The U.S. administration has reiterated that it intends to transfer wartime operational control (OPCON) to Korea "when the agreed conditions have been met," amid Seoul's push to set a target year for the handover. "The United States intends to transfer wartime operational control to Korea when the agreed conditions have been met, which will ensure the safety and security of the people of Korea and U.S. forces stationed there," a U.S. administration official told Yonhap News Agency via email on Monday. The remarks came in response to a Yonhap inquiry regarding Korean Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul's comments that Seoul and Washington were coordinating on setting a target year for the OPCON transfer. "The United States policy on wartime operational control has been consistent for decades," the U.S. official added. During a parliamentary audit Monday (Korea time), Kang said Korea and the U.S. are closely coordinating on setting a target year for Seoul's retaking of wartime OPCON from Washington. "The Korean and U.S. authorities are closely coordinating on completing the full operational capa

A fire that broke out at a shantytown in Seoul's southern Gangnam district was fully extinguished early Wednesday, nearly 13 hours after it started, authorities said. Firefighters completely put out the blaze at Guryong Village at 4:39 a.m., after containing the main fire late Tuesday. The fire broke out at around 3:50 p.m. Tuesday, prompting 39 residents to flee to safety. One woman reportedly sustained a minor leg injury. No other casualties were reported. Authorities mobilized 232 personnel and 110 pieces of equipment to battle the blaze, which spread rapidly through densely packed makeshift homes. The Gangnam Ward office said 107 people from 77 households were affected by the fire, with temporary shelters arranged at a nearby school and gymnasium.

Church Growth International (CGI) was established in November 1976 with the aim of fostering the growth of churches around the world by showcasing exemplary models like Yoido Full Gospel Church. Since then, CGI has continued to grow remarkably as global pastors and church leaders have participated actively. The 50th CGI Conference takes place at Yoido Full Gospel Church and Jamsil Student Gymnasium in Seoul from Oct. 28-31, led by Lee Young-hoon, senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church. Lee, who also serves as the CGI chairman, expects the forthcoming conference to be the fresh catalyst for the revival of churches around the world. In a recent interview with GoodTV, a Christian gospel broadcaster, he told Korean churches to tide over endless division, conflict and confrontation and unite to prepare for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula. “Korean churches should repent and reflect before the global religious world,” he said. Asked about what was behind the foundation of CGI, Lee said CGI has had a tremendous impact on churches around the world over the last 50 years. “As t

An unprecedented investment boom swept the country during the COVID-19 pandemic, fueled by abundant liquidity. Amid the frenzy, a new investment method known as "fractional investing" quickly gained traction. The emerging industry attracted a wave of entrepreneurs who helped shape its standards and practices. Among them was Lucentblock CEO Huh Se-young. His platform allowed investors to buy and sell fractional stakes in properties worth tens of billions of won. Since launching the business in 2018, he has attracted 500,000 customers and raised approximately 30 billion won ($22.65 million) through the platform. While many players exited the industry amid an investment slump and regulatory intervention, Huh stayed the course. He has seen three presidents and six finance ministers come and go. Huh navigated regulatory reviews and put investor protection safeguards in place under the government's sandbox program. He also persuaded financial institutions to adopt a structure in which trust companies would hold the underlying real estate assets and issue beneficiary certificates, while his sta

Church Growth International (CGI), an international church growth research organization founded by the late Rev. Cho Yong-gi, will hold a four-day conference in Seoul starting Wednesday to mark its 50th anniversary, bringing together church leaders from around 50 countries. The 2026 CGI 50th Anniversary Conference, running Oct. 28 to 31, is hosted by Yoido Full Gospel Church and organized by CGI. It will take place at the church’s main sanctuary in Seoul, Jamsil Students’ Gymnasium and Osanri Choi Jashil Memorial Prayer Mountain in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. Organizers expect about 7,000 registered participants, including 3,000 from overseas and 4,000 from Korea. Under the theme “The Holy Spirit Across Generations,” the gathering will examine how churches can pass on their faith and ministry experience to the next generation while responding to a changing social and technological environment. Lee Young-hoon, senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church and chairman of CGI, identified leadership succession and the Christian response to the age of artificial intelligence as key issues.

SINGAPORE, LONDON, SEOUL — Breaking into the world’s top 100 has become a common ambition among Korean universities. However, the world’s leading university ranking agencies have a surprising response for institutions chasing higher positions: Stop chasing the rankings. "The dog should wag the tail, the tail should not wag the dog," said Phil Baty, chief global affairs officer at Times Higher Education (THE), cautioning universities against allowing rankings to dictate their priorities. "Rankings should inform university strategy and decision-making, not drive them." Ben Sowter, senior vice president at QS, raised a similar concern, warning that universities risk losing their competitive edge if they all pursue similar strategies. “The important thing is that you build a really nuanced strategy where you don’t have a whole group of universities trying to do exactly the same thing as each other,” he said. “In that context you end up competing with yourselves rather than necessarily distinguishing yourselves internationally.” Global university rankings are evolving to reflect

Church leaders and Christians from 50 countries are gathering in Seoul to take part in the 50th Church Growth International (CGI) Conference that will open Wednesday. They will share experiences and seek a path to revival that will be handed over to the next generation. Among the notable speakers will be Hendrik Vorster, founder and president of Cornerstone Ministries International in Australia, which helps him lead church planting and discipleship efforts across the world. Specifically, he has trained more than 130,000 church planters in 78 countries since launching the Church Planting Institute in 2012. Vorster, who also serves as bishop of the Charismatic Churches of India Diocese, is doing whatever he can to strengthen churches and develop leaders across the world through structured discipleship. Satish Kumar, a pastor, author, international speaker and humanitarian, leads Calvary Temple in Hyderabad, India, which boasts more than 400,000 members as one of Asia’s largest churches. He has won fame for his biblical teaching and humanitarian service and has led initiatives such as f

WASHINGTON — Hanwha Defense USA (HDUSA) said Tuesday it will acquire a controlling stake in Hanwha Philly Shipyard, part of a broader internal restructuring aimed at strengthening the South Korean conglomerate's U.S. naval shipbuilding operations. Under a restructuring plan announced in September, Hanwha Systems Co. will sell its 60 percent stake in the shipyard to Hanwha Defense USA Shipbuilding LLC, a joint venture involving HDUSA and Hanwha FutureProof. Hanwha Ocean Co. will retain its 40 percent stake. HDUSA said the move will bring the Philadelphia-based shipyard under its leadership as Hanwha seeks to transform the facility into a dual-use shipyard capable of building vessels for the U.S. Navy and commercial customers. "As HDUSA continues to grow its multi-domain presence across the U.S., bringing the Philly Shipyard under HDUSA will further align our government and commercial shipbuilding efforts," HDUSA President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Coulter said in a statement. Retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Tom Anderson, president of U.S. shipbuilding at HDUSA, will oversee

WASHINGTON — China is unlikely to mediate a potential summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, U.S. experts assessed Tuesday, amid Trump's past signals to resume dialogue with Pyongyang. Sydney Seiler, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) who previously served as the national intelligence officer for North Korea, made the assessment during a CSIS podcast, arguing that neither Pyongyang nor other key players see an urgent need for renewed U.S.-North Korea talks. "But none of them is feeling a sense of urgency, to include obviously Kim Jong-un, that the U.S. and DPRK need to talk right now," Seiler said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "In fact, there's much to be accomplished by refusing to talk," he added, suggesting that Pyongyang could gain leverage by increasing Washington's eagerness for negotiations. Seiler expressed skepticism that Beijing would play a role in bringing Trump and Kim together or "coaching" Kim. "I just don't see Xi Jinping taking

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military said it attacked a boat it accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, killing five people, as the Trump administration continues its campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America. The latest attack brings the number of people who have been killed by the U.S. military's boat strikes to at least 240 in more than 70 strikes. The Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in September 2025. As with most of the military’s statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes and that “intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narcotrafficking.” The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs. A video posted on X showed a small boat in the water before it was enveloped by an explosion. President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and he has sought to justify the attacks as a necessary esc

MOSCOW — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that the Middle East can solve its problems without the involvement of the United States. "I believe we are capable of resolving our problems in the region without relying on the United States," Pezeshkian said at a meeting with Putin on the sidelines of a summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Moscow. "Our trade is expanding and growing day by day. U.S. actions in the region make it easier for U.S. to move towards greater multilateralism and strengthen our cooperation with you and other countries subject to unilateral U.S. sanctions," he told Putin. Putin said he discussed the war with Pezeshkian, expressing hope that the situation would improve. "We spoke earlier, one-on-one, about the situation in the region -- a situation that, undoubtedly, cannot help but cause concern," he said, adding that he hoped it would "evolve in a positive direction." Pezeshkian said he was confident the will existed on both sides to expand cooperation in science, industry, culture, security and milit

JOINT BASE ANDREWS — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would respect the results of the U.S. midterm elections "if they're honest," in what appeared to be a fresh bid to sow doubt ahead of next week's crucial vote. Trump has ramped up his baseless, years-old claims of mass voter fraud as polls show Republicans could lose control of Congress in Tuesday's elections. "I will, if they're honest elections," Trump told reporters when asked if he would respect the results of the midterms, as he headed on a campaign trip to Texas. The 80-year-old president also gave a guarded pledge to work with the rival Democrats if Republicans lose their grip on the House of Representatives and Senate. "We'll figure a way. Look, I have strong veto. I hope that that won't be the case, but if it is, that's happened before with many presidents," Trump said at Joint Base Andrews near Washington. "You have strong veto, and you end up working on deals." Republicans fear a Democrat "blue wave" in the midterms as voters punish them over inflation stoked by oil prices that have soared since Trump launched his war

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday announced a $1 million reward for information about voter fraud, in a fresh bid to sow doubt ahead of the U.S. midterms and push his false claim about winning the 2020 election. "Anybody reporting Voter Fraud in the past Elections, or the upcoming 2026 Midterm Election, will be paid $1,000,000 upon the arrest and conviction of those that created the Fraud!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. The president gave no details of how the reward would be funded or administered. With the November 3 elections just eight days away, polls show Democrats pulling ahead as Republicans fight to retain control of both chambers of Congress. A Democratic victory would threaten to stall Trump's agenda and expose his administration to congressional investigations during his final two years in office. Trump has repeatedly made baseless allegations about election fraud, including his claim that he won the 2020 presidential election. Studies have consistently found voter fraud exceptionally rare, particularly voting by non-citizens, which is already ille

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said he would ban the term artificial intelligence in documents and everything else, as he questioned why the Wall Street Journal was not using his preferred term, super intelligence. "When will The Wall Street Journal start calling Artificial Intelligence (AI), a very bad and inaccurate name, SI (Super Intelligence), the name which virtually everyone else is using, or soon will be," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "In short order, we will be officially BANNING the term, “AI/Artificial Intelligence,” in all relevant documents, and everything else, due to its inaccuracy."

One of the seven Cornell University students disciplined in connection with an alleged 2024 gang rape at a fraternity house returned to campus this fall after a three-semester suspension and was placed in a co-ed dorm with a roommate who had no idea about his past, according to a professor familiar with the housing arrangement. University housing officials then left the accused student in that shared room for two weeks after the woman who made the allegation filed a lawsuit in September publicly accusing him of rape , psychology professor Corinna Loeckenhoff said at a Faculty Senate meeting. Meanwhile, Cornell students shared the accused student’s name and dorm location on social media. “This was a clear security risk,” Loeckenhoff told Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff at the Oct. 14 meeting, according to a recording obtained by The Associated Press. “Cornell’s own records show that, at the very least, he admitted to taking drugs and having sex with an intoxicated person,” Loeckenhoff said. “Why was Housing Services not aware of this? They had no clue until the shocked

NEW YORK — Wall Street is ticking higher Tuesday as stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry support the market, at least for now. The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent and pulled within 1.3 percent of its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 27 points, or 0.1 percent, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9 percent higher. The majority of stocks within the S&P 500 were falling, but gains for several influential AI stocks made up for that. Such stocks have been swerving for weeks on worries about whether their boom is under threat because of how expensive it’s become for companies to borrow money to build data centers and buy more AI chips. Broadcom climbed 3.3 percent after announcing a $63 billion financing deal where several Wall Street firms will help Anthropic get access to Broadcom's XPU AI accelerators and networking solutions. Elsewhere in the industry, Advanced Micro Devices rose 4 percent and was one of the strongest forces pushing up on the S&P 500 after Broadcom. CoreWeave, a company that’s borrowed money to buy

Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet are expected to report accelerating cloud growth this week, but turbulence in global markets and mounting concerns over the cost of financing AI investments are clouding the outlook. Investors are pressing for evidence that the AI boom can deliver swift returns to justify its enormous price tag. Rising bond yields at AI cloud providers such as CoreWeave and record costs to insure Meta Platform's debt have amplified concerns about how the massive AI infrastructure buildout is being funded, particularly as higher U.S. interest rates loom. Market turmoil has rekindled warnings of an AI bubble from investors, including hedge fund Citadel's founder Ken Griffin, and pushed companies to delay their IPOs. An expected Democratic sweep of the U.S. midterm elections could spell more trouble for data centers that are already a target of protests over their impact on power grids, electricity bills and the environment. China's tech-stock boom has unravelled, wiping out about $480 billion in market value in less than four months as concerns over AI demand and spending an

KHERSON, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine began observing a localized ceasefire in a devastated southern Ukrainian city on Tuesday, ahead of a planned humanitarian mission the White House said was brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump. Moscow kept up its deadly missile attacks on other cities in the meantime. Meanwhile, Finland’s president and Norway’s prime minister spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, officials said, in their first known direct contact since shortly after Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022. Many Western officials have accused Putin of masterminding a campaign of disruption across Europe and have sought to diplomatically isolate the Russian leader. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb later spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to Zelenskyy's office. A ceasefire takes hold in a southern Ukraine city, officials say A local pause in fighting started at 3 a.m. to allow an aid mission into the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky this week. Food and medical supplie

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will be joined by one of his potential successors on Tuesday as he tries to keep Texas, which hasn't elected a Democrat to statewide office in 32 years, in the Republican column in next week's midterm elections. The president will appear in Corpus Christi and Lubbock in his effort to boost Republican Ken Paxton's competitive U.S. Senate campaign against Democrat James Talarico. Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to help Trump show off a newly arrived oil tanker filled with Venezuelan crude to be processed in Texas refineries, according to a congressional aide and two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Rubio’s schedule ahead of a public announcement. The events mark Trump's third swing through Texas since holding a first-of-its-kind midterm convention in Dallas in September, a sign of the significance he's putting on a state that has spent decades as a Republican stronghold. However, Talarico has made the race competitive, capitalizing on a difficult political environment for Republicans and Paxton's history of ethic

“Bite him!” “Fight!” “You know I’m a really dangerous guy, right?” On Friday, voice actors Park Sang-hoon and Choi Woo-sung were locked in a heated verbal exchange as they watched a screen at Pixelogic Korea’s studio in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul. They were dubbing a one-on-one game between former martial arts fighters for the reality show “Physical: 100 Mexico.” As the actors delivered their lines in sync with the contestants’ movements and emotions, dubbing producer Kim Jeong-ryeong offered a steady stream of feedback: “Let me check the pronunciation,” “Make sure the microphone isn’t peaking” and “Your voice sounds a little hoarse.” “Physical: 100,” which pits 100 contestants with exceptional physical abilities against one another in extreme challenges, began as a Korean original reality show and has since spawned local adaptations in countries including Mexico and Italy. The scene observed that day was part of the Korean-language dubbing process. Dubbing involves translation, adaptation, voice casting, editing and mixing, and takes rough