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Korea takes lead in global fight against pandemic Korea exported 600,000 coronavirus test kits to the United States, Tuesday. The shipment followed a phone call between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump, March 24, during which Trump requested Korea's assistance with medical supplies. Afterward, two Korean firms signed contracts with the U.S. Federal Emergen..

My grandmother started writing the Heart Sutra every day. Each dawn she copied the one-page text in Chinese characters in her notebook. When the number of notebooks exceeded the number of her daughters, she gave one of the notebooks to each. My grandmother never wasted a second. In her 90s too, she cooked rice every day, and made soybean paste and gave it to her daughters. Las..

Defense cost-sharing talks face prolonged deadlock The already-tense defense cost-sharing talks between Seoul and Washington are expected to face a prolonged deadlock after U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly rejected South Korea's proposed payment increase of 13 percent. The rejection will certainly have negative implications on the bilateral alliance. There are concerns t..

Uproot offenders capitalizing on people's fear about COVID-19 Cyber scams are surging amid the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, the number of "smishing," or SMS phishing, cases has exceeded 10,000 since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. Smishing is a criminal offense involving the use of fake emails or texts to dupe users into..

A liberal-minded political commentator's remarks predicting that the “pan-ruling bloc” could win 180 seats in the 300-strong National Assembly is emerging as a last-minute variable ahead of Wednesday's general election. The opposition is using it to rally conservative voters by calling it “extreme arrogance,” while the ruling party is trying to minimize any fallout fro..

More people opt to vote early amid COVID-19 fears About 11.7 million, or 26.7 percent, of 44 million eligible voters participated in two days of early voting for the April 15 general election on Friday and Saturday, a record-high turnout in early voting since the country adopted this system for nationwide polls in 2014. It is widely believed that the highest turnout was possib..

New measures are needed for new challenges The government faces fresh challenges in its response to the COVID-19 outbreak as the spread of the new coronavirus has shown signs of slowing here recently. While the government has implemented rigorous “social distancing” measures for citizens and strengthened restrictions for travelers, violations of the self-quarantine rules h..

Forcing quarantine violators to wear electronic tag is problematic The government is considering the use of electronic tagging bracelets to ensure that people abide by the 14-day self-quarantine measure in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19. A health ministry official said Tuesday that such devices were one of several options that could be used to monitor people's movemen..

Restrictive measure is based on reciprocity The government has decided to temporarily suspend visa-free entry and visa waiver programs with 90 countries imposing entry bans or restrictions on South Koreans as part of its efforts to stem the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic. This measure, which will take effect next Monday, is not an outright entry ban on foreign traveler..

They will increase burden on future generations As the April 15 general election draws near, candidates from the rival political parties are rushing to put forward campaign pledges to woo voters. Unfortunately, however, populist election promises are palpable more than ever in this year's election. According to an analysis by the Hankook Ilbo, a sister paper of The Korea Times..