Korea, US held simulation drills for nuclear deterrence in Washington this week: defense ministry

WASHINGTON-- South Korea and the US held simulation drills in Washington this week to enhance nuclear deterrence cooperation, both sides said Friday, as the allies are stepping up security coordination to counter evolving North Korean threats. Seoul and Washington held the first table top simulation of the Nuclear Consultative Group, the allies' key nuclear deterrence dialogue body, on Thursday and Friday, Seoul's defense ministry and the Pentagon said in a joint statement. The TTS

Foreign AffairsSept. 7, 2024

North Korea floats 190 trash balloons in resumed campaign

North Korea has launched around 190 balloons filled with scrap paper and other waste toward the South in its resumed balloon campaign, with many found in Seoul and surrounding areas, military officials said Saturday. North Korea floated the balloons from Friday night to early Saturday morning, and around 100 have landed in the capital and its surrounding Gyeonggi Province so far, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. No hazardous materials have been found in the balloons, which contained only scrap

North KoreaSept. 7, 2024

Farewell summit: Yoon, Kishida pledge to keep momentum in revitalizing ties

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stressed the vital importance of sustaining the momentum in bilateral cooperation and exchanges -- an effort driven by their leader-to-leader diplomacy -- during Kishida's farewell visit to Seoul on Friday. Seoul and Tokyo signed a formal agreement to strengthen cooperation in protecting their nationals abroad and pledged to boost people-to-people exchanges by streamlining immigration procedures ahead of

Foreign AffairsSept. 6, 2024

Prosecution panel advises against indicting first lady over Dior bag acceptance

The Supreme Prosecutors Office's investigation review committee advised Friday against indicting first lady Kim Keon Hee for accepting a luxury handbag from a Korean American pastor. The panel, comprising 15 outside experts, reached the conclusion after a meeting at the top prosecutors office to review the first lady's case involving allegations that she illegally received a Dior handbag worth 3 million won ($2,248) and other expensive gifts from pastor Choi Jae-young in 2022. Followin

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

S. Korea to freeze health insurance premiums for 2nd year in 2025

South Korea will keep next year's state health insurance premiums unchanged for a second straight year in an effort to help ease people's financial burdens, the health ministry said Friday. Under the plan, the health insurance premium rate will remain unchanged at 7.09 percent in 2025, marking the first time the government has implemented a two-year freeze in the insurance scheme. The government also froze the rate last year. Previously, the government has raised health insurance premi

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

Man to pay W727m for opening plane door before landing

A man who opened an airplane door while the aircraft was still in flight was ordered to pay 727 million won ($547,000) in damages to the airline operator on Thursday. The man in his 30s was convicted in November for the premature opening of the emergency door while the Asiana Airlines plane was preparing to land at about 700-800 feet (213-243 meters) in the air. Thursday’s ruling was to determine compensation, following the criminal trial, and was handed down by Judge Chae Seong-ho of Daeg

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

Rival parties unite to form 4-way body to break med school standoff

South Korea's rival political parties on Friday united in a rare display of bipartisan cooperation to form a four-party consultative body with the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and the medical community, aiming to jump-start negotiations over the medical school enrollment hike, which have been at the root of health care disruptions since February. People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon proposed the formation of a four-way consultative body, bringing together the Yoon government, ruling and o

PoliticsSept. 6, 2024

Gender pay gap inches down to 26.3% but persists

The gender pay gap in South Korea among companies required to disclose such information -- those with total assets of more than 5 trillion won ($5 billion) in affiliated companies -- narrowed slightly to 26.3 percent last year, a report showed Friday. According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's gender pay gap research, the average pay of all 2,647 companies subject to disclosure, including listed companies and companies subject to external audit, was 98.57 million won for men

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

Prosecution committee recommends to drop charges against first lady over Dior bag acceptance

A panel under South Korea's top prosecutors office on Friday has advised not to indict first lady Kim Keon Hee over allegations that she broke the country's antigraft law by accepting a luxury Christian Dior handbag worth 3 million won ($2,248) from a Korean American pastor in 2022. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Investigation Review Committee, consisting of 15 outside experts, held the meeting from 2 p.m. to 7:10 p.m. to deliberate whether she is guilty of six different

PoliticsSept. 6, 2024

Criminals who drugged teens' drinks with meth sentenced to up to 18 years

South Korea's top court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced defendants in a high-profile drug scam -- in which drug-laced drinks were deceptively distributed to students, followed by the blackmail of their parents -- to prison terms of up to 18 years, the court announced on Friday. The Supreme Court confirmed the lower court’s verdict, sentencing individuals identified by the surnames Gil, Kim, Park and Lee to prison terms of 18, 10, 10 and seven years, respectively. They were found

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

34 students grab prizes at 53rd Korea Herald English Speech Contest

The award ceremony for the 53rd Korea Herald English Speech Contest was held on Thursday at the Australian Embassy in Seoul on Friday. This year's contest, themed "My dream, Earth and the 10th Anniversary of the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement," focused on the environment and economy. A total of 34 winners were recognized for their outstanding speeches. In attendance were Australian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Jeff Robinson, Deputy Head of Mission Martin Walker, Heral

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

Wartime sexual slavery victims file for Japanese govt. asset disclosure

Victims of Japan's wartime military sexual slavery and their bereaved families filed a legal request with the court on Friday to verify the details of assets owned by the Japanese government in South Korea, in a bid to secure compensation following their civil lawsuit victory last November. Justice for the Comfort Women, a Seoul-based civic group advocating for Korean victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, announced that the victims and their families had submitted the request unde

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

Over 1 million train fare evasions since 2019: data

An annual average of 190,926 cases of fare evasions at major train services like KTX occurred here between 2019 and July of this year, data from state-run railway operators showed Friday. Over the last five years, officials caught an average of 4.12 billion won ($3 million) worth of illegal train rides a year, according to Korail data submitted to Rep. Yoon Jong-kun of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. The railway operator currently runs the high-speed KTX trains as well as the Sa

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

'Trust me and jump': Police catches child escaping burning factory

A police officer managed to catch an elementary school student who had to jump out of a second-floor window of a burning building, local police said Friday. According to the Pyeongtaek Police Station, a fire broke out on the third floor of a factory building in Poseung-eup, Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province at 3:58 p.m on Thursday. Police officers evacuated the area but belatedly found the young boy crying for help, stranded on the second floor of the building. Unable to enter the building already i

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

9 out of 10 Seoul five-star hotels use ‘drip pricing’ in promotion

Most of the five-star hotels in Seoul are omitting mandatory additional fees from the room charges displayed on their homepages, the Seoul city government said Friday. Seoul Metropolitan Government conducted a survey of 27 hotels rated five stars by the Tourism Promotion Act and found that only three of them show room charges complete with taxes and additional fees to customers. The rest use "drip pricing," a technique where only a part of an item is advertised and the final amount is

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

Two Korean women arrested for stealing tourist's bag in Turkey

Two South Korean women were released after being detained by Turkish authorities for allegedly stealing a bag containing around $17,000 in cash from another tourist, according to news reports on Thursday. Turkey’s Demiroren News Agency and other media outlets reported that the two women were arrested by police on suspicion of theft and released after questioning on Aug. 28. The two women, who were traveling in the country, were accused of stealing a bag belonging to an Albanian tourist on

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

Yoon approves appointment of new defense minister

President Yoon Suk Yeol approved the appointment of Kim Yong-hyun, former head of the Presidential Security Service, as defense minister and presented a certificate of appointment on Friday, his office said. Kim, a retired three-star Army general and close aide to Yoon, was nominated to the post last month to replace then minister Shin Won-sik, who has since served as national security adviser. Following Yoon's election in May 2022, Kim led efforts to relocate the presidential office from C

PoliticsSept. 6, 2024

Military deploying anti-drone system to counter N. Korean drone threats

The defense ministry said Friday the military has been deploying an integrated anti-drone system in multiple locations across the country to counter threats posed by unmanned aerial vehicles from North Korea. The move comes as South Korea has pushed to bolster its drone response capabilities after five North Korean drones crossed the border in December 2022, with one of them entering Seoul. The military failed to intercept any of them, raising questions over its readiness. "The anti-drone i

DefenseSept. 6, 2024

Japanese PM Kishida due in S. Korea for last summit with Yoon

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to visit South Korea on Friday for talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol as Kishida is preparing to leave office with a legacy of improving long-frayed relations with Seoul. Yoon and Kishida are scheduled to hold summit talks later Friday, their 12th summit in just about two years. It will also be their last summit as Kishida has given up on reelection as prime minister and leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party after three years on the job. Durin

Foreign AffairsSept. 6, 2024

N. Korea sends trash balloons into S. Korea for 2nd consecutive day: JCS

North Korea floated trash-carrying balloons into South Korea for a second straight day on Thursday, South Korea's military said, the latest in its repeated provocations Seoul condemned as "senseless." The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the North launching some 480 trash balloons from late Wednesday until 12 p.m. Thursday, with around 100 trash bundles landing in Seoul and northern parts of Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital. In a notice sent to reporters at

Social AffairsSept. 5, 2024