Korea Times Digital Content Reporter
Kwak Yeon-soo is a digital editor at The Korea Times creating, editing and curating digital content for the newspaper’s website, mobile app and social media. She previously covered a diverse array of cultural, political and business topics.
The ruling and main opposition parties are wrangling over the government's spending plan for next year as the National Assembly begins deliberations on the 2025 budget, which totals 677.4 trillion won ($490.7 billion), a 3.2 percent increase from the previous year.
South Korea faces a difficult choice between providing weapons directly to Ukraine and remaining ambivalent about it until U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, while North Korean troops are being deployed to the Ukrainian front.
South Korea’s spy agency said, Wednesday, that it is closely monitoring the possibility of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visiting Russia.
Opposition parties are going all out to protect main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung, who received a suspended one-year prison term for violating the election law, according to political watchers, Tuesday.
South Korea believes the chances of Pyongyang and Washington resuming dialogue without Seoul’s involvement under a second Trump administration are low, given the strengthened South Korea-U.S. alliance and the significant changes in the geopolitical landscape since Donald Trump’s first presidency, the government said, Monday.
Main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Chairman Lee Jae-myung is facing the biggest crisis of his political career after a local court sentenced him to one year in prison, suspended for two years, Friday, on charges of violating the election law, according to political watchers.
Korea is set to revise its espionage law to punish individuals for spying not only for North Korea but also for "all foreign countries." This comes after a series of cases in which Korea's confidential security information was allegedly leaked to China.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo renewed a pledge, Wednesday, to strengthen the South Korea-U.S. alliance spanning economic and security cooperation under President-elect Donald Trump amid escalating tensions in the region.
According to documents obtained by the Ministry of Unification, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was broadly involved in directing the country's response to international criticism of its human rights situation, viewing it as a threat to his regime.
President Yoon Suk Yeol has called for maintaining stern deterrence against North Korea based on the strong South Korea-U.S. alliance, while ordering the launch of economic consultative bodies to prepare for uncertainties brought on by Donald Trump's return to the White House, the presidential office said Sunday.