Most Popular
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Yoon sorry for shortcomings but insists policies were right
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1 in 3 Koreans live alone, family types becoming diverse
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S. Korea ‘strongly’ protests Japan’s claim over Dokdo in diplomatic bluebook
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Korea, Japan finance chiefs vow to tame rampant FX market volatility
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US 'incredibly concerned' about suspected NK-Iran military ties
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Korean won weakens amid heightened uncertainty
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Seoul says will cut power to porn festival planned on Han River
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Sewol victims commemorated on tragedy's 10th anniversary
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K-pop group's manager dismissed for setting up spycam in theater dressing room
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Chanel, Louis Vuitton see muted growth in Korea
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[New Analysis] What does electoral wipeout mean for Yoon’s foreign policy?
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea's resounding victory in Wednesday's National Assembly election may leave President Yoon Suk Yeol confronted with a dilemma in the realm of foreign policy. In essence, the South Korean leader may find himself navigating a pressing need to prioritize foreign affairs, including his landmark rapprochement with Japan and trilateral cooperation with the United States and Japan, amid the looming specter of a lame-duck period. However, this imperative could
Foreign AffairsApril 11, 2024
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Key conservative wins defy exit poll predictions
The atmosphere of election camps of the candidates vying for the 300-member seats in the National Assembly shifted minute by minute as the votes were counted throughout Wednesday night and into Thursday morning. Ferocious election battlefields, especially, where the results were hard to predict ended with major cliffhangers, as the victories predicted from the exit polls sponsored by South Korea’s major TV stations were disproven at the last minute. Lee Jun-seok, leader of the New Reform P
PoliticsApril 11, 2024
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Despite landslide win, opposition party chief not yet home-free
Wednesday’s general election concluded in a resounding victory for the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, which took 175 seats of the National Assembly's 300 seats while the ruling People Power Party scraped up 108. While Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung celebrates what he called "a great victory of the people," the prospect of him becoming a front-runner for the next presidency is murkier than what the landslide victory may suggest. With Lee winning his own c
PoliticsApril 11, 2024
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Meet the freshmen of S. Korea’s National Assembly
From a naturalized South Korean doctor of US missionary descent to a four-time Olympic pistol shooting champion and the former chief executive officer of the country’s largest business conglomerate, several new faces are pursuing a second career in politics through the April 10 general election. New to the National Assembly is Kwak Sang-eon of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, who won an Assembly seat for Seoul’s Jongno constituency against the incumbent Rep. Choi Jae-hy
PoliticsApril 11, 2024
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Ruling party leader quits after bitter loss, leaves room for political comeback
Han Dong-hoon’s 107-day journey as the ruling conservative party’s interim leader officially ended Thursday, after the People Power Party failed to take back the National Assembly through Wednesday’s parliamentary elections. The 51-year-old prosecutor-turned-politician announced his resignation from his position as chair of the People Power Party emergency response committee, saying that he takes responsibility for the election defeat. “The voice of the people is always r
PoliticsApril 11, 2024
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Former biz leaders receive mixed results in election
Former corporate executives who ran for a seat at the National Assembly received mixed results as the votes from the general election were announced Thursday. The two headliners -- Koh Dong-jin, former president of Samsung Electronics, and Kong Young-woon, former president of Hyundai Motor -- found each other on opposite ends of the spectrum as the former won while the latter suffered a loss. Koh, who joined the ruling People Power Party in January, confirmed victory in the Gangnam-C constituenc
PoliticsApril 11, 2024
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New parliament to have no independent member
The new National Assembly of 300 members selected in Wednesday’s general election will be devoid of any independent members for the first time in over five decades. A total of 58 candidates without any political party affiliation ran in 254 constituency races, but none prevailed. The Assembly previously lacked a nonpartisan representative three past sessions spanning from 1963 through 1972. But that was before partisan politics firmly took root in Korea, with the "democr
PoliticsApril 11, 2024
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2024 general election winners by constituency
The Korea Herald has compiled the English names of the winners of the 2024 general election's results by constituency provided by the National Election Commission on Thursday. -- Ed.
Social AffairsApril 11, 2024
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Old guard of the left makes return to parliament
Members of the center-left Democratic Party of Korea's old guard, each of them with political careers spanning several decades, made a splendid comeback in Wednesday’s general election in South Korea. The victories of Park Jie-won, Choo Mi-ae and Chung Dong-young are expected to give more strength to the opposition camp, which delivered a crushing defeat to President Yoon Suk Yeol and his conservative People Power Party. Choo, who will be returning to the National Assembly for a sixth term
PoliticsApril 11, 2024
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Yoon's aides, PM offer to resign over election defeat
President Yoon Suk Yeol's aides and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo offered to step down from their posts, as the vote count on Thursday showed that the ruling conservative bloc took a landslide defeat in Wednesday's parliamentary elections. According to a source from the presidential office who declined to be named, Prime Minister Han "verbally expressed his intention to resign" to Yoon. Key aides who directly report to Yoon -- Chief of Staff Lee Kwan-sup and Director of National Policy S
PoliticsApril 11, 2024
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Mysterious hotel deaths of 2 women, 2 men under probe
South Korean police said Thursday they are investigating the deaths of two women and two men at a hotel in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, with preliminary findings indicating the women were murdered by the men, who later jumped to their deaths from the building. Officers at Paju Police Station were investigating the case of a missing woman, which led them to a hotel in Yadang-dong, Paju on Wednesday. They tracked the victim to the hotel and knocked on the door of the room where the two men were stayin
Social AffairsApril 11, 2024
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Robbery, assault suspect arrested after leaving victim naked, unconscious in a parking lot
A man has been arrested on suspicion of robbing and assaulting a woman and leaving her unconscious in a parking lot in North Jeolla Province, police said Thursday. Jeonju Deokjin Police Station is investigating a suspect in his 20s on possible charges of bodily injury resulting from robbery and other yet-unspecified sex crimes against the victim. The victim was found at around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in a parking lot in Deokjin-gu, Jeonju. The victim had been bleeding from injuries on her face and
Social AffairsApril 11, 2024
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NK leader vows to deal 'death-blow' to enemy in event of confrontation
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to mobilize all means to deal a "death-blow" to the country's enemy without hesitation should it opt for military confrontation with the North, state media said Thursday. Kim made the remark during his visit to the Kim Jong-il University of Military and Politics on Wednesday, the Korean Central News Agency said, calling the university named after Kim's late father a military training school for core commanding officers. "He said
North KoreaApril 11, 2024
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Opposition parties expand Assembly dominance
Opposition parties secured a total of 192 seats in the 300-member National Assembly in the general election Wednesday, expanding their dominance in the parliament and threatening to constrain the ability of South Korea's conservative president to pursue his policy drive. The ruling bloc managed to defend the 100-seat threshold that could otherwise have deprived President Yoon Suk Yeol of his veto power, a vote count showed Thursday morning. It was a third victory in a row for the center-left, wh
PoliticsApril 11, 2024
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DP wins resounding majority in crushing defeat for PPP
The main opposition Democratic Party retained a majority in the National Assembly in Wednesday's general elections in another major setback for the ruling People Power Party and President Yoon Suk Yeol. With almost all votes counted, the DP won 161 out of 254 directly contested seats, while the PPP won only 90 seats. Including proportional seats, the DP and its satellite party were expected to win 176 seats and the PPP and its satellite party 109 seats in the 300-member National Assembly. T
PoliticsApril 11, 2024
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Opposition wins by landslide
South Korea’s liberal main opposition party and its allies clinched a sweeping victory in Wednesday’s general election, an outcome which is expected to further frustrate President Yoon Suk Yeol’s pursuit of key initiatives over his remaining three years in office. With only six proportional representation seats left to be assigned, the Democratic Party of Korea and its satellite Minjoo Union Party had secured 172 seats in the single-chamber, 300-member National Assembly, accord
PoliticsApril 10, 2024
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Cho Kuk’s nascent party makes waves
The nascent party formed and led by Cho Kuk, who was the former Minister of Justice for President Moon Jae-in's Democratic Party of Korea, appeared to stand out in Wednesday’s National Assembly election, possibly securing unusual success as a third party, as suggested by exit polls. Cho’s party, whose official English name is Rebuilding Korea Party, was anticipated to earn by far the most seats among several third parties that popped up ahead of the election over the past few months.
PoliticsApril 10, 2024
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Estimated turnout hits highest figure in 32 years
Voter turnout for this year’s parliamentary elections tentatively reached 67 percent, marking the highest turnout for general elections in 32 years, according to the election watchdog on Wednesday evening. Approximately 29.66 million out of 44.28 million eligible voters headed to 14,259 polling stations nationwide were open for 12 hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. to elect the new 300-member National Assembly, according to the National Election Commission in a statement released at 7:30 p.m. The
PoliticsApril 10, 2024
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[Election 2024] What 200 seats means in Korean politics
In South Korea’s relatively short history of democracy, no single political force has ever attained a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. The number is critical, because a group controlling 200 of the unicameral Assembly’s 300 seats can override any presidential veto, rewrite the Constitution, and even impeach the president, although the last two require confirmation via a referendum and the Constitutional Court, respectively. Exit polls, conducted by the nation’s t
PoliticsApril 10, 2024
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Yoon likely to face post-election political attacks
President Yoon Suk Yeol's fate was hanging in the balance as Koreans went to the polls Wednesday, The exit poll and the early ballot counting of the legislative general election suggested a gloomy outlook for the ruling bloc, which could send the conservative president into an early lame-duck phase, with three years remaining in his term. The exit poll suggested that opposition parties could secure two-thirds or more of the seats in the 300-member National Assembly, which would grant them enough
PoliticsApril 10, 2024