South Korea warns tit-for-tat action over North Korea’s border buildup

Adding to renewed tensions between the two Koreas, North Korean soldiers guarding the truce village appeared armed Tuesday, as Seoul expressed its willingness to reciprocate Pyongyang’s redeployment of surveillance posts and heavy weapons along the shared border. Reports said Tuesday that North Korean soldiers stationed in the Joint Security Area were armed with pistols, in the latest in a string of moves by Pyongyang to resume military activities paused by the 2018 inter-Korean agreement

PoliticsNov. 28, 2023

Court clears cabbie in death of passenger who jumped out of moving taxi

A 66-year-old taxi driver whose passenger jumped out of his moving taxi and was then killed after being hit by another car has been cleared of traffic accident charges, according to media reports on Tuesday. The Daegu District Court also cleared the 43-year-old driver of an SUV that hit the woman and killed her, saying it was impossible for the driver to evade the victim. The incident occurred in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, on March 4, 2022, when the 20-year-old victim got on the taxi in

Social AffairsNov. 28, 2023

Transgender blind spot in hospitalization: NHRCK

The Ministry of Health and Welfare rejected a request to devise guidelines of hospitalization for transgender people, said the state human rights watchdog. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) announced on Tuesday that the Health Ministry failed to give clear answers on how the country will accommodate trans patients. Under current medical law, patient rooms are operated separately for men and women. The human rights group pointed out that this puts trans and nonbinary people in

Social AffairsNov. 28, 2023

Trilateral cooperation unaffected by US election outcomes: Goldberg

The existing trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan will remain enduring, regardless of the outcome of the 2024 US presidential election, US Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg said Tuesday. Goldberg highlighted that the foundation of the three-way cooperation among like-minded countries -- grounded in shared values such as democracy, free markets and the rule of law -- inherently signifies sustainability. "We share so many of these values and interests

Foreign AffairsNov. 28, 2023

YouTuber suspected of livestreaming after taking drugs

Seoul police said Tuesday that it is investigating a YouTuber suspected of livestreaming after taking sleep-inducing medication zolpidem, unprescribed use of which can be punished by South Korean law. The woman in her 20s, whose identity was withheld by authorities, is believed to have taken the unprescribed drugs on Monday while broadcasting from a motel in Sinchon, western Seoul, according to Seoul Seodaemun Station. Police raided the scene after one of her viewers reported that she seemed to

Social AffairsNov. 28, 2023

Airport baggage handler indicted on 208 counts of theft from luggage

A man working at Incheon International Airport has been indicted on charges of stealing 366 million won ($280,000) worth of items from passenger luggage, local prosecutors said Tuesday. Incheon District Prosecutors' Office said it has indicted a 41-year-old man on 208 accounts of larceny from November 2021 to Oct. 6 this year. He is accused of having taken high-end bags, jewelry and other expensive items from passenger luggage while working as a baggage handler in the airport's termina

Social AffairsNov. 28, 2023

Jeju's autonomy is model for Western Sahara: Morocco

The Moroccan Embassy emphasized the significance of administrative autonomy as a catalyst for development, citing as an example the limited autonomy given to Jeju, at a symposium it hosted in Seoul on Friday. South Korea's southernmost island is a self-governing province, except for defense, diplomacy and judicial affairs. Moroccan Ambassador to Korea Chafik Rachadi referred Jeju as a successful example of administrative autonomy playing a crucial role in regional development, at the symp

Foreign AffairsNov. 28, 2023

Labor unions slam government efforts to attract more foreign workers

Two major umbrella unions in South Korea on Tuesday criticized the government’s latest efforts to bring more foreign workers into the country, saying that it should prioritize the “employment of Korean citizens.” The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, which have an estimated 110,000 members combined, released separate statements protesting the government’s plan to increase the quota or E-9 visas for unskilled foreign workers. &

Social AffairsNov. 28, 2023

New NZ minister takes oath in English and Korean

A member of New Zealand’s new National Party-led government took her oath in English and then in Korean, the language of her native country. Melissa Lee, whose Korean name is Lee Ji-yun, was named the minister for economic development, ethnic communities, media and communications, making her the first person of Korean heritage to hold a ministerial position in New Zealand’s government. Lee alternated between English and Korean while reading the oath in the official ceremony Monday. L

PoliticsNov. 28, 2023

Yoon orders increased defense of public digital infrastructure

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday ordered the Cabinet to look into possibilities of a cyberattack on public digital infrastructure amid a series of administrative network breakdowns that caused inconveniences to the public in the past week. According to Yoon at a Cabinet meeting held in his office in Seoul, the presidential National Security Office has launched a pangovernmental investigation to inspect any potential vulnerabilities in South Korea's administrative networks, adding the lack of c

PoliticsNov. 28, 2023

Korea, Japan, China summit likely in early 2024

A trilateral summit with Japan and China, which has been on hold since 2019, could take place early next year, a senior official from the South Korean president's office said Monday. The foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and China on Sunday reaffirmed their ongoing commitment to expedite efforts to hold a trilateral summit at the earliest convenient time. However, the three ministers did not specify a specific time frame for the summit following a ministerial meeting in Busan, which w

Foreign AffairsNov. 28, 2023

School violence drops, drugs among teens surge: police

The Seoul Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday that the response rate of school violence among students has dropped sharply from 14.2 percent in 2012 to two percent in 2022. Touting the role of school police officers, who assist school administrators maintain a safe and secure environment, the police said that the number of students arrested for school violence also declined from 3,257 to 2,014, down 38.2 percent. In addition, the number of youth arrested for crimes also fell by nearly 50 percent

Social AffairsNov. 28, 2023

German envoy calls for enhanced security cooperation with S. Korea

German Ambassador to Korea Georg Schmidt called for enhanced security cooperation, highlighting the interconnectedness of security challenges in Asia and Europe, in an interview with The Korea Herald on Wednesday. Though Germany and South Korea are located far from one another, both face common challenges of Russia forging military transactions with North Korea, and this is something the two countries should work together to resolve global tensions, the ambassador emphasized. “Many people

Foreign AffairsNov. 28, 2023

Dog meat group threatens to release 2 million dogs near presidential office

An umbrella group for those in the dog meat industry in South Korea has vowed to hold a protest Thursday against the government's move to ban dog meat consumption, while allegedly threatening to release 2 million dogs around the presidential office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Daehan Yukgyeon Hyephoi (Dog Meat Federation), a group consisting of dog meat farm operators and dog meat restaurant owners across the country, has recently decided to hold a protest in front of the War Memorial of Korea in

Social AffairsNov. 28, 2023

'Do not open plane doors' warning mandated for planes in flight

South Korea's Transport Ministry said Tuesday it plans to revise its current ordinance on the operation of air transport, mandating an in-flight announcement reminding passengers not to open plane doors while in flight. The revision aims to prevent reoccurrence of incidents like the one in May in which a man in his 30s opened the emergency exit of a plane operated by Asiana Airlines just minutes before it landed at Daegu International Airport. The incident was dubbed "two minutes of

Social AffairsNov. 28, 2023

Female Nexon employee berates 'misandrist gesture' in MapleStory video

A commenter claiming to be a female employee of local game publisher Nexon, which has been embroiled in controversy over the use of a "misandrist hand gesture," recently criticized the animator for reflecting personal views in a team project. "A game isn't made by one person, but is a product of several people's collaboration over a long period of time. Why are you sneaking in your own personal views and hoping for other people to take care of it?" the person wrote

Social AffairsNov. 28, 2023

Disability rights group lodges complaint with rights watchdog over leader's arrest

A disability rights advocacy group said Tuesday it will file a complaint with the state human rights watchdog against police for arresting the group's leader without informing him of his Miranda rights. The Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination claimed the police used violence and failed to announce the Miranda warning while arresting its leader, Park Kyoung-seok, during a subway protest last week. Park, 63, was apprehended on the platform of Seoul's Hyehwa Station at 8:50 p.m.

Social AffairsNov. 28, 2023

S. Korea pushes for using commercial satellites in military communication

South Korea will push for using commercial satellites in low Earth orbit in a military communication system to efficiently enhance combat capability of the armed forces, the state arms procurement agency said Tuesday. The Defense Rapid Acquisition Technology Research Institute under the state-run Agency for Defense Development signed a 39.8 billion won ($30.6 million) project with Hanwha Systems Co. for development of the military communication system using Hanwha's commercial satellites op

DefenseNov. 28, 2023

S. Korea's Busan making last-ditch efforts to bring World Expo on voting day

The vote for the host city of the 2030 World Expo is set to take place in Paris on Tuesday, with South Korea's southeastern city of Busan making last-ditch efforts to pull off an upset in the competition against two other candidates. The host country will be selected by the member states of the Bureau International des Expositions, the body responsible for overseeing the global event that can generate economic benefits and jobs, during its general assembly later in the day. Busan is contend

PoliticsNov. 28, 2023

US says N. Korean actions along DMZ increasing risk of military tensions, miscalculations

North Korea's actions taking place along the inter-Korean border are raising the risk of military tensions and miscalculations, a State Department spokesperson said Monday, as the recalcitrant regime began reinstalling guard posts and heavy firearms there. Seoul's defense ministry has said that North Korean troops were spotted installing temporary guard posts and carrying weapons inside the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, after Pyongyang declared it would not be bound by

North KoreaNov. 28, 2023