South Korea’s Korean language foundation plans to expand its global program which is currently available at 244 institutions across 84 countries, as it looks to the next decade. “This year, we celebrated our 10th anniversary,” King Sejong Institute Foundation President Lee Hai-young at an event honoring the foundation’s scholarship recipients held in Seoul on Monday. The foundation has been assisting students worldwide seeking to learn Korean language and culture with i

A divorced couple accused of keeping the body of their dead infant daughter in a plastic container for three years to hide her death attended their arrest warrant hearing at a court Tuesday. A 34-year-old woman surnamed Seo and her former husband surnamed Choi, 29, were booked late last month on charges of abandoning and concealing the body of their 15-month-old daughter since her death at their home in Pyeongtaek, 80 kilometers south of Seoul, in January 2020. Seo is additionally charged with v

South Korea's military has identified the remains of another soldier killed during the 1950-53 Korean War following an excavation two years earlier, the defense ministry said Tuesday. The ministry's excavation team and personnel of the Army's 3rd Artillery Brigade found the remains of Pfc. Kang Nong-won in the mountainous county of Inje, 165 kilometers east of Seoul, in June 2020. Although they did not discover personal items that could help identify the remains, they were able to

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases sharply rose Tuesday to reach the highest total in 83 days amid lingering concerns that the country may face a winter surge of virus infections. The country reported 77,604 new COVID-19 infections, including 84 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 27,408,854, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The tally is sharply up from Monday's 23,160, when daily infection cases tend to slow due to fewer tests over the weekend. It is

Korea's gender wage gap highest among OECD members for 26 straight years

Special adviser on children’s issue to the US State Department, Michelle Bernier-Toth, is currently in South Korea to discuss the issue of cross-over child abduction, officials in Seoul told The Korea Herald. A meeting between Bernier-Toth, who arrived over the weekend, and officials from S. Korea’s Ministry of Justice is to be held Tuesday, a ministry official said, with unresolved cases involving children of Korean-American couples taken to Korea by the Korean parent without the

Amid growing calls to revise the indoor mask mandate, South Korea's top adviser to the Yoon Suk-yeol administration for the handling of the pandemic played down easing the mandate, citing lingering safety concerns. Jung Ki-suck, a medical pundit who chairs the Special Response Center of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, said Monday at a briefing in Seoul that the premature decision to ease indoor mask rules could exacerbate the chance of infection for those at higher r

One lesson from COVID-19 is that health security is just as critical as other types of security, according to a World Health Organization expert. “The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us all many painful lessons,” WHO’s global health security preparedness director Dr. Stella Chungong said in a written response to questions from The Korea Herald. “COVID has shown maintaining individual, community and national health security is vital for a country to function.” She said

  A US citizen has been nabbed by the police in Romania for vandalizing multiple subway cars in at least six South Korean cities, the police said Monday. The Incheon Nonhyun Police Station has issued a request to the Romanian authorities for an extradition of the unnamed 26-year-old American detained in Romania to Korea. Police have been trying to track down the other suspect, a 27-year-old Italian. The two allegedly graffitied the exterior of stationary subway cars inside subway yards acro

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases rose at a moderate pace Monday from a week earlier, as the virus spread held steady, with attention being drawn to the possible removal of the indoor mask mandate. The country reported 23,160 new COVID-19 infections, including 80 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 27,331.250, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Monday's count is up from the previous week's 22,313 and little changed from 23,076 the week before, mar

A South Korean ancient history book, traditional women’s poetry and records of a massive oil spill have been added to the regional list of the UNESCO Memory of the World program. The Cultural Heritage Administration said “Samguk-yusa” (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms) and two other candidates from the country were granted the status during a general meeting of the UNESCO Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific. “Naebang-gasa” (Songs of the Inner Cha

Yoon instructs ministers to be ready for 'work start order' in industries beyond cement, calling the strike 'political'

Bipartisan clashes intensify as former security adviser arrested; Moon says ‘regrettable’

Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc welcomed The Korea Herald CEO Choi Jin-young to his presidential palace in Hanoi on Thursday for a special meeting commemorating the 30th anniversary of Korea-Vietnam diplomatic relations. The meeting was attended by Park Hang-seo, head coach of Vietnam's national soccer team, Ambassador to Vietnam Oh Young-ju and leaders of the Korea-Vietnam Friendship Association. The meeting came a few days before the Vietnamese president's three-day state visit

A local government’s independent push for lifting indoor mask mandates as early as January next year has reignited a debate about mandatory masking, while authorities and experts remain divided on the issue. According to the national quarantine authorities on Dec. 4, the municipal government of Daejeon notified the government headquarters for COVID-19 response with the following message: “If the government does not lift the indoor mask mandates by Dec. 15, the Daejeon government will