عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

King Charles III and Queen Camilla to Welcome South Korea’s President for State Visit in November 

Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla pose at a plaque named after his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II at the Flower Market Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023 in Paris. (AP)
Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla pose at a plaque named after his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II at the Flower Market Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023 in Paris. (AP)
TT
TT

King Charles III and Queen Camilla to Welcome South Korea’s President for State Visit in November 

Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla pose at a plaque named after his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II at the Flower Market Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023 in Paris. (AP)
Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla pose at a plaque named after his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II at the Flower Market Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023 in Paris. (AP)

King Charles III and Queen Camilla will welcome the president of South Korea for a state visit to the UK in November, the second such visit of the monarch’s reign.

The king and queen will host Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, at Buckingham Palace on an as yet unspecified date in November, the palace said Tuesday.

Yoon, a conservative former prosecutor, has sought to strengthen South Korea’s military alliance with the United States, drawing an angry response from North Korea.

But Yoon, 62, has also showed the lighter side of his character. During a state dinner at the White House in April, he belted out the opening verse of one of his favorite songs, the 1970s folk-rock classic “American Pie,” at the request of President Joe Biden.

A state banquet at Buckingham Palace is unlikely to feature a moment of impromptu song. Such events are traditionally more composed affairs featuring tiaras, toasts and dinner for around 150 guests, with a string orchestra usually providing the musical backdrop.

State visits normally begin with a welcome from the king and other members of the royal family, with the visitors inspecting the guard of honor then riding to the palace in a procession of carriages accompanied by mounted soldiers.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was honored with the first incoming state visit of Charles’ reign when he visited the UK last November.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

China Marks Muted 5th Anniversary of First Covid Death

This photo taken on February 18, 2020 shows medical personnel walking among patients with mild symptoms of the Covid-19 coronavirus resting at night in the temporary Hospital set up in a sports stadium in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province. (AFP)
This photo taken on February 18, 2020 shows medical personnel walking among patients with mild symptoms of the Covid-19 coronavirus resting at night in the temporary Hospital set up in a sports stadium in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province. (AFP)
TT
TT

China Marks Muted 5th Anniversary of First Covid Death

This photo taken on February 18, 2020 shows medical personnel walking among patients with mild symptoms of the Covid-19 coronavirus resting at night in the temporary Hospital set up in a sports stadium in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province. (AFP)
This photo taken on February 18, 2020 shows medical personnel walking among patients with mild symptoms of the Covid-19 coronavirus resting at night in the temporary Hospital set up in a sports stadium in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province. (AFP)

The fifth anniversary of the first known death from Covid-19 passed seemingly unnoticed in China Saturday, with no official remembrances in a country where the pandemic is a taboo subject.

On January 11, 2020, health officials in the central Chinese city of Wuhan announced that a 61-year-old man had died from complications of pneumonia caused by a previously unknown virus.

The disclosure came after authorities had reported dozens of infections over several weeks by the pathogen later named SARS-CoV-2 and understood as the cause of Covid-19.

It went on to spark a global pandemic that has so far killed over seven million people and profoundly altered ways of life around the world, including in China.

On Saturday, however, there appeared to be no official memorials in Beijing's tightly controlled official media.

The ruling Communist Party kept a tight leash on public discussion throughout its zero-Covid policy, and has eschewed reflections on the hardline curbs since dramatically ditching them at the end of 2022.

On social media, too, many users seemed unaware of the anniversary.

A few videos circulating on Douyin -- the Chinese version of TikTok -- noted the date but repeated the official version of events.

- 'Time passes' -

And on the popular Weibo platform, users who gravitated to the former account of Li Wenliang -- the whistleblower doctor who was investigated by police for spreading early information about the virus -- did not directly reference the anniversary.

"Dr. Li, another year has gone by," read one comment on Saturday. "How quickly time passes."

There was also little online commemoration in Hong Kong, where Beijing largely snuffed out opposition voices when it imposed a sweeping national security law on the semi-autonomous city in 2020.

Little is known about the identity of the first Covid casualty except that he was a frequent visitor to a Wuhan seafood market where the virus is thought to have circulated during the initial outbreak.

Within days of his death, other countries reported their first cases of the disease.

China was later criticized by Western governments for allegedly covering up the early transmission of the virus and effacing evidence of its origins, though Beijing has vehemently maintained it acted decisively and with full transparency.

According to the WHO, China has officially reported nearly 100 million Covid cases and 122,000 deaths to date, although the true number will likely never be known.

In 2023, Beijing declared a "decisive victory" over Covid, calling its response a "miracle in human history".