South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea said Thursday it planned to push new laws to ban activists from flying anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border after North Korea threatened to end an inter-Korean military agreement reached in 2018 to reduce tensions if Seoul fails to prevent the protests.

The South’s desperate attempt to keep alive a faltering diplomacy will almost certainly trigger debates over freedom of speech in one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies.

SEOUL, June 3. /TASS/: The pandemic of the coronavirus-caused disease is already serving as a trigger of large-scale changes in all spheres of life the world over, Seoul’s mayor, Park Won-soon, told TASS in an interview.

"Because of COVID-19, the great transformation of civilization has become a reality. Now we have the ‘era before COVID-19’ and the ‘era after COVID-19.’ It is an unprecedented situation in which all the environments surrounding us are divided before and after COVID-19," Park said.

SEOUL, May 29 (NNN-YONHAP) — South Korea’s government will carry out across-the-board inspections of logistics centers and toughen guidelines on limiting the number of students taking in-person classes at schools in the Seoul metropolitan area, officials said Friday, amid growing alarm over the new coronavirus in the greater Seoul area.

In a precautionary move to stem community transmission, the education ministry said it plans to limit the number of students at schools in the capital area.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The baseball league is on. Students have begun returning to school. And people are increasingly dining out and enjoying nighttime strolls in public parks.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Both North and South Korea violated the armistice agreement that governs their shared border when their troops exchanged gunfire on May 3, the U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC) said on Tuesday.

A multinational UNC special investigation team concluded that troops from both sides had violated the agreement, which has been in place since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee was questioned on Tuesday by prosecutors about a controversial 2015 merger and alleged accounting fraud that they said may have helped him advance his succession-planning agenda at the country’s top conglomerate.

The questioning brings fresh legal trouble for Lee who is already facing court trial over a charge of bribery aimed at winning support to succeed ailing group patriarch Lee Kun-hee, and which involved former South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Wednesday amid signs of improving demand and a drawdown in U.S. crude inventories but worries over the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic capped gains.

Brent crude futures for July delivery LCoc1 were up 23 cents, or 0.7%, at $34.88 per barrel at 0347 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for July CLc1 were up 14 cents, or 0.4%, at $32.10 a barrel. The July contract closed on Tuesday at $31.96, up 1%.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean students began returning to schools Wednesday as their country prepares for a new normal amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a reminder that returning to normalcy won’t be easy, students in some schools near Seoul were quickly asked to leave and return home after two students were found to have contracted the virus. South Korean health authorities on Wednesday reported 32 new cases over a 24-hour period, the first time the daily jump has been above 30 in more than a week.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea on Sunday reported five new domestic cases of coronavirus, all linked to a cluster of cases centred around bars and nightclubs in the capital which has raised fears in the country of a fresh wave of contagion.

After weeks of nearly no new domestic coronavirus cases, South Korea relaxed its lockdown on May 6, but a subsequent spike in infections linked to Seoul’s Itaewon nightlife neighbourhood forced a rapid re-think.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Oil prices climbed on Thursday following an unexpected drop in U.S. crude stocks, but gains were capped by a bleak outlook for the world’s No. 1 economy as the coronavirus pandemic crushes fuel demand, and concern over a potential second wave of cases.

Brent crude futures were up 18 cents, or 0.6%, at $29.37 per barrel at 0621 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 23 cents, or 0.9%, at $25.52 a barrel.