After just more than two years of the pandemic, South Korea is considering changing the current quarantine system to manage COVID-19 like a seasonal flu, as severe cases decline despite the rapid increase in the spread. Earlier on Friday, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters said it would fully review the possibility of switching to a medical system similar to seasonal flu while evaluating the capacity of the medical system, the final severity rate and the fatality rat

People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday defended his position on "preemptive strike" against North Korea, saying that such a plan would curb war and protect peace in a live broadcast TV debate on Thursday. "The president should exercise leadership to prevent the war itself from happening. I think it’s a rash remark," Sim Sang-jeung of the Justice Party told Yoon in the debate. In response, Yoon said, "We are not trying to wage war, b

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential nominee of the ruling Democratic Party, spent most the seven-minute open topic segment given to him attacking and questioning his key rival Yoon Suk-yeol at the first live broadcast debate for key presidential candidates on Thursday. Regarding pandemic-related supplementary budget to help damaged small business owners, Lee denounced Yoon, saying that he suggested 35 trillion won, but only with "conditions," such as "only if I am elected," or

Shamanism has once again returned to haunt South Korean politics. This time around, People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife have been accused of having a close relationship with religious practitioners and allegedly letting them advising on administrative decisions. Korean shamans’ role is to serve ghosts, predict fortunes and perform exorcisms. Shamans and fortunetellers have been a regular feature in presidential elections since the 1992 election. As uncert

People Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo promised Friday to push for the signing of a Korea-US nuclear arms sharing agreement in response to the threat of North Korea’s nuclear weaponss if he is elected. “We will defend Korea’s security and peace, the people’s lives and safety against such provocations in collaboration with the international community, and not shy away from resorting to military countermeasures,” Ahn said at the press conference held in the Seoul Foreign

Presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol vowed Thursday to build a new presidential office at the Seoul Government Complex in Gwanghwamun and return the existing Cheong Wa Dae site to the public if he is elected. “If I become president, the existing Cheong Wa Dae will disappear,” People Power Party candidate Yoon said at a press conference. “A new concept of the presidential office will be created with a completely different organizational structure and working methods.” &

Will two presidential candidates, Yoon Suk-yeol and Ahn Cheol-soo, merge their campaigns to win the upcoming election? It remains one of the burning questions ahead of the March presidential election. Unification during an election campaign refers to two or more candidates merging their campaigns to win the election. And “unification” is a word that comes up time and time again in election season. The first attempt to unify was in the 1987 presidential election. Many Koreans wh

As the omicron variant spreads rapidly and daily caseloads exceeded 7,000 for a second consecutive day, the government plans to operate a new quarantine system nationwide. As of Saturday midnight, the number of COVID-19 confirmed patients in Korea increased by 7,630 from the previous day, recording the second-largest figure to date. Of the newly confirmed cases, 7,343 were locally transmitted and 287 were imported. The number of critically ill patients was 431, down two from the previous day

Lee Soo-jung, a criminal psychology professor at Kyonggi University, stepped down as an advisor to the main opposition People Power Party’s election camp after apologizing to a victim of a #MeToo scandal for remarks made by presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol’s wife Kim Keon-hee about the matter. She told a local media outlet that apologizing to the victim Kim Ji-eun ”was my conscience,” adding, “I resigned in advance because there was a difference between my pos

  President Moon Jae-in, who is visiting the United Arab Emirates, met with Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum at the Dubai Expo on Sunday and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in defense, nuclear power plants and Korea’s plan to host the 2030 Busan Expo. During the meeting, the UAE decided to import the Korean interceptor missile Cheongung II, or M-SAM2, becoming the first country to operate the missile other than Korea. The UAE Ministry of Defence announced a p

Panregional cooperation is the key to balanced national development, President Moon Jae-in said Thursday, presiding over the nation’s first meeting for cooperation between central and regional governments. The meeting, called “the second Cabinet meeting,” was held for the first time for top decision-makers of the central and local governments to deliberate on major policies related to regional autonomy and balanced development. It is the highest decision-making body dealing w

North Korea’s recent missile launch, which would previously have been a variable in a South Korean presidential election, will have little effect on the upcoming election, as provocations become routine and receive less attention from the public and candidates, experts say. “North Korea’s missile launch is unlikely to have a direct impact on the presidential election,” said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification’s North Korea

President Moon Jae-in will visit three countries in the Middle East -- the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt -- on an eight-day trip beginning Jan. 15, according to the presidential office on Monday. Moon will first visit the UAE between Jan. 16-17 at the invitation of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. It is Moon‘s first visit to the country in four years. After the UAE, he will visit Saudi Arabia for two days to hold talks with Saudi Arabia‘s de

North Gyeongsang Province is striving to boost its cultural, tourism, medical and bio sectors that will be in the spotlight in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, said Gov. Lee Cheol-woo in an interview with The Korea Herald. The governor stressed the need for balanced regional development, saying a new engine for national growth lies in the provinces, and that the power and capital monopolized by the central government should be shared with the provinces to boost national competitive

South Korea should join the democratic coalitions designed to keep China in check, instead of hedging between the US and China, which could result in Seoul having to deal with Beijing alone, says Victor Cha, a former top adviser on North Korea in the George W. Bush administration. “Hedging is not a long-term strategy for South Korea between the US and China. It does not help relations with either party and growing US-China competition will make it harder to hedge,” Cha said, when as

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday reiterated his willingness to build an integrated railway network for the peace on the Korean Peninsula during a visit to a groundbreaking ceremony for railroad construction in the Jejin railway project. On the same day, the North fired a suspected ballistic missile into the sea. “It could symbolically show our trust and willingness to connect the Donghae Line and Gyeongui Line, which the two Koreas agreed to pursue as a top priority in the Panmunjom De

The Korean government says the nation is moving toward stabilizing housing prices due to its supply and policy measures, but experts are scratching their heads. “(Cheong Wa Dae) has thoughts close to a conviction that housing prices have begun to stabilize,” said Park Soo-hyun, senior presidential secretary for public communication, in a local radio interview Tuesday. The nation’s housing prices have continuously increased during Moon’s administration, but a slowdown

Washington should ease sanctions on North Korea with a “snapback” clause, as current measures only give Pyongyang justification for nuclear armament, says the head of the Korean National Diplomatic Academy. “The original purpose of sanctions is to make a country a normal state so that they stop further provocation or give up nuclear weapons. Punishment for doing wrong is incidental,” said Hong Hyun-ik, chancellor of the Korean National Diplomatic Academy, in an intervie

President Moon Jae-in hailed progress in South Korean democracy in a New year’s address on Monday, saying it has “matured” and been recognized by the world. “The government, which was launched without a transition committee in the face of an impeachment of the president, unprecedented in constitutional history, straightened up the collapsed constitutional order and advanced democracy,” Moon said in a speech delivered on the main stairs of Cheong Wa Dae on Monday m

The next president, to be elected in March and take office in May, will have a host of urgent issues. Korea’s economy has been hit hard by the prolonged pandemic. Millions of small business owners and self-employed people are burdened with mounting debts. Housing prices have soared. The deepening US-China rivalry is posing a tricky policy challenge. Relations with the North and with Japan have turned sour. Whoever becomes a new president, their top priority will, above all, be respondin