The National Assembly held a plenary session Wednesday and passed a motion to launch a special parliamentary committee designed to help stabilize the economy of ordinary citizens. The special committee, set to operate until Oct. 31, will be dealing with various economic issues concerning people's livelihoods from real estate and tax policies to oil prices. The committee will comprise 13 lawmakers, including six from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and six from the main opposition Democr

Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, acting chairman and floor leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), apologized on Wednesday over the hiring of a presidential office employee after his remarks on the issue angered young voters who value fairness. Kweon came under fire after he said he "pressured" PPP Rep. Chang Je-won to have a person from his constituency in the eastern city of Gangneung hired at the presidential office when Chang was chief of staff for then President-elect Yoon. Kweon had

After the successful first flight test of South Korea's homegrown KF-21 fighter earlier this week, its Air Force pilot highlighted his "single-minded" determination to complete airborne testing requirements. Maj. Ahn Jun-hyun conducted the historic maiden flight of the fighter from the Air Force's 3rd Flying Training Wing in Sacheon, about 300 kilometers south of Seoul, on Tuesday. The event set in motion a key development procedure involving some 2,000 sorties through 2026.

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday declined to comment on whether he would grant a presidential amnesty for Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, who is currently on parole after serving time for bribery and embezzlement. Yoon made the remarks upon arrival at his office in response to a question about speculation he is mulling wide-ranging pardons on the occasion of the Aug. 15 anniversary of Liberation Day marking the 1945 end of Japan's colonial rule of Korea, and the Samsung chief could be one of the

South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed above 70,000 for the second straight day Wednesday as a highly contagious omicron subvariant is spreading fast amid eased virus curbs. The country reported 76,402 new COVID-19 infections, including 429 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,937,971, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. On Tuesday, the daily caseload more than doubled to 73,582 from 26,299 a day earlier. Daily infections stood at 41,310 on Saturday and 4

The number of violent crimes in the second quarter of the year jumped 14 percent compared with a quarter earlier, data showed Wednesday, partially on the back of eased social distancing measures. A total of 367,412 crimes occurred in the April-June period, compared with 322,346 cases in the previous three months, according to the data compiled by the National Police Agency (NPA). The number of arrests made in the second quarter came to 284,503, up 22.1 percent on-quarter, the NPA said. By the ty

Senior defense officials from South Korea and Britain met on the margins of a British air show earlier this week to discuss bilateral cooperation in the arms industry and defense technologies, Seoul officials said Wednesday. Vice Defense Minister Shin Beom-chul and Jeremy Quin, Britain's minister for defense procurement, held talks Tuesday as they visited the Farnborough International Airshow, a major trade exhibition for the aerospace and defense industries. The two sides discussed various

North Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases remained below 300 for the second consecutive day, according to its state media Wednesday. More than 250 people showed symptoms of fever over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the official Korean Central News Agency said, citing data from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters. It did not provide information on whether additional deaths have been reported. As of July 5, the death toll had stood at 74, with the fatality r

S.Korea will now begin conducting 2,200 test flights by 2026

Action for Clean Environment (ACE), a global non-profit organization aiming to facilitate global environmental activism, completed the 2022 Fellowship for Young Leaders Program with a ceremony held on Saturday in Seoul.  According to the organizers, 11 students ranging from second to eleventh grade participated in the program this year. The program, lasting three weeks, comprised of three main sessions; active team debate on the issue of pollution: touring Sikmulsung Dosan, essay writing

With no executions in nearly 25 years, S. Korea debates once again whether it needs capital punishment on the books

S. Korea, UK air forces agree to strengthen defense space cooperation

Most suicide victims showed warning signs before taking their own lives, according to a Ministry of Health and Welfare report. The report, released Tuesday, reviewed 801 cases of suicides involving South Koreans ages 19 and older between 2015 and 2021. The report found that 94 percent of suicide victims exhibited signs that included talking about dying or wanting to die; making preparations such as sorting through their belongings and cleaning out their surroundings; withdrawing from friends

The government named Lee Shin-wha, an international relations professor at Korea University, as ambassador-at-large on North Korean human rights issues on Tuesday, filling in the post that has been vacant for the past five years. The Foreign Ministry said it is appointing Lee as the ambassador to support the government’s diplomatic efforts to promote North Korean human rights, on bilateral and multilateral levels. Lee, of the university’s department of political science and inte

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and discussed ways to improve the long-strained bilateral ties between the two countries in Tokyo on Tuesday. In his meeting with Kishida, Park delivered South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s message and Yoon’s determination to reset bilateral ties with Japan. “I relayed President Yoon’s message and suggested for the two leaders (Yoon and Kishida) to meet at a convenient time to re