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.
Relations between South and North Korea are expected to go from bad to worse in 2024, according to analysts, with Pyongyang declaring on Sunday that Seoul is no longer "a counterpart for reconciliation and unification."
Defense Minister Shin Won-sik has apologized over a recent controversy about some of the ministry's education material, which is provided to soldiers and describes the nation's easternmost islets of Dokdo as "disputed territory," a statement that prompted widespread criticism.
South Korea, the United States and Japan jointly initiated a real-time data-sharing system for North Korean missile warnings, Tuesday, marking a significant milestone in strengthening trilateral security cooperation against Pyongyang's nuclear threats.
On Nov. 24, about 30 Uzbek students enrolled at a Korean language course at Hanshin University in Gyeonggi Province received a notice from school officials that their dormitory will undergo disinfection three days later. The students were told to keep their valuables with them on the designated sanitization day.
Newly elected Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is unlikely to cancel arms deals with Korea, according to Marek Swierczynski, a Polish defense expert, amid rising concerns in Korea that the Tusk administration may overturn weapons purchase deals signed under the previous government.
With only four months left ahead of the parliamentary elections, the emergence of new third parties is suggesting that the elections may not be a two-way race between Korea's two major parties — the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).
Human rights activists are lambasting the Ministry of Justice's plan to strengthen refugee screening by letting authorities reject or revoke the asylum applications or statuses of people who may "damage national security."
Local defense company LIG Nex1 appointed Shin Ick-hyun, a retired Korean Air Force officer and current vice president at the firm, as the new CEO.
A planned ban on the operation of wild animal cafes, set to take effect from Thursday, is drawing complaints from both cafe owners and animal rights activists.