South Korea Doctors Strike: Doctors’ Licenses Suspended

South Korean authorities have issued notices to temporarily suspend the licenses of two doctors in its first punishment since trainee doctors walked off their jobs about a month ago in protest of a government plan to increase medical school enrollment. Two senior members of the Korean Medical Association received a three-month license suspension notice that … Read more

South Korea suspends the licenses of 2 senior doctors over doctors’ walkouts

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean authorities will suspend the licenses of two senior doctors for allegedly inciting the weekslong walkouts by thousands of medical interns and residents that have disrupted hospital operations, one of the doctors said Monday. The impending suspensions are the punishments against physicians after more than 90% of the country’s 13,000 … Read more

North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile Tests While Blinken Is in Seoul

North Korea launched ballistic missiles early Monday morning local time, marking the first such test in about a month. The missiles flew approximately 200 miles from Pyongyang and landed in the waters off of North Korea’s east coast between the Korean peninsula and Japan, according to South Korean officials. The Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida … Read more

North Korea Has Supplied 7,000 Containers of Ammo to Russia

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has shipped around 7,000 containers filled with munitions and other military equipment to Russia since last year to help support its war in Ukraine, South Korea’s defense minister said Monday. Shin Won-sik shared the assessment at a news conference hours after the South Korean and Japanese militaries said the … Read more

Plant-based diets are slowly gaining popularity in meat-loving South Korea

SEOUL — Some places call it “plant-based.” Others say “reducetarian” or “flexitarian.” The veg-curious might introduce “Meatless Mondays.” But here in South Korea, some are simply aiming for “no chunk”: Cut down on your meat consumption by avoiding obvious bits of meat but turning a blind eye to what’s less visible. Across the developed world, … Read more

South Korea plans to speed up reforms to boost shareholder returns

A currency dealer monitors exchange rates in a trading room at KEB Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea. Jung Yeon-Je | AFP | Getty Images South Korea’s financial regulator will look at speeding up the corporate reforms proposed last month and could reportedly add newer measures, after market players voiced concerns the announced steps might … Read more

South Korea Deploys Military Surgeons to Public Hospitals Amid Ongoing Doctors Strike

South Korean authorities, increasingly desperate as over 90% of the country’s junior doctors have gone on strike, are looking to the military for help, announcing that they would start deploying military medical personnel to public hospitals to address the crippling shortage of doctors. Twenty military surgeons and 138 public health doctors will be sent to … Read more

North Korea conducts artillery firing drills in likely response to South Korea-US military training

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised artillery firing drills aimed at boosting combat readiness, state media reported Friday, days after his country vowed to take corresponding military steps against the ongoing South Korean-U.S military trainin g that it regards as an invasion rehearsal. Thursday’s drills involved frontline artillery units, whose … Read more

Images show North Korea sealing its border with China

North Korea has used the Covid-19 pandemic to seal up its northern border with China, new images from a leading human rights group show. Human Rights Watch (HRW) describes a situation which has seen “intensifying repression”, with “drastically reduced” cross-border movement and trade. In the research, North Koreans spoke of the increasingly restrictive measures. UN … Read more

North Korea’s Kim calls for stronger war fighting capabilities against the US and South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for greater war fighting capabilities against the United States and South Korea, state media reported Thursday, after his defense ministry vowed to respond to ongoing military drills it views as an invasion rehearsal by its rivals. During a visit to a western operational … Read more