Government data showed Thursday that 4,394 domestic airline passengers could not reach their destination in the first half of this year, due to forced turnarounds caused by inaccurate weather forecasts. Of all the cases of planes returning to their departure airports due to bad weather between January and June of this year, the forecast was wrong on 20 occasions and did not require the turnaround. This was revealed by Rep. Jeon Yong-gi of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, who cite

Social Affairs Aug. 8, 2024

  Overcoming his archrival, an upset in the semifinals, relative inexperience on the international stage -- after it all, South Korea's Park Tae-joon finally stood alone atop the taekwondo world in becoming the first Korean ever to win the men's lightest weight class at the Olympics. In the finals of the men's 58-kilogram (flyweight) event Wednesday, Park was declared the winner after Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan threw in the towel due to an apparent injury in the second round. Park had b

More Sports Aug. 8, 2024

Big Hit Music, the agency of BTS member Suga, issued a new apology Thursday morning related to the K-pop megastar's recent drunk driving, stating that it referring to the vehicle used in the incident as "a kick scooter" was in no way intended to understate the gravity of the situation. "There was no intention at all to downplay the situation as suggested by some. We once again apologize for hastily addressing the issue without more consideration," the company said, rel

People Aug. 8, 2024

Incheon police on Tuesday said it is investigating what caused the mysterious explosion of an electric car last week, but some apartment residents in the greater Seoul area are already moving to ban electric vehicles from their underground parking lots. An apartment complex in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province recently hung a banner saying EVs are banned from parking underground, in a measure decided via a resident meeting that took place after a parked Mercedes-Benz sedan spontaneously caught fire Th

Social Affairs Aug. 6, 2024

A day after she shocked South Koreans with candid criticism of the country's badminton authorities, An Se-young said Tuesday that her words do not necessarily imply that she will retire and that she simply wants the national team to manage its players better. "Please do not twist my words with the phrase ‘retirement.’ I just hope there are people who can contemplate what I have to say and set out to solve these issues," the 22-year-old said via her Instagram account,

More Sports Aug. 6, 2024

South Korea's Ahn Se-young won the gold medal in the women's singles event in badminton at the Paris Olympics on Monday. The country has now won 11 gold medals and is within reach of matching its record of 13 gold medals in an Olympic Games. Ahn, the current No.1 in the women's singles category of the World Badminton Federation ranking, defeated He Bingjiao of China 2-0 (21-13, 21-16) to win her first Olympic gold medal. Her win, and Cho Young-jae's silver medal in the men&#

More Sports Aug. 5, 2024

Tottenham Hotspur superstar Son Heung-min's agency on Sunday released a statement denying a recent rumor that he spent a large sum of money at a Seoul nightclub, partying with Bayern Munich’s Kim Min-jae and other players of the German club. "We've found that the employees of the club had distributed such falsehood to promote their establishment. ... We assure you that Son did not visit the club or spend all that money," said Son & Football Limited Co. It vowed to

Social Affairs Aug. 5, 2024

South Korean archer Kim Woo-jin won the men's individual title Sunday at the Paris Olympics, bagging his third gold medal and making Korea the first win in five Olympic archery events. With Sunday's win, Kim became the third Korean ever to win three gold medals in a single Summer Olympics -- after his mixed team partner Lim Si-hyeon achieved the feat a day earlier -- and solidified his place as winner of most gold medals in the country's history. This also marked the second time S

More Sports Aug. 5, 2024

Archer Lim Si-yeon of South Korea won her third gold medal Saturday at the Paris Games, joining an elite group of athletes from the country who have won multiple Olympic gold medals. Kim Woo-jin, her mixed team partner, has already bagged two gold and is also seeking to complete the golden hat trick by winning the individual men's archery event, slated for later Sunday. If Kim wins the individual event, it would be the fifth gold medal of his career, more than any other athlete in South Kor

More Sports Aug. 4, 2024

During the women's vault at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, South Korean artistic gymnast Yeo Seo-jeong approached North Korea's An Chang-ok to congratulate her performance. But as Yeo rose from her seat, An walked right past her to embrace her coach. An did not comment on this matter, and Yeo said she missed the timing to embrace An despite wanting to shake hands. It was among the few encounters between the two Koreas at the Summer Games in the French capital, where both sides share

More Sports Aug. 4, 2024

A survey indicated that South Korean women expect their potential spouse to have amassed at least 100 million won ($73,400) worth of assets before getting married, while the men want their bride-to-be to have around 60 million. Local matchmaking firm Gayeon asked 250 single women and 250 single men between the ages of 25 and 39 how much wealth they want their future spouses to have, to which the average reply for women was 103 million won and for men was 63.8 million won. "Contrary to the

Social Affairs Aug. 4, 2024

The National Police Agency said Thursday it has begun a monthlong inspection on sword and knife weapon possession across the country and related regulations, in response to a man attacking another resident of an apartment complex in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul with a sword, killing him. The South Korean police immediately began a detailed review of the 82,641 swords registered as under individual possession in the country, set to continue until Aug. 31. It includes checking criminal records, reports of

Social Affairs Aug. 3, 2024

South Korean fencer Oh Sang-uk has won new fans both in Korea and abroad after his second gold medal of the Paris Olympics on Wednesday. The 27-year-old is the first Korean fencer to capture two gold medals in a single Olympic Games, and has seen his Instagram followers roughly double since arriving in the French capital. Oh's page has a little over 225,000 followers as of Thursday morning. "Congrats!!! I'm from Brazil and I watched your victory! I'm very happy!!! Be health

More Sports Aug. 2, 2024

A South Korean court said Thursday it has handed down a six-month prison term to a man for assaulting a taxi driver who refused to answer politics questions, including which presidential candidate he voted for. The defendant was found guilty of violating Article 5-10 of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, on the use of violence against or threatening a driver operating a motor vehicle used for transportation business. The investigation showed that the defendant had been ja

Social Affairs Aug. 1, 2024

A South Korean man who set his house on fire on Wednesday had called the firefighters before the crime, asking them to come as quickly as possible. Local police officials in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province said Thursday that they are investigating a 55-year-old man on charge of committing arson on his own home, at around 3:34 p.m. Before starting the fire, he called the Nonsan Fire Station and asked them to come to his house within five minutes, telling them what he was about to do. The autho

Social Affairs Aug. 1, 2024