While South Korea’s infrastructure for people with disabilities has significantly improved in the past decades, the government still needs to appoint more of them to key posts in the administration, a former member of the US National Council on Disability said. Pak Dong-woo, known to people around him as Joe Pak, who served as the first Korean American member of the NCD under US President Barack Obama's administration from 2009 to 2013, highlighted the importance of such inclusivity w

Tae Yong-ho, who was Pyongyang’s envoy to the UK before seeking asylum in South Korea in 2016, said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would want US presidential nominee Donald Trump to win in November. “What Kim Jong-un wants more than anything at this moment is for Trump to win the US presidential election and for the trilateral security cooperation of South Korea, Japan and the US -- a Biden era legacy -- to become obsolete,” Tae told The Korea Herald on Sunday. Trump, speaking

The main opposition Democratic Party accused the Yoon Suk Yeol administration on Monday of engaging in "submissive" diplomacy with Japan by appointing pro-Japan figures to key positions and removing public installations depicting the easternmost islets of Dokdo. "Since the start of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, we have seen continued pro-Japan submissive diplomacy and a desperation to erase history," DP floor leader Park Chan-dae said during a supreme council meeting. &qu

President Yoon Suk Yeol will host a dinner meeting with the leadership of the ruling People Power Party later this week, party officials said Monday. PPP leader Han Dong-hoon, floor leader Choo Kyung-ho, five Supreme Council members, and the party's policy chief are expected to attend the meeting on Friday, according to party officials. During the meeting, Yoon and the party leaders are expected to discuss key policy issues ahead of the regular National Assembly session, which is set to beg

The government plans to provide some 40 trillion won ($30.1 billion) in financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises, and micro business owners as part of measures to support them in the run-up to the Chuseok holiday, officials said Sunday. The decision was made during a high-level meeting of government and ruling party officials, held to finalize measures on stabilizing prices, as well as supporting small business owners and others, according to People Power Party spokesperson Han Ze

The government and the ruling People Power Party agreed Sunday to introduce a system mandating automakers to disclose the battery brand information of all electric vehicles. During a meeting between senior government officials and PPP officials, the two sides also agreed to launch at an early date a system mandating automakers to get government certification on the safety of the batteries for their EV models, which was initially set to be introduced in February next year. The move comes amid saf

Govt. and People Power Party also discuss free highway tolls, train discounts during Chuseok

As the US election race enters its final two months, South Korean lawmakers are bracing for the impact of a Harris or Trump administration as the two presidential candidates offer opposing approaches to North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un. Ruling People Power Party lawmakers gushed over US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris putting down the North Korean leader in her nomination acceptance speech in Chicago on Thursday, in a sharp contrast with her Republican riva

South Korea is looking for a solution to end a legal dispute between local nuclear power company Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power and US firm Westinghouse Electric Company "through various channels," amid pressure mounting on Seoul over a nuclear export deal worth at least 24 trillion won ($18 billion) with the Czech Republic. "The government is discussing with the US government through various channels to support the amicable resolution of the corporate dispute," an official of

Prosecutor General Lee One-seok referred the case of first lady Kim Keon Hee's acceptance of a luxury bag to a review committee, his office said Friday, amid controversy over the prosecution team's decision to clear her of the charges. The announcement came as the controversy is growing after prosecutors concluded that anti-graft law violation charges cannot be sought against Kim although she received a Dior bag worth about 3 million won (US$2,255) and other expensive gifts from pastor

The ruling People Power Party on Friday called for further intergenerational equity in the government’s plan to reform the country’s ailing pension system. “In order to make the country’s retirement security system sustainable enough to be effective for the next 100 years beyond the current generation of youth to a future generation, we cannot overlook the issue of fiscal sustainability. This means that our foremost task for (the government’s) pension reform is to b

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday pledged to carry out an overhaul to ensure fair chances for young athletes and to create a better training environment, as he and his wife Kim Keon Hee hosted a dinner for South Korean Olympians who competed at the Paris Games. Some 270 participants -- including athletes and family members, as well as coaches, members of sports associations and other staff -- attended the event at Shilla Seoul. According to the presidential office, Yoon told participants he wo

Gyeonggi Province is pushing forward with South Korea’s first pilot four-and-a-half-day workweek program aimed at improving people's work-life balance, quality of life, happiness and ideally, the falling birth rate. Korea's most populous province has allocated an initial budget 250 million won ($186,971) for the program, part of an annual investment of 10 billion won pledged for the initiative. In a press conference last Wednesday, Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon unvei

Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chairperson of the Democratic Party of Korea, tested positive for COVID-19 and went into self-isolation Wednesday, the same day he was due to meet with former President Moon Jae-in. The Democratic Party said in an announcement to reporters that Lee had tested positive for COVID-19 and canceled his public itinerary to keep in line with government guidelines that recommend at-home isolation until a day after symptoms go away. His COVID-19 diagnosis delayed highly anticipated me

President Yoon Suk Yeol warned Wednesday that North Korea would face the end of its regime should it attempt to invade South Korea, while inspecting an annual joint exercise with the United States. Yoon made the remark during his visit to the Ground Operations Command in Yongin, south of Seoul, where he received briefings on the Ulchi Freedom Shield. The joint military exercise began Monday for an 11-day run. "The North Korean regime is the most irrational group on Earth that can stage prov