South Korean President Park Geun-hye and U.S. counterpart Barack Obama spoke over the phone about North Korea’s latest nuclear provocation for about 20 minutes Thursday morning, Cheong Wa Dae said.The two leaders shared the gravity of Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test and the need for stern countermeasures in the phone call that was made at 09:55 a.m., sources said. President Park Geun-hye at the meeting of the National Security Council in Seoul on Wednesday. YonhapA day before, defense ministers

The National Assembly held its last general assembly Thursday morning to pass some 210 pending bills, but only without disputed labor and economic bills. The revised election bill to redraw electoral districts, also remained up in the air.Parliamentary Speaker Chung Ui-hwa, who had refused to push ahead with the bill on his own authority, said that he would submit his version for review to the National Election Commission at midnight.“There will be a legislative emergency situation starting from

Non-emergency patients will face much higher medical costs if they use emergency rooms starting this month, as part of the government’s measures to limit the unnecessary use of emergency rooms, officials said Thursday. The Welfare Ministry said patients visiting the top 140 emergency rooms in the country will be classified into five categories depending on the urgency and severity of their condition, and charged different fees accordingly.  Non-emergency patients who show mild symptoms such as f

As volunteers of all ages, occupations and causes lined up wearing Korean Red Cross uniforms and chef hats at the headquarters in Jongno, central Seoul, one instructor took them through how to split the dough to make cream cakes.Hours later, sponge cakes and sweet bread came out from the oven. Looking at their warm, puffy creations, the cooks’ beamed as they imagined them being doled out to those in need, a daily routine for the volunteers.Standing among them was Yoon Kyung-ae, an 83-year-old vo

Once again, election season is high. The forthcoming April general election to constitute the 20th National Assembly will be a race for parliamentary seats as well as a prelude to the 2017 presidential election.The rival parties are mired in a power struggle of their own as their eyes are singularly set on individually and collectively winning the next Assembly seats, the configuration of which is likely to decide the fate of the incumbent administration’s initiatives to cope with the approachin

A major factional feud looms at the ruling Saenuri Party upon the imminent return of Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan, the president’s top aide with a mission to sway parliamentary election nominations in favor of pro-Park figures.Choi is coming back to his third-term seat after his successor as finance minister was named in a Cabinet reshuffle Monday. He is expected to spearhead the faction loyal to President Park Geun-hye, and bracing for his return is the party’s chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung, who represent

Investigators said Sunday they have indicted without arrest retired Adm. Choi Yoon-hee, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for receiving bribes from an arms dealer in connection with the Navy’s purchase of multi-mission maritime helicopters.The joint investigation team for corruption involving arms procurement projects said that Choi is suspected of ordering officers to forge an assessment report to show that the AW159 Wildcat supplied by Agusta Westland meets the Navy’s requirements

Rep. Kim Dong-cheol announced Sunday he was leaving the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, bringing the number of defectors from the embattled opposition party to four in just a week.“The only way to accomplish new politics and administrative change at this point is through the new party to be created by Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo,” Kim, whose defection was widely predicted, said at a press conference.Rep. Kim Dong-cheol YonhapKim’s defection marked the first time for a lawmaker representing the oppos