31 h. ago South Korea overhauls flawed prosecution office accused of selective justice

South Korea’s powerful prosecution service, long accused of wielding justice selectively, is to be dismantled under a sweeping reform plan that government officials and ruling party lawmakers say is necessary to curb abuse of authority. But critics warn the move may create constitutional disputes and deepen political fault lines. President Lee Jae-myung’s Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which holds a majority in the National Assembly, joined forces with the Presidential Office and the cabinet...

Society

60 h. ago Shared threats push Japan, South Korea to temper Sado mine tensions

South Korea’s decision to not attend a memorial event at the Sado Island gold mines in Japan underscores how bilateral ties are still strained by historical grievances, but analysts say both sides are mindful not to escalate tensions in the face of shared regional threats. Seoul informed Tokyo on Thursday it would not send representatives to the September 13 ceremony honouring wartime workers at the disputed Unesco World Heritage site, citing a failure to agree on language acknowledging Korean...

Events

60 h. ago Japan, South Korea show restraint on Sado mine row amid shared regional threats

South Korea’s decision to not attend a memorial event at the Sado Island gold mines in Japan underscores how bilateral ties are still strained by historical grievances, but analysts say both sides are mindful not to escalate tensions in the face of shared regional threats. Seoul informed Tokyo on Thursday that it would not send representatives to the September 13 ceremony honouring wartime workers at the disputed Unesco World Heritage site, citing a failure to agree on language acknowledging...

Events

60 h. ago Japan, South Korea lock horns over a memorial at a controversial mine

South Korea’s decision to not attend a memorial event at the Sado Island gold mines in Japan underscores how bilateral ties are still strained by historical grievances, but analysts say both sides are mindful not to escalate tensions in the face of shared regional threats. Seoul informed Tokyo on Thursday that it would not send representatives to the September 13 ceremony honouring wartime workers at the disputed Unesco World Heritage site, citing a failure to agree on language acknowledging...

Politics

4 d. ago ‘Deeply concerned’: South Korea vows to support citizens arrested in US raid

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung ordered all-out efforts on Saturday to respond to the arrests of hundreds of the nation’s citizens in a US immigration raid on a Hyundai Motor car battery factory. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said the government had set up a team to respond to Thursday’s arrest of more than 300 Koreans at the facility in the southern state of Georgia, and that he could go to Washington to meet officials if needed. “I am deeply concerned. I feel heavy responsibility for the...

Events

4 d. ago Seoul expresses ‘concern’ over US immigration raid at Hyundai’s Georgia plant

South Korea on Friday expressed “concern and regret” over a major US immigration raid at a sprawling Georgia site where South Korean auto company Hyundai manufactures electric vehicles. South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jaewoong described the number of detained South Koreans as “large”, though he did not provide an exact figure. His ministry would not confirm or deny South Korean media reports saying that about 300 South Koreans were detained in Georgia on Thursday. The Atlanta...

Politics

5 d. ago Asia week ahead: Key data on China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan

Asia week ahead: Key data on China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan  ING THINK economic and financial analysis | ING Think

Politics

5 d. ago Rail life story? Cartoon featuring South Korea’s Yoon returns to comics festival

A controversial cartoon featuring South Korea’s disgraced former first couple Yoon Suk-yeol and Kim Keon-hee is set to be displayed in public again this month, three years after its initial showing was cut short under government pressure. Yoonsukyeolcha by Park Se-eun from Chonnam Arts High School will be included in the annual Bucheon International Comics Festival as part of a retrospective show of prize-winning works from 2021 to 2025, the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency announced on Wednesday,...

Politics

5 d. ago South Korea, Japan and US to hold defence drills on heels of China parade joined by North Korea

South Korea, Japan and US to hold defence drills on heels of China parade joined by North Korea  Reuters

Politics

5 d. ago 2 Koreans and a Swiss national among 16 dead in Lisbon tram crash

Portuguese authorities were investigating on Thursday what caused a Lisbon funicular railway popular with tourists to hurtle down a hill, killing at least 16 people and injuring 22 when it crashed into a building. The Prosecutor General’s office said coroners had so far identified the bodies of five Portuguese, two South Koreans and one Swiss national, without disclosing further details of those killed. Portugal’s judicial police chief, Luis Neves, said there was a “high degree of certainty”...

Events

6 d. ago Breaking | Chinese leader Xi holds talks with North Korea’s Kim in Beijing

Breaking | Chinese leader Xi holds talks with North Korea’s Kim in Beijing  South China Morning Post

Politics

7 d. ago North Korea's Kim and South Korean parliament speaker shake hands in Beijing

North Korea's Kim and South Korean parliament speaker shake hands in Beijing  Reuters

Politics

8 d. ago ‘It’s in their DNA’: bribery probe convulses South Korea’s Unification Church

South Korea’s Unification Church has forcefully rejected allegations that its leader, Han Hak-ja, bribed the wife of former president Yoon Suk-yeol, even as prosecutors expand a corruption investigation that threatens to expose decades of the church’s political entanglements. In a rare video address released on Sunday, Han – the widow of church founder Sun Myung-moon – denied direct involvement in any irregularities. “False information is being spread that, under my instructions, our church...

Politics

9 d. ago Japan and South Korea face record heat as climate change bites

Japan and South Korea sweltered this year through the hottest summers since records began, their weather agencies said on Monday. Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as climate change creates ever more erratic weather patterns. Japan’s average temperature between June and August “was 2.36 degrees Celsius above the standard value, which marked the hottest summer since records began in 1898”, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The agency did not disclose what the new...

Society

9 d. ago Tesla sees exodus of South Korean retail investors as crypto’s allure rises

South Korea’s retail investors are losing faith in Tesla’s stock, ramping up their selling last month amid growing disillusionment with the electric carmaker and rising interest in cryptocurrencies. Individual investors in South Korea sold a net US$657 million of Tesla stock in August, the largest outflow since at least early 2023, according to Bloomberg calculations of depository data. Investors have instead favoured even more volatile bets such as Bitmine Immersion Technologies, seen as a...

Economics

9 d. ago Why South Korea and Japan are turning against foreign homebuyers

Government measures to deter foreign buyers from purchasing residential properties are by no means the preserve of Asian economies. In February 2024, Canada extended a nationwide ban on most foreign buyers until 2027 in an effort to curb speculation and improve affordability. In the US, a growing number of states, including Texas and Florida, have passed laws barring nationals from several countries, notably China and Russia, from acquiring land and property. Yet in the most liveable cities in...

Economics

9 d. ago South Korea’s Samsung, SK Hynix stocks sag after US revokes China chip permits

Shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix slid on Monday after the Trump administration decided to make it harder for the world’s largest memory chipmakers to ship critical equipment to their giant Chinese operations. The surprise ruling deals a potential blow to their production in the world’s largest semiconductor market. While both South Korean companies have memory plants in their home market, China accounts for a major slice of their global output. Samsung sank more than 2 per cent, while...

Politics

9 d. ago The Seoul shuffle: why foreigners are loving and leaving South Korea

Seoul’s neon-lit streets regularly draw throngs of young visitors, eager to soak up the city’s reputation as the global epicentre of K-pop, TikTok trends and high-speed living. But beneath the curated image of its most famous cosmopolitan metropolis, South Korea is wrestling with a more complex demographic reality: how to integrate the growing number of foreigners who now call the country home. Today, foreign nationals account for nearly 5 per cent of the population, or around 2.73 million...

Politics

9 d. ago Life expectancy for Hong Kong women hits record, while men also get a lift

Hongkongers’ already impressive life expectancies rose further in 2024 after falling during the pandemic, with women living on average for a record 88.4 years and men for 82.8 years, census figures show. But a Census and Statistics Department report also underscored the increasing strain on the city’s public healthcare system, with the number of inpatient and day inpatient discharges and deaths in hospitals increasing by 5.8 per cent in a year. Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea have the longest...

Events

1 week ago North Korean leader irks South and US in alliance with China

North Korean leader irks South and US in alliance with China  The Korea Times

Politics