Articles by Kim Arin
Kim Arin
arin@heraldcorp.com-
Korea passes stricter penalty for infant abandonment
South Korea on Tuesday passed a bill punishing abandonment and killing of infants more severely, a revision that comes 70 years since the relevant sections of the criminal code were first enacted. Before the revision, penalties for abandoning an infant or an infant dying as a result of abandonment were mitigated under certain circumstances. The mitigating circumstances included when the offender -- the mother, her parents or her partner -- is believed to be unable to raise or look after the infa
Politics July 18, 2023
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Politicians dash to areas wrecked by downpour; Yoon’s Ukraine trip hit by opposition
South Korean parties on both sides of the aisle on Monday headed to regions that have been hit the hardest by the lethal floods, taking a respite from the usual National Assembly duties in Seoul. Ruling People Power Party leader Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, who returned from about a weeklong US trip on Sunday, met with survivors in North and South Chungcheong provinces where the damage from the monsoon rains was most severe. He then honored victims who died after being trapped in a flooded tunnel in Osong
Politics July 17, 2023
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Bipartisan bill eyed to toughen penalty for infant abandonment
A bill to increase the penalty for the criminal offense of abandoning an infant passed a preliminary review of the National Assembly’s legislation committee on Thursday with bipartisan support, following revelations on a series of deaths of abandoned infants that fanned public outrage. The criminal code currently mitigates the penalty for abandoning an infant or an infant dying as a consequence of abandonment in cases where there is a reasonable cause to believe the offender -- more specif
Politics July 14, 2023
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North Korea seeing South Korea as separate nation ‘worrying’: defector-lawmaker
North Korea may be beginning to officially re-define its relations with South Korea as two separate nations, according to Rep. Tae Yong-ho of the ruling People Power Party on Thursday. Tae said that Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, referring to South Korea by its official name, Republic of Korea, in recent statements may be an attempt to recognize it as an independent nation. Speaking at a plenary session of the National Assembly’s unification committee, Tae said
Politics July 13, 2023
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NIS seeks steps compensating for loss of power to investigate North Korea spying
The National Intelligence Service of Korea is seeking steps to make up for the pending loss of its authority to investigate espionage and other crimes against the state, such as anti-communism investigations. The state intelligence agency on Wednesday proposed a presidential decree that will allow it to continue to have a role in investigations of espionage and national security-related crimes. Starting next year, the intelligence agency will lose its investigative authority as a result of a set
Politics July 13, 2023
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Ahead of Yoon-Kishida summit, Korean opposition ups offensive on Fukushima water release plan
The South Korean opposition’s escalation of combative rhetoric on Japan’s plan to release treated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant is “unseemly,” the ruling party's floor leader said Wednesday, Eastern European Time. “My colleagues across the aisle have chosen to abandon the longstanding courtesy of stepping back from domestic political attacks on the president while he is on a trip meeting foreign leaders,” Rep. Yun Jae-ok of th
Politics July 12, 2023
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Korean opposition tells UN atomic watchdog head to scrap Japan’s wastewater plan
South Korea’s main opposition party on Sunday asked the International Atomic Energy Agency director general to halt Japan’s plan to discharge treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant and to find alternatives to the ocean disposal. In a meeting with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, five Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers accused the United Nations atomic watchdog of bias and described its final assessment on the safety of the Japanese plan as “shoddily concluded&rdquo
Politics July 9, 2023
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Controversial disclaimer deleted from government’s North Korea human rights report
The South Korean government released the English version of its report on North Korean human rights Friday, but it omitted a controversial clause included in an earlier edition that stated it would not bear responsibility for the report’s accuracy. In April, the English report by the Ministry of Unification was taken down from the website after wide criticism over the disclaimer, which denied responsibility for the report's accuracy. The original Korean report did not contain such dis
Politics July 7, 2023
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Korea finds Japan’s water release plan ‘consistent with international standards’
South Korean inquiry found Japan’s plan to discharge treated wastewater from the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant to be “consistent with international safety standards,” the government announced Friday. Bang Moon-kyu, the government policy coordination minister, said the plan proposed by the Japanese government met international standards, including those of the International Atomic Energy Agency. “If the plan is kept as outlined, no violation of safety stand
Politics July 7, 2023
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Highway project struck down over allegations against first lady’s family
A government plan to build a highway connecting Seoul with a county near the capital city was rescinded Thursday, after the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea raised allegations of possible favors having been granted to the family of the first lady. Earlier this week, the Democratic Party suggested the construction plan was tweaked so that the highway passes by a piece of land owned by the first lady’s family. After a meeting with ruling People Power Party lawmakers Thursday morning
Politics July 6, 2023
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South Korean opposition rejects IAEA nod to Japan’s water release plan
South Korean opposition rejected the International Atomic Energy Agency approval of the Fukushima water discharge on Tuesday, warning of a series of actions at home and abroad to stop the water from flowing. In a joint statement, Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers said “the IAEA report is no excuse for Japan dumping radioactive waste into the sea.” “The Japanese government must retract its plan to discharge the Fukushima radioactive wastewater immediately,” the statement
Politics July 5, 2023
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IAEA chief to visit Korea after greenlighting Japan wastewater discharge
The International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday delivered its final verdict on Japan’s planned discharge of wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant as maintaining safety standards, ending a two-year review conducted amid concerns over its possible impact to marine life and human lives. Concluding that the Japanese plan to release the water into the sea was “consistent with the relevant international safety standards, IAEA said in its report that the discharge of t
Politics July 4, 2023
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‘Japanese seafood ban to continue until Koreans feel safe’
South Korea does not plan on lifting its restrictions on imports of seafood from Japanese prefectures around the site of the 2011 triple meltdown of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant until Koreans feel safe regardless of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s final findings on safety. After a meeting with officials from the Foreign Affairs, Food Safety and other concerned ministries held a meeting on Monday, the ruling People Power Party said the ban on Japanese seafood will stay intact
Politics July 3, 2023
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In unilateral vote led by opposition, Assembly passes resolution against Fukushima water release
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Friday unilaterally passed a resolution calling for the Japanese government to scrap its plan to discharge the treated wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant into the sea. As of now, over 1.3 million cubic meters of wastewater used to cool three of the plant's reactors after meltdowns during the massive earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 are being stored in some 1,000 giant tanks on the site. The resolution urges the Japa
Politics June 30, 2023
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New law to require medical workers to register newborns, even if parents don’t
South Korean National Assembly on Friday passed legislation requiring workers at medical institutions to register newborns starting a year from now. The newly passed legislation is aimed at preventing children from going unregistered. Previously, only parents had the authority to register the birth of their child. According to the Board of Audit Inspection report released last week, at least 2,236 children born 2015-2022 in medical institutions were not registered with the government. Children w
Politics June 30, 2023
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