The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Tuesday made official its stance against plans to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, while backing other parts of the government's reorganization strategy. Countering the government’s plan to abolish it, the Democratic Party said the ministry should be expanded, with a reorganization of the ministry's functions. Rep. Kim Sung-hwan, who chairs the party’s policy planning committee, made such remarks during a p

South Korea begins inoculation using bivalent COVID-19 vaccines from Tuesday, the country's health authorities said on Monday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Moderna's bivalent COVID-19 vaccine will be used for the first time as a booster in the country. The bivalent COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer will be used after completion of the regulatory process. The bivalent COVID-19 vaccine will be first available for people at high risk and in other vulnerable gr

The first round of the Seoul Light show, a media facade show organized by the Seoul Design Foundation, ended Sunday, premiering the main show that is slated to kick off in December this year. Seoul Light show is an annual event that features media facade shows at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, utilizing projection mapping and the curved aluminum-panel surface of Zaha Hadid’s architectural work. Since its first edition in 2019, the media show has attracted over 1 million visitors and has become

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will be abolished and its core functions will be subsumed by other ministries, according to the reform plans announced by the Ministry of Interior and Safety on Thursday. The plans also include the creation of a new body to address issues concerning overseas Koreans, and elevation of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs' status. The government will aim to pass the proposed amendment to the Government Organization Act at the Na

Citizens living in the eastern coastal city of Gangneung, Gangwon Province, were panicked and confused by an explosion, thundering noises and a subsequent fire at a military airfield late Tuesday, while the country’s military remained silent about the accident caused by a missile malfunction throughout the night. Residents in Gangneung said they saw a bright flash that accompanied loud noises at around 11 p.m. A video of an orange ball of flames emerging from an area close to the site wa

PyeongChang, the host city for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangwon Province, will hold the 18th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates from Dec. 12-14, according to the local government on Tuesday. The World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates is a forum initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev, in which Nobel Peace Prize laureates, experts on peace and conflict resolution and representatives from peace organizations gather together for dialogue. Since its inaugural edition in Rome in 1999, the annual event

The prosecution on Friday asked for life sentences for a woman and her accomplice who are standing trial for murdering the woman's husband. In the trial for Lee Eun-hae, 31, and Cho Hyeon-soo, 30, who are accused of killing Lee's husband and attempting to cover it up as an accidental drowning, the prosecution has requested life imprisonment. The court's decision will be made on Oct. 27. An official from the Prosecutors Office at the trial on Friday said the nature of the crime is serious, as

South Korea will completely lift the requirement for a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction test for travelers entering the country starting from Saturday, the country‘s health authorities said Friday. From Saturday, inbound travelers will no longer have to take a PCR test within a day of their arrival, Second Vice Health Minister Lee Ki-il said during a COVID-19 response meeting on Friday. Until Friday, a PCR test has been mandated, and inbound travelers have been required to take the te

The ruling People Power Party on Friday submitted a resolution asking National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo to step down, in an apparent retaliation against the main opposition party’s passing of a motion calling for the dismissal of the foreign minister at the National Assembly on Thursday. The motion for the dismissal of Foreign Minister Park Jin was approved in a 168-1 vote boycotted by the ruling People Power Party on Thursday evening. It was put to a vote at a delayed plenary sessio

South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Thursday passed a motion to formally request that President Yoon Suk-yeol replace Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin over diplomatic gaffes during Yoon’s overseas trip last week. The motion was put to a vote in a National Assembly plenary session, which resumed at 6 p.m. The motion it was passed with 168 votes, mainly from the main opposition party, which holds a majority -- 169 out of 299 seats -- in the National Ass

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met in Tokyo on Wednesday, agreeing to seek further dialogue on outstanding issues. At the meeting, Han called on Korea and Japan to work toward better relations, saying it serves their common interests, and Han and Kishida agreed to continue discussions on issues involving forced labor victims and sexual slavery, Seoul's Prime Minister's Office said. Han talked with Kishida for around 20 minutes on Wednesday m

Police and fire authorities on Tuesday started a joint probe with the National Forensic Service into the Monday fire at Hyundai Premium Outlet in Daejeon, which resulted in seven deaths. A joint investigation team consisting of around 40 members will try to determine how the fire started from the basement parking lot early on Monday morning. The team will check closed-circuit TV footage that shows the cargo-handling area where the fire started to spread. The fire currently appears to have sta

A media outlet in Liberia disclosed on Monday the names and faces of two Liberian government officials who were arrested last week on suspicion of sexual assault of two underage girls in Busan. The Liberian government also has reportedly promised to cooperate with South Korea, which is investigating the two officials, according to the Liberian Daily Observer. The report identified one of the two men as Liberia’s representative to the International Maritime Organization and the other as

South Korea will no longer require masks for outdoor group activities, starting Monday. The government also plans to ease other antivirus measures down the road. The outdoor mask mandate ended May 2, but was kept for outdoor gatherings of 50 or more people. The rule remained due to concerns amid the recent resurgence of COVID-19. The government is expected to further ease the country’s antivirus measures for COVID-19. The government said it would soon introduce its future adjustments to

The Democratic Party of Korea, the country’s main opposition party, raised the heat on President Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday after Yoon was caught on camera using derogatory words when referring to the US Congress at the Global Fund's Seventh Replenishment Conference in New York. As he left the venue, Yoon was caught on camera using a Korean expletive referring to a group of people, apparently referring to the US Congress. Yoon also said that Biden would be humiliated if the "parliamen

South Korea might be able to return to pre-pandemic normalcy in spring next year, possibly with major antivirus measures lifted, including the country's indoor masking rule, Jung Ki-suck, the head of the government‘s COVID-19 special response committee, said during a radio interview with a local broadcasting company Wednesday. Jung said that South Korea might be able to fully return to normalcy by next year, not because the virus will disappear, but as the country will be more capable of

Typhoon Nanmadol, this year’s 14th typhoon, grazed southern and eastern coastal areas of South Korea on Monday, drenching the region with heavy rains and strong winds. But only minor damages were reported. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, at 3 p.m. on Monday, Typhoon Nanmadol was moving northeast at around 300 kilometers west of Osaka, Japan at a speed of 33 kilometers per hour, leaving behind the South Korean mainland. The typhoon became slightly weaker in the afte

S. Korea’s National Assembly speaker asked China’s third-ranking leader Li Zhanshu to ensure efforts to prevent possible attempts at distorting the history between the two countries, during a bilateral meeting held at the National Assembly on Friday. “History is related to the identity of a country and its people. It is important to accept facts as objective as possible and educate the next generation as such,” National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo said. Kim also said

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday approved the appointment of Lee Won-seok as the administration's first chief prosecutor, ending the monthslong leadership vacuum at the prosecution. Yoon also confirmed the appointment of Han Ki-jeong, a Seoul National University law professor, as the chairman of the Fair Trade Commission. Yoon told reporters during a doorstep interview Friday morning that he decided to push ahead with the delayed appointments as many have pointed out the Cabinet vacancies. Th

The government of Suriname said it will consider legal action against the producers of the recent Netflix series "Narco-Saints," which possibly casts a negative image of the country. The South Korean Embassy in Venezuela issued an advisory to ensure the safety of South Korean nationals living in Suriname, according to local reports on Thursday. "Narco-Saints," which is titled "Suriname" in Korean, revolves around a South Korean drug lord operating in Suriname and