Despite the government being on the highest alert, more suspected cases of bird flu were found in South Korea on Wednesday, raising the specter of another massive outbreak of the virus in just two months. “It looks like a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus is becoming an indigenous animal epidemic here. The government must devise fundamental measures,” Rep. Lee Kai-ho, a member of President Moon Jae-in‘s de facto transition team, said during a briefing by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food a

Kang Kyung-wha, nominated to become South Korea’s first female foreign minister, is considered the embodiment of an “alpha female,” with a resume that includes time as a special policy adviser to the United Nations secretary-general.Still, the country’s most prominent female diplomat faces an uphill confirmation battle. Opposition lawmakers are determined to grill the 62-year-old nominee over allegations of wrongdoing at a hearing Wednesday.  (Yonhap)Even before the parliamentary process opened

A Seoul court said Monday that a group of foreign teachers employed by a private language institute here were entitled to receive severance benefits that their employer refused to pay because it considered them to be independent contract workers. The Seoul Central District Court partially ruled in favor of five English teachers who filed a suit in September 2015 against their former employer, a private language education chain in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province which refused to acknowledge them as regu

As the new administration’s government reorganization plans take shape, South Korea’s Ministry of Public Safety and Security is facing a shutdown, three years after its establishment in 2014.The plans would see the Ministry of Interior absorbing the Public Safety Ministry’s role as the country’s disaster response control tower.Ministry of Public Safety and Security (Yonhap)The Moon Jae-in administration is scheduled to hold its first high-level meeting with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea o

Seventeen years ago in mid-June, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il, then-leaders of the divided Koreas, shook hands at the first inter-Korean summit aimed towards peaceful reunification. On Wednesday, South Korea approved a local civic group to contact North Korea hoping to reinitiate a joint event honoring the historic meeting, for the first time in nine years. The Ministry of Unification’s approval of the June 15 South Korean Committee contacting its North Korean counterpart follows a permit last w

Moon Jae-in’s pick for prime minister is likely to pass the parliamentary confirmation vote on Wednesday, but the prospects for other position nominees are becoming increasingly unclear. Among them is Foreign Minister candidate Kang Kyung-wha. The National Assembly is poised to clear Lee Nak-yon’s appointment for the nation’s No. 2 job when it holds a plenary vote at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Over a majority of the current 299-member parliament is expected to cast a vote in favor of Lee, while some 120

South Korean firms that operated factories at the inter-Korean industrial complex will receive full compensation for their losses from the previous government’s decision to halt its operation, said the Ministry of Unification on Sunday. “The government has decided to provide additional compensation to the local companies that were financially damaged by the shutdown of the Kaesong Industrial Complex,” a ministry official was quoted as saying by the local media. “The full compensation plan will b

 A defining cold case that left a bloody stain in South Korean history is the Hwaseong murders -- a series of rapes and murders that happened in the late 1980s, when the country did not even have a lab capable of DNA analysis. “The Hwaseong killings is the most devastating cold case South Korea has failed to solve,” said Kwon Il-yong, considered South Korea’s first criminal profiler. “I wish I was a part of its investigative process, so I could have solved it.” Police authorities investigating t

A defining cold case that left a bloody stain in South Korean history is a series of rapes and murders that happened in the late 1980s, when the country did not even have a lab capable of DNA analysis. “The Hwaseong killings is the most devastating cold case South Korea has failed to solve,” said Kwon Il-yong, who is considered South Korea’s first criminal profiler. “I wish I was a part of its investigative process, so I could have solved it.”Between 1986 and 1991 in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province,

While many are keen to find out how President Moon Jae-in’s new “diplomatic approach” to North Korea will take shape, his foreign minister nominee is drawing attention for her hair color. Kang Kyung-wha, a 62-year-old career diplomat set to become the first female foreign minister, arrived Thursday at Incheon Airport with her silver hair perfectly in shape. She was returning here from New York, where she served as a special policy adviser to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. For

President Moon Jae-in on Friday picked Kim Yi-su for the post of president of the Constitutional Court. Kim is currently serving as the acting chief justice of the Constitutional Court. “I have decided to name Kim Yi-su to the position which has been void for four months now because of ongoing concerns over the prolonged absence,” said Moon.“Kim has been lending his ears to different people in society and he is apt for the position with his experience as a constitutional court member.”Kim Yi-su,

The ruling and opposition parties are clashing over a move to subject the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to parliamentary ratification. The floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea revealed the party would back Cheong Wa Dae’s possible push to delay the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense deployment in interviews with local media. The party currently holds 120 seats in the 299-seat parliament.A THAAD launcher installed at a golf course in Seongju, southeast of Seoul.

Faculty members of a Korean medicine college in Seoul were arrested on allegations of selling confidential lab test data to students preparing dissertations for master’s and Ph.D. degrees, according to police on Tuesday.(Courtesy of Yongin Dongbu Police Station)The unnamed suspects, a 59-year-old professor and 40-year-old assistant professor, are accused of making illicit proceeds of about 750 million won ($670,000) since 2012 by providing personally analyzed lab results to paying students and a

United Nations Human Settlements Program, also known as UN-Habitat, is jointly hosting a charity futsal, or 5-a-side soccer, match with a women’s university in Seoul to promote the agency’s goals on sustainable development, said Sungshin University on Tuesday. The event, dubbed the 2017 Youth Cup, was held Monday at a field in Eunpyeong, northwestern Seoul, organized and attended by students and faculty of the university’s Health & Wellness College. Sixteen teams formed of the 140 participants h

Police are investigating an online rape threat against minors posted on one of South Korea’s biggest online forums.According to police reports, an anonymous member posted the threat on DC Inside, indicating a sexual assault on a random child on Saturday. “I will kidnap and rape an elementary schooler heading to school early in the morning on May 18,” read the note, which is now deleted. “I don’t care if I die or rot in jail for years.”(123rf)Police plans to track the suspect down through the IP

The 2017 Global Ombudsman Conference will be held at the main convention center in Alpensia Resort in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, from Tuesday to Friday to map out development and the future of the ombudsmen alliance in Asia. This year’s four-day biannual event, co-hosted by South Korea’s Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission and the Gangwon Province Ombudsman, will be attended by 400 local and international guests, including leaders of the Asian Ombudsman Association and International

President Moon Jae-in’s pledge to create 12,000 new jobs in the public sector, including the recruitment of firefighters, police officers and teachers, has been receiving mixed reactions from job seekers aspiring to be civil servants. In the recent presidential campaign, liberal candidate Moon’s camp envisioned a 10 trillion won ($8.8 billion) supplementary budget to bankroll the jobs policy. The scheme features hiring 1,500 more firefighters and equal numbers of police officers and social worke

Time magazine’s Asia edition issue that featured then-presidential candidate Moon Jae-in on the cover is currently out of stock in South Korea’s main offline and online bookstores, according to sources in the industry. Moon won the election in a landslide on Tuesday and was sworn in as president Wednesday.  Time magazine’s Asia edition issue features President Moon Jae-in on the cover. (Yonhap)The May 4 issue, which bestowed the new president the nickname “The Negotiator,” delves into his politi

President Moon Jae-in chose a 51-year-old former student activist as his chief of staff on Wednesday. Im Jong-seok will assist the newly elected president in the crucial first months of the new administration, which Moon must assemble as soon as possible. The designate was at the forefront of the student-led pro-democracy movement in the 1980s and headed the country’s university student organization in 1989.Im Jong-seok (Yonhap)He became famous for leading the organization of an unauthorized vis

With South Korea digesting the results of its 19th presidential election, the election watchdog revealed Wednesday there were 297 cases of electoral law violations by participating campaigns, many of which took place online.The figure is based on 94 legal accusations, 14 requests for investigation and other warnings and complaints filed up until the day of the election Tuesday.The number is 24 percent lower compared to the previous presidential election in 2012, when 391 cases were monitored. Th