Kim Myung-soo, the chair of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Stephen Whiting, the commander of the US Space Command, met on Monday in Seoul. According to the JCS, Kim and Whiting held a meeting to discuss close two-way cooperation and to enhance South Korea-US alliance’s space capabilities amid growing North Korean threats in space and ongoing military exchanges between Russia and North Korea. North Korea launched its first military reconnaissance satellite in November last y

Defense April 22, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s new chief of staff, Rep. Chung Jin-suk, is a former journalist from a family with a political legacy. His appointment as presidential chief of staff follows his defeat in the April 10 election for the National Assembly against the rival Democratic Party of Korea candidate and former lawmaker Park Soo-hyun. Chung is the president’s third chief of staff and the first with experience in the Assembly. His two predecessors, Lee Kwan-sup and Kim Dae-ki, were bot

Politics April 22, 2024

The Democratic Party of Korea said Sunday that President Yoon Suk Yeol’s foreign policies, which it perceives as isolating China, were the reason behind South Korea's exclusion from this year’s Group of Seven summit scheduled for July in Italy. The major opposition party said the exclusion in the forthcoming G7 summit “comes as South Korea, under Yoon, has been strengthening its solidarity with Western countries including the US and Japan at the expense of our relations wi

Politics April 21, 2024

North Korea recently removed streetlights and other facilities along roads connecting to the South, according to South Korean military authorities on Thursday. The South Korean military said its surveillance caught North Korea taking down streetlights lining the roads leading from the South to the Kaesong industrial park, a now-defunct inter-Korean manufacturing complex launched as a part of Seoul’s past pro-rapprochement policy, and to Kumgangsan, the mountain that is one of the North&r

North Korea April 18, 2024

The Democratic Party of Korea on Wednesday proposed doling out monetary subsidies of some 14 trillion won ($10.1 billion) in total to boost consumption, reiterating the party’s key general election pledge. During a leadership meeting, the Democratic Party’s leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung said his party would put forward an official proposal for adopting what he called “emergency measures” to “restore livelihoods and save the economy.” Making a case for universal ca

Politics April 17, 2024

ABOARD THE USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT -- The South Korean and US navies and the Japanese self-defense maritime force held a trilateral exercise in the high seas south of Jeju Island Thursday and Friday, in a combined effort to counter underwater as well as nuclear and missile threats by North Korea. According to South Korea’s Navy, six warships from the three countries participated in the exercise -- including the Aegis destroyer Seoae Ryu Sung-ryong of South Korea; the nuclear-powered aircraf

Defense April 14, 2024

South Korea and the US have agreed to hold tabletop exercises that simulate North Korea’s nuclear weapons use to strengthen a joint response. According to the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul on Friday, the two countries confirmed the plans at the 24th Korea-US Integrated Defense Consultative Group held in Washington on Thursday. The meeting in Washington was attended by a South Korean delegation led by Cho Chang-rae, the deputy minister of national defense. The US delegation was led

Defense April 12, 2024

Cho Kuk, the former justice minister-turned-leader of a rising third party urged prosecutors Thursday to investigate first lady Kim Keon Hee, just a day after the National Assembly election. “This is a final warning to the country’s prosecutors,” he said in a press conference held outside the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seoul. He said the ruling People Power Party defeat in the Assembly election was “the people’s warning to the president and his dictatorial

Politics April 11, 2024

Cho Kuk, onetime justice minister under former President Moon Jae-in, is once again in the political limelight, nearly five years after he was dragged down by a corruption scandal in late 2019. His Rebuilding Korea Party, or the “Cho Kuk Revolution Party” as its Korean name suggests, emerged as the party with the highest number of proportional representation seats from the results of the National Assembly election on Wednesday, behind only those affiliated with the two major parties.

Politics April 11, 2024

The nascent party formed and led by Cho Kuk, who was the former Minister of Justice for President Moon Jae-in's Democratic Party of Korea, appeared to stand out in Wednesday’s National Assembly election, possibly securing unusual success as a third party, as suggested by exit polls. Cho’s party, whose official English name is Rebuilding Korea Party, was anticipated to earn by far the most seats among several third parties that popped up ahead of the election over the past few months.

Politics April 10, 2024

South Korea’s two major parties traded barbs over their respective stance on China and foreign policies over the final days leading to the National Assembly election on Wednesday. Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea leader, slammed President Yoon Suk Yeol’s “touted value-based diplomacy” as having an adverse impact on the country’s economic partnerships with China. “Our economic domain is shrinking globally because the Yoon administration is too

Politics April 10, 2024

Han Dong-hoon, the ruling People Power Party leader, said that a Democratic Party of Korea victory in the National Assembly election slated for Wednesday would “topple South Korea-US alliance” and turn the country “pro-China” during a final rally on Tuesday evening in Seoul. Speaking to a crowd of supporters, Han said that the Democratic Party would “weaken cooperation with the US, sour relations with Japan once again to ‘xie xie’ with China,” refe

Politics April 9, 2024

Being a member of South Korea’s National Assembly comes with many perks, legal and otherwise. On top of having the power to legislate, conduct budget reviews, audit and investigate the government and its affiliated institutions, assembly members also enjoy benefits that are not directly related to their parliamentary role. Every election season, there is some initiative to “abolish the rights and privileges of lawmakers.” Han Dong-hoon, soon after taking office as the interim l

Politics April 9, 2024

Democratic Party of Korea Chairperson Rep. Lee Jae-myung has come under fire after he was caught on a hot mic saying he “put on a show” after a campaign event Sunday. “I put on a show of working (hard). My back hurts,” the main opposition leader said as he was getting into his van while still live on air on his YouTube channel. The hot mic remarks came immediately after Lee held a campaign rally in a district in Incheon, where he is running for a second term in the Nation

Politics April 8, 2024

South Korea on Monday succeeded in sending its second domestically made military reconnaissance satellite into space from the US to enhance its space-based surveillance of North Korea and deterrence against nuclear and missile threats. The Ministry of National Defense said the satellite was launched at 8:17 a.m., Korea time, on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. About 45 minutes after liftoff at 9:02 a.m., the satellite entered its target o

Politics April 8, 2024