S. Korea to kick-start annual free influenza vaccination program

SEOUL -- In a bid to prevent the widespread of highly infectious and deadly seasonal influenza, South Korea will kick-start its annual national vaccination program designed to offer flu shots to young children and the elderly for free. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said that the national influenza (flu) vaccination program will begin from September 20 until April 30 next year. The target groups for this year's flu vaccination program are children aged 6 mon

September 19, 2023

Broken EV chargers take average of 3 days to be repaired in S. Korea: data

SEOUL -- According to data released by the environment ministry, it took an average of about three days to fix a broken electric vehicle charger. South Korea has a rapidly growing number of EVs but charging infrastructure is not growing as fast as the clean energy vehicle market. As of 2022, there were some 400,000 clean energy vehicles registered in South Korea where some 5.5 million vehicles roam the roads. The number of registered clean energy vehicles, mostly EVs, increased by 68

September 19, 2023

President Yoon to visit New York for UN General Assembly

SEOUL -- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will embark on a five-day visit to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly and meet leaders from other countries. The presidential office said that Yoon will address the UN General Assembly to share his thoughts about climate change, digital transformation, and the recent signs of military cooperation between North Korea and Russia. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at the Vostochny Cosm

September 18, 2023

​Foreign tourists revisit Seoul mainly because of Korean food: survey

SEOUL -- A survey conducted by Seoul City showed that most foreigners revisit the capital city to taste Korean food again. The second primary reason for the revisit was shopping and the third was because they were satisfied with the country's weather and seasons. In a survey of 500 expats who visited Seoul more than once, jointly conducted Seoul Tourism Organization, the "K-food" section received the highest score of 79.5, followed by "shopping" (73.2), and

September 15, 2023

Seoul becomes popular filming spot for movies and TV shows

SEOUL -- Seoul City has received 632 requests from content producers to support them for the production of movies and drama series in 2022. The capital city has helped many content creators safely complete the filming process through various assistance such as road control and aerial filming. "XO, Kitty," a famous romantic comedy-drama TV series, was also filmed in Seoul. According to data released by Seoul, among 632 requests last year, the city selected 268 of them to offe

September 13, 2023

Seoul blocks road traffic to fix sink hole in Gangnam District

SEOUL -- Seoul City has blocked off a four-lane road in Gangnam, a southern district famous for rapper Psy's global hit song "Gangnam Style", to stop the road traffic while workers fix a sinkhole that is about one meter (3.2 feet) in diameter and 1.5 meters deep. The sinkhole appeared when a ladder truck's wheel sunk into the ground. The rare phenomenon took place in Seoul's most technologically advanced area due to a nearby ruptured water pipe, police said, add

September 12, 2023

Disappeared bank robber arrested at casino in Viet Nam

SEOUL -- A bank robber who mysteriously disappeared after robbing a Credit Union bank in the central city of Daejeon in mid-August was arrested at a casino in Viet Nam's resort city of Danang. A massive manhunt mission was carried out by the police in August to catch the robber, identified by police as a man speculated to be in his 40s or 50s, who pulled a successful bank heist and ran away with some 39 million won ($29,312). The man changed routes and means of travel multiple ti

September 11, 2023

S. Korea to invest $898 mln in AI industry in 2024

SEOUL -- South Korea will invest about 1.2 trillion won ($898 million) in 2024 to nurture its artificial intelligence industry. At a conference in Seoul, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said the country plans to reduce various regulations and focus on improving AI-based services used in everyday environments including the legislative and medical sectors. "While tightening next year's budget as much as possible, the government has allocated 1.2 trillion for the AI sector, up 15.8

September 7, 2023

80% of foreigners satisfied with life in S. Korea: survey

SEOUL -- A survey showed around 80 percent of foreigners are satisfied with their life in South Korea. However, about 20 percent of them have experienced mistreatment in the country. According to government data, a total of 1,752,346 foreigners resided in South Korea for three months or longer in 2022. The national statistics office said the number of multicultural families was 399,396, up 25.2 percent from 2017. The number of multicultural households has steadily increased without bei

September 7, 2023

S. Korean President Yoon promises to strengthen cooperation with ASEAN

SEOUL -- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has pledged to enhance partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at a summit meeting held in Jakarta. The statement was made during his journey to Indonesia for the ASEAN summit meeting. After attending a set of meetings in Indonesia, Yoon is set to move to India to take part in the G20 summit in New Delhi. At the ASEAN summit meeting on September 6, the South Korean leader said his country would support the union of

September 6, 2023