North Korea policy is one of the main dividers between progressives and conservatives in South Korean politics, and the two leading presidential candidates -- Lee Jae-myung and Yoon Seok-youl -- are poles apart on how to secure stability and peace on the Korean Peninsula. They also disagree on the fundamental causes of the current strained inter-Korean relations. But Yoon and Lee both dismiss the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons as an impractical option and endorse the idea of providin

South Korean and US defense ministers will discuss a wide range of security and alliance issues, from the transfer of wartime operational control to challenges posed by China and North Korea. South Korea’s Defense Minister Suh Wook and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are set to host the 53rd ROK-US Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) in Seoul on Thursday. The US high-ranking officers, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, Commander of the United States Indo-Pacif

North Korea appears to have operated its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which can produce weapons-grade plutonium, and continued nuclear activities at Kangson and Pyongsan, a UN watchdog revealed Wednesday. Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of International Atomic Energy Agency, said Wednesday the continuation of nuclear program is “a clear violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and is deeply regrettable.” The IAEA identified “ongoing indications consis

Pyongyang “strongly” condemned the recent passage of the UN draft resolution on human rights violations in North Korea and reiterated its call for the UN to investigate the US for human rights abuses, state-run media reported Sunday. North Korea claimed that the US and other “hostile forces” forcibly adopted the draft resolution, in a press statement issued by an unnamed spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The press statement was released four days after t

The United Nations on Wednesday passed a draft resolution condemning North Korea‘s dire human rights situation by consensus, urging Pyongyang to cooperate with the international community in delivering and distributing COVID-19 vaccines in a timely manner. The resolution was introduced by the European Union and approved by the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly for the 17th consecutive year since 2005. The resolution, which will be introduced at the upcoming UNGA plenary for fi

South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday searched ousted lawmaker Kwak Sang-do’s home and former office as well as Hana Bank’s head office as they pressed on with an investigation into alleged bribery and corruption in the Daejang-dong land development scandal. The raid on Kwak’s home and former office came around a week after Kwak was officially expelled from the National Assembly and lost his immunity from arrest on Nov. 11. In early October, Kwak, who was affiliated with the

South Korean students at Seoul International School on Nov. 6 hosted a flea market to raise funds for young and teenage North Korean defectors suffering from economic hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. High school students at the school community club the Peace by Piece, which has continued its activities to support North Korean teen defectors for five years, held the flea market fundraising event in Seongdong-gu, Seoul. The flea market was co-organized by SIS and the Youth Forum of North

The nonprofit Wish School aims to use English to build a bridge to the wider world for children born to North Korean defectors outside the Korean Peninsula, who often suffer from identity confusion and maladjustment. Since May 2020, the organization has provided professional English programs tailored for defectors’ children born in China. “We provide an opportunity for children to develop a trilingual ability to use English, Korean and Chinese and become global leaders,” Wish

Presidential hopeful Yoon Seok-youl on Friday said he is open to providing economic support in return for Pyongyang’s progress toward denuclearization, while pledging to change the current “master-servant” relationship between the two Koreas. Yoon, the presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party, elucidated his camp’s approach to North Korea and foreign and security policies at a news conference hosted by the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club.

The ruling and opposition parties continue to clash over an independent counsel investigation into the Daejang-dong land development scandal, even after presidential hopeful Lee Jae-myung said he is open to the probe on conditions. The partisan collision over the timing and scope of the special prosecutor’s probe intensifies, with less than four months until the March 9 presidential elections. The main opposition People Power Party has reiterated that a special probe led by an independ

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday it will strictly deal with the hit-and-run incident involving US diplomats. A US diplomat allegedly fled the scene of a car accident Wednesday afternoon and refused to cooperate with the police. During a press briefing, spokesperson Choi Young-sam said the Foreign Ministry was aware of the incident and was continuing to communicate with the relevant authorities. Choi reiterated that Seoul would handle the case strictly and fairly in cooperat

North Korea is moving to strengthen Kim Jong-un’s monolithic leadership through an ideology known as “Kim Jong-un-ism.”  This new ideology -- named after the North’s leader as he marks 10 years in office -- was neither unprecedented nor unpredictable: Until now, Kim Il-sung-ism and Kim Jong-il-ism formed the ideological cornerstone of the reclusive country. But South Korean and US experts say Kim Jong-un-ism still has far-reaching implications. 　 At a recent parlia

Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, on Tuesday was hit by a power outage that left a large part of the region without electricity for more than an hour, the state-owned utility said. Korea Electric Power Corp. confirmed that the widespread blackout started at 10:26 a.m. and power was restored at 11:59 a.m. after damaged power equipment was replaced. Around 52,800 households were estimated to have experienced about 1 1/2 hours without power, and nine out of the 12 districts in the city were affected. K

The trial of Yoo Dong-gyu in the Daejang-dong land development scandal will begin Wednesday, raising questions about whether the prosecution will widen the probe and look into senior officials close to presidential nominee Lee Jae-myung. The Seoul Central District Court is to hold its first hearing for Yoo, who served as former acting president of Seongnam Development Corp., which was in charge of the urban development project in Daejang-dong, a district within Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Y

Rep. Kim Woong of the main opposition People Power Party was grilled on Wednesday by the anti-corruption agency about the high-profile election meddling scandal surrounding presidential hopeful Yoon Seok-youl. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials summoned Kim, a prosecutor-turned-opposition lawmaker, for continued questioning as a suspect, which notably came just one day after the interrogation of current public prosecutor Son Jun-sung. Rep. Kim is accused of collud

The fifth UNESCO International Conference on Learning Cities was a “great success” despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, its chief organizer told the Korea Herald. The four-day international event began on Oct. 27 and was held at Songdo Convensia in Yeonsu-gu under the theme of “From emergency to resilience: Building healthy and resilient cities through learning.” “I believe the fifth international conference on learning cities was a great success th

North Korea demanded UN sanctions relief and the suspension of South Korea-US military exercises as preconditions for talks on an end-of-war declaration, the South Korean spy agency said on Thursday. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) confirmed Pyongyang’s position on the issue in a closed-door briefing at the parliamentary audit, Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the main opposition People Party told a press conference. North Korea

North Korea may have reprocessed spent nuclear fuel rods at the Yongbyon Nuclear Complex this year, the South Korean spy agency was quoted as saying Thursday. The National Intelligence Service confirmed the activity in a closed-door briefing at the parliamentary audit, Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea said during a press briefing. The spy agency said Pyongyang may have reprocessed spent fuel from its main 5MW(e) nuclear reactor in Yongbyon from February to July this

An opening ceremony and plenary sessions of the fifth UNESCO International Conference on Learning Cities were held on Thursday in Incheon’s Yeonsu-gu. The four-day event, hosted by Incheon’s Yeonsu-gu, began Wednesday under the theme of “From emergency to resilience: Building healthy and resilient cities through learning.” The opening ceremony drew around 200 in-person participants from South Korea and 24 other countries, the Yeonsu-gu office said in a press statement

The fifth UNESCO International Conference on Learning Cities, hosted by Incheon’s Yeonsu-gu, began its four-day run Wednesday. The international event is being held at Songdo Convensia in Yeonsu-gu under the theme of “From emergency to resilience: Building healthy and resilient cities through learning.” The conference comes at a critical juncture with an aim of discussing global health education in cities, their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and actions to improve res