A man in his 50s has been indicted under detention on charges of damaging private and and public property. According to the Busan prosecutors’ office, the man used a hammer to damage windows and doors at a police outpost in Busan on Feb. 28. The suspect is reported to have been under the influence of alcohol at the time, and cited discord with the local police for his actions. The suspect, who ...

Similar desecration of grave sites has also been claimed by relatives of other would-be presidents. The tomb of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s grandfather was also claimed to have been defaced with human excrement, knives and a lock of hair in May 2021, but the case remained uninspected, as the police were not able to find the alleged evidence. There was another fuss in 1999 over metal stakes spotte...

Critics argue growing foreign school enrollment deepens educational and social inequality

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell to around 4,200 on Monday amid the overall downturn of the infections, as the government is mulling further easing antivirus restrictions. The country reported 4,198 new coronavirus cases, including 12 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,638,929, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. It marked a decline from 9,342 cases reported...

Rep. Lee Chul-gyu will be named the ruling People Power Party's new secretary general, officials said Monday, as the party fills key posts with those close to President Yoon Suk Yeol after Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon was elected new leader last week. Reps. Park Seong-min and Bae Hyun-jin, who are also considered part of the pro-Yoon faction, will take over as vice secretary-general for strategic planning,...

North Korea fired two "strategic cruise missiles" from a submarine in waters off its east coast over the weekend, state media said Monday, in apparent protest over a regular South Korea-US combined military exercise to begin this week. The missiles were fired from the 8.24 Yongung in waters off Kyongpho Bay in the East Sea in an underwater launching drill held at dawn Sunday, according to the of...

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating fell to 38.9 percent, dropping below 40 percent for the first time in four weeks, a poll showed Monday. In the poll of 2,508 adults conducted by Realmeter from Monday to Friday last week, the positive assessment of Yoon's performance declined 4 percentage points from the previous week. The figure had stayed in the low 40 percent range for three straight ...

The latest remark by the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi resonated with Tokyo's stance over the forced labor issues. A media report revealed that Hayashi insisted that the forced labor issue had been completely and finally resolved by the 1965 treaty, and that the expression "forced mobilization" is inappropriate to describe any labor forces from Korea. None of the labore...

US President Joe Biden has invited Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to lead one of the plenary sessions at the upcoming second Summit for Democracy, the presidential office said Sunday. The invitation was sent to Yoon on Feb. 23, asking him to lead one of the five plenary sessions scheduled for March 29. The sessions will serve as the launch of the summit and provide a platform for "candid convers...

S. Korea, US revive theater-level field training exercises after five-year hiatus

A court ruled that police officers were accountable for a second assault that happened when a victim was left alone with perpetrators. It was revealed that the officers left the scene after the perpetrators requested a private conversation. The Seoul Central District Court sentenced the three perpetrators to pay a cumulative fine of about 23 million won ($17,000) to the victim, of which 9.48 mil...

The National Office of Investigation said Sunday it will conduct a special crackdown on organized crime for four months, starting from Monday. A total of 320 dedicated investigation teams of 1,539 police officers will be set up at city and provincial police agencies and police stations across the country to respond with all-out efforts. Crackdown targets include gangsters involved in gambling w...

A dynamic, cutthroat society that never rests -- that has been South Korea until now. Changes have taken place in this Asian country in recent decades at speeds no other nation could follow: from poverty to prosperity, from the ruins of colonial occupation and civil war to becoming a rising cultural superpower on the international stage. But at the same breakneck pace, Korea is leading the worl...

SEONGNAM, South Korea -- A former chief of staff to opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, who was found dead in an apparent suicide, urged the Democratic Party (DP) chair to quit politics in his suicide note, informed officials said Friday. The deceased, surnamed Jeon, is also said to have complained about being investigated by prosecutors in connection with Lee's corruption allegations. Jeon had se...

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases remained above 10,000 for the fifth day Saturday as health authorities mull over further easing antivirus measures. The country reported 10,009 new COVID-19 infections, including 15 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,625,389, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Saturday's tally is slightly down from 10,335 a d...