South Korea's Supreme Court has ruled that an Iranian national charged with obtaining a visa based on fake documentation should not be punished, citing an international refugee convention, officials said Monday. The Iranian applied for refugee status in March 2016 after entering Korea on a short-term visa that he obtained by submitting an invitation letter from a Korean company. But it was disc...

One of two Kazakhstanis who fled Incheon Airport after being denied entry into South Korea was apprehended Monday morning in Daejeon, nearly 200 km away. A 21-year-old man was captured at around 9:42 a.m. at a convenience store in Daejeon, where he had gone to meet an acquaintance, the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency said. The police are currently checking security footage to track down anoth...

South Korea opened an annual meeting of its top envoys abroad Monday with a focus on ways for the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's "global pivotal state" vision and drive to expand the country's exports. It marks the first time for them to hold an in-person group meeting in Seoul since late 2018. A total of 166 ambassadors, consul generals, and other heads of diplomatic missions in foreign countr...

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases bounced back to over 4,000 from a week earlier Monday, as people increasingly adapt to post-pandemic everyday life with the relaxation of most of the COVID-19 rules coming into effect. The country reported 4,204 new COVID-19 infections, including nine cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,773,460, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency s...

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Monday, Seoul's military said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launches from the Chunghwa County area in North Hwanghae Province starting from around 7:47 a.m. The missiles flew some 370 kilometers before splashing into the sea, it added. Pyongyang's latest provocation came as South Korea and the United S...

South Korean authorities are on the hunt for two Kazakh nationals who fled from the airport after being refused entry into the country. According to Incheon Airport Police, at 4:18 a.m. Sunday, two Kazakhs nationals -- aged 18 and 21, respectively -- fled over the northern fence on the fourth landing strip of Incheon Airport. The two Kazakhs arrived at Incheon Airport Terminal 2 at 7:26 a.m. on...

Educators struggle with teaching advanced-level courses due to the absence of a proper educational and training system, experts say

The South Korean Constitutional Court has ruled that a clause in the Construction Workers Act preventing the payment of retirement deductions to foreign nationals' bereaved families living abroad is unconstitutional. The ruling came after a Vietnamese woman, whose husband worked in Korea and died in a construction site accident, was denied retirement deductions by the Construction Workers' Mutua...

The Suwon District Court on Saturday denied a police request for a warrant to further detain the son of former Gyeonggi Province Gov. Nam Kyung-pil, who has been accused of methamphetamine use. The court declared there was not enough evidence to constitute a need to detain the 32-year-old Nam, who is suspected of illegally taking drugs at his apartment in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. Na...

The preterm birth rate in South Korea is on the rise, while the country's overall birthrate reached an all-time low, data showed on Sunday. Statistics from the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs showed that the total number of births in the nation has decreased over the past decade, shrinking from 471,000 in 2011 to 261,000 in 2021. During the same period, the rate of premature birth...

Over 600 elderly citizens from Busan and its neighboring regions have recently rallied support for Busan's bid to host the World Expo in 2030. The so-called "Silver Supporters" will be tasked with taking part in events to promote Busan's World Expo bid and to welcome the Bureau International des Expositions Enquiry Mission visit to Busan in early April. Busan is the third destination for the BIE...

The South Korean Supreme Court revealed Sunday that it recently found a religious man guilty of failing to fulfill his alternative military service as a social service agent, which exempts him from active duty as a soldier. The case to decide whether the 31-year-old Jehovah's Witness, whose further personal identity remains undisclosed, committed a crime has been remanded to a district court in ...

The names of immigration service field officials interviewed by The Korea Herald are aliases to protect their identities. -- Ed. Kim Jong-sup, who works at a local branch office of the Korea Immigration Service, never thought he would be risking his life in the course of his job. “Yesterday, I went to detain illegal aliens working at a water parsley farm. I (fell and) rolled over and suffered b...

North Korean propaganda outlets continued their criticism of an ongoing South Korea-US amphibious landing exercise Sunday, blaming the allies for heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Seoul and Washington kicked off their first large-scale Ssangyong exercise in five years last Monday to sharpen deterrence against growing North Korean threats. It runs through April 3. Uriminjokkiri, a pro...

North Korea has held a general meeting of its Olympic Committee to discuss plans for this year, vowing to win more medals in international competitions, its state media said Saturday, after the country was reinstated for the Olympic Games. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said high-ranking officials attended the meeting on Friday to discuss ways to win more medals in global-scale c...