South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on Friday refuted the main opposition party’s claim that the president’s overseas trip this month was a “diplomatic disaster,” and expressed disappointment after lawmakers passed a motion calling for his dismissal. At the same time, Park said he would "carefully" take in the criticisms and do his best to carry out his duty as foreign minister. The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and others have taken issue with P

SEJONG -- South Korea's state power utility said Friday it will raise fourth-quarter electricity rates for consumer and industrial use amid high energy costs and mounting losses. Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said it has decided to jack up the adjusted unit fuel cost -- a key part of the country's electricity rates -- by 2.5 won ($0.002) per kilowatt hour for the October-December period. It comes on top of the 4.9-won increase the government has already decided to apply from Octob

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said Friday the relocation cost of the presidential office will be far greater than expected, surpassing 1 trillion won (US$698 million). The envisioned cost far exceeds the 49.6 billion won announced by President Yoon Suk-yeol as the expected cost for the relocation project, Rep. Han Byung-do, who leads the DP's fact-finding mission on alleged irregularities involving the presidential office, said. Han said there could be more unidentified expenses

Following North Korea’s latest missile launch on Thursday, the top nuclear envoys of South Korea, Japan and the United States again held bilateral talks over the phone to reaffirm their united efforts to counter Pyongyang’s military threats, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Friday. North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from the western inland town of Sunchon in South Pyongan Province toward the East Sea on Thursday, marking the third launch in less than a week. Imm

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