"I think any country where you see people trying to speak out, trying to speak up, to protest peacefully, to make known their frustrations -- whatever the issue is -- in any country where we see that happening and then we see the government take massive repressive action to stop it, that's not a sign of strength,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “It's a sign of weakness." Canada Prime...

Pressure is growing for Lee Sang-min to leave his post as minister of interior and safety in the wake of the deadly Halloween crowd crush, with the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Wednesday threatening to file a motion to impeach him if he doesn’t step down. The Democratic Party leadership held an emergency meeting on this day and decided to pass a proposal to dismiss the safety min...

The families of victims who died in the Halloween crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood a month ago asked for solidarity from the community as they search for accountability from the government. In a statement late Monday, the families thanked supporters and offered consolation to survivors, marking one month since the disaster that killed 158 people and left dozens with severe injuries. ...

The Cambodian boy who was visited by South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee last month will be given cost-free care at a top hospital in Seoul next month. Asan Medical Center, one of the largest hospitals in Seoul, said Monday that all of the boy’s medical expenses will be covered by the hospital and its parent foundation, the Asan Foundation. The boy, who is reported to be suffering from a conge...

The Democratic Party of Korea on Sunday gave President Yoon Suk-yeol a one-day ultimatum to fire Lee Sang-min, the minister of interior and safety, over the deadly crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon last month. “The president needs to stand by his words that there will be accountability. The first step to do that is to remove the interior and safety minister from his post,” Democratic Party spokespe...

The National Assembly investigation into how the response failed in the deadly Halloween crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon began on Thursday, after the ruling People Power Party backed out of meeting at the last minute. The party demanded that the agreement -- reached just one day prior -- be revised to exclude the top prosecutors’ office from being investigated. The plenary session, postponed two...

Police are investigating the parents of a dead infant found in a plastic container at a home in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province. According to Pocheon police on Wednesday, the couple are believed to have hid the death of their 15-month-old daughter for three years since she died. The container that they used to keep the body was just 35 centimeters long, 24 centimeters wide and 17 centimeters tall, p...

South Korea’s fourth monkeypox patient is a health care worker who came into close contact with the country’s third monkeypox patient on Nov. 15, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The KDCA said the health care worker was exposed while taking samples from the third monkeypox patient a week ago, and has been put under “active monitoring” since. The health care worker’s ...

The bereaved families of the Halloween crowd crush victims spoke out for the first time on Tuesday, demanding the government for a sincere apology and clarification on who is responsible for their deaths. “We still don’t know what killed my son and why he had to die,” said the mother of Lee Nam-hoon, a 29-year-old who is among the 158 deaths from the night of the Halloween festivities. On Oct. ...

Song Sang-hyun, the former president of the International Criminal Court, said Friday that South Korea should endeavor to expand its efforts to further the implementations of liberal values. At Friday’s symposium commemorating the foundation established in his name -- the Song Sang-hyun Foundation for International Justice, Peace and Human Rights -- Song said that the post-World War II internati...

CHUNCHEON, Gangwon Province -- Kim Jin-tae, the new governor of Gangwon Province who has been in office for four months, says he is “more than ready” to welcome tourists back after a long pandemic hiatus in travel. Speaking with The Korea Herald, he said that the province has “no shortage of attractions to enjoy all year round,” including some of the “country’s best mountains” -- Seoraksan and C...

A fresh row has erupted following a recent expose of the Democratic Party of Korea’s apparent bid to publish the identities of the victims of the fatal Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon, Seoul. While the Democratic Party argued that the victims needed to be remembered publicly, critics said respect for privacy should come before the public’s right to know. In a text message conversation that was...

The Seoul court ruled on Tuesday that it was wrong for the National Human Rights Commission of Korea to drop the petition filed on behalf of the two North Korean fishermen who were forcibly repatriated three years ago. The Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea -- more widely known as Hanbyun -- filed the petition asking the public human rights watchdog to investigate the possible vio...

The opposition lawmakers on Tuesday blasted President Yoon Suk-yeol and his administration for failing in their duties with regard to the Itaewon tragedy. At the National Assembly interrogation of the presidential office, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea accused the president of “failing his constitutional mandate to protect South Koreans” in the Itaewon tragedy. “The Itaewon disas...

The National Assembly on Monday grilled high-ranking officials over their handling of the Itaewon crowd crush as the country tries to get to the bottom of a tragedy that has left at least 156 people dead. At the parliamentary grilling, the police and the fire authorities came under fire as details of their tardy response emerged. The police station in Yongsan, the district where Itaewon is loca...