South Korea

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BTS Is Taking a Break. There's More Than Music at Stake

K-pop group's break, which it says is temporary, spurs debate in Korea on conscription, activism

(Newser) - The surprise announcement by BTS last week that they were taking a break to focus on members' solo projects stunned their global fan base, shaking their label's stock price and leaving many questions about the K-pop supergroup's future. HYBE, the company behind the band, denied the group was...

North Korea Apparently Fired Artillery Tests: Seoul

South Korean capital is just 30 miles from border and long-range guns

(Newser) - North Korea test-fired suspected artillery pieces into the sea on Sunday, South Korea's military said, days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for greater defense capability to cope with outside threats. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that it detected several flight...

US, South Korea Talk About Expanding Exercises

Biden meets new president, who has urged closer ties

(Newser) - After their presidents met Saturday in Seoul, the US and South Korea announced they might broaden their joint military exercises in the face of North Korea's aggressive nuclear missile program. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said the exercises are "key to our combined defense capability" during a...

2 Secret Service Employees Sent Home From Biden's Trip

They were involved in an allegedly drunken altercation with taxi driver in South Korea

(Newser) - It might be another case of Secret Service employees behaving badly overseas : Two have been sent back to the US ahead of President Biden's trip to Asia , reports the AP . The details of what happened were still being investigated, but ABC News reports an agent got into a heated...

Biden Starts Asia Trip With Visit to Computer Chip Plant

He was greeted by South Korea's new leader

(Newser) - President Biden is opening his trip to Asia with a focus on the computer chip shortage that has bedeviled the world economy, touring a Samsung computer chip plant that will serve as a model for a $17 billion semiconductor factory that the Korean electronics company plans to open in Texas....

South Korean Mine May Be Sign of Things to Come

Nation will tap its own tungsten, part of a global push for rare minerals and a green revolution

(Newser) - South Korea is reopening a long-shuttered tungsten mine, one of many examples around the globe of countries scrambling to secure access to the raw materials for a green energy revolution. “Resources have become weapons and strategic assets,” says Lee Dong-seob, VP of Almonty Korea Tungsten Corp, per Reuters...

N. Korea Accused of Continuing Its 'Provocative Streak'

South Korea says its neighbor launched ballistic missile on Saturday, likely from submarine

(Newser) - North Korea flight-tested a ballistic missile that was likely fired from a submarine on Saturday, South Korea's military said, continuing a provocative streak in weapons demonstrations that may culminate with a nuclear test in the coming weeks or months. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launch...

Activist Resumes Sending Balloons to N. Korea

Park Sang-hak says he sent 1M leaflets over border

(Newser) - A South Korean activist said Thursday he launched a million propaganda leaflets by balloon into North Korea this week, in his first such campaign while standing trial for past leafleting under a contentious new law that criminalizes such actions. The law that took effect in March 2021 and punishes anti-Pyongyang...

Plans Set for World's First Floating City

Construction to begin next year in Busan, South Korea

(Newser) - South Korea's second-largest city will reportedly play host to the world’s first "floating city." The major port city of Busan has partnered with the United Nations' Human Settlements Program and sustainable design startup Oceanix to develop a 15.5-acre floating city made up of three connected...

Kim Swaps Goodbye Letters With South Korea's Moon

He thanks outgoing South Korean president for working toward peace

(Newser) - Kim Jong Un had warm parting words for his South Korean rival, whose government North Korean officials previously called idiotic. The AP reports the North Korean leader thanked President Moon Jae-in for working to improve relations between the two countries over his single five-year term, which will end May 10,...

Cops: Wife's Third Attempt to Kill Husband Worked

One failed try involved pufferfish toxin, say authorities in South Korea

(Newser) - An alleged murder case in South Korea is making headlines for its unusual circumstances, including the use of pufferfish toxin. Police near Seoul arrested 31-year-old Lee Eun-hae and alleged accomplice Cho Hyun-soo, 31, and accused them of murdering Lee's husband for insurance money, reports the Korea Herald . Police say...

S. Korea Talks &#39;Preemptive Strike&#39; as North Threatens &#39;Disaster&#39;
Kim Jong Un's
Sister Threatens
to Go Nuclear
UPDATED
Apr 5, 2022 12:35 AM CDT

Kim Jong Un's Sister Threatens to Go Nuclear

Kim Yo Jong threatens South Korea for the 2nd time this week

(Newser) - Updated: For the second time this week, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un berated South Korea for touting its supposed preemptive strike capabilities against the North, saying her country’s nuclear forces would annihilate the South’s conventional forces if provoked, the AP reports. In a...

S. Korea Says There Was Something Fishy About N. Korea Launch

Officials suspect Pyongyang fired older model of ICBM for propaganda win

(Newser) - The intercontinental ballistic missile North Korea launched last week flew higher and farther than any of its predecessors, officials say—but not all was as it seemed, according to South Korea's defense ministry. Ministry officials told lawmakers that evidence strongly suggests North Korea fired an older Hwasong-15 missile, which...

Incoming S. Korean Leader Wants to Upend Tradition

Yoon Suk-yeol's plans to move presidential residence from Blue House faces resistance

(Newser) - South Korea's outgoing liberal government expressed its opposition Monday to a plan by its rival and conservative President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to relocate the presidential office by his inauguration in May, a development that could put Yoon's ambitious project in doubt and trigger a domestic political firestorm. On Sunday,...

New S. Korea Leader Plans to Shake Up Foreign Relations

Conservative Yoon Suk-yeol plans to take harder line on N. Korea

(Newser) - Conservative candidate Yoon Seok-yeol is South Korea's president-elect after an election that had some parallels to the US presidential election in 2016: A populist candidate new to politics narrowly defeated a liberal ruling party candidate—and both candidates were widely unpopular during a bitter campaign. With more than 99%...

Stranger Walks Up to Diplomat in NYC, Punches Him

Diplomat was punched in the face with no provocation, police say

(Newser) - A South Korean diplomat was attacked with no provocation Wednesday in New York City, police say. NYPD officers responded around 8:10pm to reports of an assault in Midtown Manhattan and found the injured 53-year-old. He'd been punched in the face for no reason by a stranger, police say....

He's Running for President in S. Korea. Bald People Love Him

Lee Jae-myung is pushing government to pay for hair loss treatments

(Newser) - South Korean presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung isn't bald. But he is enjoying the support of many bald voters over his push for government payments for hair loss treatments. Since his proposal was disclosed earlier this week, hair loss has emerged as a hot-button topic ahead of March's presidential...

Man Who Crossed DMZ Into North Korea Believed to Be Gymnast

He is believed to have first defected from North to South last year

(Newser) - Update: The person who crossed the DMZ to enter North Korea over the weekend is a male gymnast, Seoul says. He is believed to have defected from North to South Korea last year, and on Saturday made his way back, the BBC reports. Why he did so is not clear,...

In This City, Unlikely Suspects Have Started Dozens of Fires

Cats are being blamed for 100-plus blazes in Seoul homes over the past 3 years

(Newser) - It's not unusual to hear about a young child starting a house fire after playing with matches or a lighter. In South Korea, however, one city is plagued by a different type of accidental arsonist. Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters reports that for the past three years—from...

K-Pop Superstars Test Positive For COVID

BTS heartthrobs RM, Jin, and Suga were all vaccinated

(Newser) - Three members of the K-pop superstar group BTS have been infected with the coronavirus after returning from abroad, their management agency said. RM and Jin were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Saturday evening, the Big Hit Music agency said in a statement, per the AP . It earlier said another member, Suga,...

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