PM to visit Turkey, Qatar this week

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum will visit Turkey and Qatar later this week to discuss ways to strengthen diplomatic ties and expand economic cooperation, his office said Wednesday. Kim will be in Turkey from Thursday to Saturday during which he will attend the opening ceremony of the 1915 Canakkale Bridge following an invitation from Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. The 1915 Canakkale Bridge in northwestern Turkey is the world's longest suspension bridge with a 2,023-meter span between its towers

Foreign AffairsMarch 16, 2022

Moon-Yoon meeting called off due to unfinished working-level consultation

 A planned meeting between President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol has been called off as working-level, pre-meeting discussions have not been completed yet, both sides said. Moon and Yoon had been scheduled to hold a one-on-one lunch at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday in their first meeting since Yoon won the election last week, though the two spoke by phone a day after the election. "As working-level consultations have not been completed, we decided to reschedule the mee

PoliticsMarch 16, 2022

[Diplomtic Circuit] Australia’s Victoria state partners with Korean health care think tank

Australia’s Victorian government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea Health Industry Development Institute to expand cooperation in mRNA vaccine research and manufacturing capabilities. Under the deal inked on March 11, both parties agreed to make joint efforts to explore potential research collaboration and investment opportunities that may lead to the development of RNA ecosystems in their respective jurisdictions. “Victoria has Australia’s largest biomedic

Diplomatic CircuitMarch 15, 2022

S. Korean parents lukewarm to government’s vaccination program for children

Parents in South Korea are wary of a government plan to vaccinate children aged 5 to 11 against COVID-19 starting later this month, with many worried about the potential side effects. The government on Monday announced that it will begin inoculating children in that age group on March 31 at around 1,200 designated medical facilities. Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty, which was approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for child vaccination last month, is expected to be used.

Social AffairsMarch 15, 2022

Omicron’s BA.2 subvariant rising to dominance in Korea

An even more transmissible subvariant of omicron called BA.2 is soon to become the dominant strain in Korea, which could protract the current wave, experts say. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s weekly update on circulating variants of concern, posted Monday, the BA.2 strain accounted for 26.3 percent of all analyzed cases in the previous seven days. The share of BA.2 in Korea jumped from 4.9 percent in the third week of February to 10.3 percent in the last

Social AffairsMarch 15, 2022

Concrete slabs spotted at airfield in Pyongyang for potential ICBM launch

North Korea could be preparing to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile soon, with satellite imagery showed a new concrete structure laid at Sunan airfield near Pyongyang, according to a media report. 　 Citing photos taken Saturday by Planet Labs, Voice of America reported Tuesday that the North has built two concrete slabs between the airfield’s runways and taxiways designed to support a transporter erector launcher, or TEL, used for launching missiles. 　 The report said the stru

North KoreaMarch 15, 2022

US warns China against helping Russia as sanctions mount

LVIV, Ukraine -- The United States warned China against providing military or financial help to Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine, as sanctions on Russian political and business leaders mounted and civilians sought to flee intense fighting on the ground. Further talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators to ease the crisis were expected on Tuesday after discussions on Monday via video ended with no new progress announced. Two powerful explosions rocked the capital Kyiv before dawn, and a

Foreign AffairsMarch 15, 2022

How will Yoon relocate Cheong Wa Dae?

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol appears on course to fulfill his pledge to relocate the presidential office, with two locations in Seoul being discussed as potential candidates. Initially, he proposed setting up the presidential office in the Gwanghwamun area, but due to practical challenges, the Defense Ministry building in Yongsan-gu has emerged as a strong alternative, officials said. During the election, Yoon pledged to relocate the presidential office from the isolated Cheong Wa Dae to th

PoliticsMarch 15, 2022

[Diplomatic Circuit] Korea should help persuade Russia to stop war: Ukraine ambassador

As an active member of the international community of freedom-loving democratic countries, Korea can contribute to ending Russian invasion of Ukraine by using its leverage with Russia, Ukraine’s top envoy to Seoul Dmytro Ponomarenko says. Speaking in an interview with The Korea Herald on Thursday, Ponomarenko said that Russia must immediately stop all military activities, the indiscriminate shelling of civilian targets and mass killings of civilians as prerequisite for a cease-fire. Com

Diplomatic CircuitMarch 15, 2022

Ex-vice foreign minister to lead foreign affairs on Yoon’s transition team

More members of the presidential transition committee for president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol were announced Tuesday, including a former vice foreign minister and a former vice speaker among others. In a press briefing, Yoon’s spokesperson Kim Eun-hye released some of the names of the chiefs and members for the three subcommittees --foreign policy and national security, economy, and politics and judiciary administration. Former vice foreign minister Kim Sung-han was appointed to lead the fore

PoliticsMarch 15, 2022

[Newsmaker] For kids with COVID-19, everyday life can be a struggle

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Eight-year-old Brooklynn Chiles fidgets on the hospital bed as she waits for the nurse at Children's National Hospital. The white paper beneath her crinkles as she shifts to look at the medical objects in the room. She's had the coronavirus three times, and no one can figure out why. Brooklynn's lucky, sort of. Each time she has tested positive, she has suffered no obvious symptoms. But her dad, Rodney, caught the virus when she was positive back in September, and he died from

Social AffairsMarch 15, 2022

Daejang-dong scandal back in spotlight, but parties split on special probe

South Korea’s political circle is again discussing a special counsel inspection on the controversial Daejang-dong land development scandal, but whether it will actually start remains in question. The liberal Democratic Party of Korea’s suggestion on the matter is starkly different to that of the People Power Party, fanning the possibility that it may never materialize. The scandal revolves around former Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party and President-elec

PoliticsMarch 15, 2022

Departure order for foreigner who drove 1 meter while intoxicated unfair: commission

A departure order for a foreigner who drove approximately 1 meter while under the influence of alcohol has been ruled unfair, the Central Administrative Appeals Commission (CAAC) said Tuesday. The CAAC, under the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission, said it has repealed the immigration authorities' departure order for the foreigner, which was issued after the person was caught driving under the influence in October 2020. The person, who was drinking with a friend at the time, was found

Social AffairsMarch 15, 2022

Moon, Yoon to hold luncheon on Wednesday

President Moon Jae-in will hold a luncheon meeting with President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol at Cheong Wae Dae on Wednesday, the presidential office said Tuesday. Yoon will ask for a pardon for former President Lee Myung-bak. The meeting between the two is the first time in seven days since the presidential election and 21 months since Yoon visited Cheong Wa Dae to attend the Anti-Corruption Policy Council in 2020, when he served as the prosecutor general. “This luncheon will be held without

PoliticsMarch 15, 2022

S. Korea to provide non-lethal military, medical supplies to Ukraine

South Korea announced Tuesday it has decided to provide Ukraine with non-lethal military supplies, such as bulletproof helmets and blankets, as well as medical items. Seoul's planned logistics support package worth 1 billion won ($804,181) consists of about 20 items, including tents, meals, ready-to-eat (MREs), bedspreads and first-aid kits, the defense ministry said in response to Kyiv's repeated calls for support to help repel Russia's attack. "As for details including how to ship them an

DefenseMarch 15, 2022

S. Korea lowers travel alert level for some of Ethiopia

South Korea said Tuesday it has eased a travel alert for its nationals on some regions of Ethiopia on Tuesday, as the civil war in the African nation has subsided in recent weeks. The Level 3 alert, which was placed on all parts of Ethiopia, was lowered to the special advisory against overseas travels on the capital city of Addis Ababa and other provinces in the southwestern region, with the rest of the African nation still under Level 3, the second highest under the four-tier system, in accorda

Foreign AffairsMarch 15, 2022

52,684 students test positive for COVID-19 last week, more than double from week ago

A total of 52,684 students from the kindergarten to the high school level tested positive for COVID-19 in Seoul last week, more than doubling from the previous week, the Seoul education office said Tuesday. The tally from the week ending Sunday marks a steep hike from 25,122 cases a week earlier, and the rise was driven mainly by infections among elementary school students, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said. COVID-19 cases involving elementary school students totaled 667.9 out of e

Social AffairsMarch 15, 2022

Yoon to benchmark US personnel vetting system

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol plans to benchmark the US personnel vetting system, and have the justice ministry and police take over the roles after abolishing the office of senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, his spokesperson said Tuesday. "The office of the president will only have the role to recommend candidates. With regard to vetting senior officials, Cabinet members and others, we will have the justice ministry and police do it," spokesperson Kim Eun-hye told report

PoliticsMarch 15, 2022

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases above 300,000 for 4th day amid omicron spread

South Korea's new daily COVID-19 cases stayed above 300,000 for four straight days Tuesday as the country battles through the worst virus wave yet, sparked by the highly transmissible omicron variant. The country added 362,338 new COVID-19 infections, mostly locally transmitted, putting the total caseload at 7,228,550, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Tuesday's tally marks the second-highest daily count after the all-time high of 383,664 reported Saturday. It's also

Social AffairsMarch 15, 2022

US govt. raises alarm for financial institutions against business with N. Korea

The US Treasury Department has advised the country's financial institutions to be cautious about doing business involving North Korea, citing a recent decision of an intergovernmental body tasked with combating money laundering and terrorism financing, the department's website showed Tuesday. The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) kept North Korea and Iran on the list of "high-risk jurisdictions" in the March 4 move, according to the department's Financial Crimes Enforcemen

North KoreaMarch 15, 2022