Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Friday that the hoarding of vaccines by a few countries would only undermine the public interest and lengthen the pandemic. “It is especially important to keep a distance from ‘vaccine nationalism’ and guarantee fair provision of vaccines to everyone at affordable costs,” Kang said during a congratulatory speech at a sustainable development forum hosted by Yonsei University. “We need to invest in bolstering the national health

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Friday called for continued caution against COVID-19, pointing out that the number of confirmed cases sharply increased in the US and the UK shortly after vaccinations began. South Koreans must stay vigilant despite high expectations for treatments and vaccines, Chung said. “We need to see the fact that confirmed cases rose sharply in the early stage of vaccinations in countries such as the US and UK,” the prime minister said as he presided over a m

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Friday that the hoarding of vaccines by a few countries would only undermine the public interest and lengthen the pandemic. “It is especially important to keep a distance from ‘vaccine nationalism’ and guarantee fair provision of vaccines to everyone at affordable costs,” Kang said during a congratulatory speech at a sustainable development forum hosted by Yonsei University. “We need to invest in bolstering the national health

Unification Minister Lee In-young said he is against additional sanctions on North Korea, which US Secretary of State has mentioned as one of the options the US may consider as it reviews its North Korea policy. “To talk about further sanctions, it is about time to evaluate what kind of outcome the sanctions so far has brought,” Lee said during a meeting with the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club on Wednesday as he answered a question on what he thinks about Antony Blinken&rs

The main opposition party instructed its lawmakers to focus on the topic of sexual assaults among others when they shoot questions at the government during a series of interpellation sessions beginning Thursday. In an internal document revealed Tuesday, the People Power Party advised 12 participating legislators to concentrate on framing the government and the ruling party as “anti-corporation, anti-market economy, anti-rule of law and (prone to) sexual assaults.” An administrativ

The United States is reviewing its North Korea policy to use the most effective tools to advance the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in his first media interview since taking office last week. Blinken said that included a possibility of further sanctions in coordination with US allies, as well as unspecified diplomatic incentives, he said in an interview with broadcaster NBC aired Monday evening, local time. Asked whether it was time to reco

South Korean health authorities have backtracked on a plan to raise tobacco prices to match the average levels of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, denying reports that it would hike up cigarette prices to 8,000 won a pack. In a set of plans unveiled on Wednesday, the Health Ministry said it would increase its health promotion levy on tobacco over the next 10 years to raise its price to the average level of OECD countries. The average retail price of a pack of

It has been harassment after harassment this week, with an opposition lawmaker using a “royal concubine” reference as she disparaged another female legislator, just a day after a progressive party leader was sacked for sexual misconduct against a fellow lawmaker. Adding to the series of disclosures, criminal actions, apologies and ensuing uproar was the accusation that the main opposition party leader made inappropriate physical contact on a reporter’s body as he pushed her ou

A cohort of President Moon Jae-in’s unwavering loyalists who are most active on the internet has long been criticized or even abhorred for going to extreme lengths to attack anyone they think is berating Moon or his administration. For years, members of the pro-Moon legion have threatened to lynch reporters or anyone who appears “disrespectful” of the administration, going after their personal information and hurling verbal abuse on internet forums. Most recently, a pro-Moon

Opposition lawmakers were geared up to use Monday’s confirmation hearing for Justice Minister nominee Park Beom-kye to their fullest advantage by bashing him over numerous issues, including his failure to declare some of his assets. The opposition’s offensive in the series of hearings for ministerial nominees since last week has mainly focused on Park, who himself rose to confirmation hearing stardom in 2014. As a first-time lawmaker at the time, Park raised allegations that the aut

The number of new COVID-19 cases in South Korea remained below 400 for the second day on Tuesday, signaling a continued slowdown in the spread of the coronavirus, while the authorities called for continued vigilance. A total of 386 new cases were added, raising the total number of people infected so far to 73,115, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The daily number of new cases over the past 15 days went from 714 to 838, 869, 674, 641, 657, 451, 537, 561, 524, 513, 580, 520,

The prosecution is stepping up the investigation into alleged irregularities regarding an overseas travel ban on a former vice justice minister last year, which has emerged as yet another point of contention for the Moon Jae-in administration. The nation’s civil rights watchdog recently received a complaint from a whistleblower that the Justice Ministry and a fact-finding team of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office had illegally banned Kim Hak-eui from leaving the country in March last

Prosecutors on Wednesday pressed murder charges against a woman who allegedly abused and killed her 16-month-old adoptive daughter in October, as the trial opened in the nation’s latest high-profile child abuse case. The child -- publicly known as Jeong-in, the name given to her by her birth mother -- died Oct. 13 at a hospital in southwestern Seoul. Prosecutors had initially indicted the 34-year-old mother, identified by the surname Jang, in December on the lesser charge of child abuse

Cold air from the North Pole gripped the nation on Friday, pushing the mercury down to minus 29.1 degrees Celsius on a mountain peak in Gangwon Province and minus 21.7 degrees in northwestern Seoul. The capital’s official overnight low, measured in Jongno-gu, hit minus 18.6 degrees, the lowest since Jan. 5, 1986. In Gangwon Province, the cold spell froze the Soyang River and Bukhan River in Chuncheon, as well as a waterfall on the Hantan River in Cheorwon. Seawater icicles even formed on

The government said Wednesday it will not issue employment permits to those who provide foreign workers with unsuitable shelters such as makeshift structures inside vinyl greenhouses. The move by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs comes after a Cambodian female worker at a farm in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, was found dead on Dec. 20 in a prefabricated dwelling unit with a malfunctioning heating system inside a greenhouse made of plastic after temperatures fell to minus 18 degr