Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s second in command, said Pope Francis wants to visit North Korea and is waiting for an official invitation. He conveyed the message during talks with National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug, who visited last week, officials said Monday. Park met with Parolin at the Vatican Apostolic Palace on Friday, the last day of his 10-day visit to Greece and Italy, according to the statement released by the National Assembly. During the talks with Parolin,

Politics July 12, 2021

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug, who was on an official visit to Italy and Greek, discussed with the two countries’ politicians ways to bolster cooperation in areas of travel, smart city development, energy and infrastructure, officials said Friday. Park visited Italy on Thursday and met with Senate Speaker Elisabetta Casellati and House Speaker Roberto Fico to exchange opinions on pending issues between the two countries. He urged Italy to include Korea in their Green Pass s

Politics July 9, 2021

Rep. Lee Nak-yon, a Democratic Party of Korea heavyweight who announced his presidential bid Monday, believes South Korea now needs a new leader befitting its raised status. “South Korea’s status has risen to a high level,” Lee said in an interview with The Korea Herald. “The public has gained a lot of confidence both internally and externally, but at the same time we face a lot of challenges. “We need a leader who is worthy of strengthening the nation’s s

Politics July 6, 2021

Former Democratic Party leader Rep. Lee Nak-yon announced his presidential bid Monday. With Lee’s announcement, the race among the ruling bloc’s “Big Three” -- the others being Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung and former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun -- began in earnest. In a video clip released on YouTube at 10 a.m., the former prime minister and Democratic Party leader presented a five-point policy blueprint for South Korea that consisted of a new approach to social welf

Politics July 5, 2021

Police have set up a special team to investigate the organizers of Saturday’s rally held by the umbrella labor union, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. Police said they plan to seek charges against organizers and key participants of the KCTU on suspicion of holding illegal rallies and marches, traffic obstruction and violation of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act. The Seoul Metropolitan Government also plans to file a criminal complaint against the KCTU for violatin

Social Affairs July 4, 2021

South Korea’s Ministry of Justice said Wednesday that when foreign nationals get permission to stay in Korea, starting July 1 the period of stay will not exceed the passport validity period. Up to now, foreigners whose passports expired during their stay in Korea could get new passports and report the change to the immigration authorities later. But some faced difficulty when entering or leaving the country, and some were fined for failing to report their new passport information within 1

Social Affairs June 30, 2021

The government will toughen quarantine inspections in the Seoul metropolitan area for two weeks starting Thursday, when relaxed social distancing rules begin to take effect, officials said Tuesday. The confirmed cases in the Seoul metropolitan area made up 73.9 percent of the nationwide total in the fourth week of June, up from 63.5 percent in the fourth week of May. The daily number of new cases in Greater Seoul averages 363.4. “More than 70 percent of domestic infections are concent

Social Affairs June 29, 2021

The regional government of Gangwon Province in the northeastern part of South Korea hosted a ceremony on Friday to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. The ceremony took place near the Peace Dam in Hwacheon County, and its theme was “Precious sacrifice, engraved deeply in the heart.” Some 220 local and foreign guests attended, including veterans, Gangwon Province Gov. Choi Moon-soon and former members of the US House of Representatives. “To

Social Affairs June 28, 2021

A bill to install closed-circuit TVs in operating rooms failed to win a consensus at the National Assembly as the opposition party and the medical community took a cautious stance and called for further discussion. On Thursday, the National Assembly’s welfare committee met to review a change to the medical law that would have required closed-circuit TVs in operating rooms. It was the fourth review since November last year. Both the ruling and opposition parties agreed that operating roo

Social Affairs June 24, 2021

The COVID-19 outbreak is showing signs of worsening ahead of the easing of social distancing next month. The number of newly confirmed cases stood at 645 as of midnight on Tuesday, up 250 from the previous day. The number is expected to reach 700 on Wednesday. The total number of confirmed cases to date is 152,545. Health Minister Kwon Deok-chul said at a meeting on Wednesday, “Cluster infections are occurring in places with many risk factors such as schools, academies, workplaces, chur

Social Affairs June 23, 2021

Rep. Lee Nak-yon, a former Democratic Party leader and presidential hopeful, said Tuesday South Korea should aim for “soft power diplomacy” in line with a global paradigm shift for peace and creativity. “The paradigm of the world order and development has been changing since the post-cold war era,” Lee said in his keynote speech of an international conference on international order. “The scope of the territory, the size of the population and military power are b

Politics June 22, 2021

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug said he hoped North Korea would take a proactive role in inter-Korean dialogue, stressing that South Korea’s National Assembly was considering the ratification of the inter-Korean summit agreement. “The Korea-US summit was an important achievement,” said Park on Monday at a press meeting. “The position of South Korea in relation to the peace process on the Korean Peninsula is evaluated to have been well reflected. “It w

Politics June 21, 2021

A debate on anti-discrimination law is gaining momentum in South Korea with the support of scores of lawmakers, presidential candidates and members of the public. Anti-discrimination bills that have been proposed several times since 2007 has never passed the National Assembly due to opposition from conservative politicians and religious groups. This time around the bill has stronger support from a broader spectrum in society. Last week, 24 lawmakers from the ruling bloc, including the Democr

Politics June 20, 2021

When Kim Hyun-kyung, 31, was thinking about changing jobs a year ago, she was drawn to education firm Eduwill’s four-day workweek. Although she was a bit suspicious at first of whether it really worked, she now fully enjoys the policy. Kim takes a day off every Wednesday because she says it is the best day to take a break. “It makes me think on Monday ‘Oh I am OK because I rested yesterday,’ and on Tuesday, I think, ‘I am fine because I will rest tomorrow.&rsq

Social Affairs June 19, 2021

Aided by the success of South Korean popular culture, interest in learning the Korean language has ballooned in recent years. The number of foreign applicants for the state-run Korean proficiency test surpassed 375,000 in 2019, a hundredfold rise over the last decade. American apps such as Duolingo and Rosetta Stone have been popular choices for many foreigners, but a local company hopes to change that. “We wanted to make an app that teaches Korean by Koreans,” Lee Hyun-jun, CEO

Social Affairs June 16, 2021