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SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- Many aspects of everyday life are again coming to a halt in the greater Seoul area, towards the normally busy year-end season, amid fears of a third wave of the new coronavirus. The area's social distancing level will be upgraded to the third highest in a five-tier scheme from Tuesday to restrict gatherings of people and operations of business establishments. A growing number of citizens are choosing to skip or cancel year-end appointments and meetings in accordance with health authorities' calls for minimizing social engagements to cope with a looming third wave of COVID-19 outbreaks. On the opposite side of the cancelled meetings and events, owners of private business entities, including restaurants, cafes and bars, are again struggling with fears of a plunge in sales and even insolvency due to stringent operation restrictions or outright closures. The toughened social distancing measures are also impacting the lives of about 500,000 high

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(ATTN: UPDATES with more details, comments in paras 6-8) SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- The number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea bounced back to over 300 on Tuesday due to a pileup of sporadic infections across the nation, with tougher antivirus rules in place in the greater Seoul area amid a virus resurgence. The country added 349 more COVID-19 cases, including 320 local infections, raising the total caseload to 31,353, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest figure was sharply up from 271 on Monday, when the comparable reading fell back below to 300 for the first time in six days due to less testing on the weekend. The daily caseload has stayed in the triple digits since Nov. 8, with the figure over 300 from Nov. 18-22. Health authorities warned a third wave of the pandemic is under way due to cluster infections from private gatherings, public facilities, hospitals and the military, calling for stronger action before a na

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(ATTN: UPDATES with more details, comments in paras 16-17; CHANGES photos) SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- The number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea bounced back to over 300 on Tuesday due to a pileup of sporadic infections across the nation, with tougher antivirus rules in place in the greater Seoul area amid a virus resurgence. The country added 349 more COVID-19 cases, including 320 local infections, raising the total caseload to 31,353, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest figure was sharply up from 271 on Monday, when the comparable reading fell back below to 300 for the first time in six days due to less testing on the weekend. The daily caseload has stayed in the triple digits since Nov. 8, with the figure over 300 from Nov. 18-22. Health authorities warned a third wave of the pandemic is under way due to cluster infections from private gatherings, public facilities, hospitals and the military, calling for stronger

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(ATTN: UPDATES with details in paras 26-27) SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- The number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea fell below 300 for the first time in six days on Monday due to less testing on the weekend, as the greater Seoul area is set to be under tougher virus curbs starting Tuesday to prevent another wave of the pandemic. The country added 271 more COVID-19 cases, including 255 local infections, raising the total caseload to 31,004, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest figure fell from 330 on Sunday, which was attributable to the fewer number of tests conducted over the weekend. The daily caseload has stayed in the triple digits since Nov. 8, with the figure hovering over 300 in the last five days. The recent surge of the virus prompted health authorities to raise the social distancing level by one notch to Level 2, the third-highest in the five-tier system, in the Seoul metropolitan area for two weeks starting T

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(ATTN: UPDATES with more details, comments in paras 16-17, 23-24, 26,28; CHANGES photo) SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- The number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea bounced back to over 300 on Tuesday due to a pileup of sporadic infections across the nation, with tougher antivirus rules in place in the greater Seoul area amid a virus resurgence. The country added 349 more COVID-19 cases, including 320 local infections, raising the total caseload to 31,353, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest figure was sharply up from 271 on Monday, when the comparable reading fell back below to 300 for the first time in six days due to less testing on the weekend. The daily caseload has stayed in the triple digits since Nov. 8, with the figure over 300 from Nov. 18-22. Health authorities warned a third wave of the pandemic is under way due to cluster infections from private gatherings, public facilities, hospitals and the military, calling

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By Byun Duk-kun WASHINGTON Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's pick for secretary of state will likely seek to improve South Korea's relations with Japan as he pushes for multilateral efforts to denuclearize North Korea, U.S. experts said Monday. The U.S. president-elect selected Antony Blinken, former deputy secretary of state, to be the first Cabinet member of the Biden administration, set to be inaugurated on Jan. 20. While experts here noted the 58-year-old nominee will be open to dialogue with North Korea, he will likely prefer a more silenced and disciplined approach than President Donald Trump in dealing with U.S. allies and adversaries. "Blinken will place his emphasis on revitalizing U.S. alliances and he won't kowtow to Kim Jong-un as Trump did -- or put the U.S. and North Korea on the brink of war as Trump also did in 2017," said Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst who currently works for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International

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SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Tuesday urged public servants to maintain the utmost level of readiness against COVID-19, warning those who contract the virus by not complying with distancing rules will face grave disciplinary measures. "In cases of slack discipline in the public sector, such as cases where public office workers test positive by not complying with antivirus measures, we will gravely seek disciplinary measures," Chung said during a Cabinet meeting at the government complex in Seoul. Chung noted that the year-end holiday period is when the public sector could fall prey to weaker discipline, especially from the accumulated fatigue over dealing with the pandemic throughout the year. The prime minister ordered the public sector to actively adopt at-home remote work and refrain from holding in-person meetings, business trips and after-hour gatherings among co-workers. Chung also reminded officials to mobilize full disease-cont

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(ATTN: UPDATES with details from 3rd para; ADDS photos) By Lee Haye-ah SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- The Seoul city government on Monday announced toughened antivirus measures until the end of the year, including reduced public transport by night and a ban on rallies involving 10 or more people. The measures will take effect Tuesday under a new campaign named "Emergency pause period for 10 million citizens" amid a spike in new COVID-19 cases in Seoul and the greater capital area. At midnight Monday, the same region will raise its social distancing rules to Level 2, the third highest of five levels. The city government said it will enforce stricter social distancing rules at 10 key facilities, including nursing homes and restaurants, as part of the campaign. "We decided to take preemptive measures equivalent to Level 3 in consideration of the high risk of infection created by Seoul's unique characteristics, such as its high population density and the large number of peo

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(ATTN: UPDATES with comments from KDCA chief in paras 9-11) SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Monday that the government was currently at the last stage in negotiations with COVID-19 vaccine developers to purchase coronavirus vaccines and will soon report the progress of the talks to the public. "Following recent news of breakthroughs in COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials by global vaccine developing companies, the public's interest in the government's vaccine procurement readiness has gone up," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said during a vaccine procurement-related government meeting in Seoul. "We will soon be able to report on the efforts and the progress by the government." South Korea plans to purchase 10 million doses through the global vaccine supply platform COVAX Facility, and another 20 million through separate negotiations with vaccine companies, according to health ministry officials. The government's goal is "to secure enough va

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