South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has visited typhoon-stricken areas in the northeast, fired a top official there and promised to send 12,000 workers from Pyongyang for recovery efforts, state media reported Sunday.

It’s the latest in a series of high-profile visits by Kim and his deputies to areas hit by natural disasters in recent weeks. Some experts say Kim likely attempted to project an image of a leader looking after people’s livelihoods as he seeks to bolster internal unity in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and U.S.-led sanctions.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A powerful typhoon ripped through South Korea’s southern and eastern coasts with tree-snapping winds and flooding rains Thursday, knocking out power to more than 270,000 homes and leaving at least one person dead.

Typhoon Maysak had weakened to a tropical storm that was east of North Korea around midday, South Korea’s weather agency said. North Korean state TV showed flooding along the eastern coast but didn’t immediately report any casualties.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean prosecutors indicted Samsung Group’s Jay Y. Lee on Tuesday on allegations of accounting fraud and stock price manipulation pertaining to a 2015 merger, dealing a fresh blow to the head of one of Asia’s most valuable companies.

Lee, who has already served jail time on a separate case, and 10 other current and former Samsung executives were indicted over the controversial merger of two Samsung affiliates that helped Lee assume greater control of the group’s crown jewel, Samsung Electronics.

SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korean politicians and media hoped for the improvement of relations with Japan, which some domestic media described as the worst-ever, after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's announcement of resignation.

Abe said Friday that he would step down from his post for the recurrence of the same intestinal disease that ended his first tenure, causing uncertainty over the Seoul-Tokyo ties that fell into the worst under Abe's premiership owing to historical issues from the 1910-1945 Japanese colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

SEOUL, Aug 27 (NNN-YONHAP) — The number of daily new coronavirus cases in South Korea spiked to a nearly six-month high of over 400 on Thursday as sporadic cluster infections across the country continued to pile up, forcing health authorities to seriously consider implementing the country’s toughest antivirus curbs.

The country reported 441 new COVID-19 cases, including 434 local infections, raising the total caseload to 18,706, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A typhoon that grazed South Korea, ripping off roofs and knocking out power to more than 1,600 households, made landfall in North Korea early Thursday. South Korean authorities said there were no immediate reports of casualties, and North Korea has not reported any damages.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Saturday it held talks with China’s top diplomat over trade, denuclearisation and the coronavirus response, in the first visit by a high-level Beijing official since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted late last year.

Yang Jiechi, a member of the Communist Party Politburo, met with South Korea’s new national security adviser, Suh Hoon, in the southern port city of Busan, the South Korean government said.

Seoul, Aug 21(AP/PTI) South Korea has reported 324 new cases of the coronavirus, its highest single day total since early March as the recent surge of COVID-19 in the greater capital area now appears to be spreading nationwide.

Friday was the eighth consecutive day that South Korea has reported a triple-digit daily increase, for an eight-day total of 1,900 infections.

SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in's approval rating rose this week, marking the first rebound in three weeks, a weekly poll showed Thursday.

According to the Realmeter survey, support for Moon gained 1.8 percentage points over the week to 45.1 percent this week.

The negative assessment on Moon's conduct of state affairs slipped 0.3 percentage points to 52.3 percent.

Support for Moon's ruling Democratic Party went up 4.1 percentage points over the week to 38.9 percent this week.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea will hold a rare ruling party congress in January where leader Kim Jong Un will announce a new five-year plan to develop the country’s dismal economy ravaged by U.S.-led sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic, state media said Thursday.

The plans were confirmed Wednesday during a plenary meeting of the Workers’ Party’s decision-making Central Committee where Kim acknowledged economic shortcomings caused by “unexpected and inevitable challenges in various aspects and the situation in the region surrounding the Korean Peninsula.”