Members of the center-left Democratic Party of Korea's old guard, each of them with political careers spanning several decades, made a splendid comeback in Wednesday’s general election in South Korea. The victories of Park Jie-won, Choo Mi-ae and Chung Dong-young are expected to give more strength to the opposition camp, which delivered a crushing defeat to President Yoon Suk Yeol and his conservative People Power Party. Choo, who will be returning to the National Assembly for a sixth term

With exit polls predicting a bigger than expected victory for the liberal opposition Democratic Party and its allies, approaching the critical two-thirds majority, on Wednesday evening, the mood among the main two parties stood in stark contrast to each other. "With a humble heart, we will observe the people's choice until the very end," said Lee Jae-myung, the party's chief, looking unfazed by the apparent victory. Yet, a festive mood could not be hidden, as party official

As South Koreans vote Wednesday to elect all 300 members of the National Assembly, there are some crucial questions and pivotal issues to keep an eye on. Here, The Korea Herald highlights three focal points before the results come in. 1. How big will the liberal presence be? The election's likely victor appears clear: the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. The question is, how big will their win be? The liberal party held onto an absolute majority position in the previous parlia

In elections, the big shot politicians don’t always get to clinch easy wins. In the April 10 general election, five prominent figures of South Korean party politics are vying for parliamentary seats via constituency races. The outcomes of these contests are poised to have a significant potential impact on their future paths. A defeat, in particular, could cast their political futures into doubt. How will they fare? Below is an overview of the five races. Lee Jun-seok Lee Jun-seok, who,

Herald Corp. has set out to promote globalizing and spreading the value of the Korean language in partnership with the National Hangeul Museum. Herald Corp. CEO Choi Jin-young signed a business agreement with Kim Il-hwan, the director of the National Hangeul Museum, to spread the culture of the Korean language at the media firm’s headquarters in Seoul on March 28. Under the agreement, the two organizations have agreed to collaborate in nurturing cultural projects based on Hangeul. Specif

The owner of a tangerine orchard has been detained for deliberately poisoning birds on Jeju Island, police said on Friday. The owner faces charges of violating the Wildlife Protection and Management Act after injecting pesticides into tangerines with a syringe, leading to the deaths of approximately 200 birds, including birds like the bull-headed shrike and the light-vented bulbul. This act was carried out in the orchard in Namwon-eup, Seogwipo City. The arrest followed reports to the local po

Police have initiated an investigation into a candidate for the National Assembly who has taken it upon himself to forcefully detain and inspect migrant workers, a local media outlet reported Wednesday. Police in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, and Daegu received multiple complaints alleging that Park Jin-jae, a candidate for the Liberty Unification Party, has been accosting people who appear to be migrant workers, according to a report by the Kyunghyang Shinmun. The Liberty Unification P

Find the answer at the bottom. Retro has become the latest dessert fad in South Korea. Dubbed “halmaenial,” the trend has seen millennials embrace the tastes and preferences traditionally associated with their grandparents' generation. Halmaenial is a portmanteau of "halmae," the Korean word for granny, and "millennial." Enjoying renewed popularity are traditional Korean snacks yanggaeng, yakgwa and yugwa. Recently, yanggaeng, or sweet red bean jelly, has s

Regular exercise at least twice a week significantly reduces sleep disorders, according to a recent study conducted by an Icelandic college. A research team led by Erla Bjornsdottir from the University of Reykjavik, Iceland, disclosed a link between physical activity and insomnia. The study analyzed data from 44,000 participants over a decade across nine European countries, with findings published in The BMJ, a British medical journal, Wednesday. The team analyzed data from 4,399 individuals who

The state-run Korea Environment Corporation in Seo-gu, Incheon, became the latest site to host a Climate Clock on Monday, marking the tenth installation of the clock in South Korea. This significant event continues the journey that began in 2021, when the Herald Corp. headquarters in Seoul unveiled Asia's first digital Climate Clock, underscoring the nation’s growing commitment to environmental awareness and action. The Climate Clock is a visually compelling reminder of the urgent n

A majority of large companies in South Korea disadvantage applicants who craft their resumes using artificial intelligence services, such as ChatGPT, according to a survey released Sunday. The Labor Ministry and the Korea Employment Information Service unveiled a report on employment trends in the second half of 2023, which was based on a survey of human resource managers at the nation’s top 500 companies by sales. The survey was conducted from Nov. 20 to Dec. 22 last year, with 315 out of

The Supreme Court on Sunday upheld a previous ruling that acquitted a man on charges of violating the Protection of Communications Secrets Act, noting that the act did not apply in the case of this man, who secretly recorded his wife's conversation using a home camera and shared the contents of the recording with a third party. In February 2020, a man installed a home camera with a recording function in the living room of the apartment he shared with his wife in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk. The c

In a swift, life-saving operation that was made public Wednesday, police in Seoul’s Seongbu District last week traced an emergency phone call in just 6 minutes and saved a girl from choking. The call lasted just 25 seconds, with only the sound of sobbing heard. On March 14, officers dispatched to a house in Anam-dong identified as the origin of the call found a 4-year-old girl lying unconscious after her neck became caught in the cord of a window blind. They performed CPR and after about

Huh Kyung-young, a cult leader, singer and fringe politician who has run in presidential elections multiple times, faces accusations of sexually harassing over 20 female followers. He has denied the allegations. The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police said Tuesday that 22 members of “Sky Palace,”a cult group founded and led by Huh, filed complaints, asking the police to investigate the leader’s alleged misconduct. They claimed that at the cult’s headquarters in Yangju, Gye

A South Korean man was arrested for breaking into a livestock lab in Jangsu County, North Jeolla Province, and stealing the semen of a Korean bull of high genetic significance, local police said Monday. According to the county police, the suspect, a meat industry insider in his 30s, is alleged to have broken into the laboratory around 8 p.m. on March 8 and committed the theft. He stored the stolen semen in a cryogenic nitrogen container which he had to preserve its condition. The suspect was i

“The groom provides the home, and the bride furnishes it" has been a long-standing custom in Korean marriages. But, with evolving perspectives on gender roles, and home prices virtually beyond reach for average Korean men of marrying age, the way couples manage the finances of their marriage is undergoing severe changes. Newlyweds, single men and single women interviewed by The Korea Herald generally envisioned an equal partnership founded on equal contributions -- be it financially,

Parents with higher levels of education spend more on their children’s private education, data showed on Friday. Parents holding master’s degrees spent an average of 600,000 won ($450) to 640,000 won per child per month on private education last year, according to Statistics Korea. This is 3.8 times more than the monthly average of 170,000 won to 200,000 won spent per child by parents with educational backgrounds below middle school. Mothers with a high school degree spent an avera

South Korea ranked last, at 29th out of 29 OECD countries, in the working environment for women for 12 consecutive years, according to UK-based The Economist on Thursday. Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, The Economist released the glass-ceiling index. This UK media outlet has published the index annually since 2013 for OECD member nations, assessing factors such as women’s labor participation rate, gender income disparity, the proportion of women in high-ranking posit

Lee Bok-ja vividly recalls the day, 47 years ago, when she learned that she had been admitted to high school, having secretly taking and passing the entrance exam. She remembers the tuition fee: 23,520 won, a sum she couldn't bear to ask her ailing father for. This amount was worth nearly half the monthly salary of a government employee of the lowest rank at that time. Lee never went to high school, working instead to earn money, often as a cleaner. But in her dreams, she would sometimes se

Nearly 70 percent of the entire global population of hooded cranes, an endangered migratory bird species, is thought to be resting in a South Korean bay, local experts said Wednesday. A joint on-spot survey of Cheonsu Bay, in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, reported the spotting of about 14,000 cranes in the area -- 11,000 at the eastern part of Ganwol-ho, an artificial lake in the bay, and another 3,000 at the western part. The research was conducted by Seosan Birdland, an ecotourism center