US President Joe Biden sent his condolences and a bouquet of flowers to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, whose father recently passed away, the presidential office said on Friday. The flowers and message were delivered to Yoon's accommodations in Washington, D.C., before his arrival there. The leaders of the two countries are expected to speak by phone shortly. President Biden and first lady Jill Biden wrote in the card, "You are in our prayers and we wish you peace as you mourn

Politics Aug. 18, 2023

  President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday has departed to attend the first standalone trilateral summit with US and Japanese leaders, a high-profile gathering widely expected to formalize a new three-way cooperation on security and economy to deter the growing aggression from North Korea and to brace for economic uncertainty. At the US presidential retreat Camp David, the leaders are set to adopt the "Camp David Principles" and the "Spirit of Camp David," documents laying ou

Politics Aug. 17, 2023

North Korea has not yet offered condolences to President Yoon Suk Yeol over his father's death, unlike previous instances when Pyongyang passed on its sympathies upon news of the deaths of South Korea's liberal-leaning leaders and their family members. Yoon's father, Yoon Ki-jung, an emeritus professor of applied statistics at Yonsei University, died Tuesday. This is the second time an incumbent president has lost a parent during his or her term. When former left-wing President

Politics Aug. 16, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol labeled Japan as South Korea's partner, sharing universal values and common goals, while underscoring the importance of trilateral security cooperation with Tokyo and Washington in deterring North Korea on the annual Liberation Day holiday that marks the end of Japan's 35-year colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. In a nationally televised address, Yoon also cautioned that South Korea remains under constant threat from "anti-state forces" aligned with

Politics Aug. 15, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol will depart Thursday for a landmark summit with the leaders of the United States and Japan at Camp David, Maryland, which aims to create a framework for trilateral security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. The wives of the three leaders will not accompany them to event. It will be the first standalone summit involving South Korea, the US and Japan. There have been 12 three-way summits in the past, but all have been held on the sidelines of a larger gathering. "

Politics Aug. 13, 2023

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for proactive military readiness in a move seen as a show of willingness to respond to an upcoming joint South Korea-US military exercise scheduled from Aug. 21 to 24. In response, the South Korean government has accused the North of making false claims and insisted that the nation's resources be directed toward the livelihood of its people, instead of military pursuits. The state news agency, the Korean Central News Agency, reported Thursday t

North Korea Aug. 10, 2023

  Escorted by police helicopters and patrol cars, some 37,000 World Scout Jamboree attendees from 156 nations left the campsite on reclaimed land in Buan, North Jeolla Province, on Tuesday, for alternative accomodation offered by eight municipalities across the country. For the massive departure of Scouts, over 1,000 buses were mobilized with the government deploying four police helicopters and 273 patrol cars to ensure their safety, according to the interior minister. “The evacuation

Social Affairs Aug. 8, 2023

Saemangeum is a reclaimed tidal flat area of Buan, North Jeolla Province, which was dammed by the government’s Saemangeum Seawall Project in 2006. The area was first introduced as a potential location to host the event in 2015 when the Korea Scout Association chose Saemangeum over Goseong, Gangwon Province, in its bid to host the 2023 World Scout Jamboree. In 2015, the Park Geun-hye administration pushed for Korea’s victory in the bid, saying that the government will provide the su

Social Affairs Aug. 7, 2023

All 36,000 scouts remaining at the World Scout Jamboree site in the Saemangeum reclaimed tidal flat area of Buan, North Jeolla Province will be withdrawing from the campsite starting on Tuesday morning as precautionary measure for a strong typhoon approaching the peninsula, the government said Monday. The participants will start withdrawing sequentially from 10 a.m. on Tuesday and move to the metropolitan area, as Typhoon Khanun is likely to hit the east coast of South Korea on Thursday. "A

Politics Aug. 7, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol lauded the sacrifices and bravery of the United Nations forces as the foundation of contemporary South Korea during a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice. Speaking at the ceremony held at the Busan Cinema Center on Thursday, President Yoon expressed gratitude to the countries and veterans who participated in the Korean War and emphasized the enduring significance of the UN forces in preserving peace on the Korean Peninsula. "Toda

Politics July 27, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating continued its downward trajectory for a third consecutive week amid the torrential rain crisis that caused significant casualties and the court arrest of his mother-in-law on document forgery charges. According to the survey conducted from July 17-21 by polling agency Realmeter, commissioned by Media Tribune, positive evaluations of Yoon’s state affairs performance fell 1.5 percentage points from the previous week, marking 36.6 percent. Negati

Politics July 24, 2023

  The Office for Government Policy Coordination has requested prosecutors to investigate six police officers linked to the flooding of Osong's underground tunnel, a disaster that resulted in numerous casualties. The Office for Government Policy Coordination is a government agency consisting of the Prime Minister's Office and Prime Minister's Secretariat. The office issued a statement on Friday revealing it had uncovered "criminal charges" concerning the officers during an inspecti

Social Affairs July 21, 2023

  The South Korean Defense Ministry issued a stern warning against North Korea on Friday in response to the regime's threat to use nuclear weapons prompted by the US deploying a strategic nuclear submarine in Busan. In a statement, the ministry criticized North Korea for misrepresenting and criticizing the purpose of the Nuclear Consultative Group between South Korea and the United States, along with the US submarine's presence in South Korea. The statement said that the deployment of the s

North Korea July 21, 2023

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday boarded the USS Kentucky, an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, in a show of solidarity and force with its biggest ally in deterring North Korea's evolving nuclear missile threats. The visit by President Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee came hours after North Korea fired two short-range missiles in an apparent protest against the arrival of the US nuclear-capable submarine in South Korea and the inaugural meeting of the new Nuclear Cons

Defense July 19, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday declared 13 municipalities as special disaster areas, after torrential rain pummeled most of the country and brought widespread destruction. The areas include Yecheon in North Gyeongsang Province, which reported nine deaths as of 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, along with Gongju and Nonsan-si in South Chungcheong Province, Cheongju in North Chungcheong Province and Iksan in North Jeolla Province. “Areas where preliminary investigations have been completed are

Social Affairs July 19, 2023