South Korea is currently involved in at least six other ongoing arbitration proceedings in addition to that lodged by Lone Star. About a dozen foreign investors have launched arbitration claims against South Korea in the past 10 years, with the combined claims made against the government totaling over 14 trillion won, according to Lawyers for a Democratic Society, or Minbyun. The total claims fi...

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea is raising calls to appoint a special counsel to take over the ongoing investigation into first lady Kim Keon-hee. The main opposition party’s Floor Leader Rep. Park Hong-keun told reporters Monday that if police and prosecutors “don’t do their jobs adequately,” appointing a special counsel to handle the investigations would be “unavoidable.” In a f...

The Yoon Suk-yeol administration is taking a series of steps to revive North Korea human rights initiatives that were paused or downscaled under president Moon Jae-in. The ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party are clashing over the push for their revival, most recently over the government North Korea human rights foundation. People Power Party interim chair Rep. Joo...

Criminal investigations involving former President Moon Jae-in’s aides are speeding up, with just a few weeks left until the country’s prosecutors lose their power to investigate most crimes under laws passed by the Democratic Party of Korea. Some of the key cases under investigation include the 2020 killing of a South Korean Fisheries Ministry worker by North Korean soldiers at sea, the 2019 de...

The family of Lee Dae-jun, a South Korean government worker who was shot dead by North Korean soldiers at sea in September 2020, will be meeting with Elizabeth Salmon, the United Nations’ newly appointed special rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea. Lee Rae-jin, the deceased official’s older brother, told The Korea Herald that the UN Human Rights Office in Seoul confirmed to h...

The family of Lee Dae-jun, a 47-year-old South Korean government official who was shot dead by North Korean soldiers near the sea border in 2020, has requested a meeting with Elizabeth Salmón, the newly appointed United Nations envoy for North Korea human rights. The murdered official’s older brother Lee Rae-jin told The Korea Herald that he has asked to meet with Salmón in person during her off...

After a tumultuous first 100 days, President Yoon Suk-yeol’s office announced a set of new hires on Sunday in a first major shake-up of his staff. Most notably, Yoon’s office is bringing back the chief of staff for policy, among the first senior roles eliminated when Yoon was inaugurated in May. Kim Dae-ki, Yoon’s chief of staff, explained at a press briefing that the role was being reinstated f...

In President Yoon Suk-yeol’s address marking his 100 days in office on Wednesday, COVID-19 went noticeably unmentioned despite the worrying rise in cases. Yoon has yet to appoint his minister of health and welfare, after the last two nominees dropped out following allegations of corruption. As president-elect and as candidate, Yoon has said he would be better than his predecessor Moon Jae-in at ...

South Korea on Thursday updated its vaccine advice to recommend boosters to people who have had a “breakthrough” case, meaning an infection following full vaccination. The latest vaccine advice says boosters or third doses are recommended to all adults aged 18 and up as well as clinically vulnerable children aged 12 to 17, if their last infection was three months or longer ago. Previously, elig...

Lee Jun-seok, the disgraced former leader of the ruling People Power Party, has launched a string of attacks on President Yoon Suk-yeol and his “pro-Yoon” rivals. Lee was unceremoniously dismissed as the party leader on Tuesday, as an interim leadership was sworn in. Lee, who was already suspended from the party by an intraparty ethics committee over a month ago, has made sure not to stay silent...

The following is a text version of the address given by Bill Gates to South Korea’s National Assembly on Tuesday, transcribed and loosely edited by The Korea Herald for clarity. -- Ed. It’s a great honor to be here. Thank you Speaker Kim (Jin-pyo) and all the members of the National Assembly for your invitation. During my trip to the Republic of Korea, one highlight is that I’ll sign a memorand...

Bill Gates on Tuesday said he hoped South Korea would take on a larger role in tackling global health threats to match the scale of its economy in a stronger partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which he co-chairs. In a meeting with President Yoon Suk-yeol at his office in central Seoul, Gates said that South Korea‘s growing contribution to global health and its capabilities m...

COVID-19 reinfections appear to be rising, and the average time until reinfection is getting shorter. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention, the number of suspected cases of reinfection in the third week of July recorded 28,966, accounting for 6.5 percent of the cases newly confirmed that week. In the second week of the same month, the share of suspected reinfections was 3.7 perc...

Chaebol bosses -- most notably of Samsung and Lotte -- are being given special presidential pardons and being bailed out of jail in light of the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic. The first round of special pardons by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration was issued in consideration of the “economic fallout from COVID-19 and stagnant recovery, as well as inflation that is associated with the ...

Sohn Mal-nyeon, 77, has been living in her two-room basement unit in Seoul’s southern central Dongjak since her daughter, now 51, was a toddler. Two months ago, her husband moved to a nursing home in Namyangju, about an hour’s drive away, leaving her to live by herself. She said that on the first night of the downpour, the local community service center called and asked her to spend the night th...