[News Focus] Ex-Moon aide slammed from both sides over remarks on leaving Koreas divided

Im Jong-seok, who was chief of staff for former President Moon Jae-in, sparked criticism across partisan lines after he argued South Korea should no longer pursue reunification with the North as a policy goal, and instead accept the status quo of two Koreas. Tae Yong-ho, on the presidential advisory council of Korean reunification, told The Korea Herald on Monday that Im was “empowering Kim Jong-un and his two-state policy” with his suggestion. “Arguing we should no longer stri

Sept. 23, 2024

NK nuclear test 'possible' around US election in Nov., says Yoon aide

The scenario of North Korea conducting a nuclear test is "possible," and Pyongyang could conduct such a test for the first time in seven years either before or after the United States presidential election in November, President Yoon Suk Yeol's national security aide said Monday. Shin Won-sik, Yoon's national security adviser, told Yonhap News TV in a televised interview that North Korea could potentially conduct its seventh nuclear test given its need to advance its nuclear weapon cap

Sept. 23, 2024

[Bills in Focus] Strengthening consumer rights, taxing carbon emissions

Proposed bill: Partial amendment to the Product Liability Act Proposed by Rep. Joo Ho-young (People Power Party) ● Consumers often find it challenging to prove that damages were caused by a product defect due to the information asymmetry between manufacturers and consumers. This amendment proposes to ease the burden of proof on consumers by considering a product defective and the cause of damage if the victim can prove that such damage occurred while the product was being used normally. Propos

Sept. 23, 2024

Quad leaders slam North Korean missile threats, reaffirm goal of denuclearization

The leaders of the US, Japan, Australia and India on Saturday condemned North Korea’s ballistic missile launches and nuclear pursuits, while reaffirming their commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. “We condemn North Korea’s destabilizing ballistic missile launches and its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” the leaders said in a statement issued at the end of the summit. “We reaffirm ou

Sept. 22, 2024

Yoon's Prague visit sets stage for W24tr nuclear power plant deal

President Yoon Suk Yeol returned to Seoul on Sunday following a three-day official trip to the Czech Republic, setting the stage for a South Korean consortium to finalize a nuclear energy deal worth 24 trillion won ($18 billion) in the central European country next year. Laying the groundwork for further discussions and procedures before the final signing of the contract, hopefully in March 2025, Yoon, Czech President Petr Pavel and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala "reaffirmed their commitme

Sept. 22, 2024

S. Korea to inject $37m in joint R&D projects with Czech Republic

PRAGUE -- South Korea is poised to inject $37 million in joint research and development projects with the Czech Republic in the next decade, according to President Yoon Suk Yeol's office on Friday. Park Sang-ook, senior presidential secretary for science and technology, told reporters in a briefing in Prague that Seoul's estimated annual R&D budget spending will translate into a 20-fold surge compared with the level in the past from 1995 to 2015. Park added that the spending will g

Sept. 21, 2024

S. Korea, Czech Republic to increase direct flights

PRAGUE -- South Korea and the Czech Republic will increase nonstop flights for the first time since 1998, as President Yoon Suk Yeol's visit to Prague is expected to offer people from the two countries more opportunities for exchanges. The growing potential of strengthened ties between the two countries -- partly with a South Korean group being selected as the preferred bidder for the 24-trillion won nuclear export deal in the Central European country in July -- led to a decision to "i

Sept. 21, 2024

Yoon, Fiala seek wider range of cooperation beyond nuclear energy

PRAGUE -- President Yoon Suk Yeol and the Czech Republic's Prime Minister Petr Fiala on Friday adopted action plans to implement the strategic partnership between the two countries for the next three years, seeking a wider range of cooperation beyond South Korea's potential nuclear export to the Czech Republic. Under the new action plan, effective 2025 -- or the 10th anniversary of the bilateral strategic partnership -- the area of cooperation between Seoul and Prague will no longer be limited t

Sept. 21, 2024

Seoul, Prague to team up throughout nuclear energy project delivery

PRAGUE -- The governments, state-run firms and private-sector companies of South Korea and the Czech Republic signed 13 memoranda of understanding to team up with one another for the entire process and delivery of the nuclear power unit construction project. According to the presidential office, these documents will allow South Korean and Czech entities to collaborate on the preconstruction, construction and postconstruction stages of nuclear power units, if a group of South Korean firms clinch

Sept. 20, 2024

Prosecutors demand 2-year prison term for DP leader Lee Jae-myung

Prosecutors on Friday sought a two-year prison sentence for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, around two years after he was indicted for making false statements during the 2022 presidential election campaign. The court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on Nov. 15. In the final hearing at the Seoul Central District Court, prosecutors urged the court to impose the sentence, accusing Lee of violating the Public Official Election Act. "The defendant repeatedly lie

Sept. 20, 2024

Ex-President Moon accuses Yoon govt. of creating 'most dangerous' state since Korean War

Former President Moon Jae-in lambasted the North Korea policies of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration on Friday, saying they have led to the "most dangerous" state on the Korean Peninsula since the 1950-53 Korean War. Moon, a liberal whose North Korea policies centered on bringing lasting peace through diplomacy, attacked the policies of his conservative successor at a conference held in the southwestern county of Yeongam to mark the sixth anniversary of the Pyongyang Joint Declaration h

Sept. 20, 2024

Unification minister urges N. Korea to immediately return detained S. Koreans home

Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho on Friday called on North Korea to "immediately and unconditionally" send a detained South Korean missionary and five other nationals back home, condemning the North's yearslong arbitrary detention as grave human rights violations. South Korea's top point man on North Korea issued a rare statement marking 4,000 days after missionary Kim Jung-wook was arrested in Pyongyang in 2013. He was sentenced to hard labor for life on charges of spying fo

Sept. 20, 2024

Yoon's office rejects ex-president's call for reconsidering unification policy

The presidential office on Thursday rejected former President Moon Jae-in's call for reviewing its approach to unification with North Korea, saying the previous government's dialogue-focused peace initiative is "unrealistic." A senior presidential official who accompanied President Yoon Suk Yeol on a trip to the Czech Republic made the remark after Moon criticized the Yoon administration's hard-line policy on North Korea and called for efforts to ease inter-Korean tensio

Sept. 20, 2024

Seoul chastises predatory pricing claims over Czech nuclear export deal

PRAGUE -- The presidential office denounced claims by opposition parties that the South Korean consortium, which became a preferred bidder to build at least two nuclear power units in the Czech Republic in July, had proposed an extremely low bidding price that could waste taxpayers' money following a rise in construction costs. The administration instead claimed that the pricing of the South Korean consortium, led by the state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, was made at a reasonable level. It

Sept. 20, 2024

Presidential office rejects liberal agenda of peaceful existence of two Koreas

PRAGUE -- President Yoon Suk Yeol's office on Thursday denounced liberal politicians' emphasis on the peaceful coexistence of two Koreas, reiterating the conservative administration's goal of achieving ultimate peace through reunification as enshrined in the "Unification Doctrine" in August. Contrasting reunification of the separated nations with coexistence, an official of the South Korean presidential office said in Prague on condition of anonymity that the peaceful reunification of

Sept. 20, 2024

Leaders of S. Korea, Czech Republic agree to discuss nuclear energy push

PRAGUE -- President Yoon Suk Yeol and Czech President Petr Pavel agreed to strengthen diplomatic, economic and security ties between the two countries, at a time when South Korea is working to finalize the contract with Czech authorities over its 24 trillion won ($18 billion) nuclear export deal. "(To jointly counter global crisis and threats of authoritarianism), our two countries have decided to bolster cooperation in key areas including politics, economy, culture, technology, diplomacy a

Sept. 20, 2024

Parliamentary subcommittee passes bill to toughen punishment for digital sex crimes against teens

A parliamentary subcommittee passed a bill Thursday that calls for tougher punishment for digital sex crimes using deepfake technologies against children and teenagers. During a subcommittee legislative review session, the National Assembly's gender equality and family committee made the bipartisan decision to pass the revision of the act on the protection of children against sex crimes. The proposed bill calls for sentencing of at least three years imprisonment for blackmailing young people usi

Sept. 19, 2024

Assembly passes special counsel bill to probe first lady

South Korea's National Assembly on Thursday passed three contentious bills pushed ahead by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, including one that mandates a special counsel probe into multiple allegations against first lady Kim Keon Hee. The special counsel probe bill passed 167-0 by the opposition-led parliament during Thursday's plenary meeting is an updated version of the one vetoed by President Yoon Suk Yeol in January. The previous version focused on appointing a specia

Sept. 19, 2024

Bill proposes stricter limits on work hours for child idols, actors

A bill has been introduced to lower the weekly working hours for underage entertainers, as related concerns such as young entertainers' health issues remain unaddressed. On Sept. 11, Rep. Kim Jun-hyuk of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea proposed a revision to the Popular Culture and Arts Industry Development Act to reduce the working hours of juveniles working in cultural industries, and apply different working hour caps for different ages. The revision would cap weekly working

Sept. 19, 2024

Yoon to meet Han after Czech trip to discuss medical reform

President Yoon Suk Yeol will meet the ruling People Power Party leadership next week to seek a breakthrough in the ongoing stalemate with the medical circle over the expansion plan, his office said Thursday. The meeting, set for Tuesday, will be an "occasion for broad communication" where the presidential office and the party's leadership will come together "to review the public sentiment" during the Chuseok holiday and discuss reform agendas, including medical reforms

Sept. 19, 2024