Korea said the North had banned sea fishing.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered at least two people executed, banned fishing at sea and locked down the capital, Pyongyang, as part of frantic efforts to guard against the coronavirus and its economic damage, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Friday.

SEOUL, Nov 27 (NNN-YONHAP) — South Korea will provide US$700,000 worth of humanitarian aid to Colombia, Honduras and Nicaragua to help them cope with damage from Hurricane Iota, the foreign ministry said Friday.

The Latin American countries were devastated Monday by the category 5 hurricane, the biggest storm this year in the Atlantic Ocean.

“Our government hopes that the aid will help the peoples of those countries facing hardship in recovery, due to the stronger hurricane than the previous Hurricane Eta,” the ministry said in a release.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea and China agreed on Thursday to prepare for a visit to South Korea by Chinese President Xi Jinping and to cooperate on stalled talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme and on tackling the novel coronavirus.

China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, arrived in the South Korean capital late on Wednesday, after a two-day visit to Japan, as Asian governments prepare for change under a new U.S. administration.

SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in's approval rating rose 1.9 percentage points from a year earlier to 46.3 percent this week, a weekly poll showed Thursday.

The negative assessment on Moon's conduct of state affairs slipped 1.0 percentage point to 49.2 percent this week, according to the Realmeter survey.

Support for Moon's ruling Democratic Party lost 1.4 percentage points over the week to 33.3 percent.