S. Korea, Britain forge strategic partnership on ODA projects

South Korea and Britain have forged a strategic partnership on official development assistance projects and other areas of sustainable growth, the financial ministry said Thursday. Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho and Foreign Minister Park Jin participated in the signing ceremony of the Strategic Development Partnership with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in London, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The agreement was reached during President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visi

Nov. 23, 2023

[Full Text] President Yoon Suk Yeol's addreess to the House of Commons: A friendship to turn our challenges to pure opportunity

My Lord Speaker, Mr. Speaker, my lords, members of the House of Commons, ladies and gentlemen, It is my great honor to stand before the British Parliament, the Mother of all Parliaments. The United Kingdom has been the pioneer of modern history. It laid the foundation of liberal democracy. It opened the era of global market economy. The British people’s strong belief in freedom sparked the Glorious Revolution. It was the birth of modern parliamentary democracy. The British parliamentary

Nov. 22, 2023

Yoon, King Charles highlight 140 years of ties, vow to set new milestone

President Yoon Suk Yeol and King Charles III celebrated the 140th anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic relationship in a series of high-profile events held in London on Tuesday, pledging to set new milestones for their bilateral ties as well as to join hands to promote freedom, peace and prosperity worldwide. Tuesday's grand ceremonial welcome celebrated the centuries-old friendship between South Korea, which rose from the ashes of the Korean War to becoming Asia's fourth-

Nov. 22, 2023

[Herald Interview] Palestinian envoy denies Hamas connection with North Korea

Waleed Siam, the non-resident ambassador of Palestine to South Korea, said Monday that there was no connection between Hamas and North Korea, amid continued speculations of the Palestinian militant group’s alleged ties with the rogue country. “I can say in the name of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinian authorities that there is no contact between Hamas and North Korea,” the permanent general mission of Palestine said in an interview with The Korea Herald in

Nov. 21, 2023

Korea, UK to adopt Downing Street Accord to elevate ties: presidential office

South Korea and the United Kingdom are poised to adopt a new bilateral framework called the Downing Street Accord, during the upcoming summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Yoon's office said Tuesday. The adoption of the new agreement will upgrade the relations between the two countries to a "global strategic partnership" from a "broad and creative partnership," emphasizing that the two countries will jointly address geopolitical risks as t

Nov. 21, 2023

Rising political stars, big names likely to run for 2024 general election

As the April 2024 general election approaches, a crowded field of well-known names and familiar faces is anticipated to vie for a National Assembly seat. Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon is widely considered a powerful card to play in the ruling People Power Party’s deck in the upcoming election, according to news reports and observers. Before he was appointed minister in President Yoon Suk Yeol's Cabinet, Han was a celebrated prosecutor who led criminal investigations into corruptio

Nov. 20, 2023

Yoon heads to UK for state visit, eyes deeper security relations

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday began a four-day state visit to the United Kingdom, invited by King Charles III, to mark the 140th anniversary of relations between the two countries this year. During the visit, Yoon is poised to strengthen bilateral security and economic ties with the UK in the face of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. He will meet Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during the four-day trip, according to the presidential office on Sunday. "Korea will serve as a nonpermanen

Nov. 20, 2023

[Bills in Focus] Worksite emergency alarms, stricter construction supervision

Proposed bill: Partial Amendment to the Customs Act Proposed by Rep. Jin Sun-mee (Democratic Party of Korea) ● The alarming increase in the degree of brokerage fees paid by duty-free shop operators to promote the sales of their bonded goods has caused concern over the profitability and competitiveness of the duty-free industry. This amendment limits such brokerage fees to a level set by presidential decree, but within 30 percent of the total sales, and grants the Korea Customs Service Commission

Nov. 20, 2023

Yoon says China would not benefit from trilateral cooperation with Russia, N. Korea

President Yoon Suk Yeol has said that China would not benefit from trilateral cooperation with North Korea and Russia because the three countries have "divergent interests." Yoon made the remarks in an interview with The Telegraph, a British daily, published Sunday local time ahead of his state visit to London, stressing that China has an important role in "promoting freedom, peace and prosperity in East Asia." "China is likely to take into consideration that pursuing tr

Nov. 20, 2023

Ex-PPP leader Lee vows to form new party ‘if Yoon doesn’t change’

Lee Jun-seok, an estranged former leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), said Sunday that he will set up a new party to push for political reform if President Yoon Suk Yeol does not change his way of doing politics by the end of this year. Lee made the pledge during a meeting with the public, saying Yoon has not sought any changes even after the party lost to the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) in the crucial by-election for chief of Seoul's Gangseo Ward last month. "I cl

Nov. 19, 2023

South Korea’s digital reputation dented by government network outage

South Korea, which boasts of being a world leader in digital government strategy and services, underwent a system failure of an unprecedented scale lasting nearly two days until Saturday. The outage forced the government operate manually while civil services were paused. The Ministry of Interior and Safety, which oversees the e-government systems, said Sunday that the operations should be able to get back to normal on Monday. The ministry added that “glitch in the network” was believ

Nov. 19, 2023

Democratic Party banners targeting young voters stir controversy

Ruling party lawmakers on Sunday blasted the main opposition party for releasing new political banners that contain phrases it called "demeaning to the youth." On Friday, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea’s election campaign committee revealed new political banner designs aimed at young voters in their 20s and 30s ahead of the upcoming general elections in April. The new banners included controversial phrases such as, "The party for me," “I don't

Nov. 19, 2023

Prospects of Yoon's formal meeting with Xi uncertain: Yoon's office

While time is running out, there are still no clear prospects of a formal meeting between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Chinese President Xi Jinping. "We have a day left (before departing from the United States) and discussions (over an arrangement of the Yoon-Xi meeting) are ongoing," a presidential official told reporters on condition of anonymity Thursday. "We cannot guarantee that the meeting of the two leaders would actually happen due to the leaders' packed schedules.&quo

Nov. 17, 2023

Yoon, Biden, Kishida meet for first time in 6 months

President Yoon Suk Yeol met US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Moscone Center in San Francisco on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' week on Thursday, according to Yoon's office on Friday. It was their first trilateral meeting in six months. They last met in Hiroshima, Japan, during the Group of Seven meeting in May. The talks lasted for about 10 minutes, according to Kim Tae-hyo, first deputy director of the presidential Nati

Nov. 17, 2023

Seoul, Washington agree to deepen cooperation in disaster response

South Korea and the United States have agreed to strengthen cooperation in the fields of disaster and climate change response during their safety-related ministerial talks in Washington, D.C., the interior ministry here said Friday. The agreement was reached between Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min and US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday, the ministry said. This is the first time that South Korea's interior minister has met with the US homeland security

Nov. 17, 2023

Gov't to look into corporate 'shrinkflation' practices amid public outcry

The finance ministry said Friday that the government will look into cases of companies reducing the quantity of their products while freezing prices without consumers' knowledge due to mounting public complaints against such practices amid high inflation. First Vice Finance Minister Kim Byoung-hwan announced the plan during a weekly vice-ministerial meeting on inflation, saying that those "shrinkflation" practices "are far from fair and the government takes the matter very se

Nov. 17, 2023

Yoon, Kishida voice hope for closer cooperation between S. Korea, Japan

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida voiced hope for closer cooperation between their countries as they met on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Thursday. The two leaders met at a hotel in San Francisco, marking their seventh summit this year as Seoul and Tokyo have been pushing to mend badly frayed ties following the Yoon administration's decision in March to compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced lab

Nov. 17, 2023

PPP proposes special bill to merge Gimpo into Seoul

The ruling People Power Party proposed a special bill aimed at merging the satellite city of Gimpo into the country's capital of Seoul on Thursday. The bill was proposed by Rep. Chung Kyoung-tae, the head of the PPP's special committee on the new city project, and co-signed by other party lawmakers, including party leader Kim Gi-hyeon. The PPP plans to process the legislation by the end of the parliament's session next year. If the bill is passed at the National Assembly, it will

Nov. 16, 2023

New third parties in works to court floating voters

As the 2024 general election looms, new third parties are emerging in Seoul as potential challengers to the established parties. The nascent third parties say they are launching their bids to challenge the country’s two major political parties -- the ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea -- and to woo a considerable niche of voters who identify as independents. According to polls, support for the two main parties is hardly 50 to 50, with around a quart

Nov. 16, 2023

Yoon proposes APEC scientist exchange to weather global crises

President Yoon Suk Yeol has proposed a new initiative to spur exchanges between young scientists from member nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in a bid to promote regional growth and combat complex global challenges, according to Yoon's office on Thursday. Yoon suggested what is tentatively dubbed the "Youth Scientist Exchange Initiative," aimed at offering visa waivers to those who hold science-related academic degrees within the APEC region and allowing them to sa

Nov. 16, 2023