American man taken into custody for inflicting injury with knife

South Korean police on Tuesday said they have apprehended a US national in his 40s on suspicion of using a knife to injure a local man. The suspect, whose identity was withheld, is believed to have attacked the victim in his 20s in an alley in Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, western Seoul at 7:22 p.m. on Monday. He approached the victim's car and knocked on the window, and attacked the victim when he came out. The victim sustained non-critical injuries, and was treated at a nearby hospital. The polic

Social AffairsJan. 2, 2024

Lee Jae-myung attacked during Busan visit

Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, was attacked by an unidentified person Tuesday during his visit to Busan. He had been visiting the site of a new airport in Gadeok-do, an island off the coast of the port city, when the attack occurred. The attacker was apprehended at the scene. Lee sustained an injury to his neck and has received emergency treatment, but the severity of the injury remains unclear. More to follow.

Social AffairsJan. 2, 2024

S. Korea, Poland clinch bilateral agreement on military airworthiness certification

South Korea and Poland have clinched a deal to launch a mutual recognition process for military airworthiness certification, Seoul's defense procurement agency said Tuesday. Representatives from Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the Polish defense ministry signed the bilateral agreement on airworthiness, a key measure of a plane's suitability for safe flight. Under the mutual recognition process, Warsaw will recognize Seoul's airworthiness certification f

DefenseJan. 2, 2024

N. Korea's Kim attends student performance on New Year's Day

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a New Year's Day performance by young students and emphasized the importance of education, state media said Tuesday. Kim made the remarks as he attended the performance at the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren's Palace in Pyongyang the previous day, according to the Korean Central News Agency. "He called for renovating the contents and methods of education to make sure that schoolchildren acquire practical knowledge for socialist construction,&quo

North KoreaJan. 2, 2024

Five injured in explosion at LPG station

Five people were injured in an explosion Monday night in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, following a reported gas leak at a liquefied petroleum gas station. According to the Gangwon Province Fire Headquarters and other sources, two of the five sustained severe burns but are currently in stable condition. The other three suffered minor injuries. Fourteen buildings and several cars were damaged by the explosion and subsequent fire. Approximately 25 residents from nearby areas have been evacuated. T

Social AffairsJan. 2, 2024

Small tsunamis hit S. Korea after earthquake in Japan

South Korea reported small tsunamis in parts of the East Sea on Monday following a major earthquake off Japan's west coast. The Korea Meteorological Administration said a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck Ishikawa and nearby prefectures around 4 p.m. caused minor tsunamis in waters off South Korea's east coast province of Gangwon on Monday evening. According to the KMA, a wave off the east coast city of Gangneung reached 20 centimeters at 6:01 p.m., while a wave seen off another coastal

Social AffairsJan. 1, 2024

S. Korea issues warning on sea-level rise following earthquake in Japan

South Korea issued alerts on rising sea levels in parts of the East Sea on Monday following a major earthquake off Japan's west coast. The Korea Meteorological Administration said a tsunami caused by a 7.6 magnitude quake hitting Ishikawa and nearby prefectures could result in a rise in sea levels off the east coast of South Korea. The KMA said the tsunami could reach the coast off the eastern city of Gangneung by 6:29 p.m. and the southeastern town of Pohang by 7:17 p.m. The KMA also estim

Social AffairsJan. 1, 2024

New Year's Eve drone no-show in Busan spurs outrage

A New Year countdown drone show slated to be held at Gwangalli beach in Busan on Sunday was abruptly canceled due to technical error, sparking complaints among the tens of thousands gathered at the port city to witness the event. Online community platforms and social media were abuzz Monday with complaints over the sudden cancellation of the Gwangalli Marvelous Drone Light Show, a New Year event that was to be held over the Gwangandaegyo bridge around midnight for the countdown. It was was delay

Social AffairsJan. 1, 2024

Young workers' happiness deteriorates with longer working hours: study

Young South Koreans generally tend to be less happy the longer they work, a report published by a state-run organization showed Monday. The amount of labor that employees aged 34 or younger are most satisfied with is between 15 and 40 hours a week, according to the report published in the journal of the Korea Labor Institute. Researcher Park Ju-sang, of the Korea Labour & Society Institute took the data from the Korean Employment Information Service and categorized South Korean employees age

Social AffairsJan. 1, 2024

Korea enters 2024 in fog of uncertainties

As the calendar flicks over into 2024, South Korea finds itself entangled in an intricate tapestry of mounting uncertainties. In charting its course forward, Korea will need to navigate rising diplomatic complexities and elevated security risks -- especially the possibility of inter-Korean clashes -- while protecting its economic security amid the strategic competition between the United States and China. The challenges stem from two pivotal factors, over 10 experts based in South Korea told The

Foreign AffairsJan. 1, 2024

3 in 10 new schools don't have enough students: report

As South Korea's school age population continues to drop, 31.3 percent of recently built schools are suffering from a student shortage, a state-issued report showed Monday. The Korea Educational Development Institute conducted a survey on the number of students attending 214 elementary, middle and high schools across the country that had been built between 2018 and 2020, based on annual reports by the Ministry of Education. The schools with student numbers below 70 percent of the figure i

Social AffairsJan. 1, 2024

Dating apps in Korea overflowing with men, but women use them more: data

Roughly 80 percent of major dating app users in South Korea are men, but women use the services for nearly twice as long as their male counterpart, a report showed Sunday. The most popular dating app here was Tinder, where 84.2 percent of the users were men, according to local consumer data analysis service Wise App. Among other popular applications, Wippy users were 78.8 percent men, Glam was 86.1 percent men, and 90.3 percent of the people on Yangting were male. Tinder had the most number of u

Social AffairsJan. 1, 2024

Why Korean students prefer math over literature

"Mungwa," which broadly refers to studies in the liberal arts in Korea, is crumbling due to a sharp decline in the number of students choosing to pursue a career in the humanities, the arts and social sciences. According to recent data released by Jongro Academy, one of the biggest education firms in Korea, among 166 classes on offer at some 16 private high schools in Seoul, only 53 classes (31 percent) were categorized as mungwa. The remaining 113 classes were classified as "igwa

Social AffairsJan. 1, 2024

[Bills in Focus] 'Shrinkflation' warnings, platform monopoly regulations

Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods Proposed by Rep. Hwang Hee (Democratic Party of Korea) ● An increasing number of food manufacturing companies have been reducing the volume of their products while maintaining or raising their prices. However, these changes in quantity are not as easy for consumers to notice as price increases. Therefore, this amendment aims to protect the consumer’s right to information by requiring companies to clearly i

PoliticsJan. 1, 2024

Nearly 30% of married female migrants experience depression

Nearly 30 percent of female marriage migrants in South Korea reported experiencing depression, nearly double the rate observed among married Korean women, according to a recent government report. The study, released on Monday by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, revealed that 27.4 percent of married female immigrants reported experiencing depression, almost double the 14.1 percent observed among their Korean counterparts. As it pertains to the study, the term "experiencing

Social AffairsJan. 1, 2024

Yoon reaffirms plan to upgrade extended deterrence in New Year

President Yoon Suk Yeol expressed confidence that a plan to bolster extended deterrence on the Korean Peninsula could materialize before the end of June in his New Year's speech to the nation Monday. "By the first half of this year, we will complete the enhanced (Republic of Korea)-US extended deterrence system to fundamentally deter any North Korean nuclear and missile threat," Yoon said in a televised speech from his office, referring to South Korea as the ROK. In April, Yoon an

PoliticsJan. 1, 2024

Seoul hits back at Kim Jong-un: ‘Nuclear arms use will mean regime’s end’

South Korea on Monday returned North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s fresh threats of a nuclear attack with a warning that an attempt at such a move would result in the end of his regime. Shin Won-sik, the Minister of National Defense in Seoul, said in a written New Year’s message that Pyongyang will be made to face the realization that military threats against the country would mark “the beginning of its own downfall.” Late Sunday, the Defense Ministry responded to the North

DefenseJan. 1, 2024

Trump’s return to White House may increase Seoul-Pyongyang engagement: expert

US former President Donald Trump’s return to the White House may increase Seoul-Pyongyang diplomatic engagement, according to an expert on US-Asia relations and foreign policy. Ted Gover, director of the Tribal Administration Program at Claremont Graduate University, said in an interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul last month, that President Joe Biden's re-election would likely keep the status quo of diplomatic relations, which have yielded little and have come close to being froze

Foreign AffairsJan. 1, 2024

Defense chief warns N. Korea's reckless provocations will become 'prelude to destruction'

North Korea should be made to realize that provocative acts threatening South Korea will only serve as a prelude to its own destruction, Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said in a New Year's Day message Monday. Shin made the remark after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un defined inter-Korean ties as those of "two states hostile to each other" and called for stepped-up preparations to "suppress the whole territory of South Korea." Kim also said it is a mistake to regard the So

North KoreaJan. 1, 2024

Yoon says S. Korea, US will complete strengthened extended deterrence regime in first half of 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Monday that South Korea and the United States will complete a strengthened "extended deterrence" regime in the first half of 2024 to seal off North Korea's nuclear and missile threats at their source. Yoon made the remark in a New Year's Day address as he stressed his commitment to building a "genuine and lasting peace" through strength. "By the first half of this year, we will complete the enhanced South Korea-US extended deterre

Foreign AffairsJan. 1, 2024