The ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Friday submitted a resolution urging National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo to step down for putting to a vote the main opposition party's motion calling for the dismissal of the foreign minister the previous day. In the resolution unanimously signed by PPP's lawmakers, the party accused Kim of "violating his duty to keep political neutrality" as the assembly speaker and "seriously hurting the parliamentary democracy" by working

South Korea will raise natural gas prices for civilian use next month amid high international gas prices, the industry ministry said Friday. Starting in October, natural gas prices for households and commercial use will be hiked by 2.7 won ($0.002) per megajoule, the ministry said in a press release. Natural gas prices for households will climb 15.9 percent, with the growth rate for commercial use ranging from 16.4 percent and 17.4 percent. "The hike reflects soaring global natural gas pric

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell below 30,000 on Friday, as the virus wave has been gradually slowing down in recent weeks. The country reported 28,497 new COVID-19 infections, including 276 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,769,101, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily count grew to nearly 40,000 on Tuesday from around the 20,000 level but has since been constantly decreasing. The comparable figure for a week earlier came to 29,097. The

WASHINGTON -- The United States reaffirmed its "ironclad" commitment to the defense of South Korea and Japan on Thursday, hours after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles in its latest provocation. North Korea launched what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Thursday (Seoul time). "We are aware of the two ballistic missile launches and are consulting closely with our allies and partners," US Indo-Pacific Command said in a released state

　A total of 630 elementary to high school students took their own lives over the past four years, due mainly to family feuds, an Education Ministry report showed. 　According to the report submitted to Rep. Kim Byong-wook of the People Power Party, 388 high school students died by suicide between 2018-2021, followed by 216 middle school students and 26 elementary school kids. 　Family feuds and parental abuse were the reason behind 196 of the suicide cases reported, followed by unknown reasons

N.Korea fires two missiles hours after Harris denounced North Korea’s “brutal dictatorship” during her visit to DMZ

Seoul symposium gathers Asian legislative officials, experts

South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Thursday passed a motion to formally request that President Yoon Suk-yeol replace Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin over diplomatic gaffes during Yoon’s overseas trip last week. The motion was put to a vote in a National Assembly plenary session, which resumed at 6 p.m. The motion it was passed with 168 votes, mainly from the main opposition party, which holds a majority -- 169 out of 299 seats -- in the National Ass

South Korea, Japan and the US are tightening trilateral bonds as Pyongyang is ramping up military provocations. After North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Wednesday evening, Seoul’s top nuclear envoy immediately held talks over the phone separately with his US and Japanese counterparts to affirm bilateral and trilateral cooperation to counter the North’s nuclear threats. According to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, Kim Gunn, Seoul's special re

PCR tests for those arriving in Korea and the current indoor mask mandate could go under review following calls from the ruling People Power Party for disease control measures that “minimize inconvenience and restrictions.” Speaking at a ruling party-government meeting on Thursday, top People Power Party officials called for ending PCR tests for overseas arrivals, and to review the negative impact that wearing face masks may have on young children. “Currently, Korea and China

GENEVA -- Switzerland's glaciers are melting like never before, an academic study released Wednesday found, with their ice volume declining by 6% this year amid rising concerns about global warming and a summer heat wave that swept across Europe. The Swiss Academy of Sciences reported that the shrinkage of ice in the country's glaciers topped a previous record retreat nearly a generation ago. "2022 was a disastrous year for Swiss glaciers: all ice melt records were smashed by the great dear

The Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat held the 2022 Korea-China Smart Manufacturing Industry-Academia-Research Forum Thursday to discuss industrial growth in both countries. Figures from universities, research centers and government bodies in Korea and China attended the event held both online and offline in central Seoul. Gao Xiang, the head of the China Science and Technology Exchange Center, opened the event with a congratulatory speech. “Two countries (Korea and China) are geographic