Police said Tuesday they had nabbed a North Korean defector for allegedly stealing a village bus in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, and attempting to ram the bus northward through the militarized border between the two Koreas, in an apparent bid to return to North Korea. Police in Paju caught a man in his 30s at the Unification Bridge on Tuesday at around 1:30 a.m., as the bus he was driving hit a road blocker on the Imjin River's heavily guarded bridge that leads to the truce village Panmunjom in

Politics Oct. 1, 2024

The leaders of South Korea and Slovakia agreed to elevate their ties by establishing the strategic partnership on Monday, at a summit held during the Slovak leader's visit to Seoul. Describing Slovakia as "an important European partner that shares common values in the face of the complex global crises," President Yoon Suk Yeol said during the summit in his office with Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico in Seoul that the strengthened diplomatic engagement would allow the tw

Politics Sept. 30, 2024

Thousands of people gathered in the capital city of Seoul to call for Yoon Suk Yeol's resignation on Saturday, as a coalition of left-wing groups blamed the president for tensions on the Korean Peninsula and economic strains. According to police, about 5,000 people are estimated to have flocked to Sejongdaero at 3 p.m. near Namdaemun in central Seoul to protest Yoon's leadership, as the conservative president's five-year term is now about halfway through. The coalition estimated t

Politics Sept. 28, 2024

Tours to the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom might resume for Korean nationals in October, more than a year after former US soldier Travis King's crossing into North Korea suspended tours there. According to a source from the state-run National Institute for Unification Education, which operates the tour programs for Korean nationals, it is working with the United Nations Command on preparations for the tour program, which facilitates visits to the heavily armed Demilitarized Zone a

Politics Sept. 27, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating rebounded following his trip to the Czech Republic to clear hurdles before finalizing a 24 trillion won ($18 billion) nuclear export contract, a poll showed Friday. According to Gallup Korea's poll, Yoon's job approval rating during the period between Tuesday and Thursday came to 23 percent, up 3 percentage points from the previous poll unveiled on Sept. 13. The figure in the previous poll hit the lowest point since Yoon's inauguratio

Politics Sept. 27, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday pledged to ramp up his administration's push to enhance the country's artificial intelligence capabilities through the creation of Presidential Committee on AI, as South Korea's private-sector tech companies also vowed to invest 65 trillion won ($49 billion) in AI-related projects through 2027. Companies investing in the upcoming AI projects will likely get tax benefits in return, according to Yoon's office. South Korea will also work to se

Politics Sept. 26, 2024

South Korea's prosecution is facing a dilemma over the high-profile luxury Dior bag case involving first lady Kim Keon Hee, as the investigation review committee for the nation's top prosecution body gave the upper hand to the pastor who wishes to be indicted in the graft case in hopes of bringing the first lady to the court. A 15-member independent review committee for the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Tuesday night recommended that Korean-American pastor Choi Jae-young be indicted for his allege

Politics Sept. 25, 2024

South Korea is reviewing an emergency evacuation plan to ensure the safety of South Korean citizens in the Middle East as the region on Monday suffered the deadliest conflict in almost two decades with Israel's airstrike in Lebanon targeting Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. The measure was discussed at the emergency meeting on Tuesday to monitor the situation in the Middle East in terms of national security and economy, presided over by President Yoon Suk Yeol's aides, National Se

Politics Sept. 24, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday criticized liberal politicians, including his predecessor Moon Jae-in, for advocating the recognition of North and South Korea as separate states, denouncing the proposal as "unconstitutional." "North Korea is now threatening a nuclear attack while recognizing its relationship with South Korea as belligerent. In this context, how can someone dare to bring up the concept of the peaceful coexistence of the two Koreas?" Yoon said at a Cabinet m

Politics Sept. 24, 2024

The scenario of North Korea conducting a nuclear test is "possible," and Pyongyang could conduct such a test for the first time in seven years either before or after the United States presidential election in November, President Yoon Suk Yeol's national security aide said Monday. Shin Won-sik, Yoon's national security adviser, told Yonhap News TV in a televised interview that North Korea could potentially conduct its seventh nuclear test given its need to advance its nuclear weapon cap

Politics Sept. 23, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol returned to Seoul on Sunday following a three-day official trip to the Czech Republic, setting the stage for a South Korean consortium to finalize a nuclear energy deal worth 24 trillion won ($18 billion) in the central European country next year. Laying the groundwork for further discussions and procedures before the final signing of the contract, hopefully in March 2025, Yoon, Czech President Petr Pavel and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala "reaffirmed their commitme

Politics Sept. 22, 2024

PRAGUE -- South Korea is poised to inject $37 million in joint research and development projects with the Czech Republic in the next decade, according to President Yoon Suk Yeol's office on Friday. Park Sang-ook, senior presidential secretary for science and technology, told reporters in a briefing in Prague that Seoul's estimated annual R&D budget spending will translate into a 20-fold surge compared with the level in the past from 1995 to 2015. Park added that the spending will g

Politics Sept. 21, 2024

PRAGUE -- South Korea and the Czech Republic will increase nonstop flights for the first time since 1998, as President Yoon Suk Yeol's visit to Prague is expected to offer people from the two countries more opportunities for exchanges. The growing potential of strengthened ties between the two countries -- partly with a South Korean group being selected as the preferred bidder for the 24-trillion won nuclear export deal in the Central European country in July -- led to a decision to "i

Politics Sept. 21, 2024

PRAGUE -- President Yoon Suk Yeol and the Czech Republic's Prime Minister Petr Fiala on Friday adopted action plans to implement the strategic partnership between the two countries for the next three years, seeking a wider range of cooperation beyond South Korea's potential nuclear export to the Czech Republic. Under the new action plan, effective 2025 -- or the 10th anniversary of the bilateral strategic partnership -- the area of cooperation between Seoul and Prague will no longer be limited t

Politics Sept. 21, 2024

PRAGUE -- The governments, state-run firms and private-sector companies of South Korea and the Czech Republic signed 13 memoranda of understanding to team up with one another for the entire process and delivery of the nuclear power unit construction project. According to the presidential office, these documents will allow South Korean and Czech entities to collaborate on the preconstruction, construction and postconstruction stages of nuclear power units, if a group of South Korean firms clinch

Politics Sept. 20, 2024