South Korea on Tuesday vowed harsher crackdowns on drug trafficking activities at all fronts by ramping up punishment, monitoring and education through a pan-governmental push. The plans reviewed at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday in the presidential office will be aimed at stamping out teenage drug use, President Yoon Suk Yeol said during the meeting. Yoon said he finds it "alarming" to see that illegal drugs are easy to find among adolescents, leaving them in jeopardy. "A decade befor

Social Affairs April 18, 2023

Main opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung on Monday delivered a public apology for concerns over intensifying allegations that illicit, unreported funds were distributed in envelopes containing cash at the party's convention in 2021. The Democratic Party of Korea chairman said he has asked his predecessor Song Young-gil, a suspected beneficiary of the alleged illicit campaign financing scheme, to return to South Korea. "I'm extending my words of apology for causing concern and le

Politics April 17, 2023

Former co-chair of Green Party Korea Kim Ye-won has been under police investigation and was arrested for illegally possessing and using cannabis, police said Friday. Police arrested Kim in February for allegedly using cannabis for entertainment purposes and keeping the product, which is strictly banned in Korea, at home since late 2022, it said. An investigation was launched in January, it added. Kim offered to quit the progressive party after admitting that she was under a police probe for her

Social Affairs April 14, 2023

South Korea's main opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung said Friday that Seoul should consider a joint investigation with Washington over the leakage of US intelligence documents that Seoul believes may have been fabricated. The Yoon Suk Yeol administration's "attempted cover-up" of the controversy translates into a diplomatic humiliation, with which it "would defend neither sovereignty nor the national interest," said Lee, chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea

Politics April 14, 2023

The recent leaking of US intelligence documents "inevitably had an effect" ahead of the summit between Seoul and Washington, a high-ranking South Korean official told reporters in Washington on Thursday. Consequently, the upcoming summit scheduled to start on April 26 will touch upon ways to restore trust in bilateral information gathering and sharing in the wake of the leakage, the official said on condition of anonymity. He referred to the leakage of what was believed to be an intell

Foreign Affairs April 14, 2023

The government on Thursday unveiled plans to combat child abuse by conducting a nationwide inspection. Under the plan, the government will keep track of toddlers aged 2 or younger who have either not seen a pediatrician in the past year, or who have not completed the essential vaccination program that a baby has to go through within four months after birth. Korea estimates the number of such children to stand at around 11,000. The three-month inspection of toddlers will kick off Monday. "(S

Social Affairs April 13, 2023

The top South Korean court sided with internet users here on Thursday, ruling that Google should disclose records of how its consumer data had been transmitted to a US spy agency upon the request of consumers. The ruling by the Supreme Court of Korea, after a decadelong wait, indicates that Google's policy of prohibiting the provision of such records to consumers and mandating that lawsuits be filed in US jurisdiction are both superseded by Korean law. A customer living in Korea may file a

Social Affairs April 13, 2023

The Ministry of Justice on Wednesday announced plans to clear the way for the execution of inmates who have been on death row for over 30 years through a law revision. Those who are sentenced to the death penalty will no longer be able to avoid execution according to the revision proposed by the Justice Ministry. The government is to put up the legislative notice for the revision Thursday, after which it requires parliamentary approval. Under the current rules, an execution must take place withi

Social Affairs April 12, 2023

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and his Portuguese counterpart, Antonio Costa, on Wednesday agreed to foster development cooperation during bilateral talks held in Seoul for the first time in 39 years. Han said in a speech before the talks that there is ample room for bilateral cooperation, which would lay a cornerstone for the rules-based international order. In response, the Portuguese Cabinet leader echoed the need for supply chain restructuring to achieve the economic resilience in the face of d

Social Affairs April 12, 2023

South Korea finalized its first basic plan at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday to gradually reduce annual national carbon emissions to address climate change, so that Asia's fourth-largest economy in 2030 would emit 40 percent less greenhouse gases compared to 2018. The five-year overarching implementation plan for Korea to emit a net 436.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and its equivalent in 2030, compared to 727.6 million tons in 2018, gained approval at the Cabinet meeting held at the Governm

Social Affairs April 11, 2023

A soon-to-be prosecutor has been placed on probation without a sentence for assaulting a police officer while under the influence of alcohol, a South Korean court ruled Tuesday. The Seoul Central District Court handed down a suspended imposition of a fine of 3 million won ($2,300) to the woman, only identified by her surname Hwang. Prosecutors had asked the court for a six-month jail term for Hwang, who pleaded guilty during a trial. Hwang did not respond to reporters' questions on her way

Social Affairs April 11, 2023

  The South Korean prosecution announced Monday the indictment of a Korean-born man for recently allegedly smuggling in a combined 3.2 kilograms of methamphetamine, a pistol, 50 live ammunition rounds and gas pistols from the US. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office suspects the 49-year-old secretly brought in the drugs valued at 800 million won ($606,000) in September last year with the purpose of distribution. The man also allegedly used 0.1 gram of meth at home in March this ye

Social Affairs April 10, 2023

A coalition of South Korean medical technicians and doctors’ rights activist groups is considering a strike, as long-awaited bills aimed at easing nursing regulations and banning convicted doctors from returning to work are to be tabled at the National Assembly as early as Thursday. A spokesperson of the ruling People Power Party Yoo Sang-bum said Sunday the government and the PPP would try to find a middle ground after collecting opinions of the parties concerned, with a special committee

Politics April 9, 2023

BUSAN -- The inspection team of the Bureau International des Expositions, the organizing body of the World Expo, departed Korea Friday as they ended their assessment of Busan as the proposed site for the 2030 World Expo. The eight-member delegation -- chaired by BIE Administration and Budget Committee President Patrick Specht -- left Gimhae Airport in western Busan at around 8:30 a.m. to head to Incheon Airport. They then departed South Korea at around 11:30 a.m. to head back to Paris, where the

Social Affairs April 7, 2023

BUSAN -- The eight-member delegation of the World Expo organizing body said Busan is a viable candidate to host the World Expo in 2030, and its successful bid could be a starting point to build an inclusive global community as the team wrapped up a five-day on-site inspection of the city. Patrick Specht, president of the Bureau International des Expositions Administration and Budget Committee who led the BIE Enquiry Mission, said Busan's bid to host the quinquennial event is more than viabl

Social Affairs April 6, 2023