The Japanese government rejected the ruling, increasing tensions between the two countries.

The move is likely to increase tensions during President Trump's final weeks in office. Separately, Iran seized a South Korean oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, South Korea said Monday.

Beginning Christmas Eve and through Jan. 3, South Korea will limit public and private gatherings to four people. Many tourist sites popular during the holiday period will be closed.

New social distancing measures are due to take effect Tuesday evening. The government warns of an impending crisis, brought on by a third wave of infections.

Amid criticism of the government's recent handling of the pandemic, the country is seeing more cases than at any other time in the past nine months.

Seventy years on, war participants are drawing starkly differing conclusions from the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. The decisive conflict's lasting legacy is still visible on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korean lawmakers say intelligence officials briefed them on the North's tough pandemic rules, including a Pyongyang lockdown and an execution of an official caught breaking restrictions.

The unnamed man defected to the South on Nov. 3, avoiding capture for 14 hours. He is seeking asylum in South Korea.

Previous spikes in South Korea were linked to outbreaks at churches and protests. Health officials say the current wave appears to have no links to any major groups or events.

Multiple school districts have already canceled classes for Monday, in anticipation of a hurricane that could bring storm surges of up to four feet. The governor has declared a state of emergency.

Churches resume in-person services and stadiums welcome sports fans as the country once again manages to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Women usually clean and cook at their in-laws' — but many stayed home this year. "It's difficult to understand why we have to do so much hard work when it's not even for our own ancestors," one says.

Pyongyang says an unidentified man was found in North Korean waters and that he murmured he was from South Korea but then stopped responding to soldiers' questions and appeared to try to flee.

The 47-year-old fisheries official, whose name was not released, apparently jumped off a patrol boat near the maritime border between North and South and floated into North Korean waters.

A clash over disease control between the government and a church is the latest flashpoint in a wider conflict between a right-wing coalition and President Moon Jae-in's liberal administration.