By Yoo Jee-ho SEOUL, Nov. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea released squad numbers for their players at the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday, with captain Son Heung-min getting his usual No. 7. The Korea Football Association (KFA) confirmed shirt numbers for the country's 26 players, set to compete at the quadrennial tournament that kicks off on the weekend. South Korea's first match in Group H, against Uruguay, is Nov. 24. Son, the Tottenham Hotspur star named to his third straight World Cup team, will don No. 7 for the second consecutive tournament. He wore No. 9 in Brazil in 2014. Among other returnees from 2018, goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu will once again wear No. 1, but fellow goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo switched from No. 23 to No. 21. Jo's teammate at Ulsan Hyundai FC, defender Kim Tae-hwan, will have No. 23 on his back instead. Center back Kim Young-gwon will play with No. 19 on his back for the second straight World Cup. Left back Hong Chul will also have the sam

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SEOUL, Nov. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. on Monday launched the all-new Grandeur sedan in the domestic market to strengthen its product lineup. The new Grandeur comes with a 1.6-liter gasoline hybrid engine, a 2.5 gasoline engine, a 3.5 gasoline engine or a 3.5 liquefied petroleum gas engine, the company said in a statement. It is equipped with 10 air bags and safety features, such as the front collision avoidance, highway driving assist, reverse parking collision avoidance and remote smart parking assist systems, it said. The new model adopts Hyundai's next-generation design direction, Sensuous Sportiness, which is defined by the harmony among four fundamental elements in vehicle design -- proportion, architecture, styling and technology. It is priced at 37 million won to 46 million won (US$28,000-$35,000). Hyundai first placed the Grandeur sedan in the local market in 1986 and it has long been accepted as the carmaker's representative model.

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By Yoo Jee-ho AL RAYYAN, Qatar, Dec. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea head coach Paulo Bento, suspended for the team's final group stage match of the FIFA World Cup, said Thursday he doesn't believe his absence on the bench will have any bearing on the team's performance, such is the level of his confidence in his lieutenants. South Korea will close out Group H play against Portugal at 6 p.m. Friday at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, west of Doha. Bento will not be on the sidelines, after getting a red card in the aftermath of South Korea's loss to Ghana on Monday. Bento had a heated exchange with referee Anthony Taylor, who blew the final whistle moments after South Korea had won a corner. At a prematch presser for the Portugal match, Bento said his "competent staff" will more than make up for his absence. "I am confident the staff will do whatever is needed and if they need to make decisions, I am confident they will be able to do so. They will be independent," Bento sa

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(ATTN: UPDATES with more details throughout; ADDS photo, byline) By Chae Yun-hwan SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's foreign minister on Monday voiced "strong regret" over the head of the United Nations' condemnation of Pyongyang's recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch, according to its state media. On Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement strongly condemning North Korea's firing of an ICBM earlier that day and urged Pyongyang to immediately stop further provocative actions. "I express my strong regret over the fact that the UN secretary-general has taken a very deplorable attitude, oblivious of the purpose and principles of the UN Charter and its proper mission, which is to maintain impartiality, objectivity and equity in all matters," Choe Son-hui said in an English-language statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "We recently warned the UN secretary-general to consider the issue of the Korean peninsu

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(ATTN: ADDS details in paras 4-10) SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korea revealed leader Kim Jong-un's daughter for the first time Saturday in photos showing them attending the test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the previous day. The North's state media reported that Kim inspected the launch of a Hwasong-17, the country's largest ballistic missile, at Pyongyang International Airport on Friday. He was present at the scene "together with his beloved daughter and wife," the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. Photos released by the news agency showed his daughter in a white winter jacket and black pants standing and walking together with Kim in front of the missile that sat on a launch truck. The daughter apparently in her tweens was also seen along with her mother, Ri Sol-ju, watching her father as he instructed military officials. It marked her first official appearance in state media. North Korea has never confirmed the

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(ATTN: ADDS North Korean military's statement in paras 7-10) SEOUL, Dec. 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired some 130 artillery shells into eastern and western maritime "buffer zones" Monday, in what Seoul called a violation of a 2018 bilateral military agreement, amid the South Korea-U.S. live-fire drills in a border region. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that it detected the artillery firings, thought to involve multiple rocket launchers, from Kumgang County in Kangwon Province and Jangsan Cape in South Hwanghae Province, from 2:59 p.m. The shells splashed into the maritime buffer zones north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a de facto sea border, which were set under an inter-Korean military accord signed on Sept. 19, 2018, to reduce border tensions. The JCS communicated warnings to the North multiple times, pointing out the violation of the military accord and calling for the immediate cessation of the provocation, the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

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SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- Unionized cargo truckers said Wednesday they will go ahead with a nationwide strike as planned this week to demand an extension of a freight rate system guaranteeing a basic wage and better labor rights. Members of the Cargo Truckers Solidarity, affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, will walk out at the beginning of Thursday, and the union's 16 regional branches nationwide plan to simultaneously hold a ceremony launching the strike Thursday morning, union officials said. The planned walkout comes about six months after the union of 22,000 truckers ended their weeklong strike in June that caused massive disruptions and delays in logistic services nationwide and inflicted heavy corporate losses. The union has been demanding an extension and a wider coverage of the Safe Trucking Freight Rates System designed to prevent dangerous driving and guarantee minimum freight rates for truck drivers. "At a time when the phaseout of the

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SEOUL, Nov. 30 (Yonhap) -- Two Chinese and six Russian warplanes entered South Korea's air defense identification zone (KADIZ) without notice Wednesday, prompting the Air Force to scramble fighters to the scene, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The planes' entry into the KADIZ came as South Korea is pushing to strengthen its alliance with the United States amid an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry, while maintaining its opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The JCS said the warplanes flew across the KADIZ but did not violate South Korea's territorial air. At 5:48 a.m., two Chinese H-6 bombers flew into the KADIZ from an area 126 kilometers northwest of Ieo Islet, a submerged rock south of the southern island of Jeju, and they left the KADIZ at 6:13 a.m. At 6:44 a.m., the bombers reentered the KADIZ from an area northeast of South Korea's southern port city of Pohang and exited the zone at 7:07 a.m. Then six Russian aircraft -- four TU-95 bombers and two SU

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SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- "Squid Game" actor O Yeong-su has been indicted on charges of sexual misconduct, judicial officials said Friday. The Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors Office indicted the 78-year-old O without detention Thursday over an allegation that he inappropriately touched the body of a woman in mid-2017, the officials said. The case dates back to December last year, when the alleged victim filed a complaint against O with police. Police then closed the case without filing any charge against the actor in April but the prosecution later reopened the investigation at the request of the victim. The actor reportedly denied the charges during the prosecution's investigation. O won best TV supporting actor at the 2022 Golden Globe Awards for his role in "Squid Game." ycm@yna.co.kr

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By Yoo Jee-ho DOHA, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's national football governing body said Monday it lodged a complaint with FIFA following a crucial interpretation mistake during the national team's official press conference on the weekend. The Korea Football Association (KFA) added that FIFA acknowledged the importance of accurate interpretation in media operations and that it would take necessary steps to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents. The mishap took place during head coach Paulo Bento's prematch press conference on Sunday, the eve of South Korea's Group H match against Ghana. Bento has been speaking in his native Portuguese in Qatar, though he had been talking to South Korean journalists in English while in South Korea in the months leading up to the big tournament. When asked about the status of two injured players, Hwang Hee-chan and Kim Min-jae, Bento responded that Hwang would sit out Monday's match but he would check Kim's status Monday morning bef

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