Yoon, British PM voice hope for cooperation in nuclear power, technology

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed hope Saturday to expand cooperation in nuclear power, technology and other areas, the presidential office said. Yoon and Sunak met on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima and discussed a wide range of issues, including bilateral relations, strengthening practical cooperation, international affairs, and cooperation on the global stage, according to the presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon. Yo

May 21, 2023

North Koreans cite South Korean talk show as motive for escape

A popular South Korean talk show featuring North Korea escapees motivated a group of North Koreans to flee their repressive home country earlier this month, they were quoted as telling Seoul officials in a screening interview. Nine North Koreans, who are related to each other, were being investigated here after they crossed a sea border west of the peninsula, Seoul officials said Thursday. Sources with knowledge of the interview told The Korea Herald it was a pair of brothers who took the initia

May 19, 2023

NIS believes Seoul restaurant was covert Chinese police station: lawmaker

South Korean intelligence authorities believe a Chinese restaurant in Seoul’s central Songpa secretly served as an overseas police station for China, according to a lawmaker. Speaking anonymously to The Korea Herald, the lawmaker said the National Intelligence Service believes the restaurant in Seoul “virtually functioned” as a secret police station for the Chinese government. The NIS declined to comment on the lawmaker's statement. After the restaurant was pegged as a cla

May 19, 2023

South Korean team embarks on trip to inspect Japan wastewater

A 21-member team of South Korean experts are visiting Japan for six days from Sunday to inspect safety of the waste water from the quake-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant to be released into the Pacific. According to the Prime Minister’s office on Friday, the team comprises experts from the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety and the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology. Over the course of six days the South Korean experts will meet with Tokyo Electric Power Company officials

May 19, 2023

Yoon hails democracy heroes, makes plea for national unity

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday called for unity as South Korea commemorates the 43rd anniversary of the clampdown on pro-democracy protests in Gwangju, a city located some 330 kilometers south of Seoul. The civilian-led protests against the military rule of former president and dictator Chun Doo-hwan were met with tanks, bullets and arrests. In the course of 10 days, Chun’s troops crushed the wave of protests, at least 165 were believed to have been killed and thousands more injured

May 18, 2023

Ruling party lawmaker loses seat after accountant found guilty over campaign finance

A ruling from South Korea's top court on Thursday has stripped Rep. Kim Sun-gyo of the ruling People Power Party of his position as a lawmaker representing the city of Yeoju and Yangpyeong County, both in Gyeonggi Province. The Supreme Court upheld the high court's decision, convicting the accountant for Kim's election campaign, surnamed Lee, of excessive campaign finance and expenses during the election campaign in 2020, under the Public Official Election Act. Lee was imposed wit

May 18, 2023

Ethics panel to mull disciplinary action against lawmaker over cryptocurrency scandal, but expulsion unlikely

A special parliamentary ethics committee is set to review two motions calling for disciplinary action against Rep. Kim Nam-kuk over dubious cryptocurrency transactions, yet it is unlikely the embattled lawmaker will be unseated. Kim left the main opposition Democratic Party to become an independent after it was revealed he owns a significant amount of coins, raising concerns about conflicts of interest and the source of the funds. Amid growing criticism that he is attempting to evade responsibil

May 18, 2023

FULL TEXT: Justin Trudeau’s address to the National Assembly

The following is the text version of the address given by Justin Trudeau to South Korea’s National Assembly on Wednesday, transcribed and copyedited by The Korea Herald. -- Ed. Hello everyone. Annyeonghaseyo (“Hello” in Korean). Gamsahabnida (“Thank you”). I want to begin by thanking the speaker of the National Assembly, Kim Jin-pyo, and the secretary general of the National Assembly, Lee Kwang-jae, for their warm welcome. All esteemed members, it is an honor for me

May 17, 2023

South Korea seeks to keep remote care beyond end of COVID-19 emergency

As the COVID-19 health emergency is due to expire in South Korea, so are the remote medical service policy put in place to allow people access to health care amid physical distancing restrictions. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Wednesday it was working on a plan to keep such remote care options available beyond the end of the pandemic's emergency status at the start of next month. According to the statistics provided by the ministry, a total of over 14 million people received care

May 17, 2023

Nurses vow collective action after Yoon veto

A group of nurses said Wednesday that they will refuse to carry out doctors' orders for medical procedures that are illegal for them to proceed with, such as prescribing medication, performing surgery and collecting blood samples, in response to President Yoon Suk Yeol's veto of the Nursing Act. Announcing their first collective action since his rejection of the legislation, the Korean Nurses Association said they will also not follow doctors' orders to conduct ultrasound and elec

May 17, 2023

Trudeau still has faith in North Korea diplomacy

Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, stressed Ottawa’s commitment to back Seoul’s efforts to bring Pyongyang back to the table for peace discussions in an address to the South Korean National Assembly on Wednesday. “Canada is committed to supporting the Republic of Korea’s efforts towards a denuclearized, peaceful and prosperous Korean peninsula,” he said, adding that stability in the North Pacific is “essential to global stability.” “Cana

May 17, 2023

DP decides to refer Rep. Kim Nam-kuk to parliamentary ethics committee over cryptocurrency scandal

The main opposition Democratic Party decided Wednesday to refer Rep. Kim Nam-kuk, a former party member, to the parliamentary ethics committee over his dubious cryptocurrency dealings. Kim departed from the DP earlier this week after revelations that he owned a significant amount of coins, fueling questions about the source of the funds and whether the independent lawmaker had access to insider information. DP leader Lee Jae-myung and other members of the party's leadership reached the decision

May 17, 2023

[Bills in Focus] Fighting DUIs, pay transparency and tech deregulation

Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Road Traffic Act Proposed by Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon (People Power Party) ● Although the number of driving under the influence cases has decreased throughout the past five years, the recidivism rate remains high in around 40 percent. As drunk driving tends to be habitual, the public has been demanding an effective system that preemptively prevents drunk driving. The US, Canada, Australia and other countries have adopted systems that require DUI offenders to inst

May 16, 2023

Crypto scandal rattles politics

South Korean politicians on Tuesday launched a complete investigation of the virtual asset holdings of all National Assembly lawmakers amid a widening scandal involving their alleged murky possession or transfers of cryptocurrencies. The floor leaders of the ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea are in talks to have each lawmaker voluntarily disclose of their current crypto asset holdings immediately regardless of the lack of mandatory disclosure rules, Re

May 16, 2023

Yoon vetoes nursing act, sparking intense protest from nurses

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday exercised his second presidential veto to reject the passing of the Nursing Act, saying that the bill has generated "significant conflict" among related professions. The Nursing Act got the parliamentary nod in a vote led by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and was transferred to the government on May 4. The bill defines the legal role of nurses, sets appropriate working hours and grants the right to demand improved treatment. Doctors an

May 16, 2023

Crypto exchanges Upbit, Bithumb raided over opposition lawmaker's cryptocurrency scandal

Prosecutors raided two of South Korea's local cryptocurrency exchanges Monday as part of an investigation into the snowballing suspicions surrounding opposition lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk's digital assets, officials said. A team of investigators from the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office seized transaction records and other materials from Upbit and Bithumb, they said. The move came as Rep. Kim has come under fire following revelations he owned around 800,000 Wemix coins in 2021, wor

May 15, 2023

Will foreign policy buoy Yoon’s ratings?

Eyes are on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s upcoming diplomatic engagements, with some speculating how the coming weeks could influence his still-low popularity at home, which has seen improvement since summits with the US and Japanese leaders. The five-day Realmeter poll conducted from May 8-12 found that 36.8 percent of Koreans approve of Yoon’s job performance -- a steady rise from three weeks ago, when the figure stood at 32.6 percent in the same weekly poll. In the last week of April,

May 15, 2023

Ruling party to launch own investigation team over opposition lawmaker's cryptocurrency scandal

The ruling People Power Party said Monday it plans to launch an internal task force to look into suspicions surrounding cryptocurrency dealings of opposition lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk. Kim has come under fire following revelations he owned around 800,000 Wemix coins in 2021, worth around 6 billion won ($4.5 million), a significant amount inconsistent with his frugal image. Suspicions have arisen over where the money came from and whether he used insider information. The first-term lawmaker of the mai

May 15, 2023

Police identify suspects behind desecrated graves of opposition leader's parents

Investigators have identified two suspects who allegedly desecrated the grave site of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea's leader Lee Jae-myung’s parents, said officials at the North Gyeongsang Provincial Police on Sunday. The two male suspects, aged 83 and 70, are accused of digging holes around the grave in Bonghwa-gun, North Gyeongsang Province and burying six stones painted with some Chinese characters in them. The 83-year-old is said to be known for his expertise in fe

May 14, 2023

DP lawmaker says he will leave party amid cryptocurrency scandal

Rep. Kim Nam-kuk of the main opposition Democratic Party said Sunday he will leave the party amid snowballing allegations of his involvement in massive cryptocurrency dealings. "Today, I am briefly leaving the Democratic Party that I love," he wrote on his Facebook page. "I decided that it would not be right to be a burden to the party and party members any longer." Kim has come under fire following revelations he owned around 800,000 Wemix coins in 2021, worth around 6 billi

May 14, 2023