South Korea -- the biggest investor in the Vietnamese economy -- is well positioned to provide key support for Hanoi to be part of global supply chains, Vietnam’s foreign minister said Monday. “Vietnam welcomes and encourages Korean firms to make new investments or expand existing ventures in Vietnam … We look forward to receiving the Republic of Korea’s assistance to be part of the global value chains of Korean corporation,” the minister, Bui Thanh Son, told The K

North Korea on Monday fired around 130 artillery shells into inter-Korean maritime buffer zones as South Korea and the US kicked off regular live-fire drills near the border. The artillery shells were fired from Jangsan Cape in South Hwanghae Province and Kumgang County in Kangwon Province from around 2:59 p.m. local time, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday afternoon. The artillery shots fell inside the buffer zone, but north of the Northern Limit Line, violating a 2018 dea

The South Korean and Vietnamese presidents agreed to take ties to a higher level at a summit held in Seoul on Monday, as Asia’s fourth-largest economy steps up its push to expand its reach into Southeast Asia amid the rising US-China tech rivalry. The three-day summit, which started Sunday and had last taken place 11 years ago, is the latest highlight of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s drive to reduce its economic dependence on Seoul’s largest trading partners -- China and t

One lesson from COVID-19 is that health security is just as critical as other types of security, according to a World Health Organization expert. “The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us all many painful lessons,” WHO’s global health security preparedness director Dr. Stella Chungong said in a written response to questions from The Korea Herald. “COVID has shown maintaining individual, community and national health security is vital for a country to function.” She said

Park Jie-won, a former head of the National Intelligence Service under investigation over an alleged cover-up in North Korea’s killing of South Korean fisheries official Lee Dae-jun in 2020, told The Korea Herald the Yoon Suk-yeol administration was playing the communist card against his predecessor Moon Jae-in. “All I’m going to say is that the Yoon administration is cracking down on the Democratic Party by portraying Moon as a communist sympathizer,” he said over the ph

  A US citizen has been nabbed by the police in Romania for vandalizing multiple subway cars in at least six South Korean cities, the police said Monday. The Incheon Nonhyun Police Station has issued a request to the Romanian authorities for an extradition of the unnamed 26-year-old American detained in Romania to Korea. Police have been trying to track down the other suspect, a 27-year-old Italian. The two allegedly graffitied the exterior of stationary subway cars inside subway yards acro

Widespread use of crypto, Telegram leads to surge in teen drug crimes, but Korea slow to respond

HANOI, Vietnam -- When South Korea first forged diplomatic ties with Vietnam 30 years ago, not many expected the fledgling bond to become as strong as it is today. Now the Southeast Asian country is one of Korea’s closest partners, or a “diplomatic hotspot” as Korea’s Ambassador to Vietnam Oh Young-ju likes to put it. “When the Korean embassy was first established 30 years ago, there were only two government officials here – an ambassador and an attache. Now

Vicious cycle will repeat if government succumbs to 'illegal actions,' Yoon tells aides

South Korea plans to hold an interagency government meeting on its policy on North Korea's human rights situation this week in an effort to improve the North's rights conditions, according to the unification ministry Monday. The meeting, to be presided over by Vice Unification Minister Kim Ki-woong, will be held Friday to discuss ways to establish the government's basic plan to promote the North's rights records, the ministry said. The gathering, the second of its kind this y

The Air Forces of South Korea, the United States and three other countries have kicked off an annual US-led humanitarian operation to deliver medicine and other basic necessities to remote Pacific islands ahead of the Christmas season, officials here said Monday. Hosted by the US Pacific Air Forces, the Operation Christmas Drop got under way on Sunday to send clothes and other necessities to residents of Micronesia. Australia, New Zealand and Japan are also participating in the mission set to ru

Presidential chief of staff Kim Dae-ki will pay an official visit to the United Arab Emirates this month and convey President Yoon Suk-yeol's commitment to strengthening the special strategic partnership between the two countries, the presidential office said Monday. Kim will travel to the UAE in mid-December as a special presidential envoy to "reaffirm the special strategic partnership and convey President Yoon Suk-yeol's special commitment to strengthening it," the office s

The presidential office is set to establish two new secretary positions to support the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's push to increase exports, officials said Monday. The new positions will be secretary to the president for policy coordination and secretary to the president for international law. The policy coordination secretary will work under the senior secretary for policy planning and be in charge of communicating and coordinating with government agencies to support nuclear power plant

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases rose at a moderate pace Monday from a week earlier, as the virus spread held steady, with attention being drawn to the possible removal of the indoor mask mandate. The country reported 23,160 new COVID-19 infections, including 80 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 27,331.250, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Monday's count is up from the previous week's 22,313 and little changed from 23,076 the week before, mar

President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating rose to 38.9 percent amid the government's stern response to an ongoing strike by unionized truck drivers, a poll showed Monday. Positive assessment of Yoon's performance climbed 2.5 percentage points from the previous week, posting an increase for the second consecutive week in a Realmeter poll, while negative assessment slid by 1.9 percentage points to 58.9 percent. The poll was conducted on 2,507 people nationwide from Monday to Friday