SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korean rapper Iron, disgraced by a string of assault and other scandals, was found dead at an apartment in Seoul on Monday, police said. Iron, whose real name is Chung Heon-chul, was found bleeding and lying on the grass by an apartment guard around 10:25 a.m. before being transported to hospital and pronounced dead, police said. Police opened an investigation into the exact cause of his death. The 28-year-old Iron gained fame after becoming a semifinalist in the third season of cable music channel Mnet's hip-hop audition program "Show Me the Money" in 2014. Iron was briefly detained last month for allegedly assaulting his 18-year-old roommate with a baseball bat at his home in the central Seoul ward of Yongsan. The roommate was reported to be Iron's student, who was living at his home to learn about music. In 2018, Iron was sentenced by a court to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, for punching his girlfriend in the h

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SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Yonhap) -- D.O., member of K-pop boy band EXO, has completed his mandatory military service and was officially discharged Monday. D.O., whose legal name is Doh Kyung-soo, was recently on his final leave and was discharged without having to return to his base, according to the military's COVID-19 guidelines, according to SM Entertainment. In a handwritten note posted on fan community Lysn, the 28-year-old thanked fans for waiting and said he will do his best in upcoming activities. D.O., who enlisted in July 2019, is the second EXO member to complete mandatory military service. Band member Xiumin was discharged last month. Members Chen and Suho are serving their terms. mlee@yna.co.kr

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SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Yonhap) -- The music video for "Dynamite," the historic BTS song that topped the Billboard's main singles chart last year, has earned 800 million YouTube views, the band's agency said Sunday. YouTube views for "Dynamite" hit 800 million views at 12:26 p.m. on Sunday, becoming the septet's sixth music video to reach the milestone, according to Big Hit Entertainment. The feat came just a month after it earned 700 million views, it added. "Dynamite," an upbeat disco-pop track that was sung in English, has rewritten history in many ways. It earned the seven-piece band its first career No. 1 on the Billboard's main singles chart and stayed there for months. The septet also received its first Grammy nomination in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category with "Dynamite." The awards ceremony is slated for March 14 (U.S. time). Upon its release, the music video for the hit song earned 101 million views in just 24 hours, setting a record as the most-watched musi

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SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases hovered around 400 for the third straight day Wednesday as the country struggles to further slow down the third wave of the pandemic with an enhanced social distancing scheme. The country added 404 more COVID-19 cases, including 373 domestic infections, raising the total caseload to 73,518, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Wednesday's figure was slightly up from 386 cases reported the previous day. Since the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus a year ago, the country has experienced two waves of COVID-19 infections, with the first one centered in the southeastern city of Daegu in February and another massive outbreak in the greater Seoul area in August. The third wave of COVID-19 here reached its peak on Dec. 25, with the daily tally reaching 1,240, but has been showing signs of a slowdown since. The daily figure stayed in the 500s in the past week bef

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SEOUL, Jan. 22 (Yonhap) -- A 50-something man was sentenced to 20 months in prison on Friday for getting into a "slipper fight" with subway passengers who asked him to wear a face mask due to the coronavirus. The man was indicted on charges of assaulting two passengers on a Line 2 subway train. During the incident in August, he choked the passengers and slapped their faces with a slipper he was wearing. "The defendant was not wearing a mask even though it was essential due to COVID-19 and talked in a loud voice on the train before assaulting the passengers," Judge Lee Sang-hoon of the Seoul Southern District Court said. "However, we took into consideration the fact that his mental illness appeared to have contributed to the crime," he said. The man had pleaded for leniency, saying he is undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder. nyway@yna.co.kr

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SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's health authorities warned Saturday that their efforts to contain COVID-19 face a potentially major challenge from the spread of new variants. Kwon Joon-wook, deputy director of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, even raised the possibility that the nation will be drawn back into a "nightmare" similar to that in December last year, when the daily number of infections exceeded 1,000. "Mutant viruses are more contagious than existing ones," he said during a press briefing. While the reproduction rate of the coronavirus here stands at around 0.82, it would go up to 1.2 if the mutant virus from Britain spreads widely, he added. The rate measures the number of people that the average patient infects. It represents a very alarming situation, especially as the British government's latest announcement has signaled the odds of a higher fatality rate, Kwon added. South Korea has confirmed three types of coronavirus variants on i

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SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean diplomat has defected to South Korea while serving as the acting chief of mission at the country's embassy in Kuwait, a source said Monday. Ryu Hyun-woo, who had served as the embassy's charge d'affaires since Ambassador So Chang-sik was expelled from Kuwait after a U.N. resolution was adopted in 2017, entered South Korea, along with his family, according to the source. Further details were not available, including the timing of the defection. But a media report earlier said that Ryu appears to have defected to the South in September 2019, about two months after Jo Song-gil, the acting ambassador to the North's embassy in Italy, entered the country after disappearing in late 2018. Some presumed that Ryu is a son-in-law of Jon Il-chun, who once served as the head of Office 39, an organization known to be the "personal safe" of North Korean leaders used in managing secret funds and procuring luxury goods. Ryu reportedly decide

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SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed under 400 for the second straight day Tuesday as infections sharply slowed down on tightened social distancing measures, but health authorities still remain vigilant over potential upticks amid partially eased curbs. The country added 386 more COVID-19 cases, including 351 domestic infections, raising the total caseload to 73,115, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The third wave of COVID-19 here reached its peak on Dec. 25 at 1,240 but has been showing signs of a slowdown since. The daily figure stayed in the 500s over the past week before it dropped to a nearly two-month low of 389 on Monday. The country extended its tougher social distancing measures for two more weeks, while easing some restrictions on cafes, gyms and other indoor facilities that have suffered revenue losses. Under the new measures, the capital area is be under Level 2.5, the second

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By Kim Eun-jung SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) -- When the novel coronavirus first arrived in South Korea a year ago, Bang Su (alias) didn't know it would upend her career and family all of a sudden. The Pilates instructor worked less than two months last year as on-and-off social distancing measures restricted the operation of a sports center run by the Seocho ward office. Two rounds of emergency relief handouts worth 2.1 million won (US$1,897) were not enough for the 36-year-old single mother of a teenage son, who used to earn more money than the subsidy a month. "As my son spent more time at home to attend online classes, I needed more money for grocery shopping and other bills," Bang told Yonhap News Agency. "I'm burning through my savings, trying to be frugal as much as I can." The instructor said she shelved her anticipated plan to open her own studio and is now searching for jobs while preparing documents to apply for the third round of relief funds, which will be giv

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