Approval ratings for President Moon Jae-in and the ruling Democratic Party inched up this week amid a major resurgence of COVID-19, which previously had declined for two consecutive weeks. A pollster attributed the uptick to the fact that anti-government rallies by conservative groups on Liberation Day, Aug. 15, were a factor in the latest spread of the coronavirus nationwide. Thousands of protesters, led by pastor Jun Kwang-hoon, gathered in Gwanghwamun on Aug. 15. Among them were members of

The National Human Rights Commission said on Wednesday that it advised a local government to pay disaster relief to the foreign spouse of a Korean national as it is unfair to exclude her just because the couple is childless. The couple signed up for emergency disaster relief from their local government in April, but only the Korean national received the money as per related ordinance. The ordinance stipulates that whatever is not stated in the ordinance should be handled according to the Nati

Police said Wednesday they will have all 7,600 officers who were deployed at the Liberation Day mass rallies in downtown Seoul, tested for COVID-19 as many of the protesters tested positive. “All members who stood at Gwanghwamun (Square) strictly abided by the disease prevention guidelines, but we have internally agreed that it would be better to test all of them just in case,” said an official of the National Police Agency. On Aug. 15, a total of 7,613 personnel from metropolitan

The government is expected to take stronger disease control measures in the face of a sudden uptick in COVID-19 cases largely traceable to a church in Seoul. Park Neung-hoo, the minister of health and welfare, said Tuesday that the current situation was “grave” and the authorities would review the possibility of stronger measures. “In the Seoul metropolitan area, anyone can get infected, and we are seeing confirmed cases in a total of 12 major cities and provinces. We are c

The national weather agency on Monday issued special warnings for heat waves in most parts of Korea, following heavy monsoon rains that caused casualties. The hot and humid southwestern winds joined the North Pacific High, a semipermanent, subtropical anticyclone, around the edges overnight, causing temperatures to rise to tropical levels across Korea, except in some inland areas. The lowest night temperatures marked as of 7 a.m. were 26.1 degrees Celsius in Seoul; 25.7 C in Suwon, Gyeonggi P

Foreigners who test positive for the new coronavirus upon entering South Korea will have to pay for their own treatment if they violate the country’s disease prevention guidelines. The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that should foreigners who are diagnosed during quarantine or isolation violate the disease control guidelines, they will have to pay all their own medical fees. The new measure we

Prosecutors grilled Rep. Yoon Mi-hyang, a longtime activist for the rights of the victims of wartime sexual slavery committed by Japan, on Thursday over allegations that she embezzled donations for the women. The interrogation went on for over 11 hours beginning at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Seoul Western District Prosecutors’ Office, followed by perusing through the prosecution’s records of her statements for over three hours until she went home at around 4 a.m. on Friday. Pro

A UN expert on human rights in North Korea says he has not yet received a satisfactory response from the South Korean government as to why only human rights and defectors’ organizations are being targeted for office inspections and audits. Tomas Ojea Quintana, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea, told The Korea Herald that he wants to understand the political decision behind the Unification Ministry’s plan to inspect 25 nongovernmental groups advocati

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said on Wednesday that it has requested 14 organizations to cancel their plans for mass rallies on Aug. 15 Liberation Day in a bid to keep COVID-19 from spreading. Seoul City said that should the organizations go ahead with their rallies, it will use all means including an order that prohibits rallies to prevent the coronavirus from spreading. “Various organizations are planning to hold mass gatherings downtown. ... We have officially requested them yes

The Seoul government’s ban on nongovernmental groups’ flying of leaflets into North Korea was based on the basic principle of a democratic society that people should not risk the safety of others to pursue their own freedom, a senior Unification Ministry official said. “The floating of leaflets and other items posed serious risks to the lives of residents in the border regions by raising inter-Korean tensions; dealt a blow to the regional economy by resulting in a (local gove

North Korea continues to work aggressively to develop long-range nuclear missiles capable of threatening the US mainland through a “very deliberate testing program” for systems improvement, a senior Pentagon official said. Victorino Mercado, US assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans and capabilities, made the remarks during the 2020 Space and Missile Defense Symposium held virtually Tuesday, Washington time, according to the transcript posted on the Pentagon website on

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that if it weren’t for the US presidential election campaign, North Korea, Iran and China would be at the negotiation table wanting to make a deal with the US. During a 53-minute interview with Fox News, Trump briefly mentioned that if the US didn’t have an election coming up, its stock market would be in better shape and countries like North Korea would be at the negotiation table within 24 hours. “Our stock market is very close to h

Six Uzbeks who tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday and Tuesday were found to have attended an Islamic religious event in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, with some 340 other people last Friday, prompting health authorities to test all of them. The six Uzbeks attended the celebration of Eid al-Adha, one of the two Islamic holidays celebrated worldwide each year at the end of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, at a park in Cheongju on July 31. Those who attended the event wrote their names i

Record-breaking torrential rain and the COVID-19 pandemic are threatening North Korea, which has already been troubled by years of international economic sanctions. The country’s state broadcaster said Tuesday that heavy rain will continue in most regions from Monday night through Thursday morning, with special warnings issued in South and North Pyongan, South and North Hwanghae provinces; Kaesong; southern Jagang Province and certain inland areas of Gangwon Province. Lesser-degree warn

Hong Kong has long been the Asian hub of finance and tourism, and home to more than 13,000 South Koreans. However, mass anti-China, anti-extradition bill protests and mainland China’s introduction of a controversial security law on the city have led many South Koreans to rethink Hong Kong as a place of residence in the long term. A month after the Hong Kong National Security Law went into force on June 30, South Koreans say that as the city is on its way to becoming just another major C