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1. The South Korean government granted special presidential pardons Monday on the occasion of the Liberation Day anniversary tomorrow. A total of 2-thousand-176 people, including business tycoons such as Park Chan-koo, honorary chairman of Kumho Petrochemical Group, were given special pardons that will legally take effect at the beginning of Tuesday. 2. The U.S. State Department said Sunday that t...

1. The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said Friday that South Korea had suffered a total of 361 cases of facility and flooding damage nationwide from Typhoon Khanun. A total of 15-thousand-862 people were evacuated due to the typhoon and 9-thousand-741 of them have returned to their homes so far. 2. The United Nations Security Council will meet publicly to discuss human ri...

1. The Korea Meteorological Administration said Typhoon Khanun made landfall on South Korea Thursday morning and is slowly moving north. The typhoon caused flooding and facility damage, and forced cancellations of 450 flights, 161 KTX high-speed trains, and closures of more than 490 roads and 178 sea routes nationwide. 2. U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that will pr...

1. The Korea Meteorological Administration said Wednesday that about 140 flights in South Korea were grounded on Jeju Island due to the approaching Typhoon Khanun. All passenger boat services from and to the island were also suspended. 2. South Korea’s Justice Ministry convened on Wednesday to begin a review of candidates for special pardons given by President Yoon Suk Yeol in time for Liberation...

1. South Korea’s culture ministry said Tuesday that the K-pop concert and closing ceremony for the 25th World Scout Jamboree will be held at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Friday. The announcement came after about 36-thousand Jamboree participants left Saemangeum and relocated to new accommodations nationwide. 2. The Korea Meteorological Administration said Tuesday that typhoon Khanun is expected to m...

1. The World Organization of the Scout Movement said Monday that an early departure will be planned for all participants in the 25th World Scout Jamboree due to inclement weather. The scouts are expected to leave the campsite in Saemangeum sequentially from Tuesday morning. 2. The South Korean police announced that they are investigating 187 online murder threats posted nationwide as of 7 AM, Mond...

1. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo presided over an extraordinary Cabinet meeting on Friday to approve the spending of reserve government funds to protect participants of the 25th World Scout Jamboree from the scorching heat wave. President Yoon Suk Yeol finalized the spending of 6-point-9 billion won or 5.2 million USD. 2. Former special counsel Park Young-soo was arrested late Thursday over corrupti...

1. Former special counsel Park Young-soo attended a court hearing on Thursday to determine whether to issue an arrest warrant for him over corruption allegations connected to a high-profile property development scandal. 2. Global financial stocks slumped on Wednesday, while U.S. 10 year Treasury yields ticked up, after Fitch Ratings downgraded the United States’ credit rating one notch from AAA to...

1. Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said Wednesday that starting next month parents in Seoul will be required to make a reservation before meeting or talking by phone with teachers to prevent teacher harassment by parents. The education office will also launch a pilot project to install camera monitored waiting rooms at some schools. 2. According to data f...

1. According to the South Korean Ambassador to the U.S. Cho Hyundong, the upcoming trilateral summit between the leaders of S. Korea. U.S. and Japan at Camp David will serve as an opportunity for the leaders to have a casual meet up. The meeting will likely address a range of security and economic agenda, and whether or not the three countries will hold the trilateral summit on a regular basis. 2....

1. According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Monday, in the first half of 2023, South Korea’s tax revenue decreased by almost 40 trillion KRW or 31.4 billion USD ompared with the previous year. 2. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Sunday that the recent heatwave had killed at least 12 people from Wednesday to Friday last week. Meanwhile, at least 5 lives were lost d...

1. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, along with delegations from China and Russia, oversaw a huge military parade on Thursday to mark the 70th anniversary of the armistice or what Pyongyang calls "Victory Day". The parade featured North Korea’s Hwasong-17 and Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missiles. 2. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, on Friday, nominated his special advisor f...

1. The U.S. Federal Reserve raised its key interest rates by 25 basis points to 5.25% to 5.5% range on Wednesday, widening the rate gap with South Korea to a new high of 1.75 to 2.0 percentage points. 2. North Korea invited delegations from China and Russia amid their preparation for huge celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice on Thursday. Pyongyang display...

1. Interior Minister Lee Sang-min pledged Wednesday to completely overhaul the country's disaster management system to better deal with disasters caused by climate change a day after he was reinstated as the interior minister as the Constitutional Court rejected the National Assembly's impeachment of him on Tuesday. 2. The International Monetary Fund cut its 2023 economic growth outlook fo...

1. North Korea late on Monday fired two ballistic missiles into the sea off the east coast. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that it detected two ballistic missiles fired from areas near Pyongyang at 11:55 PM on Monday and at midnight on Tuesday. 2. The Constitutional Court on Tuesday rejected the National Assembly’s impeachment of Interior Minister Lee Sang-min over last year’s crowd...

1. According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Saturday, North Korea fired several cruise missiles toward the West Sea at around 4 AM on Saturday. Meanwhile, this Thursday marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement. 2. South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Sunday revealed 55 data related to the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway proje...

1. North Korea has heavily criticized the docking of the USS Kentucky in South Korea and the launch of the S. Korea-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group as a blatant and direct nuclear threat. South Korea’s defense ministry on Friday has warned that a nuclear weapons assault by Pyongyang will result in the regime’s demise. 2. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s nominee to become the next unification...

1. According to the presidential office on Thursday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will hold a trilateral summit with the U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Camp David, near Washington, on August 18. 2. The Ministry of Justice’s Attorney Disciplinary Committee held a meeting on Thursday to determine whether it was appropriate for the bar association to pro...

1. North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles or SRBMs toward the East Sea from the Sunan area on Wednesday. The launch comes after South Korea and the U.S. held their first Nuclear Consultative Group meeting, and after the USS Kentucky, a U.S. nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarine, arrived in South Korea, on Tuesday. 2. South Korea has decided to raise next year's minimum w...

1. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday called for strengthening extended deterrence to the point that North Korea dares not to use nuclear weapons during the inaugural session of the South Korea-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group. 2. According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, as of 6 AM Tuesday, nationwide, 44 people have died and 6 are still missing as a r...

1. The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on Monday said that the recent flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains have left at least 49 people nationwide dead and missing while torrential rain is forecasted on Tuesday. 2. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Saturday he agreed to provide Ukraine with a package of security, humanitarian and reconstruction assistance...

1. South Korea and Poland on Thursday established a three-way system with Ukraine to support its post-war reconstruction efforts during a bilateral summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, in Warsaw. 2. South Korea’s Foreign ministry on Friday slapped sanctions on four individuals and three institutions involved in North Korea’s nuclear and miss...

1. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol asked Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday to include South Korean experts in monitoring the planned release of wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Yoon also asked that the discharge be halted immediately if the concentration of radioactive material in the water exceeds standard levels. 2. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on...

1. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will meet Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO summit, following controversy over Japan's plan to release waste water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea. 2. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile, toward the East Sea at around 10...

1. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol arrived in Lithuania on Monday for the NATO Summit during which South Korea and NATO plan to adopt documents for bilateral cooperation across 11 sectors, including nonproliferation. 2. North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong said on Tuesday that a US spy aircraft which violated Pyongyang’s airspace twice had retreated when North Korea sent its warplanes. Kim said that the...