South Korea is considering providing the United Nations with military intelligence collected in the course of North Korea's killing of one of its citizens if the UN launches an investigation, Defense Minister Suh Wook said Monday. On Sept. 22, North Korea fatally shot the 47-year-old official, who was adrift in its side of the Yellow Sea, and burned his body, according to the South Korean military. He went missing the previous day while on duty near the western border island of Yeonpyeong. The

The approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party (DP) rebounded last week, widening its lead over the main opposition party amid allegations of opposition politicians' possible implication in a ballooning fund scam scandal, an opinion poll showed Monday. According to the Realmeter poll conducted on 2,527 voters nationwide from last Monday-Friday, the approval rating for the DP came in at 35.1 percent, up 2.9 percentage points from a week ago. The previous week, the DP saw its approval rati

Tributes poured in from across the worlds of politics, business, the arts and sports for Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee on Sunday. 　 Lee died at the age of 78 at a hospital in Seoul on Sunday morning with family members by his side, including his son and de facto Samsung Group chief Lee Jae-yong, the conglomerate said in a statement. He had been bedridden since May 2014 after suffering a heart attack. 　 President Moon Jae-in sent floral wreaths to the late tycoon’s funeral alt

Culture ministers of the ASEAN Plus Three countries, including South Korea, China and Japan, have agreed to strengthen multilateral cultural and arts exchanges despite the coronavirus pandemic in their videoconference earlier this week, officials in Seoul said Friday. The agreement was reached during the session joined by South Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo and his counterparts from China, Japan and 10 ASEAN member countries Thursday, they said. The ninth biennia

President Moon Jae-in held phone talks Thursday with the leaders of Kazakhstan and Chile in his latest round of diplomacy to secure support for South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee‘s bid for the top post of the World Trade Organization. Moon has so far spoken by phone with the leaders of 13 countries to ask for their backing for Yoo who is competing with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria in the final round for the selection process. The new WTO chief is expected to be announced early n

President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that the government will invest 10 trillion won ($8.8 billion) into South Korea's "smart city" project nationwide by 2025, as the country aims to become a global leader in the field under the so-called Korean version New Deal initiative. The government plans to supply a relevant data integration platform to each of a total of 108 local authorities by the end of this year that would enable 60 percent of South Koreans to feel the impact of the smart c

Yoon gains political following, Choo seeks wider support base

The head of South Korea's ruling party met with the top Japanese envoy to Seoul on Thursday and requested that Tokyo share all information on its planned release of contaminated water from a disabled nuclear power plant in Fukushima, the party leader said. "I urged that all information regarding the disposal of the Fukushima (Daiichi) nuclear power plant's contaminated water should be disclosed transparently and the country should proceed with the plan with consent from the international c

The main opposition party, allied with outside lawmakers, on Thursday submitted a bill calling for the launch of an independent special counsel investigation into a snowballing fund scam scandal currently under investigation by prosecutors. Rep. Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People Power Party (PPP), submitted the legislation proposal to the National Assembly on behalf of his party earlier in the day. All 103 PPP lawmakers signed on to support the bill, while seven lawmakers from outsi

A key suspect in the Lime fund scam case has made additional claims that he identified two prosecutors he lobbied during a justice ministry probe and that he was tipped off about an ongoing investigation against him. In a second letter sent from prison to Yonhap News Agency on late Wednesday, Kim Bong-hyun, a prime suspect in the financial fraud case involving Lime Asset Management Co., reiterated that he did lobby sitting prosecutors but strongly denied his alleged relations with ruling party

A South Korean business lobby group on Thursday called on Japan to ease its restrictions on exports of key industrial products to Korea to help improve strained ties between the two countries.     Kwon Tae-shin, vice chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), made the request at a breakfast meeting with Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Koji Tomita and local business leaders in Seoul. "We want Ambassador Koji Tomita to make efforts to help leaders of South Korea

Keum Tae-sup, a former lawmaker, defected from the ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Wednesday, denouncing what he called its arrogance, hypocrisy and partisan antagonism. He has been at odds with mainstream members over a raft of issues including prosecution reform and a scandal involving a former justice minister. He was disciplined in May for refusing to follow the party line in a crucial parliamentary vote. "I came to a state where I cannot approve of or agree with the direction the DP

The main opposition party will ask law enforcement authorities to investigate government officials involved in a nuclear reactor’s early retirement last year who allegedly obstructed the state watchdog’s audit into the decision-making process, its leader said Wednesday. People Power Party Floor Leader Rep. Joo Ho-young said in a party meeting Wednesday that the party will report all related officials who “abused authority” to push for the closure of the Wolsong-1 reacto

The main opposition party said Wednesday it will press criminal charges against those who were involved in the controversial early closure of a nuclear power plant and the alleged obstruction of the state audit into the case. "(The party) will report (to the law enforcement) all related officials who obstructed the inspection in the process of the unfair closure, abused authority and destroyed official documents on criminal charges," Rep. Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People P

State health authorities will examine all senior care hospitals in the country this week over their virus outbreak response systems following a recent cluster outbreak at one, the prime minister announced Wednesday. The government will begin looking into the disease control management capacities of some 8,000 senior care hospitals across the country Thursday for two weeks, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said in a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting held at the governm