President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee invited 14-year-old Aok Rotha from Cambodia, who underwent heart surgery in Korea, to the presidential office on Tuesday. “President Yoon met with Aok Rotha, who was preparing to return home after successfully completing heart surgery, at the presidential office this afternoon,” said Yoon’s chief of public relations Kim Eun-hye in a press briefing on the day. Yoon gave Rotha a soccer ball after learning that he had never playe

Growing calls for South Korea’s independent nuclear buildup, a discussion that had left the country more divided than united, now offer policymakers latitude to widen the nuclear debate, experts said Tuesday as South Korea steps up efforts for a more powerful military to contain North Korea. President Yoon Suk Yeol and Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup met with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Seoul on Tuesday while Foreign Minister Park Jin and his US counterpart, Antony Blinken, will mee

An arrest warrant is being sought after four individuals accused of operating a spy ring for North Korea, according to a Seoul court on Tuesday. The Seoul central district court opened a hearing at 3 p.m. to determine whether to issue an arrest warrant requested by prosecutors for the four accused spies for North Korea. The court may take longer than a day to make a decision on the prosecutors’ request for a warrant of arrest, which was filed Monday. The request for their arrest comes more

Rep. Yoo Seong-min of the ruling People Power Party said Tuesday he will not run for party leader. Yoo, a former four-term lawmaker considered a key critic of President Yoon Suk Yeol in the People Power Party, made the announcement in a Facebook post, saying there is no point in running and he will wait patiently for a better time. Surveys have shown Yoo is trailing way behind the main contenders, with less than 10 percent support. The race has become largely a two-way contest between Reps. Kim

Lee Shin-wha, South Korean ambassador for international cooperation on North Korean human rights, said the situation of women and girls in North Korea “deserves a special focus” ahead of a Seoul conference on Monday. “The state of human rights is alarming in North Korea, and especially so for women,” she told The Korea Herald. “More North Korean women now contribute to the household economy as breadwinners and yet they are still expected to meet patriarchal demands

The presidential office has sued the main opposition Democratic Party spokesperson for defaming first lady Kim Keon Hee over her alleged involvement in stock manipulation. Spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom earlier claimed that the first lady was involved in a so-called "pump and dump" scam involving Woori Technology shares listed on Kosdaq, South Korea's tech-heavy secondary bourse, in addition to her alleged involvement in stock manipulation of Deutsche Motors. "Pump-and-dump&quo

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating fell for the third straight week in the wake of a spike in heating bills, a poll showed Monday. In the poll of 1,504 adults conducted by Realmeter from Monday to Wednesday of last week, the positive assessment of Yoon's performance dipped 1.7 percentage points from the previous week to 37 percent. Yoon's disapproval rating was 59.8 percent, adding 1 percentage point in the same period. Realmeter said the fall could be attributable to a sur

South Korea's main opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung called the Yoon Suk Yeol administration a “dictatorial regime” controlled by prosecutors as he appeared at a district prosecutors' office in Seoul on Saturday as a suspect to a high-profile land corruption scandal. Lee, defeated by former prosecutor Yoon in the 2022 presidential election in a narrow margin, has since been facing a number of corruption allegations that were raised even before he became a candidate. A

NIS raid of umbrella labor union rekindles debate

Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon of the ruling People Power Party is leading in the race for party leadership, but support for runner-up Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo also jumped twofold after strong contender Na Kyung-won bowed out, a poll showed Friday. Kim was ahead of the others with 40 percent in the poll of 422 People Power Party supporters conducted by Realmeter between Wednesday and Thursday. Ahn, who placed third with 17.2 percent in the poll conducted a week earlier, rose to No. 2 with 33.9 percent. Former lawm

The Ministry of Justice said Thursday that it will push for legislation of a new law that prohibits sex offenders from living closely to schools and establish a unit to oversee overall immigration policies. The so-called "Korean Jessica Act," calls for preventing high-risk sex offenders from residing within 500 meters of education facilities that involves minors -- elementary, middle, and high schools, daycare centers and kindergartens – after they are released from prison. The r

To cope with fast growing number of foreign residents, the ministry will set up a unit to help coordinate immigration policies with related ministries and agencies. The number of foreigners staying in Korea already exceeded the 2 million mark, the ministry said stressing the need to set up an integrated management system. “We will quickly establish a unified immigration policy at the pan-government level through the establishment of a coordinating unit and secure the budget by preventing o

The opposition Democratic Party of Korea went after the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s national security strategy on Thursday in a bid to keep the ruling People Power Party on the defense. Democratic Party floor leader Rep. Park Hong-keun convened an emergency meeting, in which he said that the “incompetence of the administration was threatening the security of the country.” “North Korean drones intruded into our airspace and revealed critical security gaps, and yet the r

Presidential secretary says higher gas bills inevitable, blames sharpness of increase on Moon's energy policy

Na Kyung-won, a former four-term conservative lawmaker, said Wednesday that she would not run for the party leadership for the sake of unity in the ruling party, ending weeks of friction with President Yoon Suk Yeol's office that put pressure on her to withdraw. "I won't take part in the race for the People Power Party leadership at the upcoming national convention (in March)," Na told reporters at the headquarters of People Power Party in western Seoul. The judge-turned-seas