President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol plans to benchmark the US personnel vetting system, and have the justice ministry and police take over the roles after abolishing the office of senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, his spokesperson said Tuesday. "The office of the president will only have the role to recommend candidates. With regard to vetting senior officials, Cabinet members and others, we will have the justice ministry and police do it," spokesperson Kim Eun-hye told report

South Korea's new daily COVID-19 cases stayed above 300,000 for four straight days Tuesday as the country battles through the worst virus wave yet, sparked by the highly transmissible omicron variant. The country added 362,338 new COVID-19 infections, mostly locally transmitted, putting the total caseload at 7,228,550, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Tuesday's tally marks the second-highest daily count after the all-time high of 383,664 reported Saturday. It's also

The US Treasury Department has advised the country's financial institutions to be cautious about doing business involving North Korea, citing a recent decision of an intergovernmental body tasked with combating money laundering and terrorism financing, the department's website showed Tuesday. The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) kept North Korea and Iran on the list of "high-risk jurisdictions" in the March 4 move, according to the department's Financial Crimes Enforcemen

Seven out of 10 South Koreans believe North Korea has no intention to completely denuclearize, a survey showed Tuesday, amid signs of the recalcitrant regime doubling down on its nuclear and missile programs. Rep. Kang Dae-sik of the conservative People Power Party revealed the results of last year's survey on public security awareness that the Korea National Defense University conducted from Aug. 12 to Sep. 17 on 1,200 citizens. In the survey, 70.6 percent of the respondents gave a negative ans

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol spoke by phone with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and agreed to deepen cooperation between the two countries, including efforts to denuclearize North Korea, both sides said Tuesday. During the 15-minute call Monday night, Yoon and Johnson shared concern about North Korea's recent missile tests and a need to cooperate with the United States and the UN Security Council for the North's denuclearization, Yoon's spokesperson Kim Eun-hye said in a statement. The tw

A 2.0 magnitude natural quake struck central North Korea early Tuesday, South Korea's state weather agency said. The quake struck 20 kilometers north of the county of Songchon at 12:22 a.m., according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. The epicenter was at a latitude of 39.42 degrees north and a longitude of 126.19 degrees east at a depth of 12 km.

WASHINGTON -- US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met Monday with China's Yang Jiechi to discuss various current issues, including North Korea, a senior US official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the meeting was "intense" and seven-hours long. "Obviously, we have serious concerns about the recent escalatory actions that we have seen from the DPRK," the official said in a telephonic press briefing, referring to North Korea by its official

WASHINGTON -- The top nuclear envoys of South Korea, Japan and the United States held trilateral talks Monday to discuss North Korea's recent missile launches that tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile system, the US Department of State said. US Special Representative for the DPRK Sung Kim talked on the phone with his South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, and Japan's Takehiro Funakoshi, according to department spokesperson Ned Price. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of

WASHINGTON -- South Korea and the United States will continue to develop and expand their economic cooperation rooted in their bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) enacted 10 years ago and the new US strategy for economic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said Monday. He also insisted the Korea-US FTA (KORUS FTA) will help the countries "weather any storm." "It is a fact that KORUS FTA expanded the size of the trade pipe between our two count

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said Monday that he will abolish the post of senior secretary for civil affairs at his presidential office, ridding it of its inspection and intelligence functions. Explaining how the office has played a role in illegal inspections on society, Yoon said he will “clear away the remnant” in his government, in a meeting with the leadership of his presidential transition committee. “In the past, the senior secretary for civil affairs at the presiden

South Korean authorities believe North Korea could carry out an intercontinental ballistic missile system test as soon as this week, which would seriously raise tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the presidential transition gets underway in Seoul. 　 Seoul and Washington have detected signs of an imminent ICBM test, and have been keeping an eye on the developments, according to sources here. 　 National Security adviser Suh Hoon told President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Saturday that a test launch

South Korea will make COVID-19 vaccinations available to children aged between 5 and 11 later this month, the government announced Monday. According to Interior Minister Jeon Hae-cheol‘s announcement at a COVID-19 response meeting Monday, the government will begin inoculating children on March 31 at around 1,200 designated medical facilities. The country’s health authorities will take reservations from March 24, Jeon added. Jeon said the government’s decision came amid an i

President-elect expected to request Lee’s pardon

Liberal party figures wrestle to take power ahead of June elections

South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s key election pledge of removing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is “premature,” and would give the “completely wrong policy signal,” according to a senior economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In an email response to The Korea Herald’s inquiries about the main conservative People Power Party president-elect’s gender policy promises, Willem Adema, senior economist