At the center of the mountain range Baekdudaegan, southeast of the North Gyeongsang province, lies the Baekdudaegan National Arboretum in an area of 5,179 hectares. Around 42,000 tourists have visited the tiger forest since it officially opened in May. Visitors can also experience the 27 different themed gardens located throughout the arboretum. Photographed by Park Hyun-koo Written by Bak Se-...

Former National Intelligence Service chiefs were sentenced to prison terms of three to 3 1/2 years Friday for regularly making secret money transfers to former President Park Geun-hye’s aides when she was in office. The Seoul Central District Court found the three former spy chiefs -- Nam Jae-joon, Lee Byung-kee and Lee Byong-ho -- guilty of sending 3.5 billion won ($3.24 million) from the agenc...

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea will soon set up a task force to carry out the election campaign promises made by the party‘s candidates, its floor leader Hong Young-pyo said Thursday. “From next week, we are expecting to start negotiations (with opposition parties) to organize the National Assembly and normalize it,” Hong said at a general meeting of the ruling party. Hong’s remarks came ...

The June 13 local elections ended with a sweeping victory by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, and now the focus is on how it may benefit the next potential presidential candidates. The ruling progressive party, whose members includes President Moon Jae-in, grabbed 14 of the 17 metropolitan mayor and governor posts, plus 11 of the 12 National Assembly seats in the by-elections that was held ...

The June 13 local elections determined 17 new education chiefs across the country where education is a big focus, along with other administrative and legislative posts. Among the 59 candidates was Cho Hee-yeon, an incumbent education superintendent in Seoul, whose liberal education policies and ideas often invited criticism from conservative parties and parents. Cho was running for his second t...

In a queue at a polling center in Yongsan District, northern Seoul, Park Jung-sook, 54, was finally nearing the voting booth, sure of which candidate she would cast her ballot for. For the long-time supporter of a conservative party who works as a freelancer, the quadrennial local elections used to be all about left and right in South Korea’s highly divided politics. But it all feels new this t...

South Korea’s quadrennial local elections will kick off Wednesday at 6 a.m. across 14,134 polling centers nationwide, one day after the historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump. In the elections, 4,016 local administrative, legislative and educational posts are up for grabs, including the posts of 17 provincial and metropolitan chiefs and 226 heads o...

With two days to go before South Korea’s local elections, controversies started heating up Monday, surrounding political scandals. Candidates from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and Gyeonggi Province residents said Monday that they are set to sue Chung Tae-ok, a former spokesman for the major conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party, for defaming the province’s regions. On Thursday, Ch...

South Korea’s quadrennial local elections this year come at an extraordinary time: The historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump takes place Tuesday, just a day earlier. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea holds an advantage at the June 13 local elections on the back of optimism on rapprochement between the two Koreas. Optimism is high among the par...

Seoul’s carbon emissions are the worst in the world, according to researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology who surveyed the carbon footprints of global cities. In carbon emissions data that Daniel Moran’s research group gathered from 13,000 cities worldwide, Seoul and the population of the surrounding metropolitan area, where about half of South Korea’s 52 million popu...

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Thursday filed a complaint with the prosecution against the main conservative opposition party over allegations that it had engaged in online opinion rigging campaign since 2006, including during the 2007 presidential election and 2014 local elections. Thursday’s move by the ruling party to bring the allegations to prosecution came just a day after a local...

Early voting for the June 13 local elections and parliamentary by-elections begins on Friday and runs until Saturday, according to the National Election Commission. During the two-day advance voting, eligible voters will cast ballots at 3,512 polling stations nationwide. The publication of new public opinion polls is banned as of Thursday, the watchdog said. To boost early voting for the race, ...

DAEGU -- Just a week before South Korea’s upcoming local elections, Daegu mayor hopeful Kwon Young-jin of the major conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party running for re-election was campaigning at a local marketplace in Hyeonpung-myeon, Daegu. Kwon is competing in a three-way mayoral race slated for June 13, which includes Lim Dae-yun of the ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea. “The ...

A series of attacks on politicians have taken place in South Korea, heightening concerns about a rise in hate crimes as local elections close in. Daegu Metropolitan City mayor Kwon Young-jin of the main conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party who is running again for mayor was attacked on Thursday in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, by a middle-aged woman while campaigning. The official campaig...

The next Seoul Metropolitan Government should pay closer attention to the “fourth industrial revolution” as part of measures to create more jobs, Seoul mayoral candidate Ahn Cheol-soo said Monday at a meeting with Seoul-based foreign journalists. Ahn of the minor center-right opposition Bareunmirae Party who has been outspoken in denouncing the liberal Seoul mayor Park Won-son pointed out that d...