Losing ground, PPP's Kim Moon-soo sinks deeper into Yoon dilemma

People Power Party presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo finds himself in the political hot seat as South Korea barrels toward an early presidential election on June 3. Kim's campaign has already lost ground in the polls, and disgraced former President Yoon Seok Yeol's membership of his party has emerged as a major liability. According to a Korea Gallup poll released Friday, Kim trails the liberal Democratic Party of Korea’s candidate Lee Jae-myung by a wide margin nationwide — 51 percent to 29 pe

May 16, 2025

How Lee Jae-myung wants to reshape foreign policy

Recasting himself as a foreign policy pragmatist grounded in national interest, South Korea’s presidential front-runner Lee Jae-myung is signaling a reset of the strategic compass for the country’s foreign and North Korea policy. On the Korean Peninsula, Lee prioritizes reducing military tensions and reviving long-stalled dialogue with North Korea — a step he sees as essential to ensuring that Seoul is not sidelined in what he views as an inevitable US bid to thaw relations with the Kim Jong-un

May 14, 2025

People Power Party scrambles to heal rift after candidate shake-up backfires

The conservative People Power Party is scrambling to heal internal rifts and rebuild unity while containing the fallout from a botched leadership attempt to replace its presidential candidate — a move that failed to secure majority support in a vote of all members. Former Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo said Sunday, “Now is the time to embrace past wounds, come together and move forward toward the future,” after his status as the party’s official presidential candidate — chosen through its primary —

May 11, 2025

North Korean leader, troops to skip Russia’s Victory Day despite deepening military ties

The Kremlin has confirmed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his troops will not attend Russia’s May 9 Victory Day celebrations, despite growing attention over whether Kim would appear in Red Square alongside other leaders, amid Pyongyang’s deepening military alignment with Moscow. Kim, however, has notably continued to publicly give "field guidance" at weapons factories at home — a move observers in Seoul interpret as signaling North Korea’s intent to sustain military support for Russia’s

May 7, 2025

Seoul reels from unprecedented leadership vacuum with top 3 posts empty

With just one month left before South Korea’s early presidential election amid critical US tariff talks that have been racing forward, Seoul has been rocked by an unprecedented leadership vacuum: the president, prime minister and top economic chief are all absent due to impeachment or resignation. Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Education Minister Lee Ju-ho, fourth in the Cabinet hierarchy, assumed the role of acting president on Friday, marking the fourth leadership change in six m

May 2, 2025

As China, Russia escalate cognitive warfare, experts say Seoul needs counterstrategy

As China and Russia ramp up sophisticated cognitive warfare targeting the Korean Peninsula, experts at a Seoul forum urged the South Korean government to craft a counterstrategy grounded in objective, professional assessments of both countries’ capabilities. The Korean Association of Area Studies co-hosted the seminar themed, “Security Threats of Cognitive Warfare and Trump’s Second-term Strategy on China,” on Friday with the Institute for National Security Strategy and the Sejong Institute at t

May 2, 2025

New acting president vows fair election, firm security from Day 1

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho, the deputy prime minister who is now acting prime minister and acting president, on Friday pledged to ensure a fair presidential election and maintain firm national security, as South Korea grapples with yet another transfer of leadership just a month before a snap presidential vote. Lee presided over the extraordinary Cabinet meeting on his first day as acting president at the government complex in Seoul, taking the helm of South Korea’s unprecedented interim gover

May 2, 2025

Korea to host 2nd APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting on Jeju Island

South Korea will host the second high-level preparatory meeting for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation on Jeju Island, where it will present detailed plans for advancing discussions on key deliverables such as artificial intelligence cooperation and a joint response to demographic shifts, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Tuesday. The second Senior Officials’ Meeting, a high-level consultative body for discussions among APEC member economies, and related meetings will be held from May 3 to 1

April 29, 2025

Acting President Han vetoes bill limiting acting presidents' authority to nominate justices

Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Tuesday vetoed a bill that sought to limit an acting president’s authority to nominate justices on the Constitutional Court directly. During the Cabinet meeting, Han said he was sending back the bill that sought to amend the Constitutional Court Act, which had been proposed by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and passed in a National Assembly plenary session on April 17. "The amendment contains elements that conflict with existing

April 29, 2025

NK formalizes troop deployment, signals deeper alliance with Russia

North Korea’s first official acknowledgment of its troop deployment to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, following around six months of silence, on Monday comes at a timely moment domestically to frame its participation in a more favorable light, as Russia claims momentum on the battlefield has shifted in Moscow’s favor ahead of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Observers in Seoul view that Pyongyang’s announcement is externally aimed at securing reciprocal commitments — effectivel

April 28, 2025