Latest South Korea News

Millions around the world celebrate Lunar New Year and ring in the Year of the Snake

Jan. 29, 2025 17:06 PM EST

BEIJING (AP) — Firecrackers popped, incense was offered at temples and dancers and drummers paraded Wednesday in Asia and farther afield as millions around the world celebrated the Lunar New Year. From Beijing to Havana, the holiday — known as the Spring Festival in China, Tet in...

General purpose AI could lead to array of new risks, experts say in report ahead of AI summit

Jan. 29, 2025 11:23 AM EST

LONDON (AP) — Advanced artificial intelligence systems have the potential to create extreme new risks, such as fueling widespread job losses, enabling terrorism or running amok, experts said in a first-of-its-kind international report Wednesday cataloging the range of dangers posed by the...

Passenger plane catches fire at South Korean airport. All 176 people on board are evacuated

Jan. 29, 2025 09:58 AM EST

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A passenger plane caught fire before takeoff at an airport in South Korea late Tuesday, but all 176 people on board were safely evacuated, authorities said. The Airbus plane operated by South Korean airline Air Busan was preparing to leave for Hong Kong...

North Korean leader Kim inspects nuclear facility as Pyongyang pressures Trump administration

Jan. 29, 2025 03:08 AM EST

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a facility that produces nuclear material and called for bolstering the country’s nuclear fighting capability, state media reported Wednesday, as the North looks to increase pressure on the United States following the...

What is Lunar New Year and how is it celebrated?

Jan. 28, 2025 12:48 PM EST

On Jan. 29, Asian American communities around the U.S. will ring in the Year of the Snake with community carnivals, family gatherings, parades, traditional food, fireworks and other festivities. In many Asian countries, it is a festival that is celebrated for several days. In diaspora communities,...

What to expect after South Korea's impeached president was indicted on rebellion charges

Jan. 27, 2025 19:55 PM EST

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has become the country's first leader to be indicted, less than two weeks after he was the first to be detained. The impeached, jailed president, who had been holed up in his presidential compound for weeks after...

South Korean plane crash report says bird remains were found in engines, but no cause yet revealed

Jan. 27, 2025 04:20 AM EST

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The first report on last month’s Jeju Air crash in South Korea confirmed traces of bird strikes in the plane's engines, though officials haven’t determined the cause of the accident that killed all but two of the 181 people on board. The preliminary...