South Korea’s tax revenue in proportion to its gross domestic product is still lower than average for members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, though it has gradually gone up. The country’s property tax revenue, however, accounted for 3.3 percent of its GDP, nearly 1.7 times the OECD average of 1.9 percent, a state-funded think tank said. Among the 37 OECD members, Korea’s taxes were relatively low overall in proportion to the size of its economy,

A man who allegedly intruded into a home and killed three women after stalking one of them was unmasked in front of the press Friday morning, following a rare police decision to disclose his personal details. The Nowon police station in northeastern Seoul sent Kim Tae-hyeon, 24, to the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office on charges of murder, theft, housebreaking, consistent harassment and violation of information and communication network laws. Kim said he felt “guilty for

Asian students in 15 US law schools including Harvard asked the White House to engage in the “comfort women” issue ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s US visit. The Harvard Asian Pacific American Law Students Association said Tuesday that they sent a letter, co-signed by the Asian law student associations of 14 other universities such as Columbia, Stanford and Yale, requesting US President Joe Biden to raise the issue of Japan’s wartime sex slavery during h

Marital status will no longer matter in getting child care support from the government under a new rule that will benefit low-income foreigners raising their Korean children. Under current rules, foreigners who are not married to Korean nationals are not eligible to receive a monthly child care support of 200,000 won ($180) per child even though they are raising their Korean children. This will change when a set of revised rules on support to single-parent families takes effect in May. The ch

A US think tank suggested possible activity at North Korea’s key nuclear facility in Yongbyon, pointing to a satellite image showing steam coming out of its radiochemistry lab and thermal plant. The Center for Strategic and International Studies published its analysis based on a satellite image dated Tuesday as the US government is wrapping up a comprehensive review of its North Korea policy. In an article published on “Beyond Parellel,” a website run by the CSIS Korea Chair,

The White House said it is not the intention of US President Joe Biden to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as part of the diplomacy that Biden has said he was prepared for. In response to the question, “Now that the president said he’s ‘prepared for some form of diplomacy,’ does this include sitting with President Kim Jong-un?” at the White House daily press briefing Monday, press secretary Jen Psaki said, “I think his approach would be quite differe

Thick yellow dust originating from China’s Inner Mongolia swept through most of South Korea on Monday, prompting the Environment Ministry to issue a nationwide caution -- the third-highest alert level in a four-tier system. The nation’s weather agency issued both yellow dust warnings and ultrafine dust alerts earlier on Monday. A yellow dust alert is issued when average fine dust levels stay above 300 micrograms per cubic meter for more than two hours. This is when the sky is yel

The nation’s first ever impeachment trial of a judge began Tuesday, as the Constitutional Court held a pretrial hearing for Lim Seong-geun, who stands accused of abusing his judicial power in several politically sensitive court rulings. The 300-seat National Assembly last month passed a motion tabled by a group of 161 lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party and minor liberal parties to impeach Lim, a sitting judge at the time, making him the first judge in South Korea to face an impeac

Former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon will run again for the job next month as he was chosen over software entrepreneur-turned-politician Ahn Cheol-soo in polls to make it a two-way race against the ruling party. Running on the main opposition People Power Party’s ticket, Oh was declared winner of the bipartisan primary against the leader of the minor opposition People’s Party Tuesday morning. The primary was based solely on a survey of 3,200 people conducted by two pollsters on Monday. O

The opposition’s two strongest candidates have begun a two-day poll starting Monday to decide which of them should run in the Seoul mayoral by-election on April 7 to defeat the ruling party. Oh Se-hoon of the main opposition People Power Party and Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People’s Party will conduct surveys of 1,600 people each, and add up the results to be announced by Wednesday. Should they be able to finish earlier, the final candidate may also be revealed on Tuesday

A diplomatic spat between North Korea and Malaysia is escalating over the Southeast Asian country’s decision to extradite a North Korean person to the United States to face money laundering charges. In protest over Malaysia’s decision, North Korea said Friday it would sever diplomatic ties, signaling even further diplomatic isolation for the hermit kingdom. In response to Pyongyang’s move, Malaysia ordered North Korean diplomats stationed in Kuala Lumpur to leave the country

Former national soccer team captain Ki Sung-yueng continues to face allegations that he sexually assaulted two of his elementary school teammates 21 years ago, as a television program aired interviews of the purported victims on Tuesday. The two, who were themselves punished for school violence four years later in 2004, said they now realize that they should have sincerely apologized to their victims. The two told MBC’s “PD Notebook” that Ki and another teammate, who were six

The worst sandstorm in 10 years from China blew over to South Korea early Tuesday, and is expected to affect mostly the western part of the country until Wednesday. Yellow dust that originates in the Mongolian Plateau, the Gobi Desert and northeastern China gets carried over to the Korean Peninsula by the north winds that are typically prevalent in March. The Korea Meteorological Agency said the yellow dust will gradually dissipate on Wednesday, but remnants could linger depending on the atmos

A police investigation looking into who had left a 2-year-old girl alone in an empty house for months continues, after her death reported last week ignited a public uproar. The toddler named Boram was found dead on Feb. 10 in the southeastern city of Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province. Police arrested a 22-year-old woman surnamed Kim on charges of homicide and child neglect as they suspected she had left the child alone as she remarried. Recent DNA test results showed, however, that Kim’s

The nationwide crackdown and shootings at protesters in Myanmar against the military rulers’ overthrow of an elected government last month are becoming increasingly reminiscent of what happened in Gwangju 41 years ago. Scores of people have been killed and about 1,800 others have been detained since the military coup on Feb. 1 that ousted Myanmar’s civilian leaders including state councilor Aung San Suu Kyi. The Southeast Asian country had been under military rule for nearly half a