PM reads budget proposal to parliament on behalf of embattled president

Debate on whether to charge health insurance to day laborers of foreign nationality was sparked on Monday as local media reported that the government is reviewing such a plan as a new funding source for the national health insurance system amid Korea's low birth rate. The government is developing strategies to bolster its health insurance funding as Korea rapidly becomes a super-aged society, according to local reports. According to reports, this plan concerns expanding the income categorie

About 270 individuals, including medical professionals, brokers and fake patients, have been busted by police for their alleged involvement in an insurance fraud scheme to falsely claim a combined 1 billion won ($729,000) in payouts by faking cosmetic procedures as medical treatments. The Financial Supervisory Service on Sunday said Busan Nambu Police Station had apprehended the scammers last month. The scheme was uncovered after the FSS received several reports on the insurance fraud to its rep

A retired government official was found dead inside his car in the parking lot of a Gwangju court on Saturday, after he had left a note expressing his frustration with the court's order to give half of his pension to his ex-wife. The two had recently divorced. The body was found at around 8 p.m. in the car parked outside the Gwangju Family Court in Seo-gu, Gwangju, which had handled the divorce lawsuit for the man. It had ruled that the man should give half of the payout from his Government

The court will review an arrest warrant for a woman who rammed into seven cars and drove the wrong way along a boulevard near Gangnam Station in southern Seoul. The review will be held in Seoul Central District Court at 3:30 p.m. Monday, after police requested the warrant the previous day. The woman in her 20s was caught driving without a license after causing an accident on the street near Exit No. 12 of Gangnam Station at 1:39 p.m. on Saturday, according to local media. She was reportedly pull

The Czech Republic applauded South Korean support for Ukraine, as it celebrated its Independence Day on Oct. 28. Czechoslovak Independence Day commemorates the founding of Czechoslovakia in 1918 and continues to serve as a significant symbol of national identity for Czechs, despite the 1993 division into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In his remarks at the event, Czech Ambassador to Korea Ivan Jancarek used the occasion to praise South Korea’s support for Ukraine and the strengthening Cz

Turkmenistan and Korea highlighted bilateral initiatives at an event marking Turkmenistan's 33rd Independence Day on Wednesday. The Central Asian country celebrates its independence from the Soviet Union, declared on Oct. 27, 1991, after the Cold War and the Soviet Union's breakup. Speaking at the event at a Seoul hotel, Turkmen Ambassador to Korea Begench Durdyyev highlighted Turkmenistan's development journey, and the milestones in bilateral relations with South Korea, and honor

US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump are bracing for this week's high-stakes election showdown, with various polls showing them in a tight margin-of-error race. Voters will go to polling stations nationwide on Tuesday to pick a new president. More than 75 million Americans had already cast an early ballot, data from the University of Florida showed. The number of eligible voters is estimated at about 244 million, according to the Bipartisa

The foreign ministry will host a group of foreign diplomats this week for a joint conference and other programs with the UN to brief them on South Korea's disarmament efforts and its North Korea policy, the ministry said Monday. The two-day South Korea-UN disarmament conference, running through Tuesday, will bring together 25 diplomats from Europe, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East who are currently engaged in disarmament diplomacy, the ministry said in a release.

Ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon on Monday called on President Yoon Suk Yeol to issue a public apology and reshuffle aides at the presidential office to address growing concerns over allegations surrounding the first lady. Han of the People Power Party made the remarks during a meeting of the party's supreme council, calling for a "complete" personnel overhaul of the presidential aides. "The president should publicly and thoroughly address the concerns of the people, issue a

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will deliver the government's 2025 budget speech at the National Assembly on behalf of President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday, Han's office said. It marks the first time in 11 years that a sitting president has not addressed parliament on the annual budget. Yoon presented the budget speech the past two years after taking office in May 2022. Since 1988, it has been customary for presidents to outline their key priorities to lawmakers before submitting the governme

The United States flew a long-range bomber in a trilateral drill with South Korea and Japan on Sunday in response to North Korea’s recent test-firing of a new intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the US mainland, South Korea’s military said. North Korea on Thursday tested the newly developed Hwasong-19 ICBM, which flew higher and stayed in the air longer than any other missile it has fired. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called it “an appropriate military acti

The US Embassy in Seoul said it hosted “TechCamp Korea 2024,” a three-day event focused on fostering the safe and ethical use of artificial intelligence. Held from October 31 to November 3 at the Kyowon Vision Center in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, the camp was part of the US Department of State’s global tech leadership initiative and marked the first time the program has been held in Korea. Aimed at strengthening ties among Korea’s next generation of AI leaders, the camp

South Korea's Presidential Bio Committee will hold its inaugural meeting in December, with President Yoon Suk Yeol chairing the committee of roughly 20 experts in the field of biotechnology, to bolster the nation's push to achieve a biotechnology breakthrough. Park Sang-ook, senior presidential secretary for science and technology, said in a briefing Sunday that Lee Sang-yup, vice president for research at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, will serve as the vice c

Weather agency chief says more funding, staff crucial to Korea's resilience against climate change