The North Korean defector who is presumed to have crossed the tense inter-Korean border to return home last week had received due resettlement support from the South Korean government, Seoul's unification ministry said Tuesday, amid reports he suffered economic difficulties after his defection. The man crossed the heavily fortified eastern border into the North over the weekend, about a year aft...

South Korea’s new coronavirus cases remained below 4,000 for the second straight day as of midnight Sunday, but the number of critically ill patients continued to surpass 1,000. Two deaths in connection with the omicron variant of the coronavirus were reported on Monday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, South Korea added 3,129 new COVID-19 cases during Sunday, raisin...

A concerted effort to heal the scars of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has widened social, political and economic divisions during its two-year reign, was one of the top wishes from ordinary people in Korea for the New Year. As much as the COVID-19 crisis has isolated people and affected their daily routines, it also has shed light on the importance of interpersonal ties and solidarity. The Korea...

The mother of an infant found dead inside a clothing donation bin in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, earlier this month could face infanticide charges, the police said on Friday. According to the Osan police, investigators have sent the case to the prosecution on Thursday. The woman is accused of neglect leading to the death of the just-born boy in the bathroom of her house, where she had given birth. ...

Former President Park Geun-hye was to be released at Thursday midnight, when the presidential pardon takes effect, after spending four years and nine months in prison for several corruption convictions. According to the Ministry of Justice, the amnesty of Park was to take effect at midnight. Park was to be released from her room at Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, where she has been receiving tr...

Left-leaning figures have come under fire for making comments about Kim Keon-hee’s appearance, with some calling the remarks “misogynous.” The latest comments on Kim, the wife of People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, came after she publicly apologized for embellishing her career history. On Wednesday, former lawmaker Sohn Hye-won once again took to social media to comment on ...

People Power Party election committee chief Kim Chong-in stepped in Tuesday to calm the conflict between the party’s presidential candidate and its chairman. Discord in the conservative main opposition party has continued since it chose Yoon Suk-yeol, a former prosecutor general, as its flagbearer in November. Acknowledging internal disputes made public by remarks of the party members, Kim said...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in asked Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Euisun to “collaborate more closely” on automotive chips during a luncheon at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday. According to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-me, President Moon congratulated the Hyundai Motor chief for the automaker’s advancement in the European electric vehicle m...

People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol’s spouse Kim Keon-hee apologized in public Sunday for causing controversy with the allegations that she had made false claims about her career history. “There were my faults in the process of working and studying together,” Kim said with her head bowed as she read out a statement at a press conference in Seoul. “I inflated my career to look...

A special pardon for Park Geun-hye, the former president serving a 22-year prison term for corruption, has sparked a wide range of responses in South Korea’s political circles. The ruling Democratic Party appeared largely to respect the president’s decision, while lawmakers from the opposition parties voiced different opinions, mostly raising doubts about the special pardon. Democratic Party Ch...

South Korean presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol’s visit to a front-line division in the Demilitarized Zone has come under fire, with the United Nations Command officially kicking off an investigation into an alleged violation of the Armistice Agreement. The UNC made an announcement after Yoon -- dressed in a military uniform -- on Monday visited the observation post of the South Korean Army’s ...

South Korea’s Consitutional Court is set to review whether the COVID-19 pass is constitutional. The Constitutional Court said Tuesday evening its full bench of nine justices would review the constitutionality of the pass’s enactment. The court’s full bench is usually summoned when a case is deemed to hold legitimacy. The COVID-19 pass, or vaccine pass, was implemented nationwide on Dec. 13 and ...

Shin ji-ye, a 31-year-old feminist with liberal political inclinations, made headlines Monday as she crossed party lines and joined the campaign of Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential nominee of the conservative People Power Party. The young politician ran as a Seoul mayor candidate for Green Party Korea in 2018, finishing fourth in the race with over 80,000 votes. Her campaign gained support from f...

President Moon Jae-in on Monday ordered the government to secure additional COVID-19 hospital beds, health care workers and testing centers to counter the growing numbers of COVID-19 cases. “The government will take extraordinary measures to secure enough medical capacity” to counter the resurgence of cases, Moon said in a statement released by Cheong Wa Dae. Moon also ordered concerned governm...

Customer demand for wine and Korean beef has shown rapid increase this year, as an alternative to dining outside, said the local discount chain E-mart on Sunday. The discount retailer tracked the changes in the type of products sold from 2019 to November this year. According to the store’s data, wine leaped from 10th place in 2019 to sixth in 2021, with sales jumping by 32 percent from 2019. M...