62 h. ago Can Seoul count on China’s commitment to Korean reunification?

China’s role in any future reunification of the Korean peninsula should not be assumed, a South Korean analyst has warned at a peace forum in Hong Kong after being asked if Bejing is a reliable partner to help advance the goal. Sung Ki-young, chief research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy, told the Korean Peninsula Peace Forum on Wednesday that both China and the United States were reluctant to rapidly or radically alter peace and stability on the peninsula, meaning major...

Politics

62 h. ago Can Seoul count on Beijing’s commitment to Korean reunification?

China’s role in any future reunification of the Korean peninsula should not be assumed, a South Korean analyst has warned at a peace forum in Hong Kong after being asked if Bejing is a reliable partner to help advance the goal. Sung Ki-young, chief research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy, told the Korean Peninsula Peace Forum on Wednesday that both China and the United States were reluctant to rapidly or radically alter peace and stability on the peninsula, meaning major...

Politics

68 h. ago South Koreans deserve Nobel Peace Prize for stopping martial law, president says

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday praised the citizens who confronted martial law troops a year ago, saying their collective defence of democracy made them worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. Speaking at a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the attempt by impeached president Yoon Suk-yeol to impose military rule, Lee described the incident as an unprecedented test of South Korea’s democracy that the public overcame peacefully. “I am convinced that we, the people of the...

Politics

3 d. ago Chinese man hides 2 gold bars in chilli sauce jar, sends to ‘friend’ for investment

A Chinese man has caused amusement online after he hid two gold bars inside a jar of chilli sauce and mailed them to another province as part of a scam to fund his stock trading account. The incident recently unfolded in the Jinnan District of Tianjin in northern China when police took down a fraud scheme involving an elderly man. Li Ruifang, a police officer from the Shuanglin Police Station, received an anti-fraud alert indicating that an elderly man, surnamed Zhao, might be in contact with...

Politics

3 d. ago South Korean lawmakers push for special court as distrust of judiciary grows

A year after former president Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law, South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is pushing ahead with a bill to create a separate court dedicated to handling cases linked to the decree, in response to widespread public distrust of what critics describe as a “biased” judiciary. President Lee Jae-myung warned on social media ahead of the December 3 anniversary of the decree: “If we leave hidden acts of insurrection as they are, insurrection will certainly...

Events

3 d. ago EU’s former top diplomat Mogherini detained in training fraud probe: source

The EU’s former foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was taken into custody on Tuesday as police staged raids probing a suspected fraud scheme involving the training of European diplomats. Mogherini, who was high representative for foreign affairs from 2014 to 2019, now leads the College of Europe graduate school whose premises were searched along with the offices of the European External Action Service (EEAS) diplomatic service. The 52-year-old Italian was arrested in Brussels along with the...

Politics

4 d. ago Unification Church leader denies knowing about gifts for Kim Keon

The leader of one of South Korea’s largest cultlike churches stood trial on Monday accused of bribing the country’s former first lady with gifts including a designer handbag and a diamond necklace. The arrest of leader Han Hak-ja in September rocked the Unification Church, which claims to have 10 million followers worldwide and controls a sprawling business empire. The 82-year-old defendant, known to her followers as “holy mother”, also faces corruption charges over cash payments to a lawmaker...

Politics

6 d. ago This 'Beijing Battle' is a great achievement that will go down in history.The South Korean men's bas..

This 'Beijing Battle' is a great achievement that will go down in history.The South Korean men's bas..  매일경제

Events

1 week ago Former South Korean rock star implicated in US$136 million fraud scheme

A former member of the South Korean rock band Boohwal has been identified as one of 69 people implicated in a Ponzi scheme that collected more than 200 billion won (US$136 million) from illegal investments and stole 19 billion won. Police said singer Kim Jae-hee, 54, who once performed as Boohwal’s fourth vocalist, took part in promotional activities that helped recruit victims. According to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency on Sunday, Kim was among those sent to prosecutors on charges...

Economics

1 week ago How South Korea’s nuclear sub deal with US could torpedo inter

South Korea, under President Lee Jae-myung, has repeatedly proclaimed its desire to improve relations and re-engage in diplomacy with North Korea. Yet a landmark agreement with Washington formalised last week reveals a starkly different priority: advancing military capabilities that will almost certainly drive the two Koreas further apart. The United States has officially approved South Korea’s pursuit of nuclear-powered submarines while supporting Seoul’s efforts to secure uranium enrichment...

Events

1 week ago South Korea’s US nuclear sub deal risks roiling East Asia’s waters

South Korea is set to acquire nuclear-powered attack submarines with US approval and assistance, according to a joint fact sheet last week. That approval came following a meeting at the end of October between South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and US President Donald Trump in Gyeongju. The agreement allows South Korea to build its first nuclear-powered attack submarines, which will be conventionally armed and powered by highly enriched uranium the United States will help source. It also...

Events

2 w. ago Helmsman’s phone distraction blamed for South Korean ferry grounding

A South Korean ferry ran aground after the helmsman became distracted by his mobile phone, a member of the coastguard said on Thursday. All 267 passengers and crew were safely brought to a nearby port after the ferry crashed on an uninhabited island off South Korea’s southwestern coast. The passenger vessel was travelling from Jeju Island to the port city of Mokpo when it ran aground after 8pm (local time) on Wednesday, authorities said. A preliminary investigation found that “the officer...

Politics

2 w. ago South Korean ferry runs aground, sparking Sewol ferry disaster memories

A South Korean passenger ferry carrying 267 passengers and crew ran aground on Wednesday off the southwestern tip of the Korean peninsula, triggering a rescue operation and stirring memories of a major ferry disaster in 2014. President Lee Jae-myung, who is currently travelling in the Middle East, ordered a swift rescue of all on board to prevent casualties and for details of the operation to be made public as they occur, the Yonhap News Agency reported. Authorities were deploying all possible...

Events

2 w. ago South Korean teen dies after 8 hospitals refuse to treat him

A South Korean high school student died in an ambulance after eight hospitals refused to treat him over the space of an hour, in a case that has reignited concerns over a growing shortage of doctors and specialists in the country. The 18-year-old was found convulsing near a high school by a teacher at about 6.20am on October 20, The Chosun Daily reported, quoting the Busan Fire and Disaster Headquarters on Tuesday. The teacher called for an ambulance, which arrived about 15 minutes later. The...

Events

2 w. ago ‘Hostile to the end’: North Korea’s shock at US subs approval sinks talk hopes

North Korea is expected to remain largely impervious to Western diplomatic overtures for the foreseeable future as it rails against its rivals’ “hostile” policies. On Tuesday, North Korean state media denounced last month’s summit between US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung as proof of the “confrontational will” of its adversaries to “remain hostile to the end”. The North was taken aback by the outcomes of the Trump–Lee summit, according to Professor Cho Han-bum...

Events

2 w. ago ‘Workplaces of death’: South Korean president’s childhood fuels crackdown

South Korean Kim Yong-ho thought he would die within seconds after a 200kg (441lbs) industrial press at a Hyundai Steel plant sprang to life during maintenance and crushed his legs and back. It was 2019, and Kim said he thought the heavy machinery around him had been switched off as he made repairs. “I was flattened like a squashed frog in a roadkill,” he said. “I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds.” A quick-thinking colleague saved his life by alerting the machine’s operator, said Kim, now...

Politics

2 w. ago Samsung, Hyundai announce US$310 billion domestic investment plans

Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor and other major South Korean manufacturers on Sunday unveiled domestic investment plans, as a US trade deal raised concerns that investment in the US could weaken manufacturing at home. Samsung Electronics will add a chip production line at its plant in the South Korean city of Pyeongtaek to meet rising demand amid the global boom in artificial intelligence, as part of the parent group’s 450 trillion won (US$310.79 billion) investments at home over the next...

Economics

2 w. ago Singer Nana hospitalised with injuries after overpowering home intruder

K-pop star Nana helped overpower a home intruder and is recovering in hospital after suffering injuries during the tussle, South Korean police said on Sunday. The intruder, a man in his 30s, broke into the K-pop star’s home early on Saturday before being taken down by Nana with the help of her mother and arrested. The 34-year-old celebrity and her mother, who suffered serious injuries and lost consciousness, are being treated in hospital, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. The intruder...

Events

3 w. ago South Korean farmers sue state utility, claiming its coal habit ruined crops

Hwang Seong-yeol stood at the edge of a golden field, watching nervously as a combine harvester crawled through his rice, churning up mud and stalks. Its steady hum filled the damp autumn air as grain poured into a truck waiting at the other end of the muddy paddy. It was the final day of what Hwang said was one of his toughest seasons in three decades of farming. He and other farmers feel helpless against increasingly erratic weather that they link to climate change and damage to their crops....

Politics

3 w. ago South Korean man admits killing girlfriend over insults, storing body in fridge

A man in South Korea has confessed in court to killing his girlfriend for belittling him, storing her body in a kimchi fridge and impersonating her in text messages to family members for nearly a year. The defendant, in his 40s and who was not named by local media, strangled his girlfriend of four years on October 20 last year at a home in Gunsan, North Jeolla province, after she berated him for not following her advice on stock investment, according to prosecutors. He then continued to exchange...

Events