The book discusses Kim Yo-jong’s political style, how she made her way to the political forefront after Kim Jong-il’s death and why she has become a special figure to the current North Korean leader. Mainly, Kim Jong-un has no one to trust and is in an unstable health condition, Makino writes. The author also highlights how successive South Korean administrations dealt with North Korea. The Lee...

After five years of tweeting in Korean and some years of language study, McDonell says he now understands daily conversation in Korean and can read plain Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, on Twitter. His favorite Korean word is “sam" as it carries more than one meaning. “It means three, like the number, and also can refer to hemp, like cannabis – what a lot of people in the US call ‘weed,’” he said...

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will focus on boosting South Korea’s content and tourism industries in 2023, it said on Thursday during a New Year’s policy briefing to President Yoon Suk Yeol. The ministry has set out a goal to achieve $22 billion in content exports by 2027, significantly up from $12.4 billion in 2021. The ministry will inject 790 billion won ($625 million) in policy...

On Dec. 29, the life of 66-year-old Jeon ended abruptly by a fire that broke out inside a soundproof tunnel on a highway. He was one of the five who died in the deadly flame in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, which left 41 others injured and 45 cars destroyed. In his last phone call alive, Jeon told wife it was chaos in the tunnel and that he couldn’t move the car nor open the car door. “There was...

Lee said that a full-fledged archaeological analysis should follow in order to decide whether excavation is needed. It is only after an excavation, which can take several years, that the committee along with scholars will be able to review and discuss the possibility of its designation as a historic site, according to Lee. "Rather than establishing separate principles for Cheong Wa Dae, researc...

Lim Myung-ho, professor of psychology and psychotherapy at Dankook University, said watching someone flex allows viewers a vicarious experience. “Many people have the desire to be rich, and (watching these videos) is a way of circumventing such desires,” he said. A survey last year by local school uniform brand Smart of 783 middle and high school students found that nearly half -- 46 percent -- ...

The year that just ended was all about finally seeing a number of movies that began production prior to the pandemic. Despite better-than-expected ticket sales, having so many options to watch comfortably at home led many film buffs and moviegoers to stay inside. How will upcoming movies this year impact ticket sales at the cinema? From Hollywood’s megasized projects to a variety of local films ...

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Former pope Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95, the Vatican announced Saturday, almost a decade after he became the first pontiff to resign in six centuries. "With sorrow, I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement. The German pope emeri...

Foreigners working in South Korea on an E-9 visa with a high command of the Korean language will likely be allowed to stay in Korea continuously for up to 10 years. According to a plan announced Friday by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Employment Permit System will be revised to give benefits to foreign laborers who are fluent in Korean. Currently, holders of the E-9 nonprofessional w...

The owner of a Chinese restaurant in southern Seoul on Thursday requested for police protection, denying media reports that it may be one of the overseas fronts for China’s secret police. Holding a press conference at his eatery Oriental Pearl Tower in Jamsil-dong, Songpa-gu, the owner, identified as Wang, called the allegations “unjust.” The man said there will be another press conference on S...

South Korea’s first lunar mission Danuri has successfully entered lunar orbit, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute said Wednesday. With Danuri’s successful entrance into lunar orbit, South Korea has become the seventh country in the world to have capability to explore the moon. Danuri, also known as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, began circling around...

The New Year’s bell-ringing ceremony at Bosingak will be back this Saturday as an offline event for the first time since 2019. Coronavirus restrictions had forced the ceremony to be held exclusively online for the past two years. Just as Americans gather to see the ball drop at New York City's Times Square at midnight, South Koreans flock to the Jongno-gu area to see the old bronze Bosingak bell...

BUFFALO, New York -- Millions of people hunkered down against a deep freeze Sunday to ride out the winter storm that has killed at least 34 people across the United States and is expected to claim more lives after trapping some residents inside houses with heaping snow drifts and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses. The scope of the storm has been nearly unprecedented...

After Yoon was sworn in, he removed the first lady’s office as promised. The first lady's official schedule is still announced through briefings or press releases, and the press corps is usually not informed in advance or invited to cover it. The presidential office on Sunday sent a message to the press corps publicizing a Korea Herald news article on the first lady’s activities. The message li...