Korea Times Finance Reporter
Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
The leaders of South Korea, China and Japan will hold a trilateral summit in Seoul on Monday, the presidential office said Thursday, marking a resumption of the long-stalled meeting between the Asian neighbors.
The leadership of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) is striving to prevent its members from voting in favor of a special counsel probe bill into the death of a Marine in an upcoming parliamentary re-vote, emphasizing the importance of party unity to thwart the bill's passage.
Lee Kyung-boon was born in November 1928 in Sancheong County, South Gyeongsang Province, during Japan's colonial rule of Korea (1910-45).
The KF-21 fighter jet development program, a collaborative effort with Indonesia to build Korea's first home-grown fighter jet, is facing a major setback after Jakarta proposed to significantly reduce its financial contribution, cutting it to just one-third of the initially agreed amount.
South Korea could find itself marginalized on North Korean issues if the next U.S. administration opts for negotiations with Pyongyang, a scenario that seems increasingly probable if former U.S. President Donald Trump returns to office, as suggested by Wi Sung-lac, a lawmaker-elect of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).
The South Korean government's response to China's forced repatriation of North Korean escapees has seemed somewhat subdued, amid desperate efforts to maintain the cautious improvement of bilateral ties between Seoul and Beijing and eventually pave the way for a long-delayed three-way summit including Japan, anticipated later this month.
The U.S. presidential election is six months away. U.S. allies worldwide, including South Korea, are closely monitoring the race, which appears to be a tight contest between the incumbent President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump.
In his first two years in office, President Yoon Suk Yeol focused on aligning with like-minded allies, such as the United States and Japan, to address security challenges posed by its nuclear-armed northern neighbor.
An official at the Korea Immigration Service is under investigation for his alleged involvement in the forced repatriation of Uzbek students studying at Hanshin University that occurred last November, according to police, Friday.