N. Korean leader lauds military spy satellite as 'space guard'

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has lauded the country's successful launch of a military spy satellite as an eye-opening event of deploying a "space guard" monitoring enemies' military activities, state media reported Friday. Kim made the remark during his visit to the National Aerospace Technology Administration on Thursday, as he encouraged engineers and scientists who contributed to Tuesday's launch of the Malligyong-1, according to the Korean Central News Agency. &qu

North KoreaNov. 24, 2023

[Contribution] Realign climate action for just transition

When the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, I was overjoyed. Years of hard work, sleepless nights, and lengthy negotiations were finally behind us. Commitments to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius seemed to be a “reality." There was consensus for a multilateral, legally binding treaty, and my support as a legal adviser to the least developed countries on Paris Agreement negotiations was to benefit so many. Yet my joy was short-lived. Despite scientific knowledge of what

Foreign AffairsNov. 23, 2023

School hires robots as cafeteria chefs

The chicken is in the deep fryer, vegetable fried rice is being cooked in a pan and beef stew is being heated up in a stock pot as lunchtime approaches at Soonggok Middle School in Seongbuk-gu, northern Seoul. But the meal preparation for some 660 students is all done at the hands of cooking robots. The middle school is the first in the country to adopt cooking robots designed to perform culinary tasks, such as stir-frying, boiling and frying ingredients. It is part of a trial starting the secon

Social AffairsNov. 23, 2023

Cold wave alert to be issued for Seoul

A cold wave advisory will be issued for Seoul on Thursday as the temperature is forecast to fall sharply the following day, the weather agency said. The Korea Meteorological Administration said the cold wave advisory will take effect for all of Seoul at 9 p.m. Thursday, as the morning low is expected to drop by more than 10 degrees to minus 3 C on Friday. The advisory is issued when the morning low comes below minus 12 C for more than two consecutive days, or when the temperature drops more than

Social AffairsNov. 23, 2023

Court orders Japan to compensate ‘comfort women’

A South Korean appeals court found the Japanese government liable for damages to be paid to Korean women forced to work in wartime brothels during its 1910-45 occupation of the peninsula, reversing the previous ruling two years ago. A group of 21 plaintiffs -- “comfort women” or sex abuse victims who are still alive and their families -- filed the complaint in 2016. Dismissing the case in 2021, the court acknowledged Japan has state immunity from lawsuits in another country. The same

Foreign AffairsNov. 23, 2023

North Korea scraps 2018 military pact with South Korea

North Korea said Thursday it would step away from an inter-Korean military agreement reached on Sept. 19, 2018, vowing to deploy new and more advanced weapons along the shared border. In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Thursday, North Korea’s Defense Ministry said its forces “will not be bound by” the agreement that created a buffer zone around the fortified border, and that all military measures “will be restored immediately” in a

PoliticsNov. 23, 2023

German ambassador advocates 'de-risking' at Global Biz Forum

The German ambassador to Korea, Georg Schmidt, addressed the need to pursue a "de-risking" strategy to protect the economy in the face of global uncertainties, at the Global Biz Forum in Seoul on Wednesday. In his remarks, Schmidt recalled the perils of relying heavily on a single source, citing Germany's vulnerability caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, when gas supplies from Russia were disrupted. Germany swiftly adapted by diversifying its sources, constructing LNG terminals and

Foreign AffairsNov. 23, 2023

[News Focus] Battle beyond border: Koreas square off in space showdown

A space rivalry between South and North Korea appears to be intensifying, extending the decades-old military confrontation between the two beyond the heavily fortified inter-Korean border on the ground. North Korea seized the initiative by putting its first-ever military reconnaissance satellite into orbit Tuesday, strategically positioning itself ahead of South Korea's scheduled launch of its first homegrown military spy satellite on Nov. 30. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Wed

DefenseNov. 23, 2023

Teacher under fire for classroom lingerie photos of former students

A teacher on a fixed-term contract at a middle school in Seoul has come under fire for using school property to take photos of scantily clad former students for his social media account, as well as selling them as photo books. The teacher, whose identity has been withheld, has been running the social media account since 2017, where he uploaded some 1,600 photographs of women posing suggestively for nearly 87,000 followers, his now-closed Instagram account showed. Apart from running and posting s

Social AffairsNov. 23, 2023

Warmer, wetter winter expected: weather agency

This winter is expected to be warmer and wetter than usual, due to global warming and El Nino, the Korea Meteorological Administration said Thursday. Temperatures from December to February next year are likely to be higher than the average years by a 61 to 67 percent chance, the weather agency said in a briefing on its three-month climate forecast. On a monthly basis, there is a 40 percent probability that the temperatures in those three months will be similar to or higher than the average year

Social AffairsNov. 23, 2023

[Korean History] In 2008, Korea's National Treasure No. 1 went down in flames

South Korea stopped assigning numbers to its national treasures a few years ago, but for many, the expression National Treasure No. 1 still remains synonymous with Namdaemun, or Sungnyemun by its official name. So when this gate from the 14th century burned down one night in 2008, the shock was indescribable, akin to what the French people might have gone through during the 2019 blaze at Notre Dame Cathedral. Koreans watched helplessly on TV as the wooden pagoda atop the arch-shaped stone gate b

Social AffairsNov. 23, 2023

S. Korea, UK to establish foreign, defense ministerial dialogue, fight cyber threats

South Korea and the United Kingdom on Wednesday agreed to establish a "two plus two" ministerial dialogue where foreign and defense ministers would hold regular bilateral meetings, amid signs of a destabilizing international order that the countries seek to jointly defend. The UK now becomes the third country to establish such ministerial dialogue with Korea, following the United States and Australia, according to Kim Tae-hyo, first deputy director of the presidential National Securi

PoliticsNov. 23, 2023

US says S. Korea's partial suspension of 2018 inter-Korean military accord 'prudent,' 'restrained' move

The United States regards South Korea's partial suspension of a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement as a "prudent" and "restrained" response to North Korea's repeated violations of it, the State Department said Wednesday. South Korea suspended part of the Comprehensive Military Agreement on Wednesday in response to Pyongyang's launch of a space rocket Tuesday. North Korea said later that it will "never be bound" by it and deploy &qu

DefenseNov. 23, 2023

S. Korea, Britain forge strategic partnership on ODA projects

South Korea and Britain have forged a strategic partnership on official development assistance projects and other areas of sustainable growth, the financial ministry said Thursday. Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho and Foreign Minister Park Jin participated in the signing ceremony of the Strategic Development Partnership with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in London, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The agreement was reached during President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visi

PoliticsNov. 23, 2023

IAEA chief notes 'strong' water release from N. Korea's Yongbyon nuclear reactor

The UN nuclear watchdog chief has reported a "strong" water outflow from a reactor's cooling system at North Korea's key nuclear complex in Yongbyon, hinting at the possible test-running of the facility suspected to be designed to produce more fissile material for nuclear bombs. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi explained his agency's observation of the light water reactor at the nuclear complex, 100 kilometers north of Pyongyang, during t

North KoreaNov. 23, 2023

6 pct of executives in S. Korea's top 100 firms women: data

The proportion of females in executive positions at the top 100 companies in South Korea reached the 6 percent mark for the first time ever this year, data showed Thursday. According to data of top 100 companies in terms of sales compiled by global headhunter UnicoSearch Inc., 439, or 6 percent, of the total of 7,345 executives were females as of the first half of this year. The executives included executive directors, members of the owner families and unregistered directors, but not outside dir

Social AffairsNov. 23, 2023

S. Korea elected as member of UNESCO World Heritage Committee

South Korea has been elected to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for a four-year term through 2027, officials here said Thursday, marking the country's fourth such election as a member of the committee. Seoul regained the membership at the 24th session of the General Assembly of the States Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage that opened at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on Wednesday for a two-day run, according to the Cultural Heritag

Foreign AffairsNov. 23, 2023

N. Korea vows to restore all military measures halted under inter-Korean military accord

North Korea said Thursday it will immediately restore all military measures halted under a 2018 inter-Korean military accord after South Korea suspended part of the tension reduction deal following the North's launch of a military spy satellite. The North's defense ministry said it will "never be bound" by the military agreement any more, effectively scrapping the deal that calls for a series of tension reduction measures along the heavily armed border, and warned that the South must &

North KoreaNov. 23, 2023

[Graphic News] Drugs smuggled in through Incheon Airport surge after 2022: lawmaker

The amount of drugs smuggled into South Korea through the country’s main gateway has risen since international travel increased following the lifting of pandemic travel restrictions, an opposition lawmaker said. The amount of narcotics smuggled into South Korea through Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, rose from 129,362 grams in 2020 to 538,241 grams in 2022, Rep. Maeng Sung-kyu of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea said, citing data from the Korea Customs Service. F

Social AffairsNov. 23, 2023

Yoon says updated S. Korea-Britain FTA will enable their businesses to lead global market

LONDON -- President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that updating the South Korea-Britain free trade agreement will enable the two countries' businesses to lead the global market. Yoon made the remark during a business forum attended by CEOs and business representatives from both countries during his ongoing state visit to London, as the two sides signed a joint declaration announcing the launch of negotiations to revise the FTA, which went into effect in 2021. "Over the course of the neg

Foreign AffairsNov. 22, 2023