South Korea’s main opposition leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung has been on an indefinite hunger strike, having consumed nothing other than salt and fluids for 18 days straight. The chair of the Democratic Party of Korea says he is forgoing food to protest the way President Yoon Suk Yeol is running the country, which he has characterized using two keywords -- “tyranny” and “incompetence.” He insists he would not give up unless his demands are met, one of which is that Yoon

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly reaching a deal over military cooperation with Russia's Vladimir Putin is like “making a deal with the devil,” South Korea’s ruling party chief said Thursday. Speaking at a meeting of the party leadership, the People Power Party’s chair, Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, said the two “who are regarded by many in the international community as the most dangerous leaders, are being criticized all over the world for the demonic trade.&r

South Korea’s ruling party is preparing a resolution to stop the possible forced repatriation of more than 2,600 North Korean defectors detained in China. The People Power Party said Wednesday that it has begun a discussion to adopt the resolution as the party platform, and submit what would be a party-wide resolution to the National Assembly as soon as possible. Speaking at a party leadership meeting Tuesday, Rep. Ji Seong-ho, a former North Korea escapee, said that the repatriation of No

Rep. Shin Won-sik of the ruling People Power Party was nominated as the minister of national defense on Wednesday. He is a former three-star general with 35 years of military service who built an extensive experience in both policy crafting and operations. President Yoon Suk Yeol’s chief of staff Kim Dae-ki said in a briefing on this day he was the “most qualified candidate to complete building South Korea’s security capabilities against escalating nuclear and missile threats.&

A lawmaker from South Korea’s ruling People Power Party is leading a resolution to mourn the lives lost in the recent Morocco earthquake​ and to mobilize support for recovery efforts in devastated communities. Rep. Jung Hee-yong, who heads the ruling party’s committee for natural disaster preparedness, said Tuesday he had introduced a resolution to recognize the victims of the the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Morocco on Friday night, and to support their recovery. The resolut

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was spotted Monday traveling by his family train on his way to a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The third-generation Kim diverged from his famously flight-phobic father in his past summit trips, in June 2018 flying Air China to get to Singapore for the landmark meeting with then-US President Donald Trump. This time he chose to travel 20 hours on the train that is speculated to be bulletproof and multifunctional, with luxurious decors. Rep. Tae Yong-

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Monday demanded that President Yoon Suk Yeol replace his entire Cabinet, starting with Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup, who the party is accusing of being behind the alleged cover-up of the death of a marine soldier in July. Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party’s chair who is on day 12 of his hunger strike against what he calls “Yoon's tyranny,” said in a statement released Monday that the president, by refusin

[코리아헤럴드=김아린 기자] 국민의힘이 태영호 국회의원에게 “쓰레기” 발언을 한 박영순 더불어민주당 의원에 대한 윤리특별위원회 징계안을 제출할 예정이다. 7일 여권 고위관계자에 따르면 국민의힘은 박 의원에 대한 징계안을 이르면 8일 오전 국회에 제출한다. 박 의원은 지난 6일 국회 본회의장에서 태 의원에게 “북한에서 온 쓰레기” “빨갱이” “공산당 부역자” 라고 외쳤다. 이에 대해 태 의원이 사과를 요구하자 박 의원은 입장문을 통해 “윤석열 대통령과 태 의원이 먼저 야당을 향한 비난과 모욕에 대해 사과한다면 저 또한 사과하겠다”고 맞섰다. 〈원문 기사〉 Defector-lawmaker gets called ‘commie’ by opposition colleague at Assembly Ruling People Power Party Rep. Tae Yong-

Ruling People Power Party Rep. Tae Yong-ho, who defected from North Korea about six years ago before he was elected to the National Assembly in 2020, was publicly insulted by a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker during Thursday’s plenary session of the National Assembly. Tae, who is the first North Korean defector to be directly elected into the Assembly, was called “scum from North Korea,” “commie” and “traitor” by main opposition Democratic Party Rep.

South Korea’s ruling People Power Party on Thursday reported six current and former members of the press to the police for defamation over “fake news” on then-presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol. Among those reported to the police is Kim Man-bae, a longtime reporter known as an ally of Yoon’s onetime presidential rival and the Democratic Party of Korea leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung. He is a major stakeholder of an asset management company that invested in an urban developmen

The chief of the South Korean intelligence agency Kim Kyou-hyun believes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s possible summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin could be carried out in a manner that counters earlier media speculations. Speaking at a closed-door briefing Thursday, the executive secretary for the National Assembly Intelligence Committee, Rep. Yoo Sang-bum, said he was briefed by the National Intelligence Service director that the two leaders “could make a surprise move

A former reporter has become the center of a media bias debate in South Korean politics after accusations emerged that he paid a journalist working for an independent news outlet last year to carry a damaging story against then-presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol. The ex-reporter, Kim Man-bae, is described by political insiders as being close to Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the current leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea who rivaled Yoon in the 2022 presidential election. He is also a key

The Yoon Suk Yeol office said Tuesday a story featuring a former reporter suspected of having close ties to onetime presidential candidate and opposition leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung was “the worst fake news” from last year. Days before the presidential election in March 2022, Kim Man-bae, the reporter in question, suggested that then-People Power Party candidate Yoon was behind a controversial urban development project in which key Lee aides are suspected of illicitly profiting from. K

South Korean intelligence agency believes Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu proposed a joint military drill with North Korea and China during his visit to Pyongyang about a month ago. It was likely Shoigu who suggested a three-way maritime drill when he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, National Intelligence Service Director Kim Kyou-hyun was quoted by ruling People Power Party Rep. Yoo Sang-bum as telling the National Assembly intelligence committee on Monday. The Russian defense m

South Korean Rep. Youn Mee-hyang, formerly with the Democratic Party of Korea, has come under scrutiny for attending an event organized by a North Korea-affiliated group based in Japan last week. Youn was referred to the National Assembly’s ethics committee on Monday for an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding her participation in the pro-North Korea event. According to a document obtained by Rep. Ha Tae-keung’s office, the opposition lawmaker had requested the Assembly secreta

The Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China agreed to join efforts to stop China from forcibly repatriating North Korean defectors detained there over a summit in Prague, the Czech Republic. In a resolution adopted on the last day of the three-day summit, the Alliance’s member lawmakers said they would resolve to “press (their) governments to make diplomatic efforts to the People’s Republic of China, urging them to cease repatriating North Korean defectors.” South Korean ru

Japan’s disposal of wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant has politicians in South Korea responding in contrasting fashion, with one side fasting to protest the Japanese government's actions and the other side feasting to promote seafood consumption. Democratic Party of Korea head Rep. Lee Jae-myung, on the fourth day of a hunger strike, said he would call on the international community to join his party’s protests against the Japanese government over the wat

South Korean lawmaker Rep. Ji Seong-ho attended this year’s summit of the Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China in Prague on Thursday to call on Beijing to stop forcibly deporting North Korean defectors. While South Korea is not a member of the IPAC, Ji was invited to attend the summit to deliver a keynote speech on the situation facing North Korean defectors in China. The IPAC is composed of more than 240 lawmakers from 24 countries and aims at working on approaches to Beijing. With North

South Korea’s legally troubled main opposition leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung announced he was going on an indefinite hunger strike on Thursday, his first anniversary in office as chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea, saying President Yoon Suk Yeol was “ruining the country.” At a press conference, Lee said stopping Yoon from “undermining democracy, destroying the Korean middle class and failing to stand up against the Japanese government” was a “life or death

A row has broken out in South Korea over how to describe the water being discharged from the crippled nuclear power plant in Japan’s Fukushima. The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea says the water from the plant is “nuclear waste,” while the ruling People Power Party would rather call it “treated wastewater,” as does the International Atomic Energy Agency. The People Power Party on Wednesday said that the wastewater from Fukushima, while still slightly radio