Police to decide whether to disclose identity of opposition lawmaker's assailant

Police plan to decide this week whether to disclose the identity of the suspect in the stabbing attack against opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, officials said Monday. The 67-year-old suspect, known only by his family name Kim, was formally arrested Thursday on charges of stabbing Lee, the chairman of the Democratic Party, in the neck with a camping knife in the southeastern port city of Busan two days earlier. Lee is recovering following surgery at Seoul National University Hospital to repair a

PoliticsJan. 8, 2024

S. Korea to launch two more military spy satellites this year

South Korea plans to launch two more military spy satellites this year to better monitor North Korea, the state arms procurement agency said Monday, a move that could heat up the inter-Korean space race. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration said two synthetic aperture radar satellites are scheduled to be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in April and November, respectively. Beginning with an electro-optical and infrared satellite in

DefenseJan. 8, 2024

N. Korean leader calls for increased poultry production amid food shortages

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a newly built chicken factory and called for increasing poultry production for a "substantial change" in the people's standards of living, state media reported Monday. Kim visited Kwangchon Chicken Farm in Hwangju County of North Hwanghae Province on Sunday, accompanied by his daughter, known as Ju-ae, according to the Korean Central News Agency. He underscored the need to "constantly increase the production capacity so as to provid

North KoreaJan. 8, 2024

N. Korea fires shells near western sea border for third day

North Korea has continued to fire shells near the western maritime border area for the third consecutive day since Friday, despite South Korea's repeated calls for an immediate cessation of such military action defying the Sept. 19, 2018, inter-Korean military agreement. The North Korean military fired around 90 shells north of South Korea's front-line island of Yeonpyeongdo from around 4 p.m. to 5:10 p.m. local time, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. "We issue a grave warni

DefenseJan. 7, 2024

Rival parties clash over revote on investigation into first lady

Korea's two main rival parties have been engaged in a tug-of-war in recent days over the scheduling of a revote for two special investigation bills vetoed Friday by President Yoon Suk Yeol. One of the bills pushes for an investigation into alleged stock manipulation by first lady Kim Keon Hee. The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea is currently considering filing for an adjudication with the Constitutional Court, for the court to decide whether Yoon's veto infringes on their po

PoliticsJan. 7, 2024

Korean schools becoming more diverse

While classrooms are shrinking in South Korea as a consequence of waning fertility rates, classrooms in Seoul have been seeing a steady rise in the number of students with multicultural backgrounds. Data released by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on Sunday indicates that at least 4 in 10 students at nine elementary schools in Seoul have at least one parent of non-Korean nationality or who is naturalized. Among the schools, two of them have more than 7 out of 10 students with multicul

Social AffairsJan. 7, 2024

Police likely to withhold party membership of suspect in Lee stabbing

Details regarding the party membership of the suspect in the stabbing attack of Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday are unlikely to be disclosed, according to the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency. “After internal discussions, it was concluded that while Kim’s political party affiliation is a matter of public concern, it could not be disclosed under the law,” a Busan Metropolitan Police Agency official told The Korea Herald on Sunday. The Busan Metropolitan

Social AffairsJan. 7, 2024

Seoul to make all public facilities earthquake-resistant by 2030

The Seoul Metropolitan Government on Sunday announced its plan to complete seismic reinforcement of all public facilities by 2030. The "Comprehensive Plan on Earthquake Disaster Prevention" is a response to public concerns about the nation's earthquake preparedness, particularly in the aftermath of the recent powerful and fatal earthquakes in western Japan, according to the Seoul city government. Under the plan, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to raise the percentage of 2,

Social AffairsJan. 7, 2024

S. Korea, US, Japan address China, NK, Russia at 1st Indo-Pacific Dialogue

South Korea, the United States and Japan jointly condemned deeper military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, and reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait during the first Indo-Pacific Dialogue. The three governments held the inaugural trilateral Indo-Pacific Dialogue in Washington on Friday, following up on the agreement established during the Camp David summit in August last year. The leaders of South Korea, the US and Japan previously agreed to launch

Foreign AffairsJan. 7, 2024

One in two Koreans physically inactive: report

Almost half of Korean adults are not moving their bodies enough, failing to meet the physical activity standards set by the World Health Organization, a health report revealed on Sunday. According to the “Physical Activity Guidelines for Koreans Revised Edition,” released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as of 2021, 47.1 percent of Korean adults fell short of recommended physical activity levels, compared to the global average of 72 percent who meet the WHO's recommended p

Social AffairsJan. 7, 2024

N. Korea fires artillery shells from western coast for 2nd day: JCS

North Korea fired some 60 artillery shells into waters off its western coast Saturday, South Korea's military said, conducting live-fire drills near the tensely guarded western border for the second consecutive day. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the artillery firings in the North's southwestern coastal areas for an hour from 4 p.m. The shells splashed into the maritime buffer zone north of the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea, the JCS said. The buf

North KoreaJan. 6, 2024

20 student activists nabbed after attempting to enter presidential office

Police arrested 20 university students affiliated with a progressive group Saturday after they attempted to enter the presidential office in central Seoul, officials said. The members of the Korean University Progressive Union were caught at the site for allegedly attempting to trespass on the presidential office compound by entering through its western gate and climbing over its fences, according to the officials. Before the attempt, the students had staged a protest outside the compound, deman

PoliticsJan. 6, 2024

Guam investigates fatal shooting of Korean visitor, offers $50,000 reward for information

HAGATNA, Guam (AP) -- Authorities in the US territory of Guam on Friday vowed to bring to justice those who fatally shot a South Korean visitor in a tourist district. The shooting occurred shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday when the traveler and his wife were walking toward Tsubaki Towers, a hotel on Guam's popular Tumon Bay, from nearby Gun Beach, KUAM-TV reported , citing police. An older model, dark-colored SUV approached them from behind, Guam Police Chief Stephen Ignacio said at a news c

Foreign AffairsJan. 6, 2024

NK leader taking offensive policy on S. Korea to divert public attention from internal woes: unification minister

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un appears to have taken a more offensive policy stance toward South Korea to divert internal attention from economic difficulties and discontent over the hereditary power succession, Seoul's top point man on inter-Korean relations said Saturday. Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho made the remarks in an interview with broadcaster KBS when asked about the intentions behind the North's leader defining inter-Korean ties as relations "between two state

North KoreaJan. 6, 2024

UK daily adds S. Korean name for sea area in naming row with Japan after Seoul request

A British daily has added the term "East Sea" on a map of South Korea in its recent travel article that had only labeled a sea area by its Japanese name, after the South Korean government requested both names be in the picture. The London-based newspaper, The Times, published the article Wednesday (Korean time) introducing South Korea as an exciting place to visit this year. The article showed a map of South Korea, with the sea to the east of the peninsula named the Sea of Japan -- the

Foreign AffairsJan. 5, 2024

Mayor Oh Se-hoon vows to make Seoul happier city

The Seoul Metropolitan Government aims for 2024 to be the “Year of Great Transformation,” with the goal of shaping Seoul into a happier city, said Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon during the city government’s New Year’s meeting on Friday. “With South Korea ranking 57th in the 2023 World Happiness Report, Seoul’s ultimate goal for 2024 is to ensure citizens’ happiness,” said Oh. “For policies that guarantee citizens’ happiness to be realized, Seou

Social AffairsJan. 5, 2024

South Korea tells Russia to stop getting arms from North Korea

South Korea on Friday called on Russia to halt its arms deal with North Korea following a White House announcement that North Korean ballistic missiles were used in Russian attacks against Ukraine. A senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul said on this day that by hauling arms from North Korea, Russia was “contradicting” the United Nations Security Council resolutions despite being a permanent member. The official said that the Foreign Ministry, together with its

PoliticsJan. 5, 2024

SBA evaluation reveals Korea's worst judges as picked by lawyers

The Seoul Bar Association on Friday revealed its annual list of the best- and worst-ranked judges in South Korea, based on an evaluation of its members. The list evaluated 1,402 judges across the country whom the SBA lawyers faced during their respective trials, selecting 109 judges with the highest marks and 20 who scored the lowest. Of some 22,000 members of the association, 2,341 lawyers participated in the assessment. Gang Gyeong-pyo, a judge of the Daejeon High Court, led all categories

Social AffairsJan. 5, 2024

Presidential office mulls revival of first lady's office

President Yoon Suk Yeol's office on Friday hinted at establishing an office dedicated to first lady Kim Keon Hee, reneging on a campaign pledge not to operate such an office during his term. The president is "considering the option to set up the office in case it wins public consent over the matter," said a source from the presidential office who declined to be named. The source did not elaborate on how to gauge public approval of the establishment. Earlier Friday, Yoon vetoed a specia

PoliticsJan. 5, 2024

Police investigate two murders of female coffee shop owners

South Korean police said Friday they are investigating two potential murder cases in northern Gyeonggi Province, both of which targeted elderly female owners of local coffee shops and occurred within the past week. Officials are considering the possibility that the same person may be behind the two killings. Earlier Friday, a woman in her 60s who ran a cafe in Yangju, some 29 kilometers north of Seoul, was found dead in what appeared to be murder. A cafe employee left the venue late the previous

Social AffairsJan. 5, 2024