President Yoon Suk Yeol oversaw the largest joint live-fire exercises ever conducted by the South Korean and US military, as the two allies marked the last day of their three-week drills Thursday meant to openly deter North Korea’s growing aggression. The show of force, which took place at Asia’s largest military training field in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, involved mobilizing the South Korean F-35A fighter jets and K9 howitzers and the US F-16 jets and Gray Eagle drones. About 2,50

A lawmaker of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party is pushing legislation to require registration of persons and entities representing foreign interests, in an apparent aim at Xing and the secret Chinese police stations currently under investigation. Rep. Choe Jae-hyeong, the first-time lawmaker who previously headed the Board of Audit and Inspection, announced Thursday that the legislation which he said would “put the brakes on indiscriminate and illegal” foreign agents ope

Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, chief of the ruling People Power Party, castigated liberal opposition Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers Thursday for their trip to China amid an ensuing row over Chinese envoy Xing Haiming’s criticism of South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol. Kim said the trip of seven Democratic Party lawmakers came at a “diplomatically tricky” time, accusing them of “fraternizing with” Beijing against the backdrop of Xing blaming the Yoon administration for South

President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Thursday to respond firmly to North Korea's provocations as he marked the anniversary of a 1999 inter-Korean naval skirmish near the maritime border. "We will respond firmly without a moment of hesitation to North Korea's reckless provocations," he wrote on his Facebook page. "Only our overwhelming strength will bring true peace, not a fake peace that we must beg the enemy for." Yoon has previously cast the former Moon Jae-in administra

Biden “right” to take U-turn from Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, says general-turned-lawmaker

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday ordered the office of the presidential secretary for civil service discipline to conduct a thorough investigation into the officials mired in corruption allegations over solar power projects, part of the previous Moon Jae-in government's push to increase the share of renewable energy in Korea's energy mix. "President Yoon ordered a thorough investigation into the entire decision-making line involved in the solar projects at the time," said Yoon's sp

President Yoon Suk Yeol presented credentials to eight new ambassadors, including those to the Philippines and Bangladesh, on Wednesday. The ambassador to the Philippines is Lee Sang-hwa, former top envoy to Myanmar, while the ambassador to Bangladesh is Park Young-sig, former top envoy to Nepal. The other ambassadors who received credentials will serve in Algeria, Peru, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Zimbabwe and Cameroon. (Yonhap)

Beginning Wednesday, people buying, renting or mortgaging a house are able to check whether there is a foreigner who has already filed a moving-in report for the house in advance, the Ministry of Justice said. The ministry said the new system that makes it possible to confirm in advance the presence of a foreign national with countervailing tenant power at a specific address went into effect on the day. Previously, people buying or renting a home often ran into unexpected restrictions on the exe

Five lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party are on a visit to China, sources said Wednesday, amid heightened tensions between the two countries over Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming's remarks, which were strongly denounced as disrespectful to South Korea. The lawmakers -- Reps. Kim Tae-nyeon, Hong Ihk-pyo, Koh Yong-jin, Hong Kee-won and Hong Sung-kook -- arrived in Beijing on Monday for a five-day visit for meetings with people from Chinese political and business circles, the sour

A new round of official negotiations for the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework will be held in South Korea's southeastern port city of Busan next month, the industry ministry said Wednesday. The fourth round of talks will kick off in Busan on July 9 for a six-day run, as 14 member nations seek to make progress in setting details in three of its four key pillars of trade, clean economy and fair economy, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Last month, the member nati

The hunger and economic hardships driven by COVID-19 are forcing North Koreans to resort to extreme means of survival, such as cannibalism, recent defectors were quoted as telling South Korean authorities. This is one of the first accounts of the level of hunger in North Korea since COVID-19, given by North Korean family who came to South Korea by boat early last month. The family consisting of a mother and two brothers, their wives and young children were found by South Korean authorities cross

"Would you drink Fukushima water?" This seems to be a defining question in the intense debate over Japan’s planned discharge of the treated radioactive wastewater into the sea from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo became the latest figure to be brought into the debate. During his appearance at the National Assembly on Monday, he was asked the question to which he answered, “If it has undergone a scientifically proven purification p

President Yoon Suk Yeol has emphasized the need for increased transparency in subsidy allocations for non-profit private organizations, citing a substantial rise in subsidies during the previous administration. During a live streamed Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, President Yoon said that subsidies to non-profit private organizations had increased by approximately 2 trillion won ($1.57 billion) during the previous administration under Moon Jae-in without what he called adequate oversight. H

Yoon to meet Macron before visiting Vietnam for summit

South Korea’s main opposition party voted down bills seeking the National Assembly’s consent in issuing arrest warrants for two lawmakers accused in an intraparty bribery scandal. At the plenary session on Monday, the arrest warrant bills for both lawmakers -- Reps. Lee Sung-man and Youn Kwan-suk -- failed to pass the Assembly, whose majority is controlled by the Democratic Party of Korea. Lee and Youn gave up their Democratic Party membership last month after they were accused of ha