Gov't begins handing out cash vouchers to all South Koreans SEOUL, July 21 (AJP) - Starting Monday, all South Koreans are entitled to receive a handout ranging from 150,000 won to 550,000 won (US$108–$395), depending on their income brackets. Each eligible person can apply by Sept. 12 to receive 150,000 won in the form of cash vouchers, credit card points, or other gift options valid at local stores for three months, followed by an additional 100,000 won this fall, though the top 10 percent of earners will be excluded from the second round of payments. Additional support ranging from 30,000 won to 300,000 won may be provided to the underprivileged, the socially vulnerable, single-parent households and those living in certain rural areas, making some recipients eligible for up to 550,000 won in total. The vouchers can be used until Nov. 30 at most small neighborhood businesses such as local supermarkets, restaurants, convenience stores, and cafés, but they cannot be used at department stores, large supermarket chains, or other chain stores. Earlier President Lee Jae-myung said the handouts are part of efforts to boost consumption and revive the economy deteriorated in the wake of disgraced former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched Dec. 3 declaration of martial law debacle last year. But some have criticized the universal, one-off payment as a politically motivated populist move, coming just shortly after Lee took office early last month. 2025-07-21 14:18:48

[[K-Culture]] Kim Hye-soon becomes first Asian poet to win German literature prize SEOUL, July 18 (AJP) - South Korean poet Kim Hye-soon has been awarded the International Prize for Literature by Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in Germany for the German translation of her poetry collection "Autobiography of Death" on Thursday. HKW announced Kim as the winner from a shortlist of six authors, including Turkey’s Dogan Akhanli, Canada’s Sarah Bernstein, Ukraine’s Anna Melikova, France’s Neige Sinno, and the U.S.'s Jesmyn Ward. The jury unanimously selected Kim, saying that her poetry reveals meaning “precisely in the enigmatic,” adding, “The texts open up as we follow their rhythm and read them over and over again, the images reveal themselves like directions that only become visible when the right direction has already been taken.” Jury member and German writer Deniz Utlu praised the collection as “translations from death’s native language,” describing it as “miraculously opening up the possibility of listening to this language as it sounds on the threshold of the afterlife.” Kim did not attend the ceremony in person but delivered her remarks via video call, expressing gratitude to translators Park Sul and Uljana Wolf, the jury, HKW, her publisher S. Fischer, and all those involved in organizing the event. The award, established in 2009, honors outstanding contemporary works translated into German and is jointly presented to both the author and the translators. "Autobiography of Death" was originally published in Korean in 2016 and translated into German earlier this year. The poems, inspired by Kim’s collapse in a subway station in 2015, reflect on national tragedies such as the MERS outbreak and the Sewol ferry disaster. The collection comprises 49 poems exploring the boundary between life and death. Kim is the first Asian and the first poet to receive the HKW prize. South Korean Nobel laureate Han Kang was also a finalist for the award in 2017 with the German translation of her novel "The Vegetarian." 2025-07-18 13:49:51

Lee reignites debate on constitutional reform on Constitution Day SEOUL, July 17 (AJP) - President Lee Jae-myung called for constitutional reform on Thursday, as South Korea marks the 77th anniversary of Constitution Day. In a message posted on Facebook, Lee said, "It is time to revise the Constitution to keep up with the changing times, just as people change their clothes with the seasons," implying the need to amend the Constitution to reform the country's five-year, single-term presidency along with other political reforms. Constitutional reform has been up for consideration several times before but has never succeeded. He then urged the National Assembly to take the lead in the process. Praising the country's democratic resilience in overcoming numerous adversities and crises throughout its painful history including disgraced former President Yoon Suk Yeol's Dec. 3 declaration of martial law last year, Lee stressed that a revised Constitution should serve as a "pathfinder for taking a new step toward a future grounded in the rule of law." In celebration of the proclamation of the Constitution on July 17, 1948, Constitution Day was observed as one of the country's major national holidays until it was scrapped in 2008, when the government decided to reduce the number of public holidays after the five-day workweek took effect across the board. Meanwhile, Kang Dae-sik of the main opposition People Power Party proposed a bill last week to reinstate Constitution Day as a national holiday. A slew of other lawmakers have consistently submitted similar proposals in recent years, citing the need to revive the spirit of the day. 2025-07-17 14:39:40

Ex-President stalls probe, seeks injunction against detention SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - Disgraced former President Yoon Suk Yeol has refused to comply with questioning over his botched martial law debacle late last year. Independent prosecutors on Wednesday once again failed to bring him in for questioning related to his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law, following two previous attempts, as Yoon, who has been detained at a remand prison in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province since last week, continues to stall, citing health reasons. Yoon, who claims he is willing to be questioned at the prison, criticized the prosecutors' requests as mere attempts to "publicly humiliate" him. According to his lawyers, Yoon has also filed an injunction disputing the legality of his detention, with a court scheduled to decide at a hearing on Friday. Meanwhile, prosecutors, who have prohibited all visitors except Yoon's lawyers from seeing him, are reportedly considering indicting him without further questioning if he continues to refuse to cooperate, rather than seeking an extension of his detention. Yoon's current detention period ends on Saturday. 2025-07-16 16:24:46

North Korea hails UNESCO listing of Mt. Kumgang SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - North Korean state media on Wednesday reported the country’s recent inclusion of Mt. Kumkang on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The news coverage came about three days after the decision was made at the international body's annual gathering in Paris over the weekend. The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) hailed the decision, saying that the country's scenic mountain was recognized for its "exquisite harmony of cultural tradition, natural ecosystem, and beautiful scenery." With the latest addition, North Korea now has three UNESCO World Heritage sites including two previous ones - the sprawling complex of ancient Koguryo tombs in Pyongyang and surrounding provinces, and historic monuments in the southern border town of Kaesong. Meanwhile, the South's southern port city of Busan was selected to host the next gathering scheduled to take place in July 2026. 2025-07-16 14:19:41

Seoul lodges protest against Tokyo's repeated claim over Dokdo SEOUL, July 15 (AJP) - South Korea on Tuesday lodged a strongly-worded protest against Japan's latest defense white paper, which once again repeats Tokyo's dubious claim to the country's easternmost islets of Dokdo. The Japanese government officially released the white paper the same day after a Cabinet meeting approved it, explicitly laying claim to Dokdo by referring to it by the Japanese name Takeshima and describing it as a "disputed" territory that "still remains unresolved." In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here urged Tokyo to retract the claim, saying, "We strongly protest against the Japanese government's repeated claim, which is incontestably inherent Korean territory from the historical, geographical and legal point of view." The ministry also pledged to "respond resolutely to any attempt to undermine South Korea's sovereignty over Dokdo" and called in a Japanese Embassy official in Seoul to lodge an official complaint. The Ministry of National Defense also separately summoned Hirofumi Inoue, Japan's defense attaché in Seoul to protest, urging immediate actions. Tokyo has repeated the claim since 2005. 2025-07-15 17:36:52

Busan poised to host UNESCO's annual gathering next year SEOUL, July 15 (AJP) - South Korea is expected to host the upcoming session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in the southern port city of Busan in July next year. The decision is set to be made at the committee's latest session, currently underway in Paris this week, with South Korea as the sole candidate. With no other countries in the bid, the country appears almost certain to host the event. Once Busan is selected as the venue for the international gathering, which brings together over 3,000 participants from nearly 200 countries, it would be the first time the event takes place in the country since the committee's inaugural meeting in Paris in 1977, followed by other Asian cities such as Phuket, Thailand in 1994, Kyoto, Japan in 1998, Suzhou, China in 2004, and Phnom Penh and Siem Reap-Angkor in Cambodia in 2013. The committee is composed of 21 of the international body's 190 member nations, which vote on the selection and preservation of World Heritage sites and assets recognized for their natural and cultural significance, as they are deemed "so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity." Meanwhile, petroglyphs carved into rocks and cliffs by local inhabitants along the Bangucheon Stream in the southeastern city of Ulsan, showing traces of prehistoric eras, were listed last week as the country's latest World Heritage site. 2025-07-15 15:03:02

BLACKPINK's North American tour kicks off with sell-out concerts in Los Angeles SEOUL, July 14 (AJP) - K-pop girl group BLACKPINK performed in front of a sell-out crowd of more than 100,000 fans in Los Angeles over the weekend as part of their world tour. According to their agency YG Entertainment on Monday, the two-day concerts at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood were sold out shortly after tickets went on sale, packing the venue and making BLACKPINK the girl group to draw the largest crowd ever at the stadium. The enthusiastic fans erupted in cheers as the four girls, Jennie, Ji-soo, Lisa and Rosé, captivated them with spectacular performances of their hit songs along with individual solo stages. The latest gigs came after last week's concerts here where the four members reunited for the first time in nearly two years after focusing on their respective solo careers. They are now set to perform in Chicago, New York, and Toronto before wrapping up their North American stops and embarking on the Asian and European legs of the tour. Meanwhile, through a partnership with BLACKPINK, Google has been offering concert-related services on Google Maps since last week including directions to venues, nearby dining options, and other useful information for fans. 2025-07-14 17:00:52

US commits to maintaining troop levels in South Korea SEOUL, July 14 (AJP) - The presence of U.S. troops in South Korea will likely remain at current levels under an annual defense bill drafted last week by the Senate Committee on Armed Services. The committee's National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for next year passed last Friday contains a clause that "prohibits a reduction in U.S. military posture on the Korean Peninsula or a change in wartime operational control over the Combined Forces Command until the Secretary of Defense certifies to Congress that such action is in the national interest." The NDAA, the backbone of U.S. defense budgets, also states that "the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Commanders of Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Forces Korea to conduct an independent risk assessment of any such changes." Currently, there are about 28,500 the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) troops in South Korea. During his first term, U.S. President Donald Trump included a provision in the 2019 NDAA barring the use of funds "to reduce the total number of members of the Armed Forces serving on active duty who are deployed to ." That was later removed under his successor President Joe Biden in 2022, reaffirming Washington's commitment to the bilateral alliance with its Asian ally. The bill is passed annually by Congress to set defense policy, allocate funding priorities, and provide guidance on key security matters. Earlier last week, Washington-based think tank Defense Priorities proposed cutting the number of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea "by more than 50 percent," stressing the need to "revise the U.S. global military posture to be consistent with protecting vital national interests," raising concerns here amid Trump's repeated attempts to leverage troop withdrawal or reduction in his tariff-related negotiations. 2025-07-14 14:33:43

Lee names picks for remaining two ministerial posts SEOUL, July 11 (AJP) - President Lee Jae-myung on Friday tapped candidates to fill the remaining two ministerial posts, completing the nominations for his 19-strong first cabinet. Kim Yun-duk, a three-term lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party (DP), was named to head the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, while Chae Hwi-young, CEO of travel platform Nol Universe, was nominated to lead the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik told reporters in a press briefing. Kang explained that Kim, a close aide to Lee, is expected to "offer a vision for balanced regional development" while tackling various other issues through his expertise in legislation and policymaking and Chae will be also able to contribute to enhancing the country's soft power "based on his extensive experience leading an online portal and founding a travel platform." With the latest nominations, of the 19 ministerial posts, almost half or nine are now filled with incumbent lawmakers from the DP including Prime Minister Kim Min-seok who was officially appointed early this week. Hearings for each ministerial candidate are scheduled for next week, with several nominees already facing criticism over various controversies. These include Lee Jin-sook, nominee for the Ministry of Education; Jeong Eun-kyeong, nominee for the Ministry of Health and Welfare; and Kang Sun-woo, nominee for the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. Their allegations range from thesis plagiarism and stock transactions involving potential conflicts of interest to abuse of power such as assigning personal errands and other inappropriate conduct. Unlike the post of prime minister, cabinet appointments do not require parliamentary approval, though nominees are still subject to confirmation hearings in the National Assembly. 2025-07-11 17:04:38