The abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is once again emerging as an election issue, with politicians looking to exploit the deepening gender divide among young Koreans as the April 10 general elections approach.
Next month s Lunar New Year holidays could be the first mask-free holiday season for Koreans in three years, as the government is considering lifting the indoor mask mandate before the public holiday, which runs from Jan. 22. While the Ministry of Health and Welfare is set to announce on Friday detailed measures on when and how the mask requirement will be relaxed based on discussions with medical experts, some advisors taking part in the talks said it is highly likely that the mandate will be gradually lifted from mid-January at the earliest.
President Yoon Suk-yeol has equated the ongoing nationwide strike by unionized truckers to North Korea s nuclear threats, saying both are menaces to South Korea that could have been prevented if the government had reacted with a disciplined approach. Yoon made the remarks during a recent closed-door meeting with his aides, Yonhap News Agency reported, Monday.
A malfunctioning South Korean ballistic missile blew up as it plowed into the ground during a drill with the United States that was a reprisal for North Korea’s launch a day earlier of a weapon that flew over Japan and has the range to strike Guam.