Around 100.000 people gathered at various locations across Busan to see the first sunrise of the year, though it was delayed by 20 minutes due to heavy clouds; Haeundae and Gwangan Beach areas drew around 65.000 individuals, while 20.000 visited temples

For the first time since 2017 South Korea did not experience a typhoon landfall this summer, while powerful storms hit the country in the past two years; experts explain it was due to a North Pacific high pressure system that caused extreme heat in August

A large crowd attended a rally against antidiscrimination legislation and legalization of same-sex marriage; organizers - an ad hoc committee of Communion of Churches and Protestant groups - claim "over a million" participated, police estimated 120.000

South Korea demanded the immediate pullout of North Korean troops allegedly deployed in Russia as it summoned the Russian ambassador to protest deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow