South Korea

South Korea's birth rate fell to a record low last year, the government said Wednesday, despite having poured billions of dollars into efforts to encourage women to have more children and maintain population stability.

The country has one of the world's longest life expectancies and lowest birth rates, a combination that presents a looming demographic challenge.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that the North's "irrational" regime was likely to carry out multiple provocations, including cyberattacks and drone intrusions, ahead of the South's April election.

SEOUL - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic said on Friday in Seoul Serbia was ready to receive technologically advanced, capital-intensive investments.

Brnabic said this after the signing of a MoU with the South Korean conglomerate SK Group, noting that Serbia's chance lay in the fact the conglomerate had no biotech centres in Europe.

SEOUL - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic said on Friday in Seoul Serbia was ready to receive technologically advanced, capital-intensive investments.

Brnabic said this after the signing of a MoU with the South Korean conglomerate SK Group, noting that Serbia's chance lay in the fact the conglomerate had no biotech centres in Europe.

SEOUL - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic, who is on an official visit to South Korea, said on Friday she was pleased the two countries had signed an agreement on mutual promotion and protection of investments earlier in the day.

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern sea, South Korea's military said Tuesday, adding to a recent streak in weapons testing that is apparently in protest of the U.S. sending major naval assets to South Korea in a show of force.

A US soldier under disciplinary action has fled to North Korea across the border with South Korea, Reuters reported, citing US officials.

As South Korea campaigns to retire an old and odd age-counting method that makes people a year or two older than they really are, children are among the few who seem most eager to stick with the past.

The leaders of South Korea and Japan are to meet Sunday for their second summit in less than two months, as they push to mend long-running historical grievances and boost ties in the face of North Korea's nuclear program and other regional challenges.

North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast, Reuters reported, citing a South Korean military statement. It is the latest of several weapons tests as South Korea and the United States hold their largest joint military exercises in years.