Rep. Sim Sang-jeung of the Progressive Justice Party makes a parliamentary address on Tuesday.(Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald) Candid soul-searching by a progressive leader is reverberating around Korea’s political circles more usually criticized for defying public calls for reform. Rep. Sim Sang-jeung, chief of the minor opposition Progressive Justice Party, on Tuesday spoke out about the fai...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. (AP-Yonhap News) U.S.-based tech giant Apple on Monday revealed its much-anticipated new mobile operating system, hinting that its innovative prowess had not died with its cofounder Steve Jobs. “IOS 7 is the biggest change to iOS since the introduction of iPhone,” the company’s CEO Tim Cook said at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Throughout the p...

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. (AP-Yonhap News) The United Nations will undergo large-scale restructuring amid international pressure to cut its spending, according to U.N. sources. The unprecedented move is widely interpreted as a sign of problems with its reforms. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, citing unnamed sources, reported Monday that the organization will eliminate at least 260 j...

Son Yeon-jae. ( Asian Gymnastics Union) Gymnast Son Yeon-jae won three gold medals at the Asian Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, becoming the first South Korean to win gold at an international rhythmic gymnastic event. The 19-year-old began her winning streak by clinching the individual all-round final on Friday with 72.066 points in the multi-sport competition combini...

Susan Rice United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, who became a target of Republican vitriol over U.S. President Barack Obama’s handling of an attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, is moving into the post of White House National Security Adviser. President Obama announced a major reshuffling of his national security team on Wednesday, ushering out Tom Donilon, a cautious Washing...

At the heart of the nuclear reactors’ shutdown and subsequent electricity shortage was a quality inspection company that neglected its role for the sake of its own interests. Earlier in the week, the prosecution summoned the head of Saehan TEP for allegedly forging the quality certificate papers on substandard signal cables used in the recently suspended nuclear reactors. A senior employee of J...

It was like deja vu on Monday when President Park Geun-hye turned to her long-time troubleshooter Lee Jung-hyun to fix the public relations mess at Cheong Wa Dae. Lee, 56, chief presidential political secretary, was named as her top public affairs aide, replacing Lee Nam-ki, who resigned last month to take responsibility for the sexual assault case involving then-spokesman Yoon Chang-jung. Lee ...

Won Sei-hoon, a former spy chief and long-time aide to former President Lee Myung-bak, is likely to face charges for personal corruption as well as his role in intelligence agents’ illegal intervention in politics. Prosecutors are investigating allegations that he received bribes from a private construction firm while he served as chief of the National Intelligence Service. During a raid of the...

Republican Rep. Ed Royce, the head of the U.S. congressional panel on foreign affairs, lodged last week a strong protest against China for its recent repatriation of nine North Korean defectors. The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee sent a letter to China’s President Xi Jinping expressing his concern over recent reports of the forced repatriation of North Koreans, some as young as ...

The Korea Center for Investigative Journalism, or Newstapa, is making waves with its revelations of high-profile Koreans who use tax havens to store their wealth. Founded in 2012 by a group of journalists, the KCIJ is an independent online media outlet that states its purpose as “delivering the truth to the public, and not using press releases distributed by those with power and money.” Kim Yon...

A signboard stands at the entrance of Jinju Medical Center on Wednesday announcing the hospital’s closure. (Yonhap News) South Gyeongsang Province on Wednesday closed its main public medical center plagued by snowballing losses, bellicose unionists and heated political disputes. Governor Hong Joon-pyo pushed ahead with the plan to shut down Jinju Medical Center despite fierce opposition from th...

The controversy over work on high-voltage transmission towers in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, continues with potential solutions running into further problems. Last week, Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Han Jin-hyun said that the government and the ruling Saenuri Party will ensure that compensation promised by the Korea Electric Power Corporation is paid. The Ministry of Stra...

Korean director Moon Byoung-gon on Sunday won the Short Film Palme d’Or at Cannes International Film Festival, which ran May 15-26, for his film “Safe.” Moon is the first Korean to win the honor. “I am bewildered and didn’t know if I would win a prize,” the 30-year-old director was quoted as saying after the awards ceremony in France. “I am all the more happy to receive this award because I had ...

(Top photo) South Korean former sex slaves Kim Bok-dong (right) and Kil Won-ok attend a meeting in Osaka, western Japan, Saturday. Kim was referring Saturday to comment by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto. The mayor has angered many by saying Japan’s wartime practice of forcing many Asian women into prostitution for its military was considered necessary. (Bottom photo) Protesters hold a banner during a...

The new leadership of Woori Financial Group, which is expected to take the initiative in privatizing the state-funded firm, will take over in the coming weeks. The group’s personnel affairs committee said Thursday that it nominated incumbent bank unit CEO Lee Soon-woo as the new chairman. At a news briefing, nominee Lee clarified that he would not always adhere to the past sale project of a blo...