Assembly speaker asks Sweden to help N. Korea return to dialogue

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug held talks with the speaker of Sweden's parliament, Andreas Norlen, on Monday, during which Park asked Sweden to help North Korea return to dialogue. Park told the visiting Norlen that Sweden "plays a role" for North Korea to return to dialogue, according to Park's office. In response, Norlen said Sweden will continue to support the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula. North Korea has ratcheted up tensions by conducting an intercont

PoliticsApril 11, 2022

Zelenskyy asks South Korea for arms support, denounces Russian atrocities

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy openly pleaded for South Korea to provide arms as his country continues to fight against a Russian invasion. In a 15-minute livestreamed videoconference speech to South Korea’s parliament on Monday, the Ukrainian president asked the country to consider lending its support to fight off Russia’s clear violations of international law and human rights through military assistance. “South Korea can help Ukraine,” he said in the livestre

Foreign AffairsApril 11, 2022

Koreans set to get a year younger as Yoon seeks to ditch ‘Korean age’

The transition committee for President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said Monday that it would amend laws to use international age instead of “Korean age” to reduce social and economic costs associated with allowing more than one way to count age. Under the Korean age system, Koreans are 1 year old at birth, and they get a year older on New Year’s Day regardless of their birth date. The system is widely used, though official records usually follow the international norm that starts at

Social AffairsApril 11, 2022

Education Ministry sticks to midterm exam plans against protests, presidential transition team

The Ministry of Education will go forward with restricting students confirmed with COVID-19 from taking the upcoming midterm exams, sticking to its original plans despite protests from students and parents. Students who had been confirmed with COVID-19 amid the pandemic were restricted from taking exams at school and given scores based on the average of their past exam records. For the upcoming midterm exams slated for the end of this month, it is likely that a significant number of students

Social AffairsApril 11, 2022

Yoon’s inauguration slogan is ‘New nation for people’; BTS not included

The slogan of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s inauguration ceremony on May 10 is “Again, Korea! A new nation of people,” the presidential inauguration preparation committee said Monday. It also confirmed that boy band BTS will not perform at the ceremony. “The ceremony was planned considering the nation, which is taking a leap forward and where the people are the owners,” said Park Joo-sun, chairman of the presidential preparation committee. Regarding reports th

PoliticsApril 11, 2022

S. Korea begins discussion on ending restrictions as cases fall

The South Korean government said Monday that discussions on scrapping COVID-19 restrictions have begun as the omicron wave continues to recede. “(The government) has started a discussion over what to do with overall COVID-19 restrictions, including a mask mandate and social distancing measures,” Son Young-rae, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said Monday. Son added that the government is looking into a post-omicron scheme as well. As COVID-19 figures have tren

Social AffairsApril 11, 2022

NATO seeks ‘sustained’ military exchanges, ‘substantive’ defense cooperation with S.Korea

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization seeks to enhance security cooperation with South Korea through “sustained” military exchanges, the chairman of its top military body said Monday, underscoring the significance of “substantive” defense cooperation. NATO Military Committee Chair Adm. Rob Bauer made a rare trip to South Korea and held respective talks with South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Won In-choul and Defense Minister Suh Wook. The visit by

DefenseApril 11, 2022

[From the Scene] In Seoul square, gathering remembers pandemic’s fallen

On the streets of Seoul’s central Gwanghwamun Square on Friday, Koreans gathered in remembrance of the pandemic’s victims. People grieving lost loved ones opened up and shared their stories in one of the capital city’s busiest districts during the afternoon rush hour, and the crowd grew larger as more people passing by stopped to listen. It was one of the first such events to take place in public. COVID-19 has kept patients cut off from visits at hospitals up to their final

Social AffairsApril 11, 2022

Chief prosecutor willing to risk job to protect investigative powers

South Korea’s chief prosecutor vowed to concentrate all efforts to protect the investigative power of the prosecution on Monday, as the Democratic Party of Korea looks to pass a contested bill that would remove all investigative powers from the prosecution. Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo said in a meeting of senior prosecutors at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seoul on Monday that he would put his job and career on the line to stop the bill. The meeting was attended by heads of

PoliticsApril 11, 2022

[Newsmaker] In France, it's Macron vs. Le Pen, again, for presidency

PARIS (AP) -- Incumbent Emmanuel Macron will face far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen in a winner-takes-all runoff for the French presidency, after they both advanced Sunday in the first round of voting in the country's election to set up another head-to-head clash of their sharply opposing visions for France. But while Macron won t heir last contest in 2017 by a landslide to become France's youngest-ever president, the same outcome this time is far from guaranteed. Macron, now 44, emerged ahead

Foreign AffairsApril 11, 2022

6 in 10 people say PM nominee's hefty salary at law firm 'inappropriate'

Six in 10 South Koreans think Prime Minister nominee Han Duck-soo taking hefty salaries during his stint at a law firm following his public service retirement is inappropriate, a poll showed Monday. In the Korea Society Opinion Institute survey of 1,013 adults, 63.2 percent said it is inappropriate for high-ranking government officials like Han to serve as outside directors or advisers to private companies after their retirement from public service. Only 17.6 percent said such a practice is appr

PoliticsApril 11, 2022

Defense minister Suh reiterates stance against arms support to Ukraine

South Korea's Defense Minister Suh Wook has reiterated Seoul's stance against the provision of any lethal arms to Ukraine during last week's phone talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, his office said Monday. Suh repeated the position in response to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov's request for anti-aircraft weapons in their phone call on Friday. "Suh had explained that there are limits in providing lethal weapon systems to Ukraine, given our security situation and its potential

DefenseApril 11, 2022

PPP nominates Seoul, Busan mayors for reelection

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Busan Mayor Park Hyeong-joon and North Gyeongsang Gov. Lee Cheol-woo were nominated for reelection in June's local elections, the People Power Party (PPP) said Monday. Park and Lee were the only candidates for nomination in their respective districts. Three applied for nomination for Seoul mayor, including Oh, and the party selected Oh for reelection, the PPP's nomination committee said. Oh and Park took office after winning last year's local by-elections. (Yonhap)

PoliticsApril 11, 2022

Decorated US Korean War veteran passes away at age 97

Retired US Army Col. William E. Weber, a highly decorated Korean War veteran noted for his dedicated efforts to help American people remember the 1950-53 conflict, called "The Forgotten War," has passed away. He was 97. Weber reportedly died at his residence in Maryland on Saturday (local time). During the war, Weber served as a member of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team and joined key missions, including the Incheon Landing Operation, to repel North Korean invaders. He lost h

Social AffairsApril 11, 2022

[Subway Stories] Thrift shops, hipsters and Chinese god of war at Dongmyo

  The following is part of Seoul Subway Stories, a Korea Herald series exploring the city’s subway stations and surrounding areas. -- Ed. 　 Dongmyo Station on Subway Lines No. 1 and 6 takes its name from a shrine for a Chinese god of war -- Guan Yu.  Most visitors, however, are indifferent to the pavilions that stand behind the shrine’s stoned wall, and do not seem to question why the Han Dynasty warrior, later deified as a god in China, is enshrined there.  Wha

Social AffairsApril 11, 2022

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases below 100,000 for first time in 7 weeks

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell below 100,000 for the first time in seven weeks on Monday, as the omicron wave is slowing after reaching its peak in mid-March. The country added 90,928 new COVID-19 infections, including 21 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 15,424,598, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Monday's tally marks the first drop to five digits since the Feb. 22 count of 99,562. It is also nearly a two-month low after the 90,438 registere

Social AffairsApril 11, 2022

N. Korea opens new exhibition hall to mark 10th anniv. of Kim's leadership

North Korea opened a new exhibition hall at a major museum in Pyongyang to mark the 10th anniversary of its leader Kim Jong-un's rise to power, state media reported Monday, amid efforts to tout his leadership. At the Korean Revolution Museum, the North displayed photos and videos of Kim's major "achievements of immortal leadership" since his pledge to build a responsible nuclear weapons state at a congress of the ruling Workers' Party in May 2016, the official Korean Central News Agenc

North KoreaApril 11, 2022

2 dead in gosiwon fire in Seoul

A fire broke out at a low-cost accommodation facility in Seoul early Monday, leaving two dead, officials said. The two men in their 50s and 70s were found with severe burns in the corridor on the second floor of the "gosiwon," tiny one-room occupancies, in Yeongdeungpo district and sent to a nearby hospital but died, according to officials. Seventeen others in the building escaped by themselves without sustaining any injuries. Firefighters were putting out small fires after containing

Social AffairsApril 11, 2022

Defense minister nominee, a former JCS vice chairman with expertise in S. Korea-US alliance

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol tapped retired three-star general Lee Jong-sup with expertise in the South Korea-US alliance and combined defense posture as the new defense minister. Lee served as a vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before he retired from the army. The defense minister nominee also led a Combined Defense Transformation Group under the JCS, whose task is to prepare for the envisioned transfer of wartime operational control or OPCON and set out a road map on the South Kor

DefenseApril 10, 2022

Former journalist Park Bo-gyoon appointed as first culture minister for Yoon

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday named Park Bo-gyoon to become his administration‘s first minister of culture, sports and tourism. Park, a former journalist and vice president of the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, was the president of Korea News Editors’ Association in 2011. After he joined the People’s Power Party in July 2021, Park played a role as a special adviser in the party’s election committee and election headquarters. In March, Park became the special advis

PoliticsApril 10, 2022