South Korea's first lady Kim Keon Hee is likely to refuse to testify before the opposition-controlled Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly as they plan to hold a parliamentary hearing to seek an impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol. This will be in line with the presidential office's move to decline to receive the committee's written request urging five presidential secretaries to attend the first round of hearings scheduled on Friday. A senio

Politics July 15, 2024

South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday expressed best wishes to former US President Donald Trump, denouncing the shooting attack during his presidential election campaign rally in Pennsylvania that left him wounded Saturday. "I am appalled by the hideous act of political violence," Yoon noted on his X account. "I wish former President Trump a speedy recovery. The people of Korea stand in solidarity with the people of America." Yoon's spokesperson Kim Soo-kyung sai

Politics July 14, 2024

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's joint declaration issued Wednesday in Washington signaled a change from the Western military alliance's traditional focus on Russia with its rare open rebuke of China, calling it a "decisive enabler" of Russia's war in Ukraine. The rhetoric comes at a time when NATO declared its bid to bolster cooperation with its so-called "Indo-Pacific 4" partners -- namely South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand -- in their late

Politics July 14, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged Sunday to provide financial incentives to South Korean companies hiring North Korean defectors, as the conservative leader commemorated North Korean Defectors' Day designated for the first time. In its inaugural ceremony in Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, formerly used as the presidential office, Yoon promised to tackle the problem of unemployment among North Korean defectors who often struggle to land a proper job here. Tax credits or government subsidies could be p

Politics July 14, 2024

Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Wednesday expressed "great concern" about the deepening ties between North Korea and Russia, shown in the pact signed in June, and condemned North Korea's weapons exports to Russia, as President Yoon Suk Yeol, who traveled to the United States to attend the NATO summit, moves to bolster security cooperation with NATO member states and other allies. In a communique released Wednesday, the Washington Summit Declaration, the 32 NAT

Politics July 11, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol stressed the United States Indo-Pacific Command's role in taking the alliance between Seoul and Washington to a new level, amid growing geopolitical tensions beyond the Korean Peninsula. Yoon on Tuesday local time visited the headquarters of the Indo-Pacific Command at Camp H. M. Smith in Halawa, Hawaii, near Honolulu. The last time a South Korean head of state visited the base was then-President Kim Young-sam 29 years ago. "Among many other important missions,

Politics July 10, 2024

The Legislation and Judiciary Committee at the National Assembly approved a plan to hold two rounds of hearings later this month on the online petition on the parliament's website calling for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol. The committee, controlled by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, also decided to summon Yoon's wife, Kim Keon Hee, to testify before the National Assembly on July 26. This is the first time in modern Korean history that the parliament has summoned a fir

Politics July 9, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday again vetoed the Democratic Party of Korea-led bill to launch a special counsel to investigate allegations that the Yoon administration, including the president himself, exerted external pressure on an internal military probe into the death of young Marine Cpl. Chae Su-geun in July 2023. Yoon's veto is his 15th since his inauguration in May 2022, as he has exercised his constitutional power to block the passage of bills pushed by the opposition parties who

Politics July 9, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol is poised to address military cooperation between North Korea and Russia that the West believes is aggravating the war situation in Ukraine, as he departed for the United States to visit the US Indo-Pacific Command and attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Summit during his five-day trip. South Korea's approval of weapons for Ukraine will be determined at "the level and substance of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea," Yoon was quot

Politics July 8, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol will attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Washington next week and visit the US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii, the presidential office announced Friday. Principal deputy national security adviser Kim Tae-hyo informed reporters that President Yoon would arrive in Washington on Wednesday to meet leaders of NATO member countries and the NATO leadership. The discussions will focus on the war in Ukraine and the cooperation between the transatlantic secu

Politics July 5, 2024

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Tuesday motioned a set of bills to impeach a high-level Yoon Suk Yeol government official and four prosecutors who investigated cases affecting party figures, including former party Chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung. The Democratic Party, which holds the majority of seats in the Assembly, put the impeachment bills to the floor without the ruling People Power Party’s support. The series of impeachments pushed by the Democratic Party leads to impeachin

Politics July 2, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday ordered his administration to come up with "scientific safety measures," in a follow-up to the deadly blaze in a lithium battery factory last week in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. At a Cabinet meeting he presided over Tuesday in his office, Yoon ordered the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Ministry of Science and ICT to strengthen their collaboration to develop relevant risk detection technologies and firefi

Politics July 2, 2024

The government will propose new legislation next month to create a deputy prime minister post dedicated to population planning, marking a major organizational shift to address the nation's aging population and low birth rate, the presidential office announced Monday. The proposed reorganization will have Education Minister Lee Ju-ho hand over his deputy prime minister role -- overseeing social affairs-related issues in education, labor and welfare -- to the newly created position of populat

Politics July 1, 2024

High-ranking officials of the government and the ruling party on Sunday agreed on the need to increase efforts to bust voice phishing scammers by the end of October and to strengthen cooperation with Interpol and Chinese state security authorities to crack down on organized crime overseas. Officials in President Yoon Suk Yeol's office, his administration and the ruling People Power Party also agreed to inspect messaging service providers to look into security vulnerabilities by the end of J

Politics June 30, 2024

Rival parties are expected to bicker in the coming weeks, as the opposition parties are mulling reintroducing contentious bills that President Yoon Suk Yeol had vetoed. South Korea's National Assembly is ready to float a bill calling for a special counsel probe into alleged state interference in a Marine Corps investigation into the cause of a young Marine's death during a rescue operation last summer. Rep. Park Chan-dae, acting chief of the Democratic Party of Korea, said during a ral

Politics June 30, 2024