Minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party spokesperson and now ex-prosecutor Lee Kyu-won was disbarred from the practice of law for failing to uphold his duties to the profession and engaging in political activities while on duty, officials said Friday. The Ministry of Justice announced that they have officially revoked Lee’s license on Tuesday for “refusing to come to work following the April 10 general election without any justifiable explanation” and “violating the prose

North Korea’s indoctrination center in Pyongyang now displays a photo of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol alongside the South Korean military’s motto for countering provocations from Pyongyang -- “immediately, strongly and to the end" -- according to an image published by North Korean state media. North Korea's Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party and the nation’s most widely circulated publication, featured a photo of stu

Eleven Chinese and Russian military aircraft entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone without notice Friday, prompting the South Korea’s Air Force to send its fighter jets to the scene. According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, five Chinese military planes and six Russian aircraft entered the KADIZ over the East and South Seas between 9:35 a.m. and 1:53 p.m. and exited it. They did not violate the country's airspace. The JCS said it identified the Chinese and Russian

Seoul National University, South Korea's top university and the alma mater of President Yoon Suk Yeol, has joined a growing wave of calls for his resignation on Thursday, a movement that has been spreading across universities and the religious sector nationwide since late October. A total of 525 SNU professors held a press conference at the university's museum in Seoul on Thursday, announcing their participation in the movement of institutions issuing declaration spreading across the c

Korea is expected to face a winter marked by the more frequent occurrence of heavier, wetter snow than usual, the Korea Meteorological Administration projected on Friday. Starting Wednesday, Korea already witnessed a historic two-day spell of record-breaking November snowfall. According to the KMA, the unprecedented heavy snowfall nationwide was due to the warmer temperatures of the West Sea compared to previous years, due to the unusually warm weather South Korea experienced during summer and a

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung said Friday the possibility of dialogue between North Korea and the United States seems to be high under the incoming Donald Trump administration, calling on the government to come up with a strategy to prevent South Korea from being bypassed. Lee, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, made the remarks at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly, noting media reports that Trump's transition team is considering direct talks with North K

Police said Friday they have closed an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations raised against a former member of K-pop boy band F.T. Island without filing charges due to a lack of evidence. Choi Min-hwan, a former drummer for the band, was suspected of engaging in prostitution and sexually harassing his then wife, Yulhee, a former member of girl group Laboum. The Seoul Gangnam Police Station said no charges were filed against Choi due to insufficient evidence of the alleged misconduct.

Former President Moon Jae-in's daughter was referred to the prosecution without detention on Friday on suspicions of illegally operating house sharing businesses in Seoul, police said. The Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station said it sent the case of Moon Da-hye to the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office for further investigation and a possible indictment. She is suspected of running an Airbnb business at a studio apartment in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo district without official declarat

Proposed Bill: Special Act on Strengthening Competitiveness and Promoting Innovative Growth in the Semiconductor Industry Proposed by Rep. Lee Chul-gyu (People Power Party) ● Amid the intensifying global competition for semiconductor dominance, this bill introduces measures to bolster Korea’s semiconductor industry. It establishes legal grounds for providing subsidies for infrastructure development and forming administrative bodies to support semiconductor policy formulation and execution.

A worker fell to his death during a nighttime painting operation at Lotte Hotel World in Jamsil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, according to police on Friday. The accident occurred around 11:48 p.m. on Thursday, when the worker, in a team of two, was painting a four-story-high ceiling inside the hotel on a scaffold lift. According to officials, one of the wires supporting the equipment snapped, causing him to fall from a height of 20 meters. The victim was not directly employed by the hotel but had been cont

North Korea released around 40 trash-laden balloons from Thursday night to early Friday, its 32nd launch this year, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday. The military reported that about 30 objects had been found across Gyeonggi Province and the greater Seoul area by Friday morning. “These items, including anti-South propaganda leaflets, have been analyzed and confirmed to contain no hazardous materials,” the JCS said in a statement. The release of waste-filled ballo

Seventy-six artificial intelligence-based digital textbooks have been certified for classroom use for the first time, covering elementary to high school students, the education ministry said Friday. The textbooks, which were listed in the official gazette, are for the subjects of math, English and information for elementary school grades 3 and 4, middle school grade 1 and high school grade 1. The 76 were chosen from 146 textbooks submitted for certification. The certified textbooks will be displ

A former chairman of a major dairy company has been arrested on charges of breach of trust and false advertising related to a yogurt product's benefits against COVID-19. Hong Won-sik, former chairman of Namyang Dairy Products Co., was arrested late Thursday night following the issuance of an arrest warrant by the Seoul Central District Court, which cited concerns he will destroy evidence. Hong is accused of inflicting losses of some 10 billion won ($7.16 million) on the company by needlessl

US Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg celebrated Thanksgiving in his host country, joined by a South Korean YouTube celebrity for a cooking session blending the two countries' traditional cuisines, a video released by the US Embassy in Seoul showed Thursday. The video showed Goldberg, wearing a dark apron and white cooking gloves, carefully adding toppings to a pizza-shaped "yakbap," a Korean dessert made with glutinous rice and sweetened soy sauce, using ingredients common

President Yoon Suk Yeol and his Latvian counterpart, Edgars Rinkevics, held a summit Thursday to enhance cooperation in the bio and defense industries and address shared security concerns, Yoon's office said. The two leaders agreed to expand partnerships in the bio and pharmaceutical sectors, with Rinkevics highlighting Latvia as a strategic gateway for South Korean companies seeking to enter the European market, the office said in a release. Latvia is home to prominent pharmaceutical fir

North Korea sent what appear to be balloons carrying trash toward South Korea on Thursday, military authorities said, resuming its balloon campaign after a 10-day hiatus. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said these trash bundles are expected to move toward the Seoul metropolitan area and surrounding Gyeonggi Province, considering the direction of the wind. North Korea had last floated balloons on Nov. 18. It has done so on over 30 occasions since late May in retaliation against anti-Pyongyang propagand

The South Korean government will explore measures to bolster support for children born to unmarried parents, the presidential office said Thursday, as the issue has drawn heightened attention following the news that actor Jung Woo-sung and model Moon Ga-bi, announced that they plan to raise their child without marrying each other. "Ultimately, I believe there are aspects such as discrimination in society and issues that cannot be fully addressed by existing policies," a senior presiden

The opposition-led National Assembly on Thursday passed two bills that could limit the authority and the power of the current ruling bloc. The Assembly, in a 179-102 vote, passed a bill that strips the current ruling People Power Party of the right to recommend candidates for a special counsel when investigating allegations against the president or the president’s family members. The revision to the Act on the Appointment of Independent Prosecutor bans the political party that the presiden

The South Korean presidential office on Thursday unveiled the country's dedicated support plans for premature babies, aiming to strengthen financial aid and upgrade medical infrastructure to meet the critical needs of vulnerable newborns requiring specialized care. You Hye-mi, the senior presidential secretary for low birth rate issues, described the initiative as South Korea's first-ever policy aimed specifically at supporting premature infants as part of its broader efforts to tackle

Record amounts of heavy snow blanketed Seoul and its surrounding areas for a second consecutive day, causing tree branches to snap and roofs to collapse in areas hit hard by the snowstorm on Thursday. In addition to the volume of snow, the Korea Meteorological Administration attributed the danger to its composition. The snow that has fallen in greater Seoul over the past two days has been predominantly wet snow, significantly heavier than dry snow. While dry snow weighs about 150 kilograms per c