The South Korean government said Friday it would resume radiation testing for defectors from near North Korea’s nuclear test site in Punggye-ri to check for possible exposure. Lee Hyo-jung, the Ministry of Unification’s deputy spokesperson, said in a briefing that from this year testing will be offered to North Koreans who lived in Kilju or nearby regions after North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006, if they are willing. There are 881 defectors who would be eligible for the t

Politics Feb. 24, 2023

Twenty-five lawmakers on Thursday together signed a bill to investigate the war crimes of South Korean troops during the Vietnam War. “For years the Vietnamese victims have asked for the South Korean government’s acknowledgement of the civilian killings linked to South Korean soldiers, as well as an official apology and compensation. No such steps have been taken by the South Korean government to date,” Rep. Kang Min-jung, one of the lawmakers who authored the bill, said in a p

Politics Feb. 23, 2023

The launch event for a foundation aimed at connecting Korean diaspora youth called K-Diaspora World Solidarity was held Thursday at a National Assembly building. Democratic Party of Korea Rep. So Byung-chul said in an address that he hoped the foundation would serve as “a platform for networking among young Koreans all over the world” and that it would “connect a scattered diaspora.” “I hope that the foundation will serve as a center for discovering Korean culture a

Social Affairs Feb. 23, 2023

The Democratic Party of Korea’s legally troubled Chairperson Rep. Lee Jae-myung went on a lengthy rant at a press conference Thursday, just days ahead of a National Assembly vote that could send the arrest warrant filed for him to court. Lee, once again denying any wrongdoing, called the prosecutors’ investigations into corruption controversies from his time as Gyeonggi Province governor and Seongnam mayor “political propaganda.” “What prosecutors said in the warran

Politics Feb. 23, 2023

South Korean hospitals are scrambling to keep their children’s units running, with the government declaring emergency measures Wednesday to keep the faltering pediatric health care system afloat. In an emergency briefing, Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyoo-hong said his ministry would be adding more public pediatric intensive care centers, and implement a compensation system that will prompt larger hospitals to operate pediatric emergency rooms around the clock. “Investments in

Politics Feb. 22, 2023

Hundreds of thousands of North Korean residents near the Punggye-ri nuclear test site are living under the possible risk of nuclear radiation exposure, a Seoul-based nongovernmental organization said in a report Tuesday, and called it a serious human rights question that is often overshadowed by security concerns. In the report, the Transitional Justice Working Group said existing literature on the North Korean nuclear issue so far has been marked by a lack of attention to how people living near

Politics Feb. 21, 2023

Three draft-eligible Russians have been left stranded at Incheon Airport for about four months as they await the South Korean government’s decision on their refugee claims. The Russian men -- aged 26, 34 and 38, respectively -- first got here in October and applied for refugee protection after initially reporting their purpose of visit as tourism. Their applications were rejected by the Ministry of Justice, however, which stated that fleeing military service would not qualify as a reason t

Social Affairs Feb. 20, 2023

Two were arrested over the weekend on Jeju Island on charges of violating the national security law in a spiraling investigation into a North Korean spy ring. According to the Progressive Party, the head of the party’s Jeju chapter and a senior official at the anti-free trade Nationwide Farmers’ Association were nabbed by the National Intelligence Service and the police on Saturday. Their arrest comes after the NIS and police searched the offices of the Progressive Party and the home

Politics Feb. 19, 2023

Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea chair and last year’s presidential candidate, is facing a possible arrest over corruption controversies from his time as the mayor of Seongnam and governor of Gyeonggi Province. The Seoul prosecution service’s anti-corruption investigation bureau on Thursday filed a request for an arrest warrant after Lee with the Seoul central district court, about a year and four months after the investigation opened in September 2021. Lee is the fi

Politics Feb. 16, 2023

South Korea’s ruling and opposition parties on Tuesday agreed to set up a government office for people of Korean lineage living abroad. Reps. Sung Il-jong and Kim Sung-hwan, leading the policy committees of People Power Party and the Democratic Party of Korea, respectively, announced the bipartisan agreement on this day following a meeting. “The office will serve more than 7 million Koreans overseas,” Sung told reporters. In October last year, President Yoon Suk Yeol creating a

Politics Feb. 14, 2023

The National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Tuesday passed a resolution on relief efforts for quake-struck Turkey and Syria. The resolution, adopted at the committee’s plenary session convened the same day, urged the South Korean government to provide sufficient emergency relief and recovery support for damages suffered due to the earthquake. The resolution also called on measures to ensure the safety of Korean residents there as well as travelers in the even

Politics Feb. 14, 2023

JEJU CITY -- The ruling People Power Party candidates for the leadership role embarked on a joint tour across the country on Monday with Jeju as the first stop. With the March 8 convention less than a month away, the top contenders’ allegiance to the Yoon Suk Yeol administration is becoming a major talking point in the leadership race. Although the presidential office has officially espoused no particular candidate, as is the norm, the candidate most widely supported by Yoon’s base i

Politics Feb. 13, 2023

The Democratic Party of Korea has called for a special counsel to investigate first lady Kim Keon Hee, as its chair, Rep. Lee Jae-myung, appeared before prosecutors Friday for the third time this year in one of several criminal investigations facing him and his aides. The party is now considering fast-tracking a bill to name a special counsel against the first lady, whose stock transactions have come under scrutiny in connection with a Deutsch Motors stock price manipulation investigation. &ldqu

Politics Feb. 10, 2023

The former chairperson of Deutsch Motors, Kwon Oh-soo, was handed a suspended prison sentence on Friday in the company stock manipulation case which South Korea’s main opposition party claims first lady Kim Keon Hee is implicated in. In the first trial, Kwon was sentenced to two years in prison on three years of probation and 300 million won ($237,000) in fines for violating capital market law. In total, he was found guilty in more than 3,000 different instances of fraudulent transactions,

Politics Feb. 10, 2023

The National Truth and Reconciliation Commission said Thursday that at least 150 fishers who returned home from a North Korean abduction more than 50 years ago were abused by the South Korean police during a series of interrogations. In a preliminary report released Thursday, the commission said that the 150 fishers were detained without a warrant and interrogated by the police after they were sent back to the country on May 28, 1969. The commission made the determination after looking into a to

Politics Feb. 9, 2023