The country recorded the first net increase in employment in 13 months last month, in what government officials described as the latest sign that the labor market is improving after a yearlong slump mainly caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The number of employed people reached 26.92 million in March, an increase of 314,000 from a year earlier, according to data released by Statistics Korea last week. Buoyed by the figures, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, who concurrently serves as deputy prime

The first US-Japan summit of the Joe Biden administration, as expected, dealt with the need for a united front against China as its top priority. The leaders of both countries focused on putting pressure on China in many areas, including technology. They also reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea. The two leaders agreed on the importance of trilateral cooperation among the US, South Korea and Japan in security and prosperity. Japan got closer to the US

President Moon Jae-in reshuffled his Cabinet and senior secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae on Friday. Clearly, he intended to give fresh impetus to his leadership amid the fallout from his party’s crushing defeat in key mayoral by-elections early this month. With slightly more than a year to go before his five-year tenure ends, Moon’s approval rating continues to fall as many people are increasingly disappointed and disillusioned with what they see as his substandard performance. His supp

The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan caucus of the US House of Representatives, hosted a hearing Thursday on South Korea’s law that criminalizes the dispersal of propaganda leaflets to North Korea. 　 Witnesses raised concerns that the law may limit the freedom of speech of South Koreans and others working to promote human rights. They criticized not only the law but also human rights and democracy in South Korea.　 Gordon Chang, an expert on North Korea, said that the Sout

President Moon Jae-in came forward Wednesday to add weight to Seoul’s response to a controversial decision made by Tokyo a day earlier to discharge contaminated wastewater from a crippled nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. While meeting with Japan’s new ambassador here, Koichi Aiboshi, to receive his credentials, Moon said there is great concern among South Koreans, as the two nations are geographically close to each other and have shared waters. He asked the envoy to conve