Local school closes in Daejeon city as hundreds of emergency service and military personnel scour area around O-World theme park where the wolf escaped from
Authorities are hunting for a wolf after it escaped from a zoo in Daejeon, a South Korean city with a population of 1.5million.
More than 300 people – including firefighters, police and military personnel – are taking part in the search operation, an official from the Daejeon fire headquarters said.
Continue reading...Almost 60 injured in blaze in Daejeon with footage seemingly showing people jumping from burning building to escape
A fire at a car parts factory in South Korea has killed 14 people and injured almost 60 others.
Firefighters said all of the missing are now accounted for after a search operation of the wreckage of the three-storey building.
Continue reading...Boyband drops album that speaks to its Korean roots ahead of Seoul comeback concert, with more than a quarter of a million fans expected to attend
K-pop stars BTS released a new album on Friday billed as reflecting the maturing boy band’s Korean roots and identity, as buzz built ahead of their open-air comeback concert in the heart of Seoul.
The Saturday night gig, which is expected to draw around 260,000 people, will be BTS’s first after a hiatus of almost four years while all seven members served compulsory military service. It comes ahead of an 82-date world tour.
Continue reading...Thousands of police prepare to deploy to South Korea’s capital ahead of K-pop’s most anticipated comeback
Seoul has stepped up security ahead of BTS’s huge comeback concert on Saturday, which more than a quarter of a million fans are expected to attend, with authorities raising the terror alert in the area and preparing to deploy thousands of police to the capital.
South Korean president Lee Jae Myung warned at a cabinet meeting this week that “the issue is safety” and urged heightened vigilance by the interior ministry and emergency services to prepare for every possibility. He described the concert as an important occasion to reaffirm the country’s global cultural standing.
Continue reading...From fuel caps to four-day work weeks, the Middle East conflict has left the world’s top crude oil importing region desperate to shore up supplies
Donald Trump has scrambled in recent days to reassure the world that the economic impact of his war on Iran can be contained.
Sure, one of the most important waterways in global trade has, in effect, been shut for almost two weeks – but it might reopen before long. In the meantime, US oil-related sanctions on “some countries” will be lifted. And besides, the entire conflict could be over soon.
Continue reading...From fuel caps to four-day work weeks, the Middle East conflict has left the world’s top crude oil importing region desperate to shore up supplies
Donald Trump has scrambled in recent days to reassure the world that the economic impact of his war on Iran can be contained.
Sure, one of the most important waterways in global trade has, in effect, been shut for almost two weeks – but it might reopen before long. In the meantime, US oil-related sanctions on “some countries” will be lifted. And besides, the entire conflict could be over soon.
Continue reading...Reports of attack on US registered tanker in Gulf lifts crude by 3% to $84 a barrel as gas price also starts to climb
Stock markets have rebounded in Asia after days of heavy losses driven by the war in the Middle East, but oil and gas prices have continued to climb amid disruption to supplies.
South Korea’s KOSPI, which posted its biggest ever fall on Tuesday of 12%, rose by almost 10% on Thursday, while Japan’s Nikkei climbed by 1.9%. MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan jumped by 2.7%.
Continue reading...Rebound in the country – which has been having demographic crisis – said to be partly because of 3.6 million born between 1991 and 1995 having children
South Korea recorded 254,500 births in 2025, the largest annual increase in 15 years, driven largely by a temporarily enlarged generation – known as “echo boomers” – now in their early thirties, alongside marriage rates recovering from Covid-era delays.
The country’s fertility rate – the average number of babies a woman is expected to have in her lifetime – rose to 0.80 from 0.75 last year, returning to the 0.8 range for the first time since 2021, according to provisional figures released by South Korea’s ministry of data and statistics on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Booking system freezes and screens crash amid rush of fans trying to secure tickets to 21 March free concert
Tickets for BTS’s comeback concert in central Seoul were snapped up almost immediately on Monday night, with authorities expecting an estimated 260,000 fans to descend for the K-pop group’s first full performance in nearly four years.
At one point, more than 100,000 people flooded the booking website when sales opened at 8pm for the free concert at Gwanghwamun square on 21 March, causing screens to crash and booking systems to freeze.
Continue reading...Ex-leader sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour over failed martial law declaration in 2024
A South Korean court has sentenced the former president Yoon Suk Yeol to life imprisonment with labour over his failed martial law declaration in December 2024, finding him guilty of leading an insurrection and making him the first elected head of state in the country’s democratic era to receive the maximum custodial sentence.
The Seoul central district court found that Yoon’s declaration of martial law on 3 December 2024 constituted insurrection, carried out with the intent to disrupt the constitutional order.
Continue reading...Yoon Suk Yeol could face the death penalty when judges rule on the martial law crisis that many in South Korea see as a dark moment they would rather forget
South Korea is awaiting one of the most consequential court rulings in decades this week, with judges due to deliver their verdict on insurrection charges against the former president Yoon Suk Yeol and prosecutors demanding the death penalty.
When Yoon stands in courtroom 417 of Seoul central district court on Thursday to hear his fate, which will be broadcast live, he will do so in the same room where the military dictator Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death three decades ago. The charge is formally the same. Last time, it took almost 17 years and a democratic transition to deliver a verdict. This time, it has taken 14 months. Chun’s death sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment on appeal, and he was eventually pardoned.
Continue reading...Decision announced at Cop30 climate conference signposts risks for Australia’s reliance on fossil fuel exports, analysts say
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The Australian government has been urged to prepare for a shift away from thermal coal exports and accelerate green industries after one of its main international customers signed up to close all coal-fired power plants by 2040.
South Korea, Australia’s third-biggest market for coal burned to generate electricity, announced at the Cop30 climate conference in Brazil that it was joining the “powering past coal alliance”, a group of about 60 nations and 120 sub-national governments, businesses and organisations committed to phasing out the fossil fuel.
Continue reading...Soldier’s is first reported defection to South Korea across 248km militarised zone since August 2024
A North Korean soldier has defected to South Korea across the rivals’ heavily fortified border, South Korea’s military has said.
The military took custody of the soldier who crossed the central portion of the land border on Sunday, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement. It said the soldier expressed a desire to resettle in South Korea.
Continue reading...An additional 60 South Koreans remain detained by Cambodian authorities after a crackdown on scam operations
South Korea has issued its most serious travel warning for parts of Cambodia, issuing a “code black” ban that orders citizens to leave areas in which the government has identified surging employment scams and detention cases targeting its nationals.
The travel prohibition covers the border towns of Poipet and Bavet, along with the Bokor Mountain region in Kampot province, 140km south-west of Phnom Penh, where a 22-year-old Korean student was allegedly tortured to death in August.
Continue reading...South Korean president urges ‘all-out’ efforts to protect citizens after number of kidnappings in Cambodia soars in recent months
South Korean president Lee Jae Myung has called for “all-out” diplomatic efforts to protect citizens in Cambodia after a university student was lured there by a scam ring and allegedly tortured to death.
At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Lee said “protecting the lives and safety of citizens is the government’s greatest responsibility” and called for all those caught up in the scams to be “swiftly repatriated”.
Continue reading...National cyber security centre raises alert level to ‘caution’ as technicians race to restore government systems after battery fire sparked nationwide chaos
South Korea’s intelligence agency has raised the national cyber threat level, amid concerns that hackers could take advantage of the chaos caused by a fire at a government datacentre that paralysed critical digital infrastructure across the country.
The national cybersecurity centre, operating under the intelligence service, elevated the alert from “attention” to “caution” on Monday, citing fears hackers could exploit vulnerabilities as recovery work continues.
Continue reading...Han Hak-ja, aged 82, is detained after Seoul court hearing over claims she told church officials to bribe wife of then president Yoon Suk Yeol
The 82-year-old leader of the Unification Church was arrested in South Korea early Tuesday as investigators probe allegations that the church bribed the wife of jailed former president Yoon Suk Yeol and a conservative lawmaker.
Han Hak-ja, the widow of the church’s South Korean founder, Sun Myung Moon, has denied allegations that she directed church officials to bribe Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, and the lawmaker.
Continue reading...US president says he doesn’t want to ‘disincentivize investment’ after images of workers chained and handcuffed caused widespread alarm in South Korea
President Donald Trump has said foreign workers sent to the United States are “welcome” and he doesn’t want to “frighten off” investors, 10 days after hundreds of South Koreans were arrested at a work site in Georgia.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote: “I don’t want to frighten off or disincentivize investment.
Continue reading...The International IDEA’s survey of democratic markers finds US is offering ‘encouragement’ to populist leaders
Press freedom around the world has suffered its sharpest fall in 50 years as global democracy weakens dramatically, a landmark report has found.
According to the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), democracy has declined in 94 countries over the last five years and only a third have made progress.
Continue reading...Footage of raid by US immigration officials showed detained workers in handcuffs and with chains around their ankles
South Korea announced on Sunday that the roughly 300 of its nationals detained during an immigration raid in Georgia would be released and flown home, as the sudden detention of workers appeared to strain the longstanding diplomatic and economic relationship between the two nations.
Nearly 500 workers, among them at least 300 South Koreans and at least 23 Mexicans, were arrested at the Hyundai-LG battery plant in the city of Ellabell on Thursday.
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