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1. According to the Health Ministry, roughly 300 trainee doctors who walked off their jobs to protest the government's plan to increase medical school admissions returned to work as of Thursday - the deadline set by the government for them to return to work before potentially facing punitive measures.

2. Rival parties on Thursday agreed on an electoral district map for the upcoming parliamentary elections in April. The number of seats chosen by direct votes in North Jeolla Province will be maintained at 10, while the total number of seats picked through a proportional representation system will be decreased by one to 46.

3. Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held their first bilateral in-person meeting in Washington on Wednesday. Cho stressed that the U.S. and South Korea "are one in condemning North Korea's increasingly provocative rhetoric and actions."

1. Four lawmakers left the main opposition Democratic Party on Wednesday amid an escalating dispute over what they perceive as unfair candidate nominations for the April 10 parliamentary elections. The factional rift peaked when Im Jong-seok, a former chief of staff for President Moon Jae-in, was not nominated on Tuesday.

2. Health ministry officials on Wednesday started visiting the homes of trainee doctors to deliver the government's back-to-work order, in a final step that would allow the government to file a criminal complaint over the doctors' mass walkout.

3. The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant on Wednesday started releasing a fourth batch of treated radioactive water into the sea. As in previous rounds, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings will discharge 7,800 metric tons of treated water over about 17 days.

1. The health ministry on Tuesday said the number of new patients has fallen 24 percent at general hospitals, while the number of surgeries performed has plunged 50 percent since trainee doctors began the mass walkout in protest of the government's plan to increase the medical school admission quota.

2. The price of bitcoin topped the 55-thousand U.S. dollar level on Tuesday, trading at its highest value in 27 months since November 2021.

3. Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said Monday that North Korea appears to be receiving food and other necessities, as well as raw materials and parts used in weapons manufacturing, for supplying weapons to Russia.

1. The health ministry on Monday warned that trainee doctors who refused to return to work by Thursday could start facing punishment next month. The number of trainee doctors who submitted resignations topped 10-thousand against the government's plan to raise the medical school admission quota.

2. The South Korean government will introduce a system to regulate stress debt service ratio for household loans starting from this week for the first time. The move is aimed at strengthening household debt management by reducing the limit of loans.

3. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that some 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion began two years ago, acknowledging for the first time in the war, a concrete figure for Ukraine’s toll.

1. The top diplomats of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan held a meeting on Thursday on the margins of a foreign ministerial meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,...and highlighted the importance of trilateral coordination to respond to North Korea's provocative acts and its military support for Russia's war against Ukraine.

2. In response to the prolonged collective action by trainee doctors nationwide, the South Korean government on Friday raised the state health crisis warning to the highest "serious" level and decided to fully extend telemedicine services at hospitals on a temporary basis.

3. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both surged to record closing highs on Thursday, powered by investors piling into growth and technology stocks the day after artificial intelligence leader Nvidia reported much stronger-than-expected quarterly results.

1. The monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea kept its policy rate unchanged at 3.5 percent for the ninth straight session Thursday, amid woes over slower-than-expected inflation moderation and high household debts. It also maintained its growth outlook for the year at 2.1 percent.

2. At the 14th round of the New Year’s presidential public debates on Thursday, President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged to boost the nuclear power industry by providing three-point-three trillion won, or around two-point-five billion U.S. dollars, worth of projects and 1 trillion won worth of special financing.

3. The top diplomats of South Korea and Japan on Wednesday agreed to continue bilateral cooperation to address North Korea issues, during talks held on the sidelines of a foreign ministerial meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

1. President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday held phone talks with German and Danish leaders to explain his decision to postpone his visits to the European countries. The presidential office did not give an official reason for Yoon postponing his trip four days before his scheduled departure.

2. Japan's engineering company Hitachi Zosen and the country's government on Tuesday expressed “extreme regret” over a Korean victim of Japan's wartime forced labor receiving Hitachi Zosen’s court deposit money as compensation in accordance with South Korean Supreme Court ruling.

3. Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo told reporters that, as of Tuesday, a total of 8,816 trainee doctors had submitted their resignations and 7,813 of them left their work sites, in protest against the government's plan to expand the medical school enrollment quota.

1. The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Tuesday ordered 831 trainee doctors to return to work. More than 6,400 trainee doctors have submitted their resignations in protest of the government's plan to add 2,000 to the country's medical school enrollment quota next year.

2. Former prime minister Lee Nak-yon who left the main opposition Democratic Party ahead of April's general elections, said Tuesday he will retract a recent decision to merge with the New Reform Party led by former People Power Party chairman Lee Jun-seok.

3. The family of a South Korean victim of Japan's wartime forced labor on Tuesday received compensation from Hitachi Zosen Corporation in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling, marking the first such move from a Japanese company.

1. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Monday that the government will fully expand telemedicine services in the event of a massive walkout by doctors. Trainee doctors have been warning of a large-scale strike in opposition to the government's decision to add 2,000 to the country's medical school enrollment quota next year.

2. The National Assembly began the February extraordinary session on Monday. The rival parties are expected to clash over two motions on special counsel investigations into the Daejang-dong development scandal and a stock manipulation case allegedly involving first lady Kim Keon-hee.

3. Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin's most formidable domestic opponent, fell unconscious and died on Friday after a walk at the "Polar Wolf" Arctic penal colony where he was serving a three-decade sentence.

1. {김여정}Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said Thursday the regime is open to improving its relationship with Japan, and that the Japanese leader may visit Pyongyang if Tokyo does not raise the longstanding issue of Japanese abductees.

2. Worries over doctors' collective action in protest of a plan to increase medical students mounted Friday as trainee doctors at major hospitals decided to resign early next week. In response, the Health Ministry reaffirmed its pledge to deal sternly against the move by ordering 221 training hospitals to ban mass leave.

3. Chung Mong-gyu, president of the Korea Football Association, on Friday fired Jurgen Klinsmann as head coach of the South Korean men's national football team, days after the team made a disappointing exit at the top Asian tournament.