President Yoon Suk Yeol nominated Kim Moon-soo, a seasoned conservative politician and a former labor activist who recently served as the governor of Gyeonggi Province, as the new labor minister on Wednesday. Kim, who is currently a chair of the presidential advisory body the Economic, Social and Labor Council, will succeed Lee Jung-sik once he gets Yoon's final approval after going through a parliamentary hearing. Yoon may push to appoint a ministerial figure without the opposition-control

Politics July 31, 2024

Kim Ju-ae, the 12-year-old daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is seen as being groomed for succession, a lawmaker who attended a meeting of the intelligence committee of the National Assembly told reporters Monday. "(According to the National Intelligence Service,) Kim Ju-ae is being suggested as the most likely successor in the regime, as her succession training is currently underway," said Rep. Lee Seong-kweun of the ruling People Power Party, who attended the meeting Monda

Politics July 29, 2024

Controversy has rekindled in South Korea over whether the government's decision to support Japan's bid for the UNESCO World Heritage listing of the Sado Island gold and silver mines will compel Tokyo to acknowledge the forced labor of Koreans there. Among the criticisms is Japan's failure to recognize an estimated over 1,500 workers from the Korean Peninsula at the Sado mine as forced labor, as well as its omission of a museum featuring exhibitions on the Korean workers and the harsh, discrimina

Foreign Affairs July 28, 2024

The International Olympic Committee apologized to President Yoon Suk Yeol, the government, and the country's athletes for the error made during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics Friday afternoon local time, at which the South Korean delegation was mistakenly identified as representing North Korea, with which South Korea is technically still at war. According to the Sports Ministry on Sunday, IOC President Thomas Bach apologized for the "mistake in the audio broadcast of the op

Politics July 28, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday that local governments' cooperation with the state was crucial in encouraging foreign residents to settle here to address the population crisis in South Korea. At a meeting held in Hongseong-gun, South Chungcheong Province, Yoon, who presided over a meeting with heads of the autonomous governments, said the central and local governments should take preemptive actions to support foreign nationals to settle and work in Korean society, as the country faces a gr

Politics July 25, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol's office announced Thursday it has established a new senior presidential secretary position dedicated to addressing South Korea's population crisis. Yoon's office also said You Hye-mi, an economics professor at Hanyang University, was appointed as the inaugural senior secretary tasked with tackling South Korea's low birth rate and addressing the nation's demographic challenges. Chung Jin-suk, Yoon's chief of staff, told reporters that You's position will serve as a "

Politics July 25, 2024

The new ruling People Power Party leadership kicked off its first day by highlighting unity amid concerns over lingering tensions between President Yoon Suk Yeol and newly elected party Chair Han Dong-hoon. The two met for dinner at the presidential office in Yongsan-gu in Seoul at the invitation of the president, Yoon's office said, noting that the meeting was intended to nurture "a grand harmony." Han was invited along with some other contenders at the party's national conv

Politics July 24, 2024

A series of conflicts between President Yoon Suk Yeol and his political lieutenant Han Dong-hoon have come under renewed focus as Han was elected as the new chair of the ruling People Power Party in a resounding victory at the party's National Convention on Tuesday. Han was constantly at odds with Yoon's office in Seoul as he led the campaign for the April 10 general election as the ruling party's interim leader. On the latest occasion, earlier in July, Han zeroed in on the presidential office b

Politics July 23, 2024

Lawmakers of the minor liberal opposition Rebuilding Korea Party proposed a bill Tuesday to launch a special counsel probe into both President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee. This is the latest development following disputes and the prosecution's internal strife concerning the legal enforcement institution's decision to interrogate Kim outside of its office, in what Yoon's political enemies have depicted as preferential treatment for the president's wife. Led by Rep. Park Eun-jung, a

Politics July 23, 2024

Prosecutor General Lee One-seok on Monday apologized for the prosecution's secretive questioning of first lady Kim Keon Hee over the weekend, saying that investigation principles were neglected while interrogating her. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office questioned Kim as a suspect at an undisclosed venue believed to be somewhere other than a prosecutors' office. The prosecution general, whose Supreme Prosecutors Office oversees the Seoul office, said he was not briefed

Politics July 22, 2024

Former US President Donald Trump said Thursday in his Republican National Convention speech to accept the conservative party's nomination as its presidential candidate that he "got along with" North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. His remarks came as he touted himself as the right person allegedly to stop the wars and deal with the geopolitical complexities involving Russia and North Korea, given his experience holding in-person meetings with both North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Ru

Politics July 19, 2024

The recent indictment in the US of Sue Mi Terry, a North Korea expert who formerly worked for the US Central Intelligence Agency, is feeding the political blame game between the ruling bloc and opposition here over which administration is responsible for what is perceived as South Korea's spying blunder. A South Korean liberal lawmaker who formerly served as the chief of South Korea's National Intelligence Service slammed President Yoon Suk Yeol's office for "creating an inte

Politics July 19, 2024

Over 40 balloons carrying trash flew across the border from the North and fell in northern Gyeonggi Province overnight, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff announced Friday. The JCS detected at least 200 balloons flying from North Korea from 5 p.m. Thursday until 5 a.m. Friday, and one-fifth of them dropped in South Korea. Residents of Seoul received an alert at around 5:50 p.m. Thursday that a North Korean balloon had entered South Korea's territorial airspace. The balloons mostly carried paper

Politics July 19, 2024

Behind South Korea's win of a 24 trillion won ($17.4 billion) nuclear power plant deal in the Czech Republic was President Yoon Suk Yeol's diplomatic effort, according to local reports quoting his aides in Seoul. Yoon who calls himself "Korea Inc.'s No. 1 salesman" has helped the South Korean consortium inching closer to signing what would be the central European country's largest energy project to build at least two 1,000 megawatts of nuclear units in Dukovany, a city located 170 kilo

Politics July 18, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday nominated Yoo Sang-im as the new science minister and North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker Tae Yong-ho as the secretary-general of the presidential Peaceful Unification Advisory Council's Secretariat, a vice-ministerial post. Presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk told reporters Thursday that Yoo, a materials science and engineering professor at Seoul National University, is the right fit for the position tasked with the conservative administration's scien

Politics July 18, 2024