Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Labor Standards Act Proposed by Rep. Yang Kyung-kyoo (Green Justice Party) ● As of March 2023, the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s employment type disclosure system revealed that companies with 300-500 employees hire 25.2 percent of their workforce directly and 3.4 percent indirectly. However, companies with at least 10,000 employees employ 11.7 percent of their workforce directly and 32.0 percent indirectly. This indicates a trend where larger co

Approximately 4,400 people were accused of dating abuse during the first four months of this year, but only 1.9 percent faced a formal arrest, a police report showed Monday. According to the Korean National Police Agency data received by People Power Party Rep. Kim Mi-ae, out of 25,967 allegations of dating violence reported to police from January to April, 4,395 suspects were brought in for questioning. Of these suspects, 82 were arrested, representing a rate of 1.87 percent. Among the suspec

President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida discussed a recent row surrounding Naver Corp.'s Line app in their talks Sunday and agreed to closely communicate to prevent it from hampering bilateral ties, a senior presidential official said. The feud surrounds Japan's LY Corp., the operator of the popular Line messaging app in Japan, which is a 50-50 joint venture between South Korea's top portal Naver and Japan's SoftBank Corp. The Japanese government has

Leaders of South Korea, China and Japan were set to meet in Seoul on Monday for their first trilateral summit in over four years amid rising tension over North Korea's impending spy satellite launch. President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang will sit down for a trilateral summit, the ninth such meeting and the first since December 2019, following a hiatus due to COVID-19 and historical disputes among the Asian neighbors. The leaders are expe

Yoon asks Beijing to be “bastion of peace” amid Moscow’s military cooperation with Pyongyang

South Korea and Africa, whose partnership is anticipated to reach another milestone with the 2024 Korea-Africa summit, have a lot to gain from one another, ruling party lawmakers-elect Kim Gunn and Yu Yong-weon say. The two foreign relations and security experts, elected in the April general election, were among top experts, government officials and members of the diplomatic community to attend the Africa Day 2024 Korea Business Forum on Thursday. The forum, co-hosted by The Korea Herald and Afr

Jung Won-joo, chairman of Herald Media Group, said the news company aspired to contribute to “building closer ties between Korea and Africa.” “We are dedicated to delivering Korean news to Africa, and vice versa,” he said Thursday at the Africa Day 2024 Korea Business Forum. He added that he hopes the forum and the Korea-Africa summit in June will “open up doors for more opportunities for exchanges.” He said his business had ventured into Africa more than four

The outgoing National Assembly speaker stressed Sunday that the reform of the national pension scheme must kick off before the start of the new parliament later this month, saying now may be the “golden time” to do so. Rep. Kim Jin-pyo’s remarks come as the tension between the ruling and the main opposition has risen over the details of the pension reform plan, such as the size of the contributions made by National Pension Service subscribers and the benefits they receive. &ldq

President Yoon Suk Yeol hosted an official dinner with reporters covering his office for the first time on Friday, serving kimchi stew by himself, at an event held in an apparent effort to mend ties with the media. "As soon as I took office, I promised to invite you to a dinner with gyeran mari and kimchi jjigae, as seen in a TV show 'All the Butlers' as a presidential candidate, and I haven't been able to in the past two years," Yoon told some 200 reporters who attended

Leaders of South Korea, China and Japan are set to meet on Sunday and Monday in Seoul for summit meetings, resuming their trilateral dialogue for the first time since 2019. President Yoon Suk Yeol will have back-to-back bilateral talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the presidential office later in the day and hold a trilateral session with the two leaders on Monday. It marks the first three-way summit among the Asian countries since December 2019, aft

President Yoon Suk Yeol's office rejected Democratic Party of Korea Chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung's proposal to hold formal talks with Yoon to narrow differences on a pension reform bill that would require people to contribute more while employed and benefit them more after retirement, Lee's aide told reporters Friday. Yoon's aide on political affairs Hong Chul-ho turned down Lee's proposal for either two-way talks between Yoon and Lee, or three-way talks between Yoon, Lee an

Former South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Thursday the security situation on the Korean Peninsula is in a "crisis" phase where military conflicts could flare up "at any moment," as he called for diplomatic efforts to promote peace. Moon made the remarks in a video message for a peace forum in Washington, as tensions have persisted on the peninsula with Pyongyang continuing its weapons tests in the absence of bilateral engagements with South Korea and the United States. &

President Yoon Suk Yeol hosted a dinner for businesspeople from small and medium-sized enterprises Thursday as part of efforts to praise their contribution to the economy, featuring surprise menu items: spicy chicken ramyeon and frozen gimbap. Yoon attended the annual SMEs Entrepreneur's Day held at the presidential office for the third consecutive year, which drew around 500 people from SMEs, venture companies and startups. The guests also included Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong

People Power Party interim leader meets former President Moon Jae-in for first time since Yoon took office

Trilateral summit likely to shy away from sensitive topics centering around East Asia