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SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – South Korea’s prime minister apologized Friday for suggesting the country’s women’s ice hockey team had no chance of a medal at the Winter Olympics in an unsuccessful attempt to dampen criticism over a unified team with the North. The two Koreas agreed this week to field a unified women’s ice hockey side at the Games, which begin in Pyeongchang next month. It came after Pyongyang agreed to attend what organizers and Seoul […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s main international gateway Incheon airport opened its second terminal on Thursday, significantly increasing its capacity three weeks before the start of the Winter Olympics, airport authorities said. More than 300,000 tourists are expected to enter the country through Incheon during next month’s Games and the new terminal will allow 18 million more passengers to pass through the Seoul-area hub each year. A high-speed railway will connect the terminal […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – Former South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak on Wednesday denounced as “political revenge” a corruption probe into allegations his office accepted bribes from the country’s spy agency. The rare statement from conservative Lee, who stepped down in 2013, came after two of his closest aides were arrested and as his impeached ally and successor Park Geun-Hye stands trial for corruption. South Korean presidents have a tendency to end up in prison — or […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s trade deficit in kimchi, its proud traditional side dish of fermented cabbage, reached an all-time high last year as low-priced Chinese imports flooded the market, statistics showed Wednesday. The spicy foodstuff is emblematic of Korean cuisine and accompanies almost every meal served in the country, whatever its culinary origins, with kimchi-making still an important annual ritual for many families. But the commercial market has been deluged by Chinese […]
(AFP) — South Korea nearly doubled wages for its rank-and-file conscripted soldiers on Tuesday but their pay will remain just a fraction of the country’s minimum wage. Salaries for conscripted privates were raised 88 percent from 163,000 won to 306,100 won ($288) a month, with privates first class and corporals enjoying similar increases. But they remain far below South Korea’s minimum wage of 10,000 won ($9.40) per hour. President Moon Jae-In has promised to increase […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Cheering crowds welcomed the Olympic flame to a freezing Seoul on Saturday, where the torch will be paraded for four days before making its way to Pyeongchang for the start of the Winter Games. The outlook for next month’s sporting extravaganza has brightened since North Korea confirmed its participation, lifting security concerns over the South’s nuclear-armed neighbour. The North has agreed to send an unknown number of athletes to the […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea is preparing to shut down cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, its justice minister warned Thursday, sending prices of bitcoin and other virtual units into a tailspin. A series of measures have failed to curb overheated virtual currency speculation in the country and Justice Minister Park Sang-Ki said it would be “devastating if the bubble bursts.” “The ministry is preparing legislation that basically bans any transactions based on a […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — A record 102 gold medals will be awarded in 15 sports disciplines at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea from February 9-25. AFP takes a brief look at the medal events and how those sports disciplines work. Alpine skiing Alpine skiing is divided into speed events and technical events. The downhill and super-G, run over one leg, provide the speed while the giant slalom and slalom, held over two […]
by Park Chan-Kyong Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Pyeongchang Winter Olympics organizers are entering their final preparations with renewed confidence after neighboring North Korea ended months of speculation by confirming its attendance, immediately easing fears over security and ticket sales. With one month to go, the outlook is suddenly much brighter for the “Peace Olympics,” which had been rocked by the drugs ban on Russia’s team and concerns over potential disruption by […]
by Hwang Sunghee Agence France-Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — With their good looks and sharp moves, North Korea’s female cheerleaders are a marked contrast to the regime’s menacing nuclear ambitions. Dubbed the “army of beauties” in South Korea, the young North Korean women — mostly in their late teens or early 20s — have attracted huge publicity whenever they have been sent to the South. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s future wife Ri Sol-Ju […]
by Thomas Watkins with Hwang Sunghee in Seoul Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump is open to the US holding talks with North Korea “under the right circumstances,” the White House said Wednesday after South Korean President Moon Jae-In signaled a willingness to sit down with Kim Jong-Un. Signs of a potential cooling following months of red-hot tensions on the Korean Peninsula came the day after North Korea reached a […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is “the path to peace and our goal,” South Korean President Moon Jae-In said Wednesday, a day after the North agreed to send its athletes to the Winter Olympics in his country. “We need to continue efforts to hold a peace Olympics,” Moon told a press conference. “We need to peacefully resolve North Korea’s nuclear issue.” Delegates from North and South Korea held their first official […]
