Culture Minister Yu In-chon to head delegation to pope inauguration Sunday
Yu will attend the ceremony alongside South Korea's ambassador to the Holy See, Oh Hyun-joo, joining representatives and religious leaders from some 200 countries. Notable attendees include US Vice President JD Vance, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Britain's Prince Edward.
Separately, prominent Korean Catholic leaders will be in attendance. They are Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, former archbishop of Seoul; Bishop Mathias Lee Yong-hoon, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea; and Seoul Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick. They will be joined by Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, the Vatican's prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.
Meanwhile, Pope Leo XIV, the first pontiff from the United States, presided over his first Mass on Friday, pledging to lead a humble church open to 'ordinary people.' His emphasis on advocating for the poor, migrants and women deacons — principles embraced by the late Pope Francis — signaling the potential for continuing tension with conservative traditionalists during his papacy.
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Korea Herald
an hour ago
- Korea Herald
North Korean crossed MDL into South Korea Thursday: JCS
A North Korean male, who identified himself as a civilian, crossed the Military Demarcation Line inside the Demilitarized Zone into South Korea, the South's military officials said Friday. The individual was taken into custody after crossing the midwestern part of the land border on Thursday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters. It has yet to detect any unusual activities among the North Korean military. 'Our military identified the individual in question in the MDL area and proceeded with tracking and monitoring (of the individual),' the JCS said. 'We secured the individual through a normal procedure to guide the individual, and relevant authorities plan to investigate the detailed process (in crossing the border) to the South,' it added. A JCS official, declining to be named, told reporters that the individual, identified as male, was first detected through a military monitoring device on the South Korean side of the border around 3 a.m. Thursday. The operation to secure and guide the individual out of the DMZ spanned a total of 20 hours following the initial discovery of the North Korean individual, the official explained. He was later found by the military in a nearby stream, some 1 meter deep, before they took him into custody. The North Korean identified himself as a civilian to the South Korean troops and was unarmed. When the man asked the soldiers, "Who are you?" a sergeant replied, "We are the Republic of Korea Armed Forces. We will guide you safely." The presidential office said they received reports from the military and that the related agencies have launched a probe into the matter, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a Friday morning briefing. The last time that a North Korean crossed the MDL to defect to the South was Aug. 20. The North Korean, identified as a soldier, crossed the border when the inter-Korean tension was high, with the South conducting full-scale, anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts near the border. The broadcasts, now suspended, were carried out in response to the North's repeated launches of trash-carrying balloons. The DMZ, a 4-kilometer-wide buffer zone, currently separates the two Koreas. The two Koreas are still technically at war.
Korea Herald
an hour ago
- Korea Herald
South Korean president likens inter-Korean ties to troubled marriage
Lee uses couples therapy as metaphor to stress the need for 'mutual understanding' as path to peace In response to a question about achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung offered an unconventional metaphor — comparing inter-Korean relations to a troubled marriage in need of counseling. Addressing reporters Thursday at his first press conference to mark his 30th day in office, Lee recalled his time as a lawyer handling divorces. He shared that some couples reconsidered splitting up after he encouraged them to see the situation from each other's perspective. 'I asked them to put themselves in the other's shoes. Once they did, they stopped coming back to my office,' Lee said. 'They began to understand each other when they imagined what life looked like from their partner's side.' The president, who practiced law for nearly 20 years before entering politics in the late 2000s, extended the analogy to broader conflicts between individuals, political rivals and even nations. 'The same principle applies to relations between people, between rival parties, between the two Koreas, and between global blocs,' he said, emphasizing dialogue and empathy over confrontation. Lee maintained a conversational tone throughout the two-hour press conference, adding moments of humor as he addressed a range of tough questions. In front of an audience of about 147 reporters, including members of the foreign press, he appeared more engaged in dialogue than confrontation. His office said the setup was deliberately arranged to foster a sense of closeness, reducing the distance between the president and the press in the front row to just 1.5 meters. When asked if he planned to take summer vacation — typically taken by South Korean presidents in early August — Lee responded with characteristic wit, recalling his time as mayor of Seongnam. "The mystery was that floods always broke out whenever I went on leave," he said. "After that, I started thinking, 'How can an elected official take a break?' I figured I was working whenever my eyes were open and resting when they were closed." Lee said he later realized that his refusal to take time off prevented his staff from taking their own holidays. "This time, I really should take a vacation," he added. "But just when I'm planning it, the ruling party is set to begin its primary." To ensure fairness in selecting questions, the presidential office used a drawing box system, prompting Lee to quip that the scene resembled a 'housing lottery.' As Lee took his first question — about his first month in office — he joked, 'Is it Friday again?' He explained that Fridays had become significant for him because weekends often meant confinement inside the presidential residence in Yongsan, Seoul. "I usually get stuck there, feeling like I'm walking on eggshells," he said, noting how dozens of bodyguards, police officers and staff follow him wherever he goes. 'That's why Fridays matter. They mark the start of another weekend of being cooped up inside.'
Korea Herald
17 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Lee discusses deepening of partnership in phone talks with NATO chief
President Lee Jae Myung held his first phone talks with Mark Rutte, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, on Thursday and discussed ways to deepen Seoul's partnership with the transnational military alliance, Lee's office said. During the call, Lee congratulated Rutte for the successful hosting of the recent NATO summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, and stressed that Seoul will work to deepen the partnership between South Korea and NATO in the wake of multilayered crises across the globe, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said. According to Kang, Rutte thanked Lee for having South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac join the NATO summit last week and delivering South Korea's resolute determination to cooperate with NATO. The two sides also vowed to strengthen their cooperation in the defense industry, including on ways that South Korea can take part in a joint development project for NATO's next-generation energy systems. Lee was invited to this year's NATO summit as head of a global partner nation of the organization but decided to skip it, citing domestic priorities and the growing uncertainty in the Middle East. Wi, Lee's top security aide, attended the gathering instead. During Wi's visit to The Hague last week, the Seoul official met with Rutte and agreed to establish a working-level consultative body on defense industry cooperation. According to Kang, Rutte also wished Lee success in his administration and expressed hope to meet in person at a mutually convenient time. Lee expressed welcome and said he looks forward to the Rutte's visit to South Korea at any time. Rutte previously visited South Korea as Dutch Prime Minister in 2016 and was awarded honorary citizenship by the Seoul city government. (Yonhap)
