The National Intelligence Service (NIS) was left out of a June trilateral meeting with Washington and Tokyo on North Korean cyber threats, the agency effectively acknowledged Thursday. The exclusion belatedly came to light after a local newspaper reported that the spy agency had been barred from the fifth meeting of the Trilateral Diplomatic Working Group at the request of the U.S. side. "There had been some misunderstanding several months ago, but it is now a thing of the past," the NIS said, all but acknowledging the report. "Among states, misunderstandings can happen over different national interests. What matters is how to solve them in a timely manner," it said, adding, "There is no misunderstanding between intelligence authorities of South Korea and the U.S." "The NIS is working closely with the U.S. side on security matters such as cyber and North Korea," it said. The trilateral working group held its inaugural meeting in December 2023, following the summit between the leaders at Camp David, Maryland, in August that year, when they agreed to strengthen security cooperation. The June

Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul on Thursday met with a U.S. senator for discussions on shipbuilding cooperation between South Korea and the United States, the ministry said. Kang met with Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) in Seoul, where he underscored the South Korea-U.S. alliance as the "linchpin" for maintaining peace and security in the region, and urged the U.S. Congress to continue its role as a "steadfast supporter" of the alliance, according to the ministry. Kang thanked the U.S. senator for his continued interest and support in shipbuilding cooperation between the countries, and expressed hope that Seoul and Washington would further develop their cooperation in a practical manner. According to the ministry, Kang and McCormick also shared the view that the bilateral alliance should go beyond security cooperation and evolve into a strategic partnership for technological innovation and the defense industry. The meeting came a day after McCormick visited Hanwha Ocean Co.'s shipyard in the southeastern city of Geoje, where he inspected the defense contractor's shipbuilding infrastructure an

SEJONG — For those accustomed to Seoul’s density, Sejong, the nation's administrative capital approximately 130 kilometers south of Seoul, offers an unfamiliar Korean cityscape: cyclists follow streams to work and visitors from across the country stroll through the giant rooftop garden atop Government Complex Sejong or along wide boulevards with no utility poles or curbside parking. Founded in 2012 as Korea’s administrative city, Sejong has grown into a community of roughly 400,000 residents, shaped in large part by the civil servants and their families who moved south as ministries were relocated from Seoul. Thirteen officials from 12 foreign missions in Korea joined a two-day tour of Sejong on Sept. 29 and 30, arranged by the Sejong Culture and Tourism Foundation to introduce the planned city’s tourism assets. Kenyan Ambassador Emmy Kipsoi, one of the participants, said the visit exceeded her expectations of the city as a strictly functional government hub. “Before the visit, I knew Sejong mainly as Korea’s administrative capital, the home of government ministries and a cit

Seoul will begin turning Jamsu Bridge into its first pedestrian-only Han River bridge, ending vehicle traffic on the 50-year-old crossing later this month and creating new spaces for walking, resting and cultural events. Vehicle traffic will be banned from 12 a.m. on Oct. 26, after this year’s final car-free festival on the bridge, while pedestrians and cyclists will continue to use Jamsu Bridge during most of construction. The project is scheduled for completion in August 2027 and will add 22 viewing spaces designed to bring pedestrians closer to the Han River and surrounding scenery. Two sections along shipping routes will feature transparent decks that allow visitors to look down at the river below, offering views not available from other Han River bridges. The city will also convert the northern underground passage beneath Jamsu Bridge into pedestrian space, improving connections between Itaewon, Yongsan Park and the Han River. Jamsu Bridge opened in 1976 as a four-lane vehicle bridge and in 2008, two lanes were converted for pedestrians and cyclists, later becoming a venue for cult

Seoul’s push to expand the use of autonomous buses and taxis is raising questions about the future of transport workers, with unionized drivers calling for stronger safeguards and a greater say in a transition that could eventually threaten their jobs. While city officials say the technology will initially help address driver shortages rather than displace workers, union representatives want clear answers about their future job security, passenger safety and responsibility in the event of an accident. “Self-driving technology should be limited to supporting human drivers, instead of replacing them,” a Seoul bus union official surnamed Yoo told The Korea Times recently. “Operating without humans is neither feasible nor desirable.” He said drivers’ responsibilities extend beyond simply steering and braking to responding to passenger inquiries, preventing door-related injuries and handling unexpected incidents. He supported technology that can assist them with risks such as drowsy driving and blind spots, but questioned whether the policy direction of replacing human workers wi

The military safely detonated a suspected North Korean land mine washed up on a western border island, with no casualties or property damage reported, the Marine Corps said Thursday. A worker discovered the mine near a beach on Ganghwa Island off the west coast at around 3:30 p.m., and an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team of the 2nd Marine Division was sent to the site to neutralize it, the Marine Corps said in a message to the press. "The land mine is presumed to be an antipersonnel mine that washed ashore from North Korea. There were no human casualties or property damage between the time the mine was discovered and when it was detonated," the armed force said. Heavy rains often wash North Korean mines across the border into South Korean territory. Located just northwest of Incheon along the Han River estuary, Ganghwa Island is one of the closest islands to the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) separating the two Koreas. The last land mine found on Ganghwa Island was discovered on Aug. 15. Between July and August, a total of 17 mines, including wooden-box and antipersonnel mines, we

Three decades into their relationship, Seoul and Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) are taking their 35-year partnership past traditional trade and transportation. Now, the two regions are uniting around tourism, business development and the distinctly modern urban challenge of social isolation. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon met NSW Gov. Margaret Beazley at Seoul City Hall on Thursday to discuss expanding exchanges between the two regions across tourism, economics, business, transportation, infrastructure and urban policy. Seoul and NSW established their partnership in November 1991 and have since expanded cooperation in human exchanges, economic policy and transportation. Their relationship deepened in 2017 with an agreement covering foreign investment and cooperation in startup sectors including fintech, biotech and digital creative industries. Officials said roughly 100 Korean companies have bases in NSW, while about 30 NSW companies have entered Seoul, with recent business activity concentrated in finance, biotech and technology. Seoul Metropolitan Government and Korean companies have also

South Korea conducted its first test launch of a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) on Thursday, Cheong Wa Dae said, in an apparent show of force against North Korea amid heightening inter-Korean tensions following a recent border land mine blast. The test launch was carried out to verify core hypersonic technologies, such as flight trajectories and speed, as a game-changing strategic asset capable of launching surprise precision strikes against enemy targets, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a written briefing to the press. President Lee Jae Myung observed the launch in person, accompanied by Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul and other officials. An HGV is a missile system that uses a booster to accelerate and ascend into the upper atmosphere before separating from the booster to glide at lower altitudes at hypersonic speeds. "The HGV successfully separated from its booster and seamlessly executed its planned flight path under hypersonic conditions," the spokesperson said. "This successful launch marks a major milestone in that preparations are complete to secure a new deterrent

INCHEON — Korean literature’s growing international recognition must be matched by sustained translation funding and greater autonomy, translators said Thursday, warning that global success cannot rest on individual passion. Speaking at “Translation: Text in Transit,” an international colloquium organized by the National Museum of World Writing Systems, Debora Smith, Anton Hur and Choi Mi-kyung called for support that enables translators to discover overlooked works while defending the human judgment behind literary translation. Smith, who translated the 2016 Man Booker International Prize “The Vegetarian” by Han Kang, recalled choosing to learn Korean when its literature was barely available in British bookstores. “Now it’s a completely different story. I see Korean literature and translation everywhere,” she said. Smith and Hur emphasized that the breakthrough reflected years of work by translators across many languages, rather than a single award or author. Han’s Nobel Prize, Hur said, arrived amid Korean literature’s ascent, not before it. Hur, whose translations

MANILA, Philippines — Lawyer Sheila Sison, Vice President Sara Duterte’s lead lawyer in the impeachment trial, has questioned the prosecution panel for asking them to adjust — to allow the presentation of a forensic financial analyst instead of the originally scheduled witness — when it was a private prosecutor who got sick. Sison, during the resumption