Yoon's approval rating inches up to 25.7%: poll

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating rose for the second consecutive week to 25.7 percent, a survey showed Monday. According to the survey by Realmeter and commissioned by a local news outlet, the positive assessment of Yoon's performance rose 2 percentage points from the previous week, while the negative assessment fell 2.7 percentage points. The survey was conducted on 2,508 adults from Monday to Friday last week and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, wi

PoliticsNov. 25, 2024

S. Korea designates May 27 as Aerospace Day: KASA

South Korea has designated May 27 as Aerospace Day to commemorate the launch of the Korea AeroSpace Administration and proclaim the country's commitment to becoming a global space power, the national space agency said Monday. The day will be commemorated as a national memorial day starting next year, according to KASA, which was established on May 27 this year. The designation has been made to uphold the country's goal of becoming one of the five global leaders in the aerospace industr

Social AffairsNov. 25, 2024

3 infielders named KBO Field Award winners for 2nd straight year

Three infielders were named winners of the top defensive award in South Korean baseball for the second straight year Monday. The Korea Baseball Organization announced the winners in the catcher and four infield positions for its second annual KBO Fielding Award on Monday. Three of the four infield winners were honored for the second straight season: Kiwoom Heroes second baseman Kim Hye-seong, Kia Tigers shortstop Park Chan-ho and KT Wiz third baseman Heo Kyoung-min, who spent the 2024 season wit

BaseballNov. 25, 2024

NK troops disguised as 'indigenous' people in Far East for combat against Ukraine: report

A group of North Korean soldiers disguised as "indigenous people" of Russia's Far East have engaged in combat with Ukrainian troops in Russia's western border region of Kursk, according to a Ukrainian news report. Citing Kyiv's top military officer, RBC Ukraine on Sunday reported that more than 11,000 North Korean soldiers are already stationed in the Kursk region and have taken part in battles against Ukrainian troops. "These are mostly general military units. They

Foreign AffairsNov. 25, 2024

Hyundai chief hints at potential collaboration with Toyota on hydrogen mobility

Hyundai Motor Group's chief has mentioned the possibility of collaboration with Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. in areas involving hydrogen-powered mobility. Euisun Chung, executive chair of Hyundai Motor, said, "(Hyundai and Toyota) are discussing hydrogen and trying to collaborate well together." Chung made the remark Sunday while meeting with reporters at the 2024 World Rally Championship (WRC) at Toyota Stadium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The remarks followed Chung's meet

IndustryNov. 25, 2024

Posco factory suffers second fire in 2 weeks

A Posco factory in the southeastern city of Pohang has suffered its second fire in two weeks, officials said Monday, with no casualties reported. The fire started at the steel company's patented No. 3 Finex furnace of the plant, located about 270 kilometers southeast of Seoul, at 11:18 p.m. Sunday. Firefighters dispatched 21 fire trucks and some 50 personnel to the scene before extinguishing the fire at 1:13 a.m. Monday. The police and fire agency plan to look into the exact cause of the f

Social AffairsNov. 25, 2024

N. Korea, Russia sign agreement to enhance sports exchanges: KCNA

North Korea and Russia have signed a protocol on enhancing sports exchanges for next year, the North's state media said Monday, as the two nations continue to bolster cooperation in various fields. Kim Il-guk, North Korea's minister of physical culture and sports, signed the protocol with Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev in Pyongyang the previous day, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. While details of the protocol were not disclosed, the KCNA said Kim and Degty

North KoreaNov. 25, 2024

S. Korean players combine for 3 LPGA wins in 2024, lowest total in 13 yrs

Once the dominant force on the LPGA Tour, the South Korean contingent finished the 2024 campaign with three combined victories, the lowest total since 2011. Third-year pro An Narin finished tied for fifth at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida, on Sunday at 15-under 273, the best performance by a South Korean player at the event. She ended up seven strokes behind the champion, Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand. An failed to join a trio of South Korean winners for this sea

GolfNov. 25, 2024

K-pop group Ateez tops Billboard albums chart for 2nd time

K-pop boy group Ateez has topped Billboard's main albums chart for the second time in its career. Billboard announced Sunday that Ateez's 11th EP, Golden Hour: Part. 2, debuted atop the Billboard 200 by earning 184,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Nov. 21. The Billboard 200 ranks the most popular albums of the week in the United States, measured by equivalent album units, comprising physical album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA), and streaming equivalent albums (SEA

K-popNov. 25, 2024

Opposition leader set for sentence on subornation of perjury charges

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung is set to be sentenced Monday on charges of suborning a former mayoral secretary to make false court testimony in his favor, marking the second in a series of rulings that could jeopardize his potential presidential bid. Lee, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, is accused of encouraging a secretary to former Seongnam Mayor Kim Byung-ryang to give false testimony during a 2019 trial related to his alleged election law violations. The alleged offen

PoliticsNov. 25, 2024

Seoul shares open higher on tech gains

South Korean stocks opened higher Monday, led by gains from top-cap Samsung Electronics and other major tech shares. The benchmark Kospi added 19.51 points, or 0.78 percent, to 2,520.75 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The increase was driven by institutional buying, which offset selling by foreigners and retail investors. On Friday, the Kospi rose above 2,500 points for the first time in 11 sessions following a sharp drop the previous week amid concerns over expected policy changes by the

MarketNov. 25, 2024

[Graphic News] Golf enters top 10 Korean hobbies ranking

Golf has made its first appearance in Gallup Korea’s top 10 favorite hobbies for South Koreans, ranking No. 8 with 4.1 percent of survey respondents mentioning it as their hobby of choice. The annual survey, conducted with 1,777 participants aged 13 and older, asked, “What is your favorite hobby?” and marked the first time since the survey began in 2004 that golf reached the top 10. The top hobbies include gaming (9 percent), followed by fitness and hiking tied for second (7

Social AffairsNov. 25, 2024

[팟캐스트] (639) 트럼프 당선 이후 미국서 주목 받는 한국의 '4비 운동

진행자: 박준희, Devin Whiting What is South Korea’s 4B movement? 기사 요약: 여성 생식권 문제가 화두였던 미국 대선에서 트럼프 전 대통령이 승리하자 유권자들 사이에서 한국의 비 연애, 결혼, 출산 성관계 운동이 주목받고 있다. [1] Emerging around 2018, the "4B" movement is a voluntary female celibacy movement, encouraging women to refuse heterosexual marriage, childbirth, dating or sex with men. The term "4B" comes from bihon (no marriage), bichulsan (no childbirth), biyeonae (no dating) and bisekseu (no sex), with "bi," or "B,&q

PodcastNov. 25, 2024

[Yoo Choon-sik] What changing US AI policy means to South Korea

Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election earlier this month, securing another four-year term as the leader of the world’s most powerful country, has sent shockwaves across the globe and through various sectors on a magnitude and scope not seen in many years. Not only experts and scholars but also the general public, including small retail investors and office workers, have actively debated the changes Trump is likely to bring about when he takes office in two months and

ViewpointsNov. 25, 2024

[Solomon D. Stevens] Male insecurity and US election

Donald Trump recently said he would protect women, whether they like it or not. What did he mean by this? What is implied by this? It is an important statement and, unfortunately, tells us a great deal about why Trump won the election and his priorities as president. For the last several years, leading Republicans have warned that there is a war on masculinity in America. Indeed, manly men are being replaced, they say, by effeminate men or gay men or -- even worse -- by men who want to become wo

ViewpointsNov. 25, 2024

[From the Scene] BYD zeroes in on continuing exponential growth

SHENZHEN/CHONGQING, China -- The license plate on the Denza Z9, a high-performance electric vehicle produced by Chinese EV maker BYD, read “10,000,000th” as a group of Korean journalists entered the BYD’s final assembly factory in Shenzhen on Tuesday. BYD celebrated its 30th anniversary with the completion of its 10-millionth car at the manufacturing plant the previous day. The 10 assembly lines at the site were packed with BYD vehicles. A BYD official noted that the day’

MobilityNov. 25, 2024

[Herald Interview] ‘BYD will set no sales target in Korean debut year’

CHONGQING, China -- Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD will not focus on sales volume when it debuts in the Korean passenger car market early next year, the EV giant’s Asia Pacific head says. “We will not set a sales target for our first year (in Korea), “said Liu Xueliang, general manager of BYD Asia Pacific auto sales division, in a group interview with Korean reporters at BYD’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China, Wednesday. “Our hope is to give Korean customers hand

MobilityNov. 25, 2024

Actor Jung Woo-sung admits to being father of model Moon Ga-bi’s child

Actor Jung Woo-sung admitted Sunday that he was the father of a model Moon Ga-bi’s child. Moon, 35, had announced about her recent childbirth on her social media on Nov. 22. While local media reported that Jung was her child’s father, Jung on Sunday admitted through his agency that he is the baby boy’s father. However, he chose not to disclose details about his relationship with Moon. According to a media report on Sunday, Moon and Jung first met at a gathering in 2022 and kept

FilmNov. 24, 2024

Iran says will hold nuclear talks with France, Germany, UK on Friday

Tehran (AFP) -- Iran said on Sunday that it would hold nuclear talks in the coming days with the three European countries that initiated a censure resolution against the Islamic republic recently adopted by the UN nuclear watchdog. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei announced the meeting on Friday of the deputy foreign ministers of Iran, France, Germany and the United Kingdom to discuss a range of topics including the Iranian nuclear issue.

World NewsNov. 24, 2024