2023 marks ‘hottest year on record’

The year 2023 was Korea's “hottest year on record,” according to the Korea Meteorological Administration on Wednesday. South Korea’s average annual temperature was 13.7 degrees Celsius, the highest average annual temperature since 1973, when weather records were first collected by the administration, the KMA said. The average annual temperature last year was 0.3 degrees higher than the previous record of 13.4 C in 2015. According to the KMA’s data, between January to Nove

Social AffairsJan. 3, 2024

Conspiracy theories about stabbing of opposition leader fan outrage

Conspiracy theories suggesting that Tuesday's stabbing of Korea's main opposition party leader, Lee Jae-myung, was orchestrated by the victim himself have been spreading on the internet here, sparking outrage from the public and those in political circles in both the liberal and conservative camps. The 59-year-old leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea was stabbed in the left side of the neck by a 67-year-old man in Busan during a visit to the southernmost port city, s

Social AffairsJan. 3, 2024

Ukrainian envoy calls for global action amid escalating Russian attacks

Ukrainian Ambassador to Seoul Dmytro Ponomarenko on Wednesday urged the international community to condemn Russia's heightened aggression against Ukraine and take immediate and decisive action. Russian attacks have destroyed civilian infrastructure, and injured and killed civilians, including children, he told The Korea Herald, citing a second mass missile strike within just four days. The envoy suggested urgent measures that he believes the world should take to support Ukraine in its defen

Foreign AffairsJan. 3, 2024

Police arrest man for murder threat on ruling party leader

South Korean police said Wednesday that a man in his 40s has been arrested for threatening to murder Han Dong-hoon, the chairman of the emergency leadership committee of the ruling People Power Party. The suspect wrote the online post at around 9:40 p.m. on Tuesday, vowing to attack the ruling party's interim leader during his visit to Gwangju, according to Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station. Han is slated to visit the southwestern city on Thursday. The suspect was arrested without a warrant a

Social AffairsJan. 3, 2024

N. Korean leader attends farm machinery exhibition

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended an exhibition featuring agricultural machinery, such as an unmanned helicopter, and called for the development of farming technology, state media said Wednesday. Kim's remark came as he visited the exhibition at the Three-Revolution Exhibition House showcasing "more than hundreds of kinds of farm machines" the previous day, according to the Korean Central News Agency. During the visit, Kim said it is "most important" to "make

North KoreaJan. 3, 2024

Ex-US ambassador stresses need to step up allied drills against N. Korean threats

A former US ambassador to South Korea called Tuesday for beefed-up defense drills between Seoul and Washington to counter North Korean threats, stressing the pursuit of dialogue with the recalcitrant regime should not come at the expense of the allies' military readiness. Retired Adm. Harry Harris, who served as US ambassador to South Korea from 2018-2021, made the call, pointing to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's unrelenting focus on advancing his regime's nuclear program and o

Foreign AffairsJan. 3, 2024

N. Korean leader's sister raps Yoon over his New Year's Day speech

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unleashed a sarcasm-filled tirade over South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's New Year's Day address that unveiled a plan to complete a studier deterrence system with the United States to counter North Korean threats this year. In a statement late Tuesday night, Kim Yo-jong, a vice department director of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, said that the deterrence plan has again given justification for the

North KoreaJan. 3, 2024

South Korean spy chief nominee had license suspended for drunk driving

Cho Tae-yong, who was nominated by President Yoon Suk Yeol as the National Intelligence Service director on Dec. 19, once had his driver’s license suspended for driving under the influence. According to the police report The Korea Herald obtained exclusively through the National Assembly on Tuesday, Cho was caught drunk driving on Feb. 23, 1999, and received a license suspension. On Aug. 10 of the same year, the court sentenced him to a fine of 700,000 won ($536). Until recently, Cho was n

PoliticsJan. 2, 2024

North Korea expected to increase cyberattacks this year: experts

In a key year-end message, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un described the two Koreas as “warring countries,” and vowed to “mobilize all physical means and other capabilities to cause a big stir” in the South. The anticipated rise in North Korean provocations will likely include cyberattacks, experts and officials in Seoul say. At the end of five days of Workers’ Party of Korea meetings, the North Korean leader said his country should “no longer commit the error

PoliticsJan. 2, 2024

S. Korea to release criminal suspects' identities starting Jan. 25

A law on releasing the identities of criminal suspects will take effect on Jan. 25, allowing police to release a recent photo, the name and age of individuals charged with a range of crimes, such as sexual violence against minors, certain drug crimes, arson, armed revolt and being part of an organized crime ring. In October 2023, the National Assembly passed the so-called "mug shot law," which provides legal grounds for authorities to release to the public the identities of criminal su

Social AffairsJan. 2, 2024

[KH Explains] How will South Korea use its seat on UN Security Council?

South Korea embarked on its two-year tenure as a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council as 2024 commenced, aiming to foster unified action on crucial security matters, including North Korea's nuclear buildup, amid ongoing discord among the five veto-wielding permanent members. South Korea's Foreign Ministry has underscored the growing importance of its present seat on the UN Security Council, even though the country previously held the position during the periods of 1996-1997 a

Foreign AffairsJan. 2, 2024

Yoon proposes abandoning investor income tax plan

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday proposed to withdraw South Korea's plan to introduce a net investment income tax scheme beginning in 2025. This came about a year after plans to impose the "financial investment income tax" on investors had been deferred for two years, meaning the new tax rule would go into effect in January next year. The rule, under the revision of the Income Tax Act, was initially passed in 2020 with bipartisan agreement. "Our plan to introduce the financ

PoliticsJan. 2, 2024

Opposition leader stabbing shows politicians still vulnerable to physical attack

Tuesday's stabbing of Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, showed that South Korea's politicians remain vulnerable to physical attacks despite several high-profile cases in the recent past. Lee, 59, had been visiting the site of the new airport in Busan and was speaking to members of the media when an unidentified man approached him asking for an autograph before lunging to stab him in the neck, undetected and undeterred by anyone. Lee is one of t

PoliticsJan. 2, 2024

Fear of apartment safety resurfaces as another fire kills 1, injures 14

A fire broke out at an apartment building in Gyeonggi Province, leaving one dead and 14 others injured, according to fire services on Tuesday. According to the Gyeonggi-do Fire Service, the fire occurred on the ninth floor of a 15-story apartment building in the city of Gunpo in Gyeonggi Province at around 7:15 a.m. A man in his 50s, who was living on the ninth floor, was pronounced dead at the site. His wife, also in her 50s, was sent to a hospital for severe burns and breathing difficulties du

Social AffairsJan. 2, 2024

Prosecution launches special team to investigate stabbing of Lee

Prosecutor General Lee One-seok on Tuesday ordered the Busan High Prosecutors’ Office to form a special investigative team to look swiftly into the stabbing of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea leader during his visit to Busan at the hands of an unidentified man. He also ordered prosecutors to team up with the police to investigate the case thoroughly, according to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. “The prosecutor general has asked that a special probe team be formed

Social AffairsJan. 2, 2024

Per-pupil education grants to rise due to shrinking enrollment

South Korean students will each benefit more from central government education spending in 10 years’ time as shrinking enrollment numbers push per-pupil budgets up, data showed Tuesday. As Korea grapples with a dwindling school-age population, fewer students are likely to be enrolled at schools across the nation in the coming years. As a result, the estimated education subsidy per pupil is expected to rise to some 20 million won ($15,350) in 2028 and to surpass 30 million won in 2032. Th

Social AffairsJan. 2, 2024

[Herald Interview] Vietnam sees Korea as ‘good partner’ to boost its economy

HANOI, Vietnam -- Vietnam sees South Korea as a “good peer” in its plan to achieve developed-country status by 2045, according to Nguyen Anh Tuan, the deputy director general at the Foreign Investment Agency under Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment. “We plan to grow our economy to be a developing country with the GDP per capita in the group of the high-middle income by the year 2030,” Tuan told a group of Korean reporters at the ministry’s headqua

Foreign AffairsJan. 2, 2024

Opposition leader stabbed in Busan

Main opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung was attacked by an assailant and stabbed in the neck by a knife during his tour to Busan on Tuesday morning. Lee was stabbed around 10:27 a.m. after talking to reporters during a visit to the site of a new airport off the coast of Busan. The assailant was detained by police at the scene. Lee sustained a cut 1 centimeter wide and was conscious when the paramedics arrived at the scene, emergency authorities said, adding that his injuries were not thought

PoliticsJan. 2, 2024

New minimum wage set at 9,860 won

Korea's new minimum wage took effect Monday, increasing to 9,860 won ($7.60) per hour, which is equivalent to about 2.1 million won a month, based on a 40-hour workweek. The new minimum wage level increased by 240 won compared to 2023's level of 9,620 won per hour, corresponding to a daily wage of 78,880 won and a monthly wage of nearly 2.07 million won, based on the same measure. The 2023 figure monthly wage was equivalent to about two-thirds of South Korea's average salary of 3.

Social AffairsJan. 2, 2024

85cm tsunami observed at S. Korea's east coast following Japan's earthquake

A tsunami reaching as high as 85 centimeters has been observed off South Korea's east coast in the aftermath of a powerful magnitude-7.6 earthquake in Japan's Noto Peninsula, the weather agency said Tuesday. The quake struck the Noto Peninsula and surrounding areas in Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture on New Year's Day, reportedly killing several people and prompting thousands to evacuate. A major tsunami warning was issued. About four hours after the quake, a tsunami wave, measure

Social AffairsJan. 2, 2024