[Photo News] Korean delegation advocates for climate action in Dubai

The Korean delegation at COP28, consisting of representatives from groups Greenfund and Jeski Social Campaign along with climate and environmental activists and experts, said Friday that they held a performance at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, calling for opposition to war and solutions to the climate crisis. (Jeski Social Campaign)

Social AffairsDec. 8, 2023

Cho Hee-dae becomes chief justice, ending monthslong leadership vacuum

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday approved his nomination of Cho Hee-dae as the new chief justice of South Korea's top court, ending the rare, monthslong judiciary leadership vacuum. Yoon's approval came hours after the National Assembly voted 264-18 for the nomination of Cho, who was formerly a Supreme Court justice until his retirement in 2020. Cho passed the parliament's confirmation hearing earlier this week. Cho, 66, will take office on Monday. A chief justice normally serves six years in a

Social AffairsDec. 8, 2023

Ex-justice minister's daughter attends forgery trial in college admissions scandal

Cho Min, daughter of ex-Justice Minister Cho Kuk, on Friday attended the first hearing for her trial on forgery charges in a college admissions scandal. Cho told reporters she would "faithfully engage in her trial" and declined to comment further, as she appeared at the Seoul Central District Court. The 32-year-old, who was trained as a physician, is accused of fabricating her own credentials when she applied for an undergraduate degree at Korea University and another at Pusan National

Social AffairsDec. 8, 2023

Missile scientist from North Korea, pediatrician among new ruling party recruits

South Korea’s ruling party on Friday announced a fresh batch of recruits to run in the 2024 general election. Among the five recruits disclosed by the People Power Party’s parliamentary recruitment committee is Park Chung-kwon, a North Korean defector who worked in intercontinental ballistic missile research at the National Defense University in Pyongyang. The 37-year-old has been a researcher at Hyundai Steel since he escaped from North Korea in 2009. The committee said Park was &ld

PoliticsDec. 8, 2023

Seoul awards honorary citizenship to 15 foreign nationals

The Seoul city government named 15 foreign nationals from 13 countries as honorary citizens on Friday for their contribution to the city's development. Rahil Ahmadova, a honorary citizen from Azerbaijan, was recognized for her efforts as a lecturer to spread awareness about multiculturalism and for her efforts to help other foreign nationals adjust to living in Seoul. Daniel Chukwunonso Nwagbala, another recipient from Nigeria, was recognized for his fundraising efforts for people with deve

Social AffairsDec. 8, 2023

Ex-Democratic Party chair denies bribery, illegal campaign allegations

Song Young-gil, former chair of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, on Friday denied allegations of illegal campaigning before a 2021 ballot where he was elected the party chairman, as well as separate bribery allegations. The prosecution is now seeking criminal charges against the 60-year-old, who was a five-term lawmaker. He has not been indicted for the allegations. Song said he would exercise his right to remain silent during the interrogation, in a show of resistance to what he c

PoliticsDec. 8, 2023

Turkish woman gets jail term for killing abusive boyfriend

A South Korean court on Friday handed a 12-year prison term to a 30-year-old Turkish woman, who stabbed her boyfriend to death after being repeatedly assaulted by him. The defendant has been charged with murder after she killed her boyfriend in Daegu in August. The crime had been spontaneous, as the victim physically assaulted her multiple times in the past and had been beating her up at the time of the crime. "The court took into account that the defendant had been physically assaulted by

Social AffairsDec. 8, 2023

Woman indicted for claiming to be raped by men she met via dating app

Daegu prosecutors on Friday said that they have indicted a woman in her 30s, on the charge of falsely accusing men of rape after meeting them on a dating application. According to the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office, the accused met six men on the app from October to December of last year and had consensual sexual relations with them. She then filed charges for rape or sexual assault against them. Officials found that she filed multiple charges of sex crimes to police in other regions, a

Social AffairsDec. 8, 2023

Personality traits linked to risk of dementia

Whether you have a pessimistic or optimistic attitude in life might affect your risk of dementia, new research shows. In a study published by the journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, researchers at the University of California, Davis investigated the link between personality traits and the prevalence of Alzheimer’s diagnoses based on 44,531 participants. Results of the study suggest that specific personality traits such as sociability, goal-oriented behavior and positive emotional

Social AffairsDec. 8, 2023

South Korea’s birth rate again hits historic low

South Korea’s birth rate reached an all-time low in the January to October period this year, setting off further alarm about the nation’s demographic trends. According to Statistics Korea on Friday, the accumulated number of babies born in the first three quarters stood at 177,000, the lowest figure recorded since the government began collecting data in 1981. The birth rate, which stood at 657,000 during the first three quarters of 1981, plunged to around 300,000 in 2002 and further

Social AffairsDec. 8, 2023

US, Japan agree on need to bolster deterrence over NK missile threats in security talks

The United States and Japan have agreed on the need to beef up deterrence amid an "increasingly challenging" security landscape marked by North Korea's repeated missile launches and its military cooperation with Russia, the State Department said Thursday. The two sides shared the need during their bilateral Extended Deterrence Dialogue that took place in Japan from Tuesday to Thursday (local time). Extended deterrence refers to the US commitment to using the full range of its mili

Foreign AffairsDec. 8, 2023

Deputy secretary of state nominee stresses focus on NK deterrence amid growing threats

President Joe Biden's nominee for deputy secretary of state highlighted the need Thursday to focus "even more" on deterrence against growing North Korean threats, noting Pyongyang continues to perfect its long-range weapons capabilities while shunning dialogue. Kurt Campbell, currently the National Security Council coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs, made the remarks during a Senate confirmation hearing as he responded to a question of whether he has any "creative" ide

Foreign AffairsDec. 8, 2023

US defense policy bill calls for maintaining 28,500 US troops in Korea

House and Senate negotiators released their compromise draft of an annual defense policy bill Thursday, which calls for maintaining 28,500 US troops in South Korea and deepening nuclear deterrence coordination between Seoul and Washington. They unveiled the final draft of the National Defense Authorization Act for the 2024 fiscal year. Congress passes the bill each year to set defense policy and funding priorities and give guidance on a range of key security matters. The NDAA draft includes a ca

Foreign AffairsDec. 8, 2023

US trade body finds no patent breaches by Samsung over digital signage: sources

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) concluded Samsung Electronics and Samsung SDS did not violate any patents over outdoor electronics displays in a patent infringement case filed by a US company, industry sources said Thursday. The ITC reached the decision last month after its investigation into the case following a complaint filed by Manufacturing Resources International (MRI) in August last year. MRI, an Atlanta-based manufacturer of outdoor and semi-outdoor digital liquid-crystal dis

Social AffairsDec. 7, 2023

Suneung without 'killer questions' still not easy, results show

Test-takers of South Korea’s national college entrance exam, known as the Suneung, are set to receive their test results Friday, amid lingering controversy over whether this year's test succeeded in completely scrapping the highly difficult “killer questions.” Results and analysis of over 440,000 examinees released by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation on Thursday suggested that exams in all subjects, including Korean language, mathematics and English, were

Social AffairsDec. 7, 2023

Teens' excessive smartphone use linked to mental health risk: study

Adolescents using smartphones for more than four hours a day are at a higher risk of suffering from mental health issues, a South Korean study found Thursday. The study by researchers at Hanyang University Medical Center analyzed the data of 54,809 teenagers across the country to find the correlation between daily smart phone usage time and adverse outcomes such as stress, depression, suicide, substance use and smartphone overdependence. They used the data from the state-conducted Korea Youth Ri

Social AffairsDec. 7, 2023

S. Korea hopes to host 3-way summit with US, Japan: Yoon's office

South Korea is working to host a trilateral summit with the United States and Japan, according to an official of Seoul's presidential office on Thursday. The trilateral summit would be a follow-up to a three-way meeting in August at Camp David, the US presidential retreat in Maryland, the official said on condition of anonymity. "The Camp David Principle stipulates an agreement of the three leaders to hold a regular summit on a yearly basis," the official said. "We have been

PoliticsDec. 7, 2023