S. Korea to participate in working group for Ukraine Peace Formula

South Korea will participate in a working group tasked with implementing a peace plan proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a presidential official said Wednesday. The decision came while National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong was visiting Saudi Arabia last weekend to take part in multinational peace talks concerning Ukraine. The meeting was attended by the national security advisers of 45 nations, with most of them expressing their commitment to ending the war in Ukraine and quic

Aug. 9, 2023

Presidential office on 24-hour emergency duty over approaching typhoon

The office of President Yoon Suk Yeol was on 24-hour emergency duty Wednesday as a powerful typhoon was set to make landfall on the southeast coast and travel northward across the country. Typhoon Khanun has been forecast to arrive Thursday morning before moving slowly northward on a path that could bring it near the capital area and cause damage on a massive scale. Yoon might stay up overnight to oversee the response to the approaching typhoon, officials said. "The typhoon, which was initi

Aug. 9, 2023

Bomb threat email against opposition leader prompts police search for explosives

A bomb threat email against South Korea's opposition leader Lee Jae-myung has led police to search the National Assembly, officials said Tuesday. The email, which threatens to bomb a library in Seoul if Lee is not killed by 3:34 p.m. Wednesday, was sent to a number of people, including officials in the Seoul municipal government, according to the police and the secretariat of the National Assembly. Police received the report around 4:45 p.m. and dispatched a bomb disposal team to conduct a

Aug. 8, 2023

Korean public housing developer probed over shoddy safety

South Korea’s major public housing corporation is facing multiple probes into its residential buildings found to be missing steel reinforcement that is needed to yield higher strength and protect against corrosion. After the safety violations surfaced, the ruling People Power Party and the Yoon Suk Yeol administration vowed a crackdown on unsafe or illegal building practices in the construction industry. The ruling party lawmakers on Tuesday visited an apartment building in Gyeonggi Provin

Aug. 8, 2023

Korea moves to plan B as Scouts decide on early exit from Saemangeum

All 36,000 scouts remaining at the World Scout Jamboree site in the Saemangeum reclaimed tidal flat area of Buan, North Jeolla Province will be withdrawing from the campsite starting on Tuesday morning as precautionary measure for a strong typhoon approaching the peninsula, the government said Monday. The participants will start withdrawing sequentially from 10 a.m. on Tuesday and move to the metropolitan area, as Typhoon Khanun is likely to hit the east coast of South Korea on Thursday. "A

Aug. 7, 2023

[Bills in Focus] TV license fee, 3rd party calculation of patent damages, more foreign investment benefits

Proposed bill: Partial Amendment to the Broadcasting Act Proposed by Rep. Park Sung-joong (People Power Party) ● Currently, all people who possess a television receiver must pay a TV license fee, which is used to fund the Korea Broadcasting System. However, this regulation has been criticized for being unfair to those who do not subscribe to KBS broadcasts. Accordingly, this amendment sets rational standards for determining who is liable for TV license fees by exempting those who do not receive

Aug. 7, 2023

Yoon's approval inches up for 2nd consecutive week

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating inched up for the second consecutive week to 37.5 percent, a poll showed Monday. In the poll of 2,532 eligible voters conducted by Realmeter from Monday to Friday last week, the positive assessment of Yoon's performance advanced 0.2 percentage point from the previous week, while the disapproval of Yoon's performance dropped 0.2 percentage point to 59.3 percent. The rise in the positive assessment mostly came from respondents in their 60s a

Aug. 7, 2023

[Newsmaker] Mass stabbings prompt demand for more power among police

South Korea, terrorized by a series of stabbing sprees all over the country in the past month, is pondering if its police need more liberty in deploying force when confronting a suspect. Earlier this month President Yoon Suk Yeol said that the country’s “entire police force would be mobilized” to prevent the recurrence of stabbing attacks at random. But police officers on the front lines complain they are being held liable for use of force even when judged to be necessary on th

Aug. 6, 2023

S. Korea to allow up to 30 biz people each time to Ukraine on exceptions for reconstruction projects

South Korea has decided to allow up to 30 businesspeople to visit Ukraine each time for potential projects for reconstruction and recovery under special travel exceptions, officials and industry sources familiar with the matter said Sunday. Seoul has expressed its intent to actively participate in helping to rebuild the war-torn country in the wake of the war with Russia, with the business community in infrastructure and other sectors also aligning with the move. Earlier this month, officials sa

Aug. 6, 2023

Yoon orders unlimited air-conditioned buses for Jamboree participants

President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed the government to provide an unlimited number of air-conditioned buses and refrigerator trucks to protect participants of the World Scout Jamboree suffering from the heat wave. He also approved using the government’s reserve funds to provide aid for the event, Yoon’s office said Friday. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo chaired an unscheduled Cabinet meeting at Yoon’s request to discuss the budget for the annual Jamboree, which kicked off Wednesday

Aug. 4, 2023

Opposition party apologizes after suggesting elderly shouldn’t vote

South Korea’s main opposition party on Thursday apologized after a lawmaker and key official suggested older people are not as deserving of the right to vote on decisions about the future. Kim Eun-kyung, who heads the Democratic Party of Korea’s reform committee, visited the office of the senior citizens’ association in Seoul’s central Yongsan district and apologized for saying earlier that older people’s votes should not count as much as votes from younger people.

Aug. 3, 2023

LH to launch team to crack down on 'construction cartel'

The state-run Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH) said Wednesday it will launch an "anti-cartel" headquarters as part of its effort to overhaul poor construction practices and stamp out the "construction cartel," a matter under scrutiny by the ruling party for potential collusion during the previous Moon Jae-in administration. LH CEO Lee Han-jun made the announcement at an emergency meeting of key officials, after a government-led probe found that the agency had failed to dete

Aug. 3, 2023

[Herald Interview] Bad bills happen when parties compete for popularity, says seasoned Assembly aide

When parties are competing for public approval, the outcome is usually rushed bills that backfire with unintended consequences once they take effect as law, according to Je Bang-hoon, a legislative aide of more than 15 years. “All bills, whether introduced by a lawmaker or submitted by a ministry, come to the Assembly to be considered. Lawmakers author and sign bills, all of whose process is prepared and assisted by aides like myself,” he said in an interview with The Korea Herald.

Aug. 2, 2023

PPP mulls parliamentary inspection into shoddy construction of parking lots

The ruling People Power Party said Wednesday it is considering a parliamentary inspection into what led to the shoddy construction of underground parking lots at apartment complexes built under contracts with the state-run housing developer. A land ministry inspection has found that not enough reinforcing rods were put into columns supporting underground parking lots at at least 15 Korea Land and Housing Corp. apartment complexes, even though the strength of such columns is significant in the fl

Aug. 2, 2023

World Scout Jamboree's opening ceremony to be held amid heat wave concerns

About 43,000 young Scouts from 158 countries are set to begin full participation in educational and cultural exchange programs of the 25th World Scout Jamboree on Wednesday, with the opening ceremony taking place in the Saemangeum Reclaimed Area on the southwestern South Korean coast in the evening. Amid a scorching heat wave sweeping across the nation, the opening ceremony is set to start at 8 p.m. at the jamboree campground, about 180 km south of Seoul, featuring welcome and opening speeches b

Aug. 2, 2023

Yoon meets with Belize PM Briceno, requests support for 2030 World Expo bid

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol held a meeting with Belize's Prime Minister John Briceno on Tuesday and requested the Central American country's support for South Korea's bid to bring the 2030 World Expo to its southern port city of Busan, the presidential office said. During the meeting held at the presidential office in Seoul, Yoon also expressed hope for increased exchanges between the two countries, noting that a growing number of Korean tourists are visiting Belize, pres

Aug. 1, 2023

Yoon calls for new school guidelines for fall semester to protect teachers

President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the Education Ministry on Tuesday to establish new school guidelines to protect teachers' rights from as early as the fall semester this year. He stressed that failing to address unruly behavior among children in classrooms is akin to giving way to violators of the law in the name of human rights. "Failing to discipline children who have refused to follow rules (in a classroom) for the sake of children's rights is no different than failing to punish criminals

Aug. 1, 2023

KCC nominee prepares for hearing despite calls for him to withdraw

Amid swirling controversies surrounding his eligibility, Lee Dong-kwan, special adviser for external relations to President Yoon Suk Yeol and nominee to head the Korea Communications Commission, commenced preparations on Tuesday for a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly. Lee arrived Tuesday morning at a temporary office set up in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, located within minutes of the state broadcasting watchdog’s headquarters. His appearance comes four days after the official

Aug. 1, 2023

[Bills in Focus] Tackling workplace discrimination, e-commerce fraud

Proposed bill: Partial Amendment to the Labor Standards Act Proposed by Rep. Kim Ju-young (Democratic Party of Korea) ● With the expanding diversity of employment types, there has been a notable increase in cases of discrimination based on employment type. This amendment prohibits discrimination based on employment type and stipulates that work requiring the same or similar technologies, labor intensity and work conditions has equal value. Proposed bill: Partial Amendment to the Act on the Con

Aug. 1, 2023

Prosecutors seek arrest warrants for 2 lawmakers again over DP cash-for-votes scandal

Prosecutors sought arrest warrants for two lawmakers for a second time Tuesday over a cash-for-votes scandal surrounding the main opposition Democratic Party's 2021 leadership election, after the National Assembly refused to consent to their arrests earlier this year. Reps. Youn Kwan-suk and Lee Sung-man, now independents after quitting the Democratic Party, are accused of involvement in distributing cash envelopes, each containing 3 million won, to 20 Democratic Party lawmakers as part of

Aug. 1, 2023