Lawmakers on Thursday shared the South Korean spy agency’s assessment that former North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho appears to have been purged. The lawmakers of the National Assembly’s intelligence committee said in a closed-door briefing that the National Intelligence Service was able to confirm that Ri was purged by the regime The closed-door briefing was held after the spy agency bri...

Similarly, senior officials at the police emergency dispatch service center said they first became aware of the crowd disaster at around 10:59 p.m. According to records seen by Basic Income Party Rep. Yong Hye-in, however, by 10:59 p.m. there had already been several calls made to the police dispatch service as well as requests from the fire department for a joint response. Yong, citing records...

BUSAN/YANGSAN, South Gyeongsang Province -- In one of his first steps in the new year, Democratic Party of Korea chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung on Monday visited the residence of former President Moon Jae-in, skipping President Yoon Suk-yeol’s New Year event held on the same day. Monday’s meeting took place behind closed doors, with at least hundreds of meters from the vicinity of the ex-president’s r...

Nurses and care workers were sleeping on the floor and working under hazmat suits for 12 to 15 hours a day. Ten nurses were looking after about a hundred patients at the ward Wee was at. “I remember video-calling with my family, they were so worried,” she said. COVID-19 “spread like wildfire” at the hospital. It took only about a week for one case to become a hundred. Over the 42-day lockdown, ...

South Korea is tightening COVID-19 travel rules for arrivals from China, where a record surge of infections is underway, for about two months starting next year. The government’s COVID-19 response headquarters on Friday announced that all travelers from China will face extra rules including a mandatory COVID-19 test both before and after arrival. Only those who are negative in a PCR or a rapid ...

The Korea Herald is running a series of feature stories and interviews on the evolution and rise of drug crimes, insufficient support systems and young addicts’ stories in South Korea. This is the third installment . -- Ed. OSONG, North Chungcheong Province – South Korea’s drug abuse epidemic deserves just as much attention as COVID-19, according to Minister of Food and Drug Safety Oh Yu-Kyoung...

The safety minister also said he had not seen body camera footage from the day that showed victims struggling in the crowded alley, still alive, at around midnight. “Minister, the footage shows all these young people and they were still alive at 11:50 p.m. You should have seen it by now,” said Rep. Kim Kyo-heung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea’s committee for parliamentary probe. Ber...

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...

South Korea may do away with the indoor masking rule if metrics like the COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates fall. Even then, masking will not be gone for good, and could be reinstated should those metrics worsen. Ruling People Power Party leaders met with top public health officials Thursday, a day before the government COVID-19 response headquarters is set to announce how the rule on mask...

Doctor-turned-lawmaker Rep. Shin Hyun-young of the Democratic Party of Korea has been reported to the police for the second time on Wednesday for hitching a ride on an ambulance heading to the scene of the crowd crush in Itaewon, Seoul, on Oct. 30. Seoul councilor Lee Jong-bae filed a police report against Shin, accusing her of “interfering with emergency services,” just a day after a group of p...

Ji’s escape story Ji was born in North Hamgyong Province, in a village adjoining a notorious prison camp. Growing up in the midst of a dire famine, he began to support his family from a young age, digging up grass to feed on them and looking for things to barter for food. His grandmother and many of his neighbors died of starvation. One March day in 1996, he was trying to steal pieces of coal f...

South Korea may need to put off reviewing COVID-19 isolation rules until after the winter. Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyu-hong told a press conference on Monday that the country will be ready for a discussion on whether to keep the remaining COVID-19 rules once winter passes and the outbreak situation across the country stabilizes. The two COVID-19 rules that remain in place here are se...

Former President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday was sued by the family of South Korea government official Lee Dae-jun, who was killed by North Korean soldiers near the sea border over two years ago. The lawsuit comes as onetime officials at Moon’s Cheong Wa Dae and Cabinet are being summoned by prosecutors one by one for questioning. Lee Rae-jin, the late official’s older brother, accused Moon of fail...

OSONG, North Chungcheong Province -- Safety and quality are what make Korean food products stand out, according to Minister of Food and Drug Safety Oh Yu-kyoung. “I believe the competitive edge that Korean food products have in the global market is their safety and high quality,” Oh said in an interview with The Korea Herald. “The interest in Korean culture has extended beyond K-pop or K-dramas...

The motion came a day after grieving families of 97 victims killed in the crowd crush announced they were forming an organization, saying they wished to get the government to admit liability and bring justice to the victims. “These were people going about their day at an everyday place, and their lives were cut abruptly. Red flags were ignored and cries for help were missed,” the families said i...