Damage from heavy rain that pounded the country's central region earlier this week continued to grow, leaving 12 dead and 14 missing as of Tuesday. More than 1,000 were forced to leave their homes, while some 5,751 hectares of farm land were swamped or buried as of 6 a.m., according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters. Most recently, six deaths were reported in Pyeongtaek and Gapyeong, both in Gyeonggi Province, as landslides engulfed a makeshift workplace and a mou

WASHINGTON -- The US State Department has named a new envoy for defense cost-sharing negotiations with South Korea and other nations, a department spokesperson said Monday. Donna Welton, who recently served as assistant chief of mission at the US Embassy in Afghanistan, will succeed Jim DeHart, who was appointed last week as the US coordinator for the Arctic region. "As Mr. DeHart's successor, Ms. Welton will pick up where Jim left off in regards to the ROK Special Measures Agreement, th

SEJONG -- South Korea's annual inflation rose 0.3 percent in July, marking the first upturn in three months, as signs of a recovery in consumer sentiment have appeared amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The July tally compares with zero growth in June, according to the data released by Statistics Korea. The nation's inflation was unchanged on-month, the data showed. Core inflation, which excludes agricultural and petroleum products, rose 0.7 percent from a year earlier. Ut