Some sense of normal life is returning to South Korea’s hospitals for the oldest and the most vulnerable patients. Last weekend, Misodle Hospital for the elderly in Guro-gu, southern Seoul, spent the first Christmas since COVID-19 with in-person visits. With social distancing and other rules already lifted, the government permitted face-to-face encounters at elderly care facilities from October. Up until this point, residents and visiting loved ones could only meet separated by a glass wal

South Korea is tightening COVID-19 travel rules for arrivals from China, where a record surge of infections is underway, for about two months starting next year. The government’s COVID-19 response headquarters on Friday announced that all travelers from China will face extra rules including a mandatory COVID-19 test both before and after arrival. Only those who are negative in a PCR or a rapid test taken within 48 hours can board the plane to South Korea. Exceptions will be made for Korean

OSONG, North Chungcheong Province – South Korea’s drug abuse epidemic deserves just as much attention as COVID-19, according to Minister of Food and Drug Safety Oh Yu-Kyoung. Speaking with The Korea Herald in a recent interview, Oh said tackling drug abuse has become a “top priority” at the ministry under her leadership. “For so long, drug abuse prevention and rehabilitation has been a barren field in South Korea,” she said. Oh said so far the country’

Minister of Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min said “the golden hour had already past” in explanation of his tardy arrival at the scene of the fatal crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon on Oct. 29. His remarks came during Tuesday’s parliamentary questioning of Cabinet ministers, police chiefs and other heads of institutions as part of the National Assembly probe into the Halloween disaster that killed 158 people. “It was already late,” the safety minister replied to R

Kim Keon-hee is expanding her role as first lady, straying from her earlier promise that she would not play a role “beyond that of a spouse.” While Yoon Suk-yeol was still a presidential candidate, the couple had said that Kim would not serve as first lady in the traditional sense if he is elected. Kim told a press conference held last year that she would not have a formal presence as first lady during her husband’s tenure in office, and that she would “not have a role be

South Korea may do away with the indoor masking rule if metrics like the COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates fall. Even then, masking will not be gone for good, and could be reinstated should those metrics worsen. Ruling People Power Party leaders met with top public health officials Thursday, a day before the government COVID-19 response headquarters is set to announce how the rule on masking indoors may change. At Thursday’s meeting, public health officials laid down the possible co

Doctor-turned-lawmaker Rep. Shin Hyun-young of the Democratic Party of Korea has been reported to the police for the second time on Wednesday for hitching a ride on an ambulance heading to the scene of the crowd crush in Itaewon, Seoul, on Oct. 30. Seoul councilor Lee Jong-bae filed a police report against Shin, accusing her of “interfering with emergency services,” just a day after a group of public welfare activists reported her to the police for abuse of power. Shin faces the alle

The success stories of North Korea escapees are what will bring down the repressive regime, according to one refugee-turned-assemblyman, Rep. Ji Seong-ho. Helping North Koreans who have fled home to seek a new life and experience the South Korean dream as a reality, he says, is his mission in politics. “Helping defectors from North Korea find success makes a difference, and it’s in everyone’s best interest. The more successful North Korean defectors there are, the more threaten

South Korea may need to put off reviewing COVID-19 isolation rules until after the winter. Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyu-hong told a press conference on Monday that the country will be ready for a discussion on whether to keep the remaining COVID-19 rules once winter passes and the outbreak situation across the country stabilizes. The two COVID-19 rules that remain in place here are seven-day isolation for patients from the day of a positive test and an indoor mask mandate. “There

Former President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday was sued by the family of South Korea government official Lee Dae-jun, who was killed by North Korean soldiers near the sea border over two years ago. The lawsuit comes as onetime officials at Moon’s Cheong Wa Dae and Cabinet are being summoned by prosecutors one by one for questioning. Lee Rae-jin, the late official’s older brother, accused Moon of failing to perform his duties as the president and lying about the circumstances surrounding t

OSONG, North Chungcheong Province -- Safety and quality are what make Korean food products stand out, according to Minister of Food and Drug Safety Oh Yu-kyoung. “I believe the competitive edge that Korean food products have in the global market is their safety and high quality,” Oh said in an interview with The Korea Herald. “The interest in Korean culture has extended beyond K-pop or K-dramas. Now we’re seeing a growing popularity of Korean food -- hence I think the nam

An opposition party-led motion was passed on Sunday to press President Yoon Suk-yeol to fire Lee Sang-min, the minister of interior and safety, over the government’s response to the Halloween crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon. The motion, now headed to Yoon for final approval, would put increased pressure on the president to dismiss the safety minister who is also a close aide. Out of the 183 lawmakers present, an overwhelming 182 voted in favor of the motion at Sunday’s plenary s

South Korea’s Ministry of Unification says it would seek to amend its laws to protect North Koreans who fled their country from being repatriated against their will. The proposal for amendment to laws on the protection of North Korean refugees, posted on Wednesday, requires the Minister of Unification to confirm the settlement intentions of North Koreans who came to South Korea by sea or land or via a third country. The amendment would also give the Minister of Unification authority to all

One lesson from COVID-19 is that health security is just as critical as other types of security, according to a World Health Organization expert. “The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us all many painful lessons,” WHO’s global health security preparedness director Dr. Stella Chungong said in a written response to questions from The Korea Herald. “COVID has shown maintaining individual, community and national health security is vital for a country to function.” She said

Park Jie-won, a former head of the National Intelligence Service under investigation over an alleged cover-up in North Korea’s killing of South Korean fisheries official Lee Dae-jun in 2020, told The Korea Herald the Yoon Suk-yeol administration was playing the communist card against his predecessor Moon Jae-in. “All I’m going to say is that the Yoon administration is cracking down on the Democratic Party by portraying Moon as a communist sympathizer,” he said over the ph

Seoul court on Saturday issued an arrest warrant for Suh Hoon, who served as the national security director at Cheong Wa Dae and headed the National Intelligence Service during the preceding administration. Suh is accused of orchestrating the deletion of intelligence records related to North Korea’s killing of Lee Dae-jun, a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official, at sea two years ago, and then falsifying official documents to suggest he willingly tried to defect from his country. He

Prosecutors in Seoul are seeking five years in prison for Cho Kuk, who served briefly as justice minister during the Moon Jae-in administration, over a college admissions scandal involving his two children. Cho and his wife Chung Kyung-shim were sent to trial three years ago for making bogus certificates and forging credentials to get their children into prestigious schools, and accepting favors from the faculty. While Cho was senior secretary in Moon’s Cheong Wa Dae, his daughter received

Suh Hoon, ex-spy chief and former President Moon Jae-in’s national security director, was summoned to Seoul court on Friday for a questioning after prosecutors filed for an arrest warrant against him in an investigation into North Korea’s killing of South Korean fisheries official, Lee Dae-jun. Suh is accused of ordering the deletion of intelligence reports related to Lee’s case -- the day after he was shot then burned by North Korean soldiers on Sept. 9, 2020 -- while he was t

The bereaved families of the victims of the deadly crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon last month called the firing of Lee Sang-min, the minister of interior and safety, who has yet refused to resign. In a press conference held outside the Seoul Metropolitan Police’s office, the mother of late Lee Ji-han, 24, said that the ongoing investigation by the police “should not spare those in high offices.” “But in order for that to be possible, the safety minister needs to be r

At minus five degrees Celsius on Wednesday evening, when the first cold wave warning of this year was issued, more than 200 Chinese and Koreans gathered for the first time to denounce Beijing’s zero-COVID policy and to demand President Xi Jinping to step down. The unprecedented uprising was the first protest by the Chinese against its authorities in Seoul amid ongoing “white paper” protests in mainland China in a symbolic protest against censorship. The protest was led by Chine