President Yoon Suk Yeol returned to Seoul on Sunday following a three-day official trip to the Czech Republic, setting the stage for a South Korean consortium to finalize a nuclear energy deal worth 24 trillion won ($18 billion) in the central European country next year. Laying the groundwork for further discussions and procedures before the final signing of the contract, hopefully in March 2025, Yoon, Czech President Petr Pavel and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala "reaffirmed their commitme

Politics Sept. 22, 2024

PRAGUE -- South Korea is poised to inject $37 million in joint research and development projects with the Czech Republic in the next decade, according to President Yoon Suk Yeol's office on Friday. Park Sang-ook, senior presidential secretary for science and technology, told reporters in a briefing in Prague that Seoul's estimated annual R&D budget spending will translate into a 20-fold surge compared with the level in the past from 1995 to 2015. Park added that the spending will g

Politics Sept. 21, 2024

PRAGUE -- South Korea and the Czech Republic will increase nonstop flights for the first time since 1998, as President Yoon Suk Yeol's visit to Prague is expected to offer people from the two countries more opportunities for exchanges. The growing potential of strengthened ties between the two countries -- partly with a South Korean group being selected as the preferred bidder for the 24-trillion won nuclear export deal in the Central European country in July -- led to a decision to "i

Politics Sept. 21, 2024

PRAGUE -- President Yoon Suk Yeol and the Czech Republic's Prime Minister Petr Fiala on Friday adopted action plans to implement the strategic partnership between the two countries for the next three years, seeking a wider range of cooperation beyond South Korea's potential nuclear export to the Czech Republic. Under the new action plan, effective 2025 -- or the 10th anniversary of the bilateral strategic partnership -- the area of cooperation between Seoul and Prague will no longer be limited t

Politics Sept. 21, 2024

PRAGUE -- The governments, state-run firms and private-sector companies of South Korea and the Czech Republic signed 13 memoranda of understanding to team up with one another for the entire process and delivery of the nuclear power unit construction project. According to the presidential office, these documents will allow South Korean and Czech entities to collaborate on the preconstruction, construction and postconstruction stages of nuclear power units, if a group of South Korean firms clinch

Politics Sept. 20, 2024

PRAGUE -- The presidential office denounced claims by opposition parties that the South Korean consortium, which became a preferred bidder to build at least two nuclear power units in the Czech Republic in July, had proposed an extremely low bidding price that could waste taxpayers' money following a rise in construction costs. The administration instead claimed that the pricing of the South Korean consortium, led by the state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, was made at a reasonable level. It

Politics Sept. 20, 2024

PRAGUE -- President Yoon Suk Yeol's office on Thursday denounced liberal politicians' emphasis on the peaceful coexistence of two Koreas, reiterating the conservative administration's goal of achieving ultimate peace through reunification as enshrined in the "Unification Doctrine" in August. Contrasting reunification of the separated nations with coexistence, an official of the South Korean presidential office said in Prague on condition of anonymity that the peaceful reunification of

Politics Sept. 20, 2024

PRAGUE -- President Yoon Suk Yeol and Czech President Petr Pavel agreed to strengthen diplomatic, economic and security ties between the two countries, at a time when South Korea is working to finalize the contract with Czech authorities over its 24 trillion won ($18 billion) nuclear export deal. "(To jointly counter global crisis and threats of authoritarianism), our two countries have decided to bolster cooperation in key areas including politics, economy, culture, technology, diplomacy a

Politics Sept. 20, 2024

    President Yoon Suk Yeol departed for the Czech Republic Thursday to attend summits with Czech leaders taking place at a time when South Korea is working to finalize its 24 trillion won ($18 billion) nuclear export deal with the country. Yoon told Reuters in a written interview Thursday that the Czech project holds "paramount importance," adding that his trip was partly meant to solidify Prague's commitment to the signing of the deal planned for March 2025. Yoon is also ex

Politics Sept. 19, 2024

North Korea made an unprecedented media disclosure of its uranium enrichment facility on Friday, with its leader Kim Jong-un inspecting rows of centrifuges in a clear display of the reclusive regime's nuclear ambitions. According to North Korea's state media outlets, Kim had inspected a control room of a uranium enrichment facility, and expressed satisfaction, after he was briefed about the technology North Korea had developed for the facility's centrifugal separators, sensors and controllers. T

Politics Sept. 13, 2024

The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday overturned the lower court's ruling on a man surnamed Son, who in 2023 was acquitted of charges of providing scammers linked to a 63.6 billion won ($47.4 million) investment fraud in the early 2010s with a trust account, allowing them to manage assets on behalf of himself or the trust's beneficiary. The case has been drawing public attention as President Yoon Suk Yeol's opponents claim that first lady Kim Keon Hee was also suspected to

Politics Sept. 12, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol will visit the Czech Republic Thursday next week to forge the so-called "nuclear energy alliance," the presidential office said Thursday. The official visit comes ahead of next year's signing of South Korean firms' nuclear power plant construction bid valued at around 24 trillion won ($17.9 billion). It is the first visit by a South Korean leader to Central Europe's manufacturing powerhouse in nine years. Yoon will "convey the strong willingn

Politics Sept. 12, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol touted South Korea as an international hub for cybersecurity drill exercises, while attending the inaugural Cyber Summit Korea 2024 in Seoul on Wednesday. Yoon said in his congratulatory speech at the event held at Coex in Gangnam, southern Seoul, that South Korea's long exposure to constant cyberspace attacks by "hostile actors" including North Korea has allowed the country to hone its defense capabilities and cybersecurity system. "Totalitarian sta

Politics Sept. 11, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday laid out a plan to raise physicians' fees temporarily during the next two weeks, as the crisis in short-staffed emergency rooms in South Korean hospitals is expected to deepen during the Chuseok holiday in mid-September. Yoon said in a Cabinet meeting that fees for emergency room doctors -- supported by the nation's universal single-payer health care system -- will be temporarily raised 3.5 times what they currently are during the period. The hikes wi

Politics Sept. 10, 2024

First lady Kim Keon Hee is unlikely to be indicted for alleged antigraft rule violations, as the final legal procedure concerning her acceptance of luxury gifts totaling over 5 million won ($3,730), including a Christian Dior bag, has been cleared. Outgoing Prosecutor General Lee One-seok told reporters on Monday on his way to his office in Seocho-gu in southern Seoul that he "respects" the recommendation Friday by a 15-member independent review panel of the Supreme Prosecutors' O

Politics Sept. 9, 2024