South Korea government to compromise on medical reforms, meet opposition
Seoul, South Korea Reuters South Korea’s government announced a compromise in its medical reform plans on Friday in a bid to end a two-month walkout by doctors, and also said President Yoon Suk Yeol would meet the opposition leader for the first time after two years in office. The conciliatory moves followed a crushing election […]
South Korea opposition wins landslide parliamentary vote in resounding blow to Yoon
Seoul, South Korea Reuters South Korea’s liberal opposition parties scored a landslide victory in a parliamentary election held on Wednesday, dealing a resounding blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol and his conservative party but likely falling just short of a super majority. The Democratic Party (DP) was projected to take more than 170 of the […]
South Koreans vote for new parliament after economy, corruption dominate campaign
Seoul, South Korea Reuters South Koreans vote to elect a new parliament on Wednesday in a bitterly fought race seen by some analysts as a referendum on President Yoon Suk Yeol, whose popularity has suffered amid a cost of living crisis and a spate of political scandals. The opposition Democratic Party (DP), which already dominates […]
Negotiator for South Korean walkout doctors sees ‘no future’ after Yoon meeting
Seoul, South Korea Reuters A much-heralded first meeting between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and a negotiator for young doctors who walked off the job in February appeared to have made little progress on Thursday after the latter expressed pessimism on social media. Yoon’s office said his first in-person talks lasted more than two […]
South Korea’s medical professors join protests, reduce hours in practice
Seoul, South Korea Reuters Medical professors in South Korea said they will cut back on the hours they spend in practice starting on Monday to support trainee doctors on strike for more than a month over a government plan to boost medical school admissions. “It is clear that increasing medical school admissions will not only […]
South Korea’s Yoon warns of tech threat to democracy at summit
Seoul, South Korea Reuters South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday called fake news and disinformation based on AI and digital technology threats to democracy, as his country hosted a gathering of senior global officials including from Britain, the EU and the United States. Speaking at the opening of the Summit for Democracy, Yoon […]
North Korea fires ballistic missile as South hosts democracy conference
Seoul, South Korea Reuters North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea on Monday for the first time in two months, at a time when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Seoul to attend a conference hosted by President Yoon Suk Yeol on advancing democracy. South Korea’s military said the missile was […]
South Korea’s Yoon says won’t back down over medical reforms as doctors strike
Seoul, South Korea Reuters President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed on Tuesday to go ahead with a plan to increase the number of students admitted into medical schools to improve healthcare in South Korea, and said there was no justification for the protests this reform had triggered. More than 9,000 young doctors, or about two-thirds of […]
North Korea scraps all economic cooperation with South Korea
Seoul, South Korea Reuters North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly has voted to scrap all agreements signed with South Korea on promoting economic cooperation, the North’s official KCNA news agency reported on Thursday, as the two Koreas’ relations continue to deteriorate sharply. The assembly, which takes formal steps to adopt policy dictated by the ruling Workers’ […]
From would-be pastor to “fighting cock”, South Korean President Yoon carves own route to the top
Seoul, South KoreaReuters Yoon Suk-yeol seals his surge to the summit of South Korean politics on Tuesday when the man who once dreamt of becoming a pastor, but was nicknamed the ‘fighting cock’ for his tenacity as a prosecutor, is sworn in as president. Elected in March, the 61-year-old former prosecutor-general only formally entered the […]