SHINee celebrated its 15th anniversary with its fans during the weekend in Seoul. The K-pop legends held a fan meeting “Piece of SHINE” at Jamsil Indoor Stadium for the first time as a full unit in four years and eight months. With all seats to the fan meeting sold out, SM Entertainment live-streamed the event via Beyond LIVE for the group’s global fans in 102 different regions including the US, the UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, China, Thailand, Australia, Singapor

K-pop boy band Seventeen is set to continue its odyssey in Japan with its first best-of album and a new concert tour. The 13-piece band announced the plans during its "Love" fan meeting at the Tokyo Dome on Sunday. Sunday's event marked the last of the group's four-day fan meetings taking place at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka on May 17-18 and at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo on Saturday and Sunday. In a statement released Monday, the band's agency Pledis Entertainment said 180,00

An appeals court on Monday upheld an eight-year prison term for a smuggler who attempted to bring chocolate-covered methamphetamine pills into South Korea. The Gwangju High Court dismissed the appeal filed by the smuggler, a Thai national whose identity has been withheld, convicting for breaching the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. The gender of the convicted was not known. The customs office at Incheon International Airport discovered the 10,123 pills of yaba -- a mix of me

As South Korea’s fertility rates are waning, the number of women giving birth in their 40s has starkly increased over the last decade, data showed Monday. According to data received by Rep. Shin Hyun-young of the Democratic Party of Korea from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the total number of birth cases declined from 424,717 in 2013 to 244,580 in 2022, down 180,137 births in 10 years. In the same period, however, the country saw a rise in the number of women giving birth in their 40

South Korea's household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at the highest level among 34 major economies in the first quarter, global financial data showed Monday. The ratio stood at 102.2 percent in the January-March period, followed by Hong Kong with a ratio of 95.1 percent, Thailand with 85.7 percent, Britain with 81.6 percent, the United States with 73 percent, Malaysia with 66.1 percent, Japan with 65.2 percent and China with 63.6 percent, according to the Institute of Internat

Foreign purchases of South Korean tech and auto stocks have reached over 16 trillion won ($12 billion) so far this year, according to the Korea Exchange on Monday. Foreigners bought 16.45 trillion won worth of Samsung Electronics Co., Hyundai Motor Co. and other related stocks this year through May 26, according to the main bourse. In the first five months, foreigners bought 9.78 trillion won worth of Samsung Electronics stocks, followed by 1.26 trillion won worth of Hyundai Motor shares, 1.1 tr

All six National Election Commission officials embroiled in suspicions of hiring favors for their children did not declare their relations with the hired children in violation of an ethics code, according to a ruling party lawmaker. The NEC has come under hiring favor suspicions following revelations that children of senior officials joined the agency by applying for experienced positions. The NEC's secretary-general and his deputy resigned last week, though they claimed their children were

A Japanese warship arrived in South Korea on Monday to participate in a multinational naval drill this week aimed at preventing the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction, according to officials.   Japan's JS Hamagiri destroyer arrived in the southeastern port city of Busan to participate in the Eastern Endeavor 23 exercise Wednesday in the international waters southeast of South Korea's Jeju Island.   South Korea, the US, Australia, Japan, Canada and Singapore will join the exerci

Passenger travel on Korea-Chinese routes stayed at 13 percent of pre-pandemic levels in the January-April period in contrast with a rapid recovery in other Asian routes, the transport ministry said Monday. In the first four months, the number of passengers on the routes between the two countries stood at 730,817, plunging from 5.65 million during the same period of 2019, according to data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. But passenger travel on many other Asian routes is

South Korea on Monday established formal diplomatic relations with the Pacific island nation of Niue on the sidelines of Seoul's inaugural summit with 18 countries in the region. A signing ceremony for the forging of diplomatic ties was held at Seoul's foreign ministry attended by Foreign Minister Park Jin and Dalton Tagelagi, the premiere of Niue who also doubles as the country's top diplomat. According to the ministry, the small island nation with a population of some 1,600 is n

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating has risen to 40 percent in a Realmeter survey due in large part to positive public assessments of his handling of foreign affairs and national security issues. In the survey conducted last week of 2,504 people, Yoon's approval rating rose 1 percentage point from a week earlier, while his disapproval rating fell 1.2 percentage point to 56.7 percent during the same period. It is the first time in 12 weeks that his rating has reached the 40 percen

With his team headed to the knockout phase of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina, South Korea head coach Kim Eun-jung wants to see just how far the country can go. South Korea, as runners-up of Group F, will take on Ecuador in the round of 16 in Santiago del Estero at 6 p.m. Thursday local time, or 6 a.m. Friday in Seoul time. South Korea played Gambia to a goalless draw to close out the group stage Sunday in Mendoza, and ended up with five points from a win and two draws. Gambia won the group

With their knockout berth already secured, South Korea have closed out their group stage at the FIFA U-20 World Cup with a goalless draw against Gambia. South Korea finished in second place in Group F with five points, two back of Gambia, after the scoreless affair at the U-20 World Cup at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, western Argentina, on Sunday. As the Group F runners-up, South Korea will face Group B runners-up Ecuador in the round of 16. That match kicks off at 6 p.m. Thursday at

North Korea has decided to convene a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea in early June to discuss economic projects implemented in the first half and other policy issues, state media reported Monday. The political bureau of the WPK decided to hold the eighth plenary meeting of the party's eighth central committee, according to the Korean Central News Agency. It did not disclose the date of the upcoming meeting. The plenary meeting will be held to review "the impl

North Korea has notified Japan of its plan to launch a satellite between May 31 and June 11, a Japanese media report said Monday, as the secretive regime is preparing to put its first military spy satellite into orbit. The North notified the Japanese government of its plan to establish a maritime danger zone during the cited period, Japan's Kyodo News reported. North Korea also informed the International Maritime Organization of its plan for the satellite launch, according to Japanese broadcaste