An official inquiry concluded on Friday that the flooding in an underpass that led to 14 deaths earlier this month was a preventable tragedy. The Office for Government Policy Coordination in a press briefing said its 10-day inquiry found a failure to respond to the flooding across the police and fire departments as well as the respective municipal offices. The underpass in Osong, a city near the government complex in North Chungcheong Province, was completely submerged in the morning of July 15

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service believes the mobile device pictured next to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un earlier this month is likely a Chinese product, according to the state agency’s assessment obtained by the National Assembly on Thursday. In its assessment, the NIS said the foldable smartphone is believed to be a Chinese product smuggled in by rail after the cross-border freight train operations between North Korea and China resumed in September last year. The NIS

[코리아헤럴드=김아린 기자] 김정은 북한 국무위원장이 소지한 것으로 보이는 ‘폴더블폰’은 중국산 제품으로 추정된다는 국가정보원의 평가가 나왔다. 27일 국회에 제출된 자료에 따르면, 국정원은 지난 12일 ‘화성-18형’ 시험발사 시찰 현장에서 포착된 폴더블폰이 철도편으로 밀수입된 중국 제품일 가능성이 있다고 보고, 상세한 반입 경로를 추적 중이다. 북한은 작년 8월 방역전 승리를 선포한 뒤, 150일여만인 9월부터 북중 화물열차 운행을 재개했다. 〈원문 기사〉 Foldable smartphone pictured with Kim Jong-un likely Chinese product: NIS South Korea’s National Intelligence Service believes the mobile device pictured next to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un earlier this mon

People Power Party lawmakers on Thursday asked the Democratic Party of Korea to apologize after a former aide for one of its lawmakers, Rep. Sul Hoon, came under investigation over suspicion of leaking secrets obtained through the Assembly office. The former Democratic Party aide, who worked for Sul for nearly three years until March, is being investigated by the National Intelligence Service on suspicion of using the security clearance granted to some Assembly staff to access and leak classifie

The recent suicide of a newly employed teacher, who is believed to have suffered from bullying by parents as well as overwork, has sparked a dialogue in Korea to come up with policies to respond to the widespread bullying of teachers in public schools. Leading officials from the ruling People Power Party met with Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho on Wednesday to discuss measures to protect teachers from harassment and violence perpetrated by both parents and students. “At our public schools,

Recent statements by Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea, show a “clear intention to be offensive,” according to South Korean national intelligence authorities. In a series of statements issued earlier this month, Kim Yo-jong referred to South Korea as the Republic of Korea, in a rare move which some -- including defector-turned-lawmaker Rep. Tae Yong-ho -- have interpreted as North Korea rec

[코리아헤럴드=김아린 기자] 김여정 북한 노동당 부부장이 최근 담화에서 ‘남조선’ 대신 ‘대한민국’이라는 정식 국명을 사용한 배경을 두고, “분명한 비방 목적”이라는 정보당국의 분석이 나왔다. 김 부부장은 지난 10일, 11일 그리고 17일 세 차례 발표한 담화에서 한국을 두고 그 동안 사용해 온 ‘남조선’이 아닌 ‘대한민국’이라고 지칭했다. 25일 본지 취재를 종합하면, 정보당국은 북한이 대남 비난 담화에서 ‘대한민국’이라는 국호를 사용한 것은 “비방 의도가 분명”하며 “용어 공작”을 통해 우리 사회 내 혼란을 빚으려는 목적이라고 분석했다. 김 부부장 담화에서 미국은 그대로 ‘미국’으로 기재한 반면, 한국은 겹화살괄호(≪≫)를 사용해 ‘≪대한민국≫’으로 표현했는데, 북한

Former national security chief Suh Hoon, who is already a defendant in two separate North Korea-related controversies from the previous Moon Jae-in administration, may face yet another criminal investigation for allegedly destroying key presidential records. The bereaved family of Lee Dae-jun -- a South Korean fisheries official killed by North Korean troops at sea in September 2020 -- filed a criminal complaint against Suh on Friday over destroyed and lost records pertinent to then-President Mo

Travis King, the US soldier who fled to North Korea on Tuesday, had been convicted earlier for aggression against the South Korean police, a court ruling reveals. According to the Seoul Western District Court ruling obtained by The Korea Herald, the American had damaged a police car and shouted expletives at officers who were called to a nightclub in Seoul, where King was reported for assaulting a man. At 3:46 a.m. on Oct. 8, King was arrested for acts of aggression against the police that inclu

A US soldier is believed to be in North Korean custody after crossing the demilitarized zone that divides North and South Korea while on a tour of the border village of Panmunjom, the United Nations Command said Tuesday. The soldier has since been identified as Travis King, a private in his early 20s who had just been released from a South Korean prison after serving about two months on assault charges. But long before King there was Charles Jenkins, who was accused of leaving his post with the

South Korea on Tuesday passed a bill punishing abandonment and killing of infants more severely, a revision that comes 70 years since the relevant sections of the criminal code were first enacted. Before the revision, penalties for abandoning an infant or an infant dying as a result of abandonment were mitigated under certain circumstances. The mitigating circumstances included when the offender -- the mother, her parents or her partner -- is believed to be unable to raise or look after the infa

South Korean parties on both sides of the aisle on Monday headed to regions that have been hit the hardest by the lethal floods, taking a respite from the usual National Assembly duties in Seoul. Ruling People Power Party leader Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, who returned from about a weeklong US trip on Sunday, met with survivors in North and South Chungcheong provinces where the damage from the monsoon rains was most severe. He then honored victims who died after being trapped in a flooded tunnel in Osong

A bill to increase the penalty for the criminal offense of abandoning an infant passed a preliminary review of the National Assembly’s legislation committee on Thursday with bipartisan support, following revelations on a series of deaths of abandoned infants that fanned public outrage. The criminal code currently mitigates the penalty for abandoning an infant or an infant dying as a consequence of abandonment in cases where there is a reasonable cause to believe the offender -- more specif

North Korea may be beginning to officially re-define its relations with South Korea as two separate nations, according to Rep. Tae Yong-ho of the ruling People Power Party on Thursday. Tae said that Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, referring to South Korea by its official name, Republic of Korea, in recent statements may be an attempt to recognize it as an independent nation. Speaking at a plenary session of the National Assembly’s unification committee, Tae said

The National Intelligence Service of Korea is seeking steps to make up for the pending loss of its authority to investigate espionage and other crimes against the state, such as anti-communism investigations. The state intelligence agency on Wednesday proposed a presidential decree that will allow it to continue to have a role in investigations of espionage and national security-related crimes. Starting next year, the intelligence agency will lose its investigative authority as a result of a set

The South Korean opposition’s escalation of combative rhetoric on Japan’s plan to release treated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant is “unseemly,” the ruling party's floor leader said Wednesday, Eastern European Time. “My colleagues across the aisle have chosen to abandon the longstanding courtesy of stepping back from domestic political attacks on the president while he is on a trip meeting foreign leaders,” Rep. Yun Jae-ok of th

South Korea’s main opposition party on Sunday asked the International Atomic Energy Agency director general to halt Japan’s plan to discharge treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant and to find alternatives to the ocean disposal. In a meeting with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, five Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers accused the United Nations atomic watchdog of bias and described its final assessment on the safety of the Japanese plan as “shoddily concluded&rdquo

The South Korean government released the English version of its report on North Korean human rights Friday, but it omitted a controversial clause included in an earlier edition that stated it would not bear responsibility for the report’s accuracy. In April, the English report by the Ministry of Unification was taken down from the website after wide criticism over the disclaimer, which denied responsibility for the report's accuracy. The original Korean report did not contain such dis

South Korean inquiry found Japan’s plan to discharge treated wastewater from the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant to be “consistent with international safety standards,” the government announced Friday. Bang Moon-kyu, the government policy coordination minister, said the plan proposed by the Japanese government met international standards, including those of the International Atomic Energy Agency. “If the plan is kept as outlined, no violation of safety stand

A government plan to build a highway connecting Seoul with a county near the capital city was rescinded Thursday, after the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea raised allegations of possible favors having been granted to the family of the first lady. Earlier this week, the Democratic Party suggested the construction plan was tweaked so that the highway passes by a piece of land owned by the first lady’s family. After a meeting with ruling People Power Party lawmakers Thursday morning