Doctors cancel joint press conference amid signs of internal rift

A doctors' lobby group said Tuesday it was canceling a planned joint press conference with other doctors' groups and medical professors, amid signs of an apparent rift within the medical community over how to respond to the government's plan to increase the medical student quota. The Korean Medical Association made the announcement, saying they need more time for negotiations with the trainee doctors who walked off their jobs seven weeks ago in protest against raising the medica

Social AffairsApril 9, 2024

[Election 2024] 5 races to watch

In elections, the big shot politicians don’t always get to clinch easy wins. In the April 10 general election, five prominent figures of South Korean party politics are vying for parliamentary seats via constituency races. The outcomes of these contests are poised to have a significant potential impact on their future paths. A defeat, in particular, could cast their political futures into doubt. How will they fare? Below is an overview of the five races. Lee Jun-seok Lee Jun-seok, who,

PoliticsApril 9, 2024

'Short hair means feminism' attacker gets 3 years in jail

A young man who assaulted a female convenience store clerk because she had short hair was sentenced to three years in jail Tuesday. The Jinju branch of the Changwon District Court found the defendant in his 20s guilty of attacking the female victim and another man in his 50s who tried to stop the assault. The assailant was also ordered to pay 2.5 million won ($1,800) in compensation to the owner of the convenience store, and 10 million won to the male victim for the severe injuries he sustained.

Social AffairsApril 9, 2024

China's No.3 official to visit N. Korea

China's top legislator and No. 3 official, Zhao Leji, is set to visit North Korea from Thursday to Saturday as the two countries mark the 75th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties this year, China's Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday. The delegation of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government, led by Zhao, will "make an official goodwill visit" to North Korea, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Mao Ning said. Mao explained that the invitatio

Foreign AffairsApril 9, 2024

Man finds pile of cash inside treadmill, returns it to owner

A 68-year-old man who returned a pile of cash he had found inside a discarded treadmill was commended Tuesday by local police. Ansan Sangrok Police Station presented a certificate of appreciation to Jeon Jang-pyo, a resident of Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, who found 48.7 million won ($36,000) in cash inside the broken machine at around 3:51 p.m. on Sunday. He reported his discovery to the police, who checked the surveillance footage to find that a woman in her 60s and another man had thrown away th

Social AffairsApril 9, 2024

[Herald Interview] Kazakhstan needs Korea's expertise via joint research, education: minister

Kazakhstan needs Korean expertise through joint partnerships to realize the Central Asian country's potential in education, research and technology, said Sayasat Nurbek, Kazakhstan's minister of science and higher education, in an interview with The Korea Herald on Monday. Nurbek was on a two-day visit to South Korea to deepen Kazakhstan-Korea collaboration in research and higher education. “We are buying a supercomputer this year. So we'll have computing power. But mostly w

Foreign AffairsApril 9, 2024

Perks of being a National Assembly member

Being a member of South Korea’s National Assembly comes with many perks, legal and otherwise. On top of having the power to legislate, conduct budget reviews, audit and investigate the government and its affiliated institutions, assembly members also enjoy benefits that are not directly related to their parliamentary role. Every election season, there is some initiative to “abolish the rights and privileges of lawmakers.” Han Dong-hoon, soon after taking office as the interim l

PoliticsApril 9, 2024

S. Korea at political crossroads as nation heads to polls

South Korea is poised to confront a pivotal moment Wednesday as much of the nation prepares to cast their votes for 300 new members of the National Assembly, in an election that will not only shape the political landscape of the country for the next four years but also serve as a crucial test for the president, who is currently a conservative. On the eve of the quadrennial Election Day, the rival parties fanned out to critical battleground districts Tuesday, making last-minute efforts to woo v

PoliticsApril 9, 2024

N. Korea 'not ready' to discuss key issues with Japan: envoy

Pyongyang seems unprepared to address "outstanding issues of concern," including its missile and nuclear programs, as well as the abduction of Japanese nationals -- all of which are deemed important for the Japanese leader -- during talks with Tokyo, the Japanese ambassador to the United States said Monday. Ambassador Shigeo Yamada clarified Japan's motivation for advocating a summit between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as well as Kishida'

Foreign AffairsApril 9, 2024

US envoy to UN to visit S. Korea, Japan to discuss Security Council cooperation

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, is scheduled to visit South Korea and Japan next week to discuss a wide range of issues, including Russia's recent exercise of its veto to extend the mandate of a panel of experts overseeing sanctions on North Korea, the US mission to the UN announced Monday. The visit to the US' key Asian treaty allies, scheduled for April 14-20, comes at a crucial juncture, underscoring the pressing need to bolster bilateral

Foreign AffairsApril 9, 2024

Rift grows within medical circle over expansion plan

The medical community appears to be facing a rift over coming up with a unified proposal for the expansion plan a day after the government requested it, as it seeks a breakthrough in the prolonged medical standoff through dialogue. Lim Hyun-taek, the newly appointed president of the Korean Medical Association -- the largest coalition of doctors’ groups here, with some 140,000 members -- demanded Kim Taek-woo, the chair of the KMA’s emergency response committee, step down Tuesday. Lim

Social AffairsApril 9, 2024

Over 40% of S. Koreans live alone: report

The number of South Koreans living alone rose above the 10 million mark for the first time in March, data from the Ministry of Interior and Safety showed Tuesday, as more older people opt to live alone than ever before. Approximately 10.02 million households consist of one individual, accounting for 41.8 percent of the 24 million total households in the country, according to the ministry. The figure marked a slight increase compared to 9.98 million in the previous month. Among the single-person

Social AffairsApril 9, 2024

3 men flee without paying $320 taxi fare

South Korean police are investigating a case in which three young men fled without paying for their three hour, 40-minute taxi ride, local media reported Tuesday. According to Yonhap News Agency, the police have acquired the DNA evidence of the suspects left on the seat they sat on, along with the black box footage of the car that shows all of their faces. Officers also have their phone numbers, which they used to hail the cab through the Kakao T application. The incident occurred at around 1:30

Social AffairsApril 9, 2024

Seoul rolls out W9.4tr package to bolster AI chips

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday rolled out a massive spending package to nurture the domestic chip industry and bolster artificial intelligence technology deployment through the AI-Chip Initiative. By 2027, Seoul will spend 9.4 trillion won ($6.94 billion) on AI chips, which are chips sophisticated enough to perform AI tasks and those that use AI technology to achieve greater power efficiency. The country will also introduce a new 1.4 trillion-won fund to spur the development of innovative te

PoliticsApril 9, 2024

Ex-presidents break silence in rare election move

Former South Korean presidents have traditionally maintained a reserved stance regarding elections held after their tenure, but some have been making rather different moves in this general election. Showing active support for his party, the Democratic Party of Korea, Moon Jae-in, the predecessor of incumbent President Yoon Suk Yeol, has been the most vigorous among the past three presidents, directly joining rallies of individual candidates from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. Dre

PoliticsApril 9, 2024

Opposition leader attends court hearing on corruption charges on eve of elections

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung accused the Yoon Suk Yeol government of trying to knock out his political enemies as he attended a court hearing on charges connected to a development corruption scandal on the eve of the parliamentary elections Tuesday. Lee, the chair of the main opposition Democratic Party, appeared for the hearing at the Seoul Central District Court on corruption charges related to two apartment construction projects in Seongnam, south of Seoul, launched during his term as the

PoliticsApril 9, 2024

N. Korea revs up festive mood ahead of late founder's birthday

North Korea has held a photo exhibition and a youth art festival to celebrate the upcoming 112th birthday of late founder Kim Il-sung, state media reported Tuesday. Kim died of heart failure in 1994 at age 82, opening the way for his son, Kim Jong-il, to take over in communism's first hereditary succession of power. Despite the senior Kim's death, his birthday, April 15, is revered as the Day of Sun and is celebrated as one of the communist country's most important national holida

North KoreaApril 9, 2024

S. Korea's 2nd spy satellite makes contact with local ground station

South Korea's second military reconnaissance satellite launched into space this week has made contact with a ground station in the country and is undergoing initial operations normally, the defense ministry said Tuesday. The satellite successfully entered orbit after being launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida at 8:17 a.m. Monday. It succeeded in communicating with an overseas ground station hours after lift-off. "Our second military reconnaissance satellite has currently e

DefenseApril 9, 2024

Rival parties vie for final voter support in wider Seoul area on eve of elections

The ruling and opposition parties intensified their final appeals for support on the eve of the quadrennial parliamentary elections Tuesday, concentrating on the most fiercely contested battlegrounds in Seoul. Wednesday's general elections are to pick 300 members of the National Assembly, with 254 of them to be selected through direct elections and the remaining 46 proportional representation seats to be allocated to parties according to the number of votes they receive overall. The quadrennial

PoliticsApril 9, 2024

N. Korea does not appear ready to address 'outstanding' issues with Japan: Tokyo envoy

North Korea does not appear to be ready to deal with "outstanding" matters with Japan, including the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang decades ago, Tokyo's top envoy to the United States said Monday. Ambassador Shigeo Yamada made the remarks, referring to recent statements from senior North Korean officials that Pyongyang does not have intentions to talk with Tokyo over the abduction issue despite Japan's diplomatic outreach to secure a meeting between Japanes

Foreign AffairsApril 9, 2024