North Gyeongsang governor calls for more development and opportunities for regions outside Greater Seoul area

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s first deputy national security adviser dismissed the diplomatic fallout from the recent leak of highly classified US intelligence reports suggesting it might have been spying on South Korea, saying Washington, Seoul’s biggest ally, seems to have “no malicious intent.” The remarks made Tuesday to reporters in Washington by Kim Tae-hyo -- the adviser who left Seoul that day to discuss Yoon’s state visit in late April -- underscore the Yoon ad

Prosecutors raided the home and an office of Rep. Youn Kwan-suk of the main opposition Democratic Party on Wednesday over suspicions he took illegal political funds. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office sent investigators to Youn's home and office in his constituency and other locations to seize evidence, including account books from the party's convention in 2021. Prosecutors suspect Youn received illegal political funds from Kang Rae-gu, the then head of the Association of

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung said Tuesday that recent allegations of the United States' eavesdropping on South Korea's presidential office would be "very disappointing" if true. Lee of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea made the remark during a press conference hosted by the Foreign Correspondents' Club, referring to the reported leak of purported Pentagon documents with information that US intelligence services eavesdropped on South Korean presidential off

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s first deputy national security adviser has played down the significance of the recent leak of highly classified US intelligence documents involving South Korea, shortly before boarding a plane to the US to discuss a Seoul-Washington summit scheduled for late April. Kim Tae-hyo, the adviser, told reporters Tuesday at Incheon International Airport that most of the information released online “was altered” and that this conclusion is shared by both Korean

The office of President Yoon Suk Yeol has tentatively concluded that there is little chance of internal discussions having been intercepted by the US intelligence community, according to Yoon's aides. They have stressed that the presidential office in central Seoul is equipped with a system to prevent such eavesdropping in the wake of news reports, based on purported Pentagon documents, that Washington secretly listened to conversations of top South Korean officials. "Now that it'

Opposition party calls alleged spying a “US violation of South Korea’s national sovereignty”

The South Korean presidential office said on Sunday it “will have necessary consultations with the US side” following a high-profile American media report that the US intelligence services had wiretapped the Korean government regarding its arms support for Ukraine. The New York Times reported on Saturday that a significant amount of classified documents from the US Department of Defense were leaked on social media. At least two of the documents contained internal discussions of the K

A coalition of South Korean medical technicians and doctors’ rights activist groups is considering a strike, as long-awaited bills aimed at easing nursing regulations and banning convicted doctors from returning to work are to be tabled at the National Assembly as early as Thursday. A spokesperson of the ruling People Power Party Yoo Sang-bum said Sunday the government and the PPP would try to find a middle ground after collecting opinions of the parties concerned, with a special committee

President Yoon Suk Yeol issued an Easter message Sunday, saying he will work hard to make South Korea a warmhearted society. "Jesus' resurrection is a message of salvation that mankind can be reborn by practicing love," Yoon said in a Facebook post. "I wish the love of Jesus will fill the entire world. Our government will work hard to build a warm society." (Yonhap)

The minor Progressive Party, deemed to be more left-wing than the National Assembly’s majority-holding Democratic Party of Korea or the Justice Party, has returned to the National Assembly. The party’s Rep. Kang Sung-hee won 39 percent of the votes in Jeonju, a liberal constituency in North Jeolla Province, in a by-election on Wednesday, beating her Democratic Party-affiliated rival, who earned 32 percent. It took the Progressive Party, which was the Unified Progressive Party in a fo

The ruling People Power Party on Friday elected police officer-turned-lawmaker Rep. Yun Jae-ok as its new floor leader. Yun won the majority of votes from fellow lawmakers of the party, with 65 out of the 109 present, in a two-horse race against his competitor, the four-time lawmaker Rep. Kim Hack-yong. In 2012, Yun became the first graduate of the Korean National Police University to win a National Assembly seat. He has since managed to be re-elected in the next two general elections to serve f

The head of the ruling People Power Party said on Thursday South Korea may need a smaller National Assembly. Speaking at a meeting of the party leadership Thursday, Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon said the current 300 seats in the 75-year-old parliament “shouldn’t be considered absolute.” “The country’s Assembly started out with 200 seats and the Constitution states 200 seats or more -- so not necessarily 300 which is kind of seen as a fixture,” he said. He added that he be

The speaker of South Korea’s National Assembly, Rep. Kim Jin-pyo, said he is seeking to form a union of South Korean and US legislators within this year. “There isn’t yet an official channel for dialogue between South Korea and the US legislatures. Given the history and the significance of the ROK-US alliance, a union of legislators of two countries is urgently needed,” he said in a statement following a dinner with US congressional delegation on Wednesday, referring to t

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday urged leaders of local governments to go all out in support of Busan’s bid to host the World Expo 2030. During a regional cooperation council meeting held in the afternoon, the president said that hosting the global event is a task for the whole country, calling on central and local governments to work as “one team.” “The (Busan) Expo will be an international event where we can share our development experiences with the int