South Korea will provide emergency humanitarian aid of $10 million for Ukrainian citizens and refugees, President Moon Jae-in said after a 30-minute phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday night. “We are on the phone again under a very unfortunate situation,” Moon was quoted as saying during the call, and expressed his deepest condolences to the victims and their bereaved families of the war in Ukraine. “We pay tribute to the courage and sacrifice o

Politics March 3, 2022

President Moon Jae-in said Thursday the government should strengthen its security capabilities for the next administration to respond to the complex security crisis agilely from the beginning. Moon presided over a National Security Council expansion ministerial meeting at Cheong Wa Dae the same day, receiving a report from the NSC on the prospects for security threats from last year through 2030. “The global security environment is changing rapidly,” Moon said at the meeting. &l

Politics March 3, 2022

Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung asked Justice Party candidate Sim Sang-jung to work together to form a unified government when Sim criticized the ruling party for failing to create a safe working environment in a televised debate on Wednesday. Referring to Kim Yong-gyun, who died while working alone at the Taean Thermal Power Plant in 2018, Sim criticized the Democratic Party for failing to keep promises to hire subcontractor workers as full-time workers related to life and safety wo

Politics March 2, 2022

President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday urged Japan to face history and sympathize with the wounds of its neighboring countries in a ceremony to mark the March 1st Movement on Tuesday. Moon and his wife Kim Jung-sook attended the 103rd anniversary ceremony of the March 1st Movement at the National Memorial of the Korean Provisional Government in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. The memorial hall, which was created as part of Moon’s presidential pledge, opened for the first time on the day. “Coopera

Politics March 1, 2022

South Korean presidential candidates’ stances on national security and foreign policy are emerging as key issues in the upcoming election as East-West tensions escalate over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Each candidate has insisted that their security views are the best for the country, while some of their attacks on rivals have backfired. The two frontrunners, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s Lee Jae-myung and the main opposition People Power Party’s Yoon Suk-yeo

Politics Feb. 28, 2022

Liberal leaning presidential candidates Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party bombarded Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition conservative People Power Party over security issues, citing the Ukraine crisis in a televised debate on Friday night. Over the topic of establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula and unification with North Korea, Sim criticized Yoon’s stance on South Korea’s possible participation in

Politics Feb. 25, 2022

South Korea and the United States have reached an agreement for the US to return 165,000 square meters from the Yongsan US Base in Seoul and Camp Red Cloud, a US Army camp located in Uijeongbu city, officials said Friday. Im Sang-woo, director of the North American Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and joint chairperson of the Korea-US Status of Forces Agreement, and Scott Pleus, deputy commander of the US Forces Korea, adopted a joint statement containing these details by phone on the

Politics Feb. 25, 2022

As Russia has launched a full-scale military attack on Ukraine despite global condemnation, President Moon Jae-in urged officials to check the situation and take a preemptive response through the Ukraine emergency response task force, the presidential office said Friday. Moon delivered these instructions at the Cheong Wa Dae meeting in the morning, spokesperson Park Kyung-mi said in a written briefing on the day. His remarks are related to the safety of Korean residents in Ukraine and the ec

Foreign Affairs Feb. 25, 2022

Rep. Hong Joon-pyo of the main opposition People Power Party said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was caused by Ukraine’s lack of nuclear weapons. Other opposition politicians criticized the invasion, calling for more active support from the Korean government to support Ukraine. When asked by a supporter how he would have reacted to the current situation if he had been President of Ukraine, the senior politician and former presidential candidate replied, “The Ukraine crisis was

Politics Feb. 25, 2022

Regarding the issue of sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday that it would not consider independent sanctions considering relations with Russia as well as Korean residents and businesses in Russia. Park Soo-hyun, senior presidential secretary for public communication, said in a local radio interview, “This is not an era in which we can do things (sanctions) independently. If the US and European countries impose sanctions on Russia, we will naturally

Foreign Affairs Feb. 25, 2022

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday said that the country will cooperate with the international community, including measures such as sanctions against Russia, following Russian attack on Ukraine. Tensions between Moscow and Kyiv are at their highest in years after Russian troops launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine on the day. “The use of force that causes innocent casualties cannot be justified under any circumstances,” Moon said in the afternoon after receiving a repor

Foreign Affairs Feb. 24, 2022

South Korea is not considering military support or sending troops over the Ukraine crisis, top officials said Wednesday. “The government is reviewing what we can do by predicting what the situation will be like in the future and looking at how it will affect us,” a Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters amid escalating tensions over the Ukraine-Russia crisis. “We are considering various possibilities, but not military support or dispatch of troops.” “What we are r

Politics Feb. 23, 2022

As the 20th presidential election for overseas Koreans begins on Wednesday, presidential candidates compete to win over expat voters, pledging to establish the overseas Korean office and improve the current inconvenient election system. Overseas elections take place at 219 polling stations at 177 diplomatic missions in 115 countries worldwide. There are 226,152 registered overseas voters. First voting starts with the New Zealand Embassy and Auckland branch at 4 a.m. on Wednesday. In the case

Politics Feb. 23, 2022

Amid mounting fears of a Russian incursion into Ukraine, President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that Ukraine’s sovereignty must be respected and Korea will actively participate in peace efforts for the nation. “Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial preservation must be respected and peaceful solutions should be actively sought through dialogue,” Moon said, presiding over an unscheduled joint meeting of the National Security Council and the Foreign Economic Security Strategy

Politics Feb. 22, 2022

The inheritance tax bill faced by Samsung Group’s leader Lee Jae-yong was again mentioned in the televised debate among key presidential candidates on Monday as People Power Party’s Yoon Suk-yeol and Justice Party’s Sim Sang-jung quarreled over Yoon’s pledge to abolish capital gains tax on stocks. Sim first asked Yoon, “Do you know why the tax was introduced?” When Yoon said no, Sim said, “The introduction of the tax stems from Samsung Lee Jae-yong&rs

Politics Feb. 21, 2022