Gainesville Gears Up for Annual Innovation Expo

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety issued a safety alert Wednesday to medical professionals and patients over a potential risk of a rare eye condition associated with GLP-1 obesity drugs, including popular obesity treatments Wegovy and Mounjaro. The move follows safety measures by overseas regulators concerning nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), a condition caused by reduced blood flow to the optic nerve that can lead to sudden, potentially permanent vision loss. In June last year, the European Medicines Agency classified it as a very rare side effect of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy, estimating it may affect up to 1 in 10,000 users. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked drugmakers Monday to add a possible increased risk of NAION to the warnings and precautions on GLP-1 drug labels. The letter advises medical professionals to stop treatment and have patients examined immediately if NAION is suspected in those taking GLP-1 drugs, which aid weight loss by mimicking a hormone that regulates appetite and blood sugar. Patients with related symptom

The National Assembly will hold a confirmation hearing for Kim Jong-chul, nominee for commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA), next week, officials said Wednesday. The parliamentary public administration and security committee adopted a plan to hold the hearing next Wednesday during a plenary meeting earlier in the day. The KNPA commissioner general nominee can be appointed by the president even without parliamentary consent following the confirmation hearing. If appointed, Kim would fill a post that has remained vacant for nearly two years since former President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law in late 2024.

President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday vowed to accommodate farmers' opinions in deciding whether to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The president made the remarks in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on the 31st Day of Farmers, reiterating his pledge to take farmers' interests into account when deciding to join the Indo-Pacific trade bloc. "On important issues, including farmland reform ... and the CPTPP, the government will work toward faithfully reflecting voices from the (agricultural) field so as to be helpful to farmers," Lee wrote in the post. The president has previously said that Korea's entry into the CPTPP would be "unavoidable," but has pledged to focus on finding complementary measures to implement when seeking CPTPP membership. While CPTPP membership is expected to help boost Korea's overall exports, the agricultural and fisheries sectors are likely to take a hit from market opening due to imports of cheaper products. Lee has ordered the government not to apply for CPTPP membership this year, expressing the need for sufficie

National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik on Wednesday reaffirmed his commitment to pushing for a constitutional revision, rejecting opposition claims that the revision would be aimed at allowing President Lee Jae Myung to seek a second term. Cho's remarks came as opposition lawmakers have questioned whether he had left open the possibility of Lee seeking another term after he told a press conference in July that an incumbent president's eligibility to seek another term would be up to the people to decide. "As stipulated in Article 128 of the Constitution, the extension of a sitting president's term is not a subject of discussions for a constitutional revision," Cho said during a discussion hosted by the Kwanhun Club, a senior journalists' association. "This should no longer be used for political conflict." Cho said the National Assembly should take the lead in pursuing constitutional reform, adding that he plans to launch an advisory committee under his office soon to set the direction and key priorities for the revision. "As no nationwide elections are scheduled for next year, it would b

Unionized workers of Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) said Wednesday they will launch an indefinite general strike at 9 a.m. on Dec. 10, demanding improvements to the promotion system and the employment of more safety-related personnel. The Korean Railway Workers' Union announced the plan in a news conference at Seoul Station, warning the walkout will proceed unless its demands are met. In a statement, the union criticized the current promotion system for "unfairly" excluding field workers and said staff shortages in railway operations are directly compromising safety. The union plans to hold a large-scale rally at Seoul Station on Saturday, followed by a two-week safe-operation campaign and a series of regional nighttime rallies beginning Nov. 23. The walkout could disrupt KTX and conventional train services nationwide, as well as subway services in the capital area. Its impact could be greater than that of previous strikes following the integration of high-speed rail operator SR Co. into KORAIL in September.

Korea jumped eight places to rank 10th out of 70 nations in the 2026 World Digital and AI Competitiveness Ranking (WDAIR), published Wednesday by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) — the prestigious Swiss business school known for its benchmark global competitiveness evaluations. Among nations with populations exceeding 20 million, Korea secured fourth place, trailing only the United States, Canada and China. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that Korea achieved comprehensive improvements across all five evaluated categories: Governance, Technological Infrastructure, Efficiency, Human Resources Development and Societal Attitudes & Values. Notably, Korea jumped 10 places to rank third globally in Efficiency and climbed four spots to third in Technological Infrastructure. Korea demonstrated unmatched leadership in government execution and technological foundation, claiming the top spot worldwide in both the Government Core Systems Index and total research and development (R&D) expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product. The nation also mainta

SEONGNAM — A bus plowed into more than 30 vehicles waiting at a traffic stop in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, during morning rush hour Wednesday, officials said, leaving 57 people injured. The city bus, driven by a man in his 60s, struck four other buses, a cargo truck and 27 passenger cars before coming to a stop after hitting a traffic barrier in Seongnam's Bundang Ward at 7:34 a.m. The bus reportedly hit the vehicles over a distance of about 100 to 150 meters The incident left nine people seriously hurt and 48 others with minor injuries. None of the injuries were reported to be life threatening. The bus driver reportedly told police that the brakes did not work, with investigators looking into the exact cause of the crash. Police said the driver was not under the influence of alcohol, but plan to check whether he had taken drugs.

Busan is testing a new sea taxi service that could offer residents and tourists a faster, more scenic way to travel between the southern port city's popular coastal destinations while avoiding road traffic. The Busan Metropolitan Government conducted two trial runs of its planned Busan Sea Taxi service on Wednesday, inviting 16 local journalists to experience a 45-minute route connecting the Suyeong River, Gwangalli and Haeundae beaches. Boats departed from APEC Naru Park at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., following a route divided into three 15-minute sections before returning to the river. The service is intended to serve both as an alternative mode of transportation and a tourism attraction, offering passengers views of Busan's coastline while connecting districts that frequently experience traffic congestion. Under the plan, at least six environmentally friendly vessels, each with a capacity of fewer than 50 passengers, will operate along the route, supported by three boarding facilities on the Suyeong River, at Gwangalli and in Haeundae. The city plans to invest 1.4 billion won ($960,000) in

HD Construction Equipment has joined hands with the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs to honor Ethiopian soldiers who fought and died during the 1950-53 Korean War, unveiling a memorial wall bearing their names at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The company said it held a ceremony to dedicate the memorial wall at the cathedral on Wednesday, coinciding with the International Memorial Day for U.N. Korean War Veterans. The event was attended by HD Construction Equipment CEO Moon Jae-young, Veterans Minister Kwon Oh-eul, Korean Ambassador to Ethiopia Koo Hong-seok, Ethiopian defense officials and Korean War veterans and their families. HD Construction Equipment and the veterans ministry signed a memorandum of understanding in May to establish memorial facilities in countries that sent troops to support Korea under U.N. Command. Ethiopia was selected as the first site, with HD Construction Equipment covering the full cost of construction. The wall features individual plaques inscribed with the names of the 122 fallen soldiers, as well as messages of gratitude and reme

Cheating on exams is hardly new in Korea. What has changed is the technology used to get away with it, from altered answer sheets and text messages to artificial intelligence (AI)-powered glasses. As the methods grow more sophisticated, detecting them has become increasingly difficult. Even the civil service examinations of the 1392-1910 Joseon Dynasty were vulnerable to cheaters. In a 1699 scandal, 15 of 33 successful candidates were found to have passed through irregular means, including the swapping of names attached to exam papers. Centuries later, mobile phones made cheating a coordinated operation. During the 2004 college entrance exam, students in Gwangju divided up roles among high-scoring test takers, intermediaries and recipients, passing answers through text messages. According to Ministry of Education figures released in 2005, the scores of 472 students were invalidated for cheating on college entrance exams from the 2002 through 2005 academic years. Of those, 412 had used text messages. The scandal prompted tighter restrictions on electronic devices and tougher penalties. Mor

Climb the hill along the city wall north of Dongdaemun Gate and look east. On the far side of the valley, you'll notice houses clustered around a crescent-shaped cliff. If you venture into the valley beyond it, you'll find more of these oddly curved, stark granite cliffs jutting out of the hillsides. These are not geological formations, but remnants of a time when the hills were used as quarries. The quarrying of granite first began during the reconstruction of Gyeongbok Palace in the 1860s and continued through the colonial period, when the stone was used in the construction of iconic buildings such as the Bank of Korea, Seoul Station and the former Government-General Building that stood on the present site of Gwanghwamun. While at least one known temple in the area features a cave-like grotto dug into a natural cliff face, another, Beopwang Temple, has a worship space inside a tunnel bored into the hillside, almost certainly built by the Japanese during World War II. Earlier this year, the film "The King's Warden," about the exile of the doomed teenage King Danjong, who was overthrown

Five young veterans connected to Seoul’s counseling center for young wounded veterans, the first such center run by a local government in Korea, have been named to Korea’s 11-member team for the 2027 Invictus Games, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday. The Invictus Games is an international multisport event for service members and veterans who were wounded, injured or became ill during military service. Britain’s Prince Harry founded it in 2014 to promote the rehabilitation of injured service members and their return to civilian life. The Korea Disabled Veterans Organization announced the team after reviewing applications in September. The five selected are two members of the center’s peer support group, a former head of operations at the center and two current staff members. All were injured while serving in the military and have since rebuilt their lives through rehabilitation and sports. One of the athletes, a former Army aircraft maintenance noncommissioned officer, was partially paralyzed in both legs after a four-story fall in 2008. She later took up para rowi