22nd Assembly begins new 4-year term

The National Assembly began its 22nd four-year session Thursday, with the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea having the majority of 175 seats in the 300-member parliament, foreshadowing another heated partisan struggle against the conservative president and ruling party, which holds 108 seats. The National Assembly will hold its first plenary session on June 5, where it will elect a new speaker to lead the new parliament for the first two years. As it is customary for the party with the

PoliticsMay 30, 2024

Court orders SK chief to pay W1.4tr in divorce settlement

The Seoul High Court on Thursday ruled in favor of Roh Soh-yeong, the estranged wife of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, in their ongoing divorce settlement, saying that the settlement decided by the lower court was insufficient. The appellate court overturned the initial ruling and ordered Chey to pay 1.38 trillion won ($942 million) in property division and 2 billion won in a one-off alimony payment. It said that the previously ordered alimony of 100 million won was insufficient and should be i

Social AffairsMay 30, 2024

NATO-S. Korea ties, ‘powerful signal’ against rule breakers: Stoltenberg

JEJU ISLAND -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the increasing cooperation between the North Atlantic alliance and its Indo-Pacific partners including South Korea, sends a "powerful signal" against active attempts by countries including Russia to "rip up" the rules-based international order. "These ties matter today more than ever. We live in a dangerous world," Stoltenberg stated in a keynote speech via video at the opening ceremony of the

Foreign AffairsMay 30, 2024

Defense chief to meet with US, Japanese counterparts in Singapore

Shin Won-sik, South Korea’s Minister of National Defense, will attend this year’s Asia Security Summit in Singapore — also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue — where he is scheduled to meet with his counterparts from the US, Japan and other key partner countries. The annual summit hosted by the UK think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies gathers leaders and experts in defense and diplomacy. Held since 2002, this year’s summit marks the 21st anniversary

Foreign AffairsMay 30, 2024

[Herald Interview] 'Fandom politics must end to protect representative democracy'

Article 1 of South Korea’s National Assembly Act states that the parliament is a representative body of the people. However, Kim Jin-pyo, the speaker of the 21st National Assembly and a political heavyweight with 50 years in public service, views the widespread phenomenon of fandom politics as a major obstacle to the country's representative democracy. He believes this trend is the primary cause of increasing political confrontations, which continue to undermine the spirit of compro

PoliticsMay 30, 2024

1 in 10 Seoul households own dogs: report

One in every 10 households in Seoul has a dog registered as a pet, with Maltese being the most common breed, a report showed Thursday. Some 612,000 dogs are registered in Seoul, 17.5 percent of the total dogs registered across the country. Of the total, some 20 percent of dog owners said they had a Maltese, according to the report released by the Seoul Digital Foundation, affiliated with the Seoul metropolitan government. The list of common breeds also included Poodles, mixed-breed dogs, Pomeran

Social AffairsMay 30, 2024

Man jailed for attacking police because of 'insincere response'

A man in his 20s has been sentenced to a year and six months in prison for attacking a police officer with a knife, for what he thought was "insincere response" from investigators. The defendant was found guilty by the Seoul Northern District Court of both obstruction of official duties and special obstruction of public duty, which is applied when the crime involves the use of a dangerous weapon. "This crime is very dangerous in both its means and the results, and the defendant ha

Social AffairsMay 30, 2024

US military condemns NK missile launches, calls for return to dialogue

The US military on Wednesday condemned North Korea's latest round of ballistic missile launches and called on the recalcitrant regime to refrain from "unlawful" and "destabilizing" acts. US Indo-Pacific Command issued a statement after Pyongyang fired some 10 short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Thursday morning (Korea time), a day after sending hundreds of large balloons carrying trash and manure into the South. "The United States condemns these acti

North KoreaMay 30, 2024

Yoon to send special envoys to inauguration of El Salvador president

President Yoon Suk Yeol will send former Land Minister Won Hee-ryong and ruling party lawmaker Kang Min-kuk as special envoys to the inauguration ceremony of incoming President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, Yoon's office said Thursday. Won and Kang of the People Power Party will attend the inauguration ceremony on Saturday and convey Yoon's congratulations to Bukele while also delivering a letter from Yoon expressing his wish to closely cooperate to further strengthen the friendly and c

Foreign AffairsMay 30, 2024

Yoon, UAE president adopt joint statement pledging more investment

President Yoon Suk Yeol and United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan adopted a joint statement Thursday, pledging to invest more in each other's countries and urging North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons. The statement was adopted on the occasion of the Arab leader's state visit to Seoul on Tuesday and Wednesday, during which the leaders held summit talks and the two countries signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement freeing up trade. In the statemen

Foreign AffairsMay 30, 2024

US senator floats redeployment of tactical nuclear arms to Korea to strengthen deterrence

A ranking member of the US Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday proposed the idea of redeploying US tactical nuclear arms to South Korea to beef up deterrence, noting the absence of any immediate diplomatic solution to North Korea's nuclear quandary. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) made the proposal in a report, titled "21st Century Peace Through Strength: A Generational Investment in the US Military," in which he stressed Pyongyang continues to "outpace expectations"

DefenseMay 30, 2024

UN Security Council to convene this week over NK satellite launch: Seoul official

The UN Security Council will convene an open meeting this week to discuss North Korea's recent launch of a military reconnaissance satellite that ended in failure, a Seoul official said Wednesday. The official at South Korea's Permanent Mission to the UN said that the meeting is slated to take place on Friday after Pyongyang's attempt to launch a satellite-carrying rocket failed due to the midair explosion of the rocket on Monday. The recalcitrant regime pressed ahead with the lau

North KoreaMay 30, 2024

N. Korea fires 10 projectiles into East Sea, conducts GPS jamming

North Korea on Thursday fired at least 10 projectiles believed by South Korea to be short-range ballistic missiles, as Pyongyang continued military provocations following the three-way talks between the leaders of South Korea, Japan and China earlier on Monday. According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea's military, the projectiles, fired at around 6:14 a.m., flew 350 kilometers from the Sunan district in northwestern Pyongyang, before falling into the East Sea. Seoul and other po

North KoreaMay 30, 2024

Yoon vetoes 4 contentious bills, including on supporting victims of home rental scams

President Yoon Suk Yeol vetoed four contentious bills Wednesday, including one requiring the government to support victims of home rental scams, in his 11th to 14th vetoes of a bill since taking office two years ago. Yoon exercised his veto power by endorsing motions demanding the National Assembly reconsider the bills, which the opposition-controlled National Assembly passed Tuesday despite objections from the ruling People Power Party (PPP). Yoon had been expected to veto the bills before the

PoliticsMay 29, 2024

N. Korea appears to be struggling to secure parts for spy satellite: presidential office

North Korea's botched attempt to launch a military spy satellite was likely due to its difficulties in procuring related parts and developing technology because of ongoing sanctions, a presidential official said Wednesday. North Korea made a failed attempt to launch a space rocket carrying a reconnaissance satellite hours after leaders of South Korea, Japan and China met in Seoul on Monday for a summit, the first since December 2019. The North denounced Seoul's reaffirming a commitment

North KoreaMay 29, 2024

Wife forgives husband who tried to kill her

An appellate court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling on a man's attempted murder of his wife, based on the victim's wishes for the husband not to be punished. The Daejeon High Court sentenced the 65-year-old defendant to four years in prison, overturning an earlier ruling that ordered a seven-year prison term. The defendant was accused of stabbing his 61-year-old wife 10 times, with an intent to kill, at their home in Bangok-dong in Sejong at around 10:35 p.m. on July 18, last

Social AffairsMay 29, 2024

1,533 retired couples get at least W3m in state pension: report

A total of 1,533 retired couples in South Korea were receiving a combined benefit of 3 million won ($2,200) a month via the state-run pension program as of January of this year, the National Pension Service said Wednesday. According to the NPS, the number of couples getting at least 3 million-won benefit between them has increased each year since three couples passed the threshold for the first time in 2017. The number has increased exponentially since then, going from 196 in 2021 to 565 in 2022

Social AffairsMay 29, 2024

Meth use most widespread but declining, cocaine on rise, sewage reveals

The effects of illegal drug use are difficult to grasp in their full scope, but it leaves traces behind in the environment. Drug residuals enter the wastewater system through human urine. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s annual analysis of sewage has found residuals of methamphetamine in all samples collected nationwide last year, although its concentration level was down from previous years. Cocaine, which had so far been detected in limited metropolitan locations only, showed a c

Social AffairsMay 29, 2024

Woman convicted of multiple false accusations of rape, sexual assault

South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday appealed a recent court ruling that handed a three-year prison term to a woman in her 30s for falsely accusing 12 men of sexual assault. Officials of the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office challenged the ruling Monday, saying the punishment was too lenient. The prosecution had requested a six-year prison term for the defendant. "A false accusation of sex crime inflicts significant adverse effects on the victim's life. ... (The prosecution has) a

Social AffairsMay 29, 2024

Partisan tension grips last day of 21st Assembly session

The 21st legislative session of the National Assembly ended Wednesday amid an unceasing partisan gridlock. On the last day of the four-year session, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea staged a rally outside the Yoon Suk Yeol presidential office to protest a contentious special counsel investigation bill failing to pass the Assembly in a vote held Tuesday. The Democratic Party-led bill seeking the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the on-duty death of a marine in July las

PoliticsMay 29, 2024