President Moon Jae-in instructed his government Monday to do its best for the safe evacuation of South Korea's diplomatic officials and residents in Afghanistan. He told relevant authorities to make all-out efforts so that every single South Korean national there can be evacuated to safety, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. The president has been receiving real-time reports on recent security situations in the nation, where the Taliban has taken control, she added. Moon

South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party is poised to push ahead with the revision of the Act on Press Arbitration, despite resistance from opposition parties and the media. The Act on Press Arbitration aims to mediate disputes over media reports that infringe on people’s rights, interests or reputations. The ruling party recently proposed a revised bill that would further toughen consequences for false reports, including the introduction of punitive damages. Under the revised law

A website claiming to “verify” feminist celebrities and high profile figures was deleted hours after launch Friday, highlighting once again how feminism faces backlash from anti-feminist groups and how deepened gender conflict has become in the country. The website, dubbed “Check Femi,” had several dozens of figures analyzed by 11 a.m. Friday, categorizing them to three groups of “suspected,” “verified” and “vanguard” in their associat

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung on Friday announced his decision to provide universal COVID-19 relief funds to all provincial residents, contrary to the central government's policy of selective relief payments. Lee, the front-running presidential contender for the ruling Democratic Party, vowed to ensure that all 14 million residents in the province, which surrounds Seoul, will benefit from the government's upcoming emergency disaster relief handouts. In late July, the National Assembly p

Main opposition party leader Lee Jun-seok continued to bicker with his own party members supporting former prosecutor general and presidential hopeful Yoon Seok-youl despite concerns that internal fighting will not help the party win next year’s election. The People Power Party plans to hold a debate between the party’s preliminary presidential candidates on Aug. 18, which members of Yoon’s camp have expressed discontent with, saying everyone will attack Yoon, the leading can

Ex-Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, the leading opposition presidential contender, widened his lead over his rival from the ruling bloc, Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, in a hypothetical two-way presidential race, the latest poll showed Thursday. According to the poll conducted by Realmeter on 2,031 voters nationwide from Sunday-Monday, 42.1 percent of the respondents said they will vote for Yoon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) in a hypothetical two-horse race against Gy

The main opposition party has set its primary schedule, but is hit by an internal feud, as some presidential contenders expressed discontent over how it’s going to be done. Former prosecutor general and currently the People Power Party’s strongest presidential hopeful Yoon Seok-youl is unwilling to take part in the first debate among preliminary candidates on Aug. 18. Yoon, who has not yet registered as a preliminary presidential candidate in the party, did not attend events organi

Drug arrests up 8.6% in H1; 156.5% for juveniles

Now granted parole, Samsung Group’s de facto leader Lee Jae-yong will be released from the Seoul Detention Center at 10 a.m. Friday. His freedom, however, could be short-lived, as he is fighting two more criminal trials -- one on alleged accounting fraud and other offenses during a merger of two Samsung affiliates and another for his alleged use of the anesthetic propofol without a prescription. He was behind bars for his conviction for bribing former President Park Geun-hye as part of

Hanwha Q Cells sinks deeper into red, but Kim’s vision for a turnaround faces doubts

Slightly more than half of all South Koreans do not support the idea of postponing the regular joint summertime military drills between Seoul and Washington, a poll showed Monday. In the poll of 500 people aged 18 and older nationwide conducted by Realmeter last Friday, 50.4 percent of the respondents said they do not agree with calls for delaying the allied military drills. Meanwhile, 45.3 percent said they do. Talk of delaying or scaling down the annual joint military exercise set to take pl

Every summer around this time, South Korea releases hundreds of prisoners either on parole or pardons, in celebration of Liberation Day on Aug. 15. This year, the traditional practice of clemency has drawn particular attention as it could include one of the richest men in the country: Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the de-facto chief of Samsung Group. Come Monday, a parole committee within the Ministry of Justice will convene for a final review of candidates, which will det

President Moon Jae-in applauded the South Korean women's volleyball team Sunday, praising its unsuccessful but "extraordinarily touching" bid to win a medal at the Tokyo Summer Olympics. "The team extraordinarily touched (the hearts of Koreans)," Moon wrote on social media after the women's team ended its Olympic competition in fourth place. In the bronze medal match held earlier in the day at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, the South Korean women's team lost to Serbia 0-3, fallin

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung outstripped ex-Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl to seize the lead among presidential hopefuls, an opinion poll showed Friday. Lee garnered 25 percent of support in the survey conducted on 1,001 voters across the nation from Tuesday-Thursday by Gallup Korea for the most favored next leader of the country. The governor was ahead of Yoon, who had 19 percent, by a margin of six percentage points, which is within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3.1

An Air Force warrant officer on Friday denied allegations he pressured the victim of a sexual abuse case not to pursue punishment of the perpetrator in the infliction of "secondary harm" blamed for her suicide. During a preparatory hearing at a military court in Seoul, the warrant officer, surnamed Noh, claimed through his lawyer Kim Sang-ho that he did not blackmail the victim nor had an intention to obstruct the investigation into the case. The victim, a master sergeant surnamed Le