More registered voters than ever turned out for early voting on Friday and Saturday, further heating up the election race, with the Democratic Party of Korea claiming that it points to their advantage. According to the National Election Commission, the early voter turnout rate was 31.2 percent -- the highest since early voting was introduced in 2016. In the Democratic Party's turf, namely the Jeolla Provinces, the rate was highest with around 40 percent showing up to vote early. By contrast

Politics April 7, 2024

South Korea imposed sanctions on two Russian individuals and two other entities over the transfer of arms with North Korea and involvement in helping North Korea finance its nuclear and missile programs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul said Tuesday that two Russian ships used in arms transfers as well as two Russian organizations and their leaders have been designated as sanctions targets. Two Russian vessels -- Lady R and Angara -- were involved in shipping containers of military suppl

Politics April 2, 2024

[코리아헤럴드=김아린 기자] “계양에서의 승리는 의석 1석 추가를 뛰어넘는 큰 의미가 있습니다. 대한민국의 정치 발전을 가로막고 있는 커다란 돌덩이를 치우는 것입니다.” 4·10 총선에서 인천 계양을에 국민의힘 후보로 출마한 원희룡 전 국토교통부 장관은 31일 코리아헤럴드와 인터뷰에서 이재명 더불어민주당 대표를 겨냥해 “누가 권력을 이용해 사적이익을 추구하고 범죄를 은폐하고 국민에게 고통을 가하고 나라의 미래를 망친 세력인지 국민들은 다 알 것”이라고 직격했다. 원 후보는 “정직한 정치를 이곳 계양에서 꽃피우겠다”며 “정치는 국민의 삶을 돌보는 것이 본질인데, 이재명 대표는 본인의 방탄을 위해 계양에 와서 ‘김포공항 이전’ 같은 허무맹랑한 공약을 내걸고, 지역발전을 위해서 아무것도 한 게 없다”고 비판했다. 그러면서 “이번 총선에서 자신의 범죄에 대한 처

한국어판 April 2, 2024

North Korea fired an intermediate-range missile into the East Sea on Tuesday morning. According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, an intermediate-range ballistic missile was launched from the Pyongyang area at around 6:53 a.m. The missile flew for about 600 kilometers before landing in the water. The missile was detected from the moment of its launch, and the related information was shared with the US and Japan, the JCS said. The JCS condemned North Korea’s missile firing as a

Defense April 2, 2024

INCHEON -- In a district in Incheon, two potential presidential candidates are in a neck-and-neck race to secure a National Assembly seat on April 10. The ruling People Power Party candidate is Won Hee-ryong, previously the minister of land and transport under President Yoon Suk Yeol. The 60-year-old was a candidate in the party’s presidential primary in 2021, and boasts a winning track record against Democratic Party of Korea rivals so far in all of the five elections he has run in. He is

Politics April 1, 2024

Lee Jong-sup, South Korea’s ambassador to Australia, on Friday has given up the post less than a month after he was appointed. The former national defense minister’s offer to step down follows a controversy over his his taking on the job while still under investigation over the death of a marine in July last year. President Yoon Suk Yeol approved his resignation later the same day, according to his press office. Twenty-year-old Corporal Chae Su-geun died when he was swept away by an

Politics March 29, 2024

DAEGU -- Leaders of the ruling People Power Party on Tuesday visited the home of former President Park Geun-hye in Daegu, in an apparent move to woo conservative voters amid polls that hit worrying lows in the past week. “She spoke about affairs and issues affecting the country, and I have thanked her for her warm words of support,” Han Dong-hoon, the interim chief of the People Power Party, told reporters following his meeting with the former president. Park was impeached and remove

Newsmaker March 26, 2024

[코리아헤럴드=김아린 기자] “안보와 외교는 민주당이죠. 보수가 정권을 잡으면 안보를 잘 할 것 같은데, 사실은 그렇지 않습니다.” 문재인 정부 초기 한미연합사령부 부사령관을 지낸 김병주 더불어민주당 의원은 지난 19일 경기도 남양주에 위치한 사무실에서 진행한 코리아헤럴드와 인터뷰에서 “‘안보는 보수가 잘한다’는 인식은 잘못됐다”며 이같이 말했다. 이번 인터뷰는 북한이 한 달여 만에 재개한 무력 도발 다음 날 이뤄졌다. 김 의원은 “군사대비태세 강화는 문재인 정부 때와 대동소이한 반면, 위기 관리는 못 하고 있다”며 “윤석열 정부의 강대강 대북 기조가 한반도를 위기로 내몰고 있다”고 비판했다. 4·10 총선에서 경기 남양주시 을 지역구에 출마한 김 의원은 북한의 잦은 도발로 주민들이 불안을 호소한다며 “전쟁의 부재라는 사전적 의미의 평화와 국민들이 피부로

한국어판 March 26, 2024

CHEONAN, South Chungcheong Province -- Shin Beom-chul, who until recently served as the deputy national defense minister, said that North Korea limiting its weapons testing to short-range missiles last week “may have been a Japan-conscious move.” Speaking with The Korea Herald, he said that as Pyongyang has been courting a summit with Tokyo, “anything beyond short-range missiles being fired toward the sea east of Korea would have the potential to be perceived by the Japanese as

Politics March 25, 2024

NAMYANGJU, Gyeonggi Province -- If former US President Donald Trump returns to the White House, Seoul may be excluded from Washington’s potential negotiations with Pyongyang due to the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s hard-line stance on North Korea, according to former Army general-turned-lawmaker Rep. Kim Byung-joo. “There is a possibility that our government may not have a seat at the table where decisions concerning the Korean Peninsula are being made between the US and North

Politics March 24, 2024

BUSAN -- Known locally as “South Korea’s second capital,” Busan is home to some 3 million and a key battlefield in the upcoming National Assembly election just three weeks away. Busan is also politically significant for South Korea, having been the birthplace of two presidents, Kim Young-sam and Roh Moo-hyun, who are symbolic figures with the conservative party and the progressive party, respectively. Here, the fiercest battle is expected in Nam-gu, the only district in the cou

Politics March 20, 2024

North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on Monday morning, just over two hours ahead of an international summit held in Seoul that invited the US secretary of state, and three weeks ahead of South Korea’s National Assembly general election. The firings come more than a month after the launch of a cruise missile in mid-February. According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, several SRBMs were fired at around 7

Politics March 18, 2024

The Democratic Party of Korea’s decision to nominate the former National Intelligence Service chief Park Jie-won to run in the upcoming general election has provoked uproar from the bereaved family of the South Korean fisheries official, Lee Dae-jun, who was killed by North Korean soldiers in September 2020. As the chief of the NIS at the time, Park is a key defendant in the ongoing trial over South Korean authorities’ alleged negligence during the time between Lee’s capture by

Politics March 15, 2024

At least three North Korean defectors are seeking to debut in Seoul’s political scene with the People Power Party, the ruling conservative party in South Korea. According to the People Power Party, three North Korean defectors in their 30s are running for a National Assembly seat through proportional representation in the upcoming general election slated for April 10. One of them is Kim Gum-hyok, 32, who says as a young millennial from North Korea, he wishes to represent “the younger

Politics March 14, 2024

Among the several new third parties that have emerged out of the Democratic Party of Korea, the new party founded and headed by Cho Kuk, former justice minister under President Moon Jae-in, has so far seen the highest ratings, according to the latest polls. In a March 5-7 Gallup Korea poll of 1,000 voters aged 18 and above, 6 percent said they would vote for Cho's Rebuilding Korea Party. By contrast, 3 percent said they supported the New Reform Party headed by Lee Jun-seok, who was ousted a

Politics March 12, 2024