SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- K-pop superband BTS will hold an online concert, "BTS Permission To Dance On Stage," this weekend, featuring fresh up-to-date viewing technologies, its management agency said Friday. The seven-piece act's performance on a scale equivalent to an offline concert will be livestreamed from a local stadium Sunday, according to Big Hit Music. It is BTS' first global online concert in about a year. "This event is designed to help our fans feel like they are at the concert in person," Big Hit Music said. "We've selected songs that our fans, Army, love." It said cutting-edge visual effects will help the audience enjoy computer-generated visual effects and images shown on large LED screens at the stadium through their devices at home simultaneously. A multi-view live streaming service will be also available for them to select and enjoy various scenes taken from six different angles on a real-time basis, it added. The upcoming online event is taking pl

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By Kim Han-joo SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Saturday achieved its goal of fully inoculating over 70 percent of the country's population earlier than scheduled amid its accelerating vaccination drive. A total of 35.94 million people have received their both shots of COVID-19 vaccines as of 2 p.m., accounting for 70 percent of the country's 51.3 million population, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). South Korea began its nationwide vaccination campaign in late February. The achievement comes as the country is set to gradually phase out coronavirus restrictions starting next month, joining a list of countries embracing a new scheme of returning to normal life with the coronavirus. The scheme, dubbed "Living with COVID-19," is set to take effect in early November. It means that COVID-19 will be treated as an infectious respiratory disease, like seasonal influenza, with eased social distancing being implemented. Authorities

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By Kang Yoon-seung SEOUL, Oct 22 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. spy aircraft flew over the Korean Peninsula on Friday, an aviation tracker showed, in what appears to be a sortie to monitor North Korea's military activities following South Korea's launch of a space rocket. The United States Air Force's RC-135W Rivet Joint was spotted flying between the west and east coasts of the peninsula, according to Flightradar24, a real-time flight tracker. The plane flew into South Korean airspace from abroad, an official at the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said without providing other details, including its base. The U.S. has no RC-135W Rivet Joint stationed here. North Korea test-fired a new submarine-launched ballistic missile on Tuesday. Two days later, South Korea launched its first home-grown rocket, the KSLV-II, which reached the target altitude of 700 kilometers but failed to place a dummy satellite into orbit. The U.S. aircraft, meant to intercept telemetry signals before missile launches,

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INCHEON, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- A Chinese fishing boat was seized Friday for fishing illegally in South Korean waters in the Yellow Sea, Korea Coast Guard officials said. The 60-ton boat was caught operating in waters about 25 kilometers west of the island of Baengnyeong at around 2:40 a.m. after crossing 7 kilometers into South Korean waters from north of the inter-Korean sea border, known as the Northern Limit Line (NLL). A 500-ton Coast Guard vessel patrolling the area found the Chinese boat and sent a speedboat to seize it in cooperation with the Navy. The fishing boat attempted to flee north of the NLL, with its seven crew members locking themselves up in the wheelhouse. But Coast Guard members forcefully opened the door and overpowered the crew, officials said. Some 20 kilograms of marine products, including crabs and prawns, were found on the boat, officials said. The crew members will be taken to the Coast Guard port in Incheon for investigation, officials said.

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(ATTN: ADDS details in last 3 paras) SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea saw its new coronavirus cases rise slightly Saturday, but the daily caseload stayed below 2,000 for the 15th straight day, as the country's vaccination rate was nearing a key milestone of 70 percent. The country reported 1,508 new cases, including 1,487 local infections, raising the total caseload to 350,476, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Saturday's tally is up from the 1,439 counted the previous day. The death toll came to 2,745, up 20 from a day earlier. Daily virus caseloads tend to fluctuate depending on the number of coronavirus tests, which generally decrease during weekends and holidays. Although South Korea has logged more than 1,000 daily cases since early July, it is seeing a downward trend in its coronavirus infections after the fourth wave of the pandemic peaked in late September. The average daily number of confirmed cases during the Oct. 10-16 per

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(ATTN: UPDATES with Yoon's apology in paras 14-15) By Lee Haye-ah SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- Yoon Seok-youl, a leading opposition presidential contender, drew fire Friday after a photo of his dog being fed an apple sparked speculation that he likened the people to a dog following a reluctant apology for making insensitive remarks about a former dictator. In Korean, "apology" and "apple" are homonyms and the fact that Yoon's dog Tory was given the fruit only hours after the candidate issued a public apology led to criticism that Yoon was not truly sorry and dismissed the people as dogs. The photo was posted on an Instagram account under Tory's name on Thursday night and later deleted. "Such mockery of the people should really not be done," Rep. Song Young-gil, the chairman of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), said during a party meeting. "If he wants to apologize, he should do it properly." Yoon's rivals within his own People Power Party (PPP) took the criticism a step

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(ATTN: ADDS KCNA's English-language report in paras 5-6) SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has reaffirmed efforts to strengthen bilateral relations with North Korea, Pyongyang's state media reported Saturday. Xi made the remarks in a reply to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's earlier letter to mark the 72nd Chinese National Day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). In the reply, Xi said he has highly taken note of relations between North Korea and China, and expressed his willingness to raise bilateral ties to a "new level." North Korea and China have emphasized their close relations amid stalemated nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington, and an escalating Sino-U.S. rivalry. Xi expressed "intent to steadily propel the relations to a new stage by strengthening strategic communications, deepening the friendship and cooperation and leading them to be conducive to mutual support through joint endeavors with Kim Jong Un," accord

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SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has reaffirmed efforts to strengthen bilateral relations with North Korea, Pyongyang's state media reported Saturday. Xi made the remarks in a reply to Kim's earlier letter to mark the 72nd Chinese National Day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). In the reply, Xi said he has highly taken note of relations between North Korea and China, and expressed his willingness to raise bilateral ties to a "new level." North Korea and China have emphasized their close relations amid stalemated nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington, and an escalating Sino-U.S. rivalry. Previously, Kim vowed to raise the Pyongyang-Beijing "friendship to a new strategic point as required by the times and as desired by the peoples of the two countries." China fought alongside the North against South Korean, U.S. and United Nations troops during the Korean War that ended in an armistice on July 27, 1953. Sunday marks t

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SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) -- A chemical used for fire suppression leaked from the basement of a high-rise building under construction in southwestern Seoul on Saturday, leaving two workers dead and nine others injured, firefighters said. The fatal chemical leak occurred on the third basement floor of the 18-story Gasan Metro Knowledge Industry Center building under construction in the capital's southwestern ward of Geumcheon shortly before 9 a.m., they said. Two male workers aged 50 and 45, respectively, were rushed to a nearby hospital after the chemical leak but pronounced dead later, they said. Two other workers suffered serious respiratory tract injuries, while seven others sustained minor injuries and are being treated at the hospital. The workers were reportedly insulating boilers and firefighting facilities when a facility that stores some fire extinguishing agents containing carbon dioxide was damaged, leading to the chemical leak. Fifty-two people were worki

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SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea saw its new coronavirus cases rise slightly Saturday, but the daily caseload stayed below 2,000 for the 15th straight day, as the country's vaccination rate was nearing a key milestone of 70 percent. The country reported 1,508 new cases, including 1,487 local infections, raising the total caseload to 350,476, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Saturday's tally is up from the 1,439 counted the previous day. The death toll came to 2,745, up 20 from a day earlier. Daily virus caseloads tend to fluctuate depending on the number of coronavirus tests, which generally decrease during weekends and holidays. Although South Korea has logged more than 1,000 daily cases since early July, it is seeing a downward trend in its coronavirus infections after the fourth wave of the pandemic peaked in late September. The average daily number of confirmed cases during the Oct. 10-16 period was 1,562, down 20.3 percent from

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