SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- The Seoul city government said Friday it plans to file a 4.6 billion-won (US$3.9 million) compensation suit against a pastor blamed for worsening the new coronavirus outbreak here by holding mass rallies in central Seoul. Despite warnings against holding mass rallies, Jun Kwang-hoon, who pastors Sarang Jeil Church in northern Seoul, is suspected of leading anti-government protests in central Seoul in mid-August that thousands of people attended. "Even limiting the damages to cases reported within Seoul, the (damages) inflicted upon the city government, transportation agency, ward offices, the country and the health insurance institution are estimated at 13.1 billion won," the city government said in a press release. The city claimed that Jun not only disrupted efforts to trace cases but submitted false documents on church members, leading to a resurgence of virus cases in the greater Seoul area. The city said it plans to submit relevant docume

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By Song Sang-ho SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Yonhap) -- A former chief of staff to U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that there will be a "deal of some sort" with North Korea that includes its "incremental concession" should Trump win reelection in November. Reince Priebus, who served in the White House post in 2017, made the remarks during a local forum, in response to an expert's view that Trump will seek to reach a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un should he get another term. "I don't know what it will be, but there will be a deal of some sort with North Korea and some incremental concession that means something positive to the region," Priebus said during a session of the World Knowledge Forum hosted by the Maekyung Media Group. "Now what that is and how you will analyze it, that is going to be a different story," he added. The former White House aide did not elaborate on what that deal will shape up to be, but his remarks raised expectations that a second-term

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(ATTN: UPDATES with more details from para 11; ADDS photo) SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed below 200 for the 16th straight day on Friday, but local infections remained in the triple digits on rises in sporadic cluster infections and untraceable cases. The country added 126 more COVID-19 cases, including 109 local infections, raising the total caseload to 22,783, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Five more patients died, raising the death toll to 377. It marked a fall from 153 new cases reported Thursday, but the tally was higher than 113 cases Wednesday. Health authorities are seeking to bring the daily new cases down under 100. The number of locally transmitted infections remained in the triple digits for the third straight day. The country's new virus cases have been on a slowing trend on the back of tougher social distancing guidelines, but a marked slowdown appears to be some way off du

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By Byun Duk-kun WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday acknowledged that he had considered sending former Chicago Bulls basketball player Dennis Rodman to North Korea to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. "He really does like Dennis Rodman, I will tell you. It's sort of great. I always said Dennis would be better than some of these staffs that they used to send over to get to know him (Kim)," Trump said in an interview with Fox Sports Radio. The sudden revelation came after the show's host asked if Trump and Kim had ever talked about basketball. Trump and Kim held three meeting between June 2018 and June 2019. "He really did like Dennis Rodman. And they said we should maybe use him instead of somebody that graduated No. 1 at Harvard. Maybe we should use that and so I thought about that," said Trump. Rodman has visited the communist North multiple times on his own terms, and has apparently befriended Kim. "I hope it's jus

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SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Yonhap) -- The portion of virus cases with unidentified transmission routes reached a fresh record high of 26.4 percent of the total new infections identified over the past two weeks, health authorities said Thursday. Of the 2,013 new cases reported over the past 14 days, 532 cases were grouped as infections with unknown transmission routes, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). It marked a fresh daily record high since health authorities began compiling related data in April. The number of untraceable cases has topped 20 percent recently since mid-August, as cluster infections spiked in the densely populated Seoul area. A rise in untraceable cases has put a strain on the virus fight, as it indicates that COVID-19 is spreading at a faster-than-expected pace in local communities and people can contract the virus unwittingly. "The situation means that asymptomatic patients or people with mild symptoms can spread the virus

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(ATTN: RECASTS lead; UPDATES with remarks from the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, additional information in paras 6-7, 16-18) By Byun Duk-kun WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has a "small number" of nuclear weapons, the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday, although that number was not defined. Air Force Gen. John Hyten told a virtual forum that the specific numbers were "classified" and in many ways hard to understand. "But a small number is a confident characterization of nuclear capabilities that can threaten their neighbors or the United States," he said in a symposium hosted by the National Defense University's Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Hyten offered no further explanation of what he meant by "a small number." The U.S. has never officially discussed its assessment of North Korea's nuclear capabilities, but the communist state is widely estimated to possess more than 70 nuclear warheads.

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(ATTN: UPDATES with more info in paras 7, 8, 19; CHANGES photo) SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed below 200 for the 16th straight day on Friday, but local infections remained in the triple digits on rises in sporadic cluster infections and untraceable cases. The country added 126 more COVID-19 cases, including 109 local infections, raising the total caseload to 22,783, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Five more patients died, raising the death toll to 377. It marked a fall from 153 new cases reported Thursday, but the tally was higher than 113 cases Wednesday. Health authorities are seeking to bring the daily new cases down under 100. The number of locally transmitted infections remained in the triple digits for the third straight day. The country's new virus cases have been on a slowing trend on the back of tougher social distancing guidelines, but a marked slowdown appears to be some way off

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(ATTN: ADDS church's statement, details in paras 2, 9-11, photo) By Lee Minji SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- The Seoul city government said Friday it plans to file a 4.6 billion-won (US$3.9 million) compensation suit against a pastor blamed for worsening the new coronavirus outbreak here by holding mass rallies in central Seoul. Despite warnings against holding mass rallies, Jun Kwang-hoon, who pastors Sarang Jeil Church in northern Seoul, is suspected of leading anti-government protests in central Seoul in mid-August that thousands of people attended. Jun, himself, later tested positive. "Even limiting the damages to cases reported within Seoul, the (damages) inflicted upon the city government, transportation agency, ward offices, the country and the health insurance institution are estimated at 13.1 billion won," the city government said in a press release. Included in the amount were 330 million won to treat 641 patients reported in the capital and 663 million won

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By Woo Jae-yeon SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- Two young brothers in Incheon who suffered severe burn injuries earlier this week were found to be abuse victims, in a tragedy that was compounded by the coronavirus pandemic. The boys, 8 and 10, were engulfed in flames on Monday while cooking instant noodles for lunch. Their mother was absent, and the COVID-19 pandemic had forced schools to close. The boys were left on their own. They called for help at 11:16 a.m., and firefighters arrived at the scene in 10 minutes to find the two unconscious on the floor of the completely charred house. The older one suffered severe burn injuries on almost 40 percent of his body. The younger suffered mild burns on his leg, because, according to police, his older brother protected him from the encroaching fire. The police said on Thursday that their mother, 30, had long been under investigation for suspected child abuse and neglect. Since September 2018, when the neighbors reported

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(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; UPDATES with more info throughout; CHANGES photo) SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed below 200 for the 16th straight day Friday, but health authorities remained alert as sporadic cluster infections continued to rise and untraceable cases hit a fresh record high. The country added 126 more COVID-19 cases, including 109 local infections, raising the total caseload to 22,783, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Five more patients died, raising the death toll to 377. It marked a fall from 153 new cases reported Thursday, but the tally was higher than 113 cases Wednesday. Health authorities are seeking to bring the daily new cases down under 100. The number of locally transmitted infections remained in the triple digits for the third straight day. The country's new virus cases have been on a slowing trend on the back of tougher social distancing guidelines, but a marked s

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