U.S. solders’ explosive disposal contest Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division detect explosives during an explosive disposal contest at a training ground near U.S. Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 65 kilometers south of Seoul, on Jan. 11, 2023. (Yonhap)
Snowy Hangyeryeong Pass This photo provided by a reader shows a snowy landscape at the Hangyeryeong Pass in Yangyang, 155 kilometers east of Seoul, on Jan. 7, 2023. (Yonhap)
Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival Many people enjoy fishing at the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, on Jan. 8, 2023, amid eased virus curbs. The festival was not held in the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Yonhap)
Training at boot camp A Navy conscript aims at a target after maneuvering through barbed wire during a training session to learn individual combat skills at a boot camp in the southeastern city of Changwon on Jan. 4, 2023. In South Korea, all able-bodied young men are required to serve roughly 18 months of military service. (Yonhap)
N.K. leader meets with members of children’s body North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (front) meets representatives of the Korean Children’s Union (KCU) under North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang on Jan. 1, 2023, as he joins a group photo session with the members of the North Korean children’s body who have attended the ninth general meeting, in this photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency. The KCU, formed in 1946, is a youth organization composed of children aged around 7 to 13. (Yonhap)
Pardoned ex-President Lee returns home Former President Lee Myung-bak speaks in a message to the nation as he returns home from Seoul University Hospital in the capital on Dec. 30, 2022, following a special pardon for corruption from the Yoon Suk Yeol government on Dec. 27 that canceled the remaining 15 years of his 17-year prison term. Lee had been hospitalized due to diabetes and other chronic ailments. (Yonhap)
New year’s 1st sunrise in S. Korea People watch the year’s first sunrise at the site of a beacon mound from the 1392-1910 Jonseon Dynasty in Seoul on Jan. 1, 2023. (Yonhap)Â (END)
Seoul restaurant denies Chinese police station allegations Wang Haijun (R, rear), a Chinese national who operates a Chinese restaurant, speaks during a press conference at the restaurant in Seoul on Dec. 29, 2022, denying allegations of its suspected operation as a secret Chinese police station. (Yonhap)
Haze hits SeoulThis photo, taken from Mount Inwang in Seoul on Dec. 27, 2022, shows the capital’s downtown area blanketed in haze, as the atmospheric levels of PM2.5, harmful particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter, are forecast to remain “bad” in most areas of the country. (Yonhap)
Labor rallyMembers of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, shout slogans in front of the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 27, 2022, as the more militant of the country’s two umbrella labor unions stages a rally to call for the revision of the labor law to limit employers’ damage claims against labor unions, among others. (Yonhap)
