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1. For the first time in history, South Korea's central bank has delivered a fourth straight rate hike on Thursday. The Bank of Korea raised the key policy interest rate by a quarter-percentage point, bringing it to 2.5% to cap the soaring inflation and prevent capital outflows. 2. Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink embarked on a 3-day-trip to S...

1. President Yoon Suk-yeol said that the government will thoroughly monitor and respond in preventing any financial or foreign exchange crisis during a macroeconomic and financial policy meeting on Wednesday. The foreign exchange market closed with the won trading at 1,342-point-1 won against the US dollar today. 2. Today marks the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between South Korea and China....

1. The South Korean currency fell once again on Tuesday as it hit 1,341-point-8 won when the market opened. The session closed with the won trading at 1,345-point-5 against the U.S. dollar. This is a level not seen since April 2009. 2. Since July this year extreme drought in Europe and China has dried up major water bodies, sparking a shortage of hydropower, jeopardizing electricity production. 3....

1. President Yoon’s chief of staff, Kim Dae-ki announced the administration’s first major staff reshuffling on Sunday. Kim said that the goal of the organizational change was to continue “the path toward higher productivity and efficiency in governance.” 2. South Korea and the United States kicked off the Ulchi Freedom Shield drill, a combined military exercise against North Korea’s nuclear and mi...

1. North Korea has rejected South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's "audacious initiative" to improve its economy in return for real steps toward denuclearization. In response, South Korea's Presidential Office expressed deep regret in a press statement today. 2. According to the Finance Ministry’s latest economic greenbook released on Friday, the South Korean economy could be slowing down due to u...

1. President Yoon Seok-yeol is reportedly planning to reorganize the presidential office structure to gain momentum for state administration by appointing 1 more senior officer and 2 more senior secretaries. 2. Foreign Minister Park Jin said during a parliamentary session Today that his ministry will try to restart denuclearization talks with the North on the basis of coordination with Washington...

1. During the press conference marking his 100 days in office on Wednesday, President Yoon said that he will help North Korea if North Korea demonstrates its will to denuclearize, and that he does not want the regime’s security to be changed unreasonably or by force. 2. Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said on Tuesday that hundreds of civilian victims who were killed when Russian forces att...

1. South Korea and the U.S. will hold their full-fledged joint military drill, the"Ulchi Freedom Shield" from August 22nd to September 1st. The preliminary drills start on Tuesday with the focus on response measures to pre-war crisis scenarios. 2. S. Korea’s  Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho(추경호), during a meeting on the property market Tuesday said, houses will be supplied in high demand ar...

1. Celebrating 77th Liberation Day on Monday,, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol reiterated his vow to provide North Korea with wide-ranging aid to rebuild its economy if North Korea embarks on denuclearization. 2. The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said on Monday that roughly 10,000 properties, including residential buildings, across S. Korea has reported damages. Dam...

1. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with President Yoon Suk Yeol at the presidential office in Yongsan on Friday, and expressed his full support for the endeavors to achieve a complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. 2. President Yoon Suk Yeol granted a special pardon effective as of August 15 for the vice president of Samsung Electronics, Lee Jae-Y...

1. As of Thursday, casualties from this week’s torrential rains have increased to 11 deaths, and 8 others missing, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. The heavy rain will continue to hit Korea’s central and the southern region tomorrow. 2. The presidential office said Thursday that the US THAAD deployed in South Korea is a “self-defensive tool”, and that its...

1. South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Qingdao, China to hold high-level talks. During the meeting, Park stressed that South Korea’s decision to participate in the preliminary Chip 4 meeting is to serve the national interest. 2. Heavy downpours which wreaked havoc in the metropolitan area paused in the greater Seoul area and Gangwon region as the statio...

1. The metropolitan area was hit by torrential rain on Monday which was the heaviest rain in 115 years, taking the lives of 8 people. It saw a rainfall of up to 141mm, but the Gangwon Regional Meteorological Administration says 300mm more will fall today. 2. South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin is to have his first meeting on Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Qingdao, China....

1. South Korea has decided to join a preliminary meeting of the “Chip 4” which is a semiconductor alliance led by the US. A government official said that Yoon’s administration will serve the national interest as much as possible, and whether to formally join the meeting will be based on the meeting. 2. Education Minister Park Soon-ae tendered her resignation on Monday after 34 days of taking offic...

1. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrapped up her 2 day visit to South Korea. PELOSI said the visit by her and other members of U.S. Congress reaffirms the "strong bond" between Seoul and Washington. 2. South Korea's Foreign Minister Park Jin will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in the Chinese city of Tsingtao next week, following Wang's invitation. Topics such as THAAD and Taiwan...

1. National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed to support efforts by Seoul and Washington for the denuclearization of North Korea. Both voiced concerns over the North's escalating threats. 2. As tensions between the United States and China have intensified over Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, S. Korea’s foreign minister PARK Jin will attend a meeting wi...

1. Amid Chinese opposition, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan. Pelosi, a well known China hawk, has a history of prodding China over human rights. 2. South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin will depart for Cambodia on Wednesday to attend a series of high-level meetings, hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), on pending regional and global issues. 3. South Korea...

1. The police bureau officially kicked off under the umbrella of the interior ministry on Tuesday. It’s the first time in 31 years that the ministry has an organization overseeing the law enforcement agency. 2. South Korea on Monday strongly condemned North Korea for “being the only country that abused the Non-Proliferation Treaty regime” during the United Nations’ NPT Review Conference. 3. U.S. H...

1. The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut South Korea’s economic growth projections by 0.2% from 2.5% to 2.3%. This is lower than the 2.7% forecast made by the Bank of Korea in May and the OECD in June. 2. Next year will mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice agreement . On July 27, 1953, the ceasefire agreement was signed. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said he will prepare ne...

1. US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping had a two-hour phone call on Thursday, marking the fifth call between the two leaders. Meanwhile, tensions rose as the US leaked plans for a possible visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. 2. Defense chiefs of South Korea and the U.S. are scheduled to meet in Washington on July 29th to discuss various alliance issues, includi...

1. South Korean President, Yoon Suk yeol will meet with Indonesian President, Joko Widodo on Thursday. The two will hold summit talks at the presidential office in Seoul at around 7PM. 2. President Yoon Suk-yeol and first lady Kim Keon-hee attended the launch ceremony for a 8,200-ton Aegis destroyer, dubbed the (정조) Jeongjo The Great. President Yoon called the destroyer a “national strategic ass...

1. The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut South Korea’s economic growth projections by 0.2% from 2.5% to 2.3%. This is lower than the 2.7% forecast made by the Bank of Korea in May and the OECD in June. 2. Next year will mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice agreement . On July 27, 1953, the ceasefire agreement was signed. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said he will prepare ne...

1. The cabinet on Monday approved the revisions to the Enforcement Decree of the establishment of a new police oversight bureau, under the Ministry of Interior and Safety. The new Enforcement Decree will be implemented on August 2nd. 2. The US will host its first, virtual IPEF meeting on Tuesday for 2 days to discuss matters, such as trade and supply chains. Economic ministers from its partner cou...

1. South Korea reported 35-thousand-883 new COVID-19 infections on Monday. Starting from today, everyone arriving in South Korea will have to take a PCR test on the day they arrive. Only contactless visits to at-risk facilities such as nursing hospitals are allowed. 2. Starting from today, the National Assembly will hold a three-day interpellation session on government policies which is the first...

1. The ruling and the main opposition party of Friday came to an agreement on the formation of the parliamentary committee after 53 days of hiatus, allowing the National Assembly to restart operations. 2. Poland decided to import 300 more K2 tanks than initially planned from South Korea, bringing the total number to 1 thousand K2 tanks from Seoul. These additional 300 tanks will raise about 17 tri...