Chronicle

Revision as of 09:28, 22 June 2024

Here are the past news moved from News of interest to Foreign Readers.^[1] Move to PC_KoreanLII.

The previous news reports in the years from 2011 are available at Chronicles in the past of KoreanLII.

News in 2024

• On Jan. 2. Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed by a 67-year-old man during his visit to Busan, bringing the nation's political activities and judicial proceedings to a standstill ahead of the April general elections.
• On Jan. 9, the National Assembly passed two important bills ensuring that South Korea would not become a target of international criticism, and fall behind in competition with major countries: one bill bans the breeding and slaughter of dogs for consumption, and another bill establishes the Korea Aerospace Administration under the Ministry of Science and ICT.
• On Jan. 15, President Yoon Suk-yeol announced a 622 trillion won ($471.4 billion) plan to build the world's largest chip cluster in southern Gyeonggi - mainly an amalgamation of investment plans previously revealed by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix - with all-out government support including timely tax incentives.
• On Jan. 26, the Seoul Central District Court acquitted former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae of all 47 charges related to his alleged abuse of judiciary power, including allegations he unfairly influenced politically sensitive trials under ousted former President Park Geun-hye.
• On Feb. 5, the Seoul Central District Court acquitted Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., on charges of breach of trust and accounting fraud intended to push the 2015 merger of Cheil Industries Inc. and Samsung C&T Corp. so as to increase his control over the Samsung empire.
• On Feb. 16, Jurgen Klinsmann was fired by President M.G. Chung of the Korea Football Association (KFA) after the KFA Committee recommended Klinsmann be removed citing his lack of tactical management and work attitude, which caused nationwide accusations against him following the Korean national team’s defeat by Jordan during the Asian Cup.
• On Feb. 21, more than 6,000 trainee doctors walked off the job to protest a government plan to admit more students to medical schools, while authorities said more staff are needed to increase healthcare services in remote areas and meet the growing demands of one of the world's most rapidly ageing societies.
• On Feb. 28, it was disclosed that Korea's ever-plummeting fertility rate continued its free fall in 2023 to reach another all-time low of 0.72 children per woman, down from 0.78 in 2022 despite billions of dollars in government incentives.
• On Mar. 24, with the general election just weeks away, President Yoon Suk-yeol said his administration will work with the conservative People Power Party to devise flexible measures to deal with the ongoing doctors' strike after the PPP leader Han Dong-hoon met with representatives of medical school professors in the afternoon.
• In the Apr. 10 general election, the liberal Democratic Party (DP) and its satellite party clinched a resounding victory, retaining a majority in the National Assembly, while the People Power Party (PPP) scarcely defends one third of the parliamentary quorum enough to maintain the current Constitution.
• On Apr. 29, Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung called on President Yoon Suk-yeol to urge president to accept election verdict, and to consult with the DP-controlled National Assembly over policymaking.
• On May 9, during a press conference to mark his second anniversary, President Yoon Suk-yeol apologized for the controversy raised over first lady's acceptance of a luxury handbag in 2022, which might cause defeat of the ruling party in the latest general election.
• On May 13, the presidential office vowed to respond firmly and strongly to any unfair treatment of Korean companies with a priority on their interests in addressing the Japanese government's push to reduce the ownership of Line Yahoo (LY) by Korea's largest search engine, Naver.
• On May 21, after the two-day AI Seoul Summit. global AI tech companies agreed to new "Frontier AI Safety Commitments", which direct 16 tech companies to each publish safety frameworks on how they will measure the risks of their frontier AI models and examine the risk of misuse of technology by bad actors.
• On Jun. 3, President Yoon Suk-yeol said in a briefing that Korea has identified potential reserves of up to 14 billion barrels of crude oil and natural gas off the coast of the southeastern city of Pohang, and will begin exploratory drilling later this year.
• On Jun. 3, the National Security Council (NSC) decided to suspend the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement (effective 15:00 KST June 4, 2024 subject to President Yoon's approval) in response to North Korea's sending of trash-filled balloons over the border, jamming GPS signals and launching short-range ballistic missiles, which allows the Korean army to carry out military training near the DMZ and to take immediate responses to North Korean provocations.
• On Jun. 5, the two-day Korea-African Summit held at KINTEX, Gyeonggi Province, produced a Joint Declaration which emphasizes mutually beneficial cooperation and knowledge sharing to promote the development of industries related to critical minerals with Seoul's pledge to boost ODA to Africa to U$10 billion by 2030.
• On Jun. 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin said it would be a very big mistake for South Korea to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine lest Seoul should do such response to the comprehensive strategic partnership treaty signed by Moscow and Pyongyang the previous day.

References

1. ↑ The news is screened and posted on the basis of foreign readers' interest and KoreanLII article listings.