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1. President Yoon Suk-yeol hosted a New Year's meeting on Wednesday at the Blue House, inviting representatives from various sectors. In his address, he stated that the people and their livelihoods will be prioritized in the new year. 2. According to data from the education and interior ministries on Wednesday, South Korea’s student enrollment in elementary schools nationwide is expected to dr...

1. Main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck during a visit to Busan on Tuesday morning. Officials said he was airlifted to Seoul for surgery and the wound is not life threatening. The male suspect was arrested at the scene. 2. President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday during a ceremony marking the first trading day of 2024 that he will push to scrap the financial in...

1. President Yoon Suk Yeol said Monday in a New Year's Day address that South Korea and the U.S. will complete a strengthened "extended deterrence" regime in the first half of 2024 to seal off North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. 2. The Korean Central News Agency reported Monday that North Korea began discussions on dismantling agencies in charge of inter-Korean relations a...

1. President Yoon Suk Yeol appointed four ministers and the chief of the broadcasting watchdog on Friday. Finance Minister {최상목}Choi Sang-mok, Agriculture Minister {송미령}Song Mi-ryung, Ocean Minister {강도형}Kang Do-hyung and SMEs Minister {오영주}Oh Young-ju were appointed. 2. The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld two separate rulings in favor of South Koreans forced into wartime labor under...

1. President Yoon Suk Yeol nominated {이관섭}Lee Kwan-sup, the director of national policy at the presidential office, as his new chief of staff. According to sources on Thursday, Lee will be replacing outgoing presidential chief of staff {김대기}Kim Dae-ki. 2. South Korea on Thursday struck a free trade agreement with a group of Arab countries known as the Gulf Cooperation Council. The Ministry o...

1. President Yoon Suk Yeol carried out a partial Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday. {김윤상}Kim Yoon-sang was named as the second vice finance minister, Shin Young-sook as the vice gender equality minister, and {손영택}Son Young-taek as the chief secretary of the Office for Government Policy Coordination. 2. South Korea on Wednesday imposed independent sanctions on eight North Korean individuals, inc...

1. During a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, President Yoon Suk Yeol called for approaching the issue of South Korea's rapidly declining birthrate from a fundamentally different perspective, emphasizing the need to identify its causes and find effective solutions. 2. According to Statistics Korea on Tuesday, South Korea’s population of those in their 40s in November was a little over 7.9 million, d...

1. The Presidential Office said Monday that President Yoon Seok Yeol visited Chungdong First Methodist Church in Jung-gu, Seoul on the morning of Christmas day to participate in the Christmas service. 2. "12.12: The Day," a historical saga about South Korea's military coup in 1979, topped 10 million admissions on Sunday. According to the film's local distributor, Plus M Entertain...

1. The Korea Meteorological Administration said the season’s strongest cold wave peaked early Friday, causing disruptions in daily life nationwide. A heavy snow advisory effect in Jeju Island caused Jeju International Airport to completely suspend its runway operations in the morning. 2. The National Assembly on Thursday passed a tax law amendment that includes deducting up to 300 million won, or...

1. An arctic cold wave swept across South Korea Thursday, sending apparent temperatures in Seoul to minus 22 degrees Celsius on the coldest morning of the season. According to forecasts, the cold will continue through Friday. 2. Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon agreed Thursday morning to take over as chairman of the ruling People Power Party's emergency leadership committee, and will leave offic...

1. The ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party finalized the national budget for next year on Wednesday, and agreed to pass it through the National Assembly later this week. The two sides also agreed to hold a vote on the budget at 10 AM Thursday. 2. The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday ended its meeting on North Korea’s latest test-firing of ICBMs without a joint respon...

1. The defense ministry said Tuesday that South Korea, the United States and Japan launched a system to share North Korean missile warning data in real time, in the latest effort to bolster trilateral security cooperation against the North. 2. President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday named National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of National Intelligence Service...

1. President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday named Ahn Duk-geun as the new minister of trade, industry and energy. Ahn's appointment comes three months after incumbent minister Bang Moon-kyu assumed the post in September. Bang is widely expected to run in the general elections in April. 2. The South Korean military said North Korea fired a long-range missile into the East Sea on Monday morning, in its...

1. Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo on Thursday raised the possibility of North Korea launching an intercontinental ballistic missile this month,... upon arriving in Washington for a South Korea-U.S. security meeting designed to discuss nuclear issues. 2. The Ministry of Economy and Finance said Friday that the South Korean economy continues to show signs of gradual recovery...

1. President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday ended his four-day state visit to the Netherlands, which focused on ensuring a stable supply chain of key materials and expanding bilateral semiconductor industry cooperation. 2. The ruling People Power Party said Thursday that the party will transition to an emergency leadership committee system, following the resignation of party leader Kim Gi-hyeon. 3. Th...

1. President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday pledged to provide full support for semiconductor cooperation between South Korea and the Netherlands, as he visited the headquarters of Dutch chipmaking equipment company ASML. 2. According to data compiled by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, South Korea's on-year employment grew at a slower pace for the first time in four months in November. The number of...

1. The preliminary candidate registration for the April 10th general elections opened Tuesday, signaling the start of a four-month race. Prospective candidates can register their preliminary candidacies with the national Election Commission until the official candidate registration opens on March 21st. 2. President Yoon Suk Yeol began his state visit to the Netherlands on Monday by meeting with a...

1. President Yoon Suk Yeol departed Monday on a state visit to the Netherlands to strengthen semiconductor cooperation between the two countries. 2. The Finance Ministry said Monday that South Korea will establish a government-wide commission for the comprehensive management of supply chains of items necessary for major industries, amid growing supply chain risks. 3. The World Health Organization...

1. South Korea’s main rival political parties have agreed to hold a 30-day extraordinary session starting next Monday. Three plenary sessions will be held on December 20th, 28th, and January 9th. Lawmakers aim to finalize next year’s budget during the session on the 20th. 2. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced Friday that it will launch a pan-governmental task force to addres...

1. The ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party agreed Thursday to open an extraordinary National Assembly session on December 11th, and hold two plenary meetings on December 20th and 28th to deal with the 2024 national budget and pending bills, respectively. 2. Paek Kee-bong, a South Korean lawyer, was elected as a judge of the International Criminal Court for the 2024-2...

1. President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday named Kim Hong-il as the new head of the Korea Communications Commission. Kim is the current head of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, and is to replace Lee Dong-kwan as chairman of the state broadcasting watchdog. 2. South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare announced Wednesday that it held an expert advisory meeting with the President...

1. According to data from the Bank of Korea, South Korea's economy grew 0.6 percent in the third quarter of the year on the back of reviving exports and domestic demand. 2. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the restoration of relations between South Korea and Russia depends on Seoul, and that Moscow is "ready." Putin made the remarks during a ceremony to receive th...

1. President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday replaced the finance minister and five other members of the Cabinet. Choi Sang-mok, former senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, was named the new finance minister. 2. According to the Defense Ministry on Monday, South Korea successfully conducted a third test flight of a solid-fuel space rocket. This test flight comes after South Korea launched i...

1. The President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday approved a motion requesting parliamentary reconsideration of the "yellow envelope law" and three other contentious measures unilaterally passed by opposition parties last month. 2. According to data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the National Tax Service on Wednesday, the number of comprehensive real estate tax payers in South Korea...

1. South Korea's central bank held its key interest rate steady at 3-point-5 percent for the seventh straight time Thursday, while cutting its growth outlook for next year. 2. South Korea's weather agency said Thursday a 4.0 magnitude earthquake struck the southeastern city of Gyeongju early Thursday, but no damage has been reported. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration the...