Nov 15, 2026
Ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Chairman Kim Min-seok faces a leadership crisis only about three months into the position, as factional infighting between his supporters and loyalists to the party's former leader is escalating, with the latter boycotting meetings and openly criticizing his leadership. The latest move adds to disputes that have dogged Kim’s leadership, ranging from a row over his claim of a “secret alliance” between a nonmainstream religious sect and the former leader, Jung Chung-rae, and Kim's investigation order for one of Jung's loyalists, to disagreements over pending issues including the chief justice’s impeachment and property tax reform. On Friday, Reps. Choi Min-hee, Han Min-soo and Lee Seong-yun, all Supreme Council members and considered loyalists to Jung, boycotted a meeting in protest against Kim’s order the previous day for the party's ethics committee to investigate Choi. They instead held a press conference to call for the party's reform, criticizing Kim's leadership. Kim and Jung competed in a bitterly contested party leadership race in A
An Uzbek national in Korea has been sentenced to 16 months in prison for sending funds to a terrorist group based in Syria, legal sources said Sunday. The Seoul Central District Court recently handed down the sentence to the defendant after finding the Uzbek national guilty of violating the anti-terrorism law. The court also ordered the defendant to pay 1.25 million won ($936) — the same amount the Uzbek national sent in six transfers to an account designated by a KTJ member between January 2024 and January 2025. Khatiba Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (KTJ), a UN-designated Islamic extremist group associated with al-Qaida, has been linked to the 2016 suicide bombing at the Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan and the 2017 suicide bombing on the St. Petersburg subway in Russia. The Uzbek national entered Korea on a D-4-1 student visa to study at a university-affiliated language institute and was staying in the country as an international student when contacted by the KTJ member. According to the legal sources, the court said the defendant "provided funding to support a terrorist group knowing that
South Korea's presidential office said Sunday it is considering life imprisonment without parole as part of an initiative aimed at strengthening public safety and cracking down on crimes targeting vulnerable people. The initiative will focus on crimes targeting socially vulnerable people, including relationship-based crimes and crimes with apparently random motives. The issue has drawn renewed attention amid a series of high-profile cases involving relationship-based violence in recent years, including the killing last month of a woman on the southern resort island of Jeju who had been under police protection after reporting stalking and dating violence, allegedly by a man who told police she was his former lover. The government will also step up efforts to eradicate crimes involving scams, illegal drugs, illegal private lending, digital sex crimes and false or fabricated information, among other offenses that disrupt people's daily lives or threaten public order, presidential chief of staff Lim Kwang-hyun said. Lim said the initiative follows instructions from President Lee Jae Myung at
The squid catch around Ulleung Island has plummeted amid rising sea temperatures caused by climate change, highlighting how warming waters are reshaping Korea’s marine ecosystem and the coastal communities that depend on it. According to Ulleung County on Sunday, the local catch fell from 11,315 tons in 2000 to 1,852 tons in 2015 and 1,172 tons in 2020, before plunging to 141 tons in 2025. The 2025 catch amounted to just 1.2 percent of the 2000 figure. The decline has continued this year, with only 54 tons caught from January to September. Squid is the signature seafood of the island in North Gyeongsang Province and has long been a mainstay of its economy. The decline stems largely from rising sea temperatures, which have reshuffled the marine food chain and are pushing squid out of Korean waters. The National Institute of Fisheries Science (NIFS) believes squid that would normally grow off Korea’s coast have moved north toward Russia and other areas as their main coastal and offshore habitat in the southern East Sea has warmed. The average sea surface temperature around the Korean Pe
The jackpot for the Ultra Lotto 6/58 game has reached P537.9 million, but there were no winners of either of the major lotto games on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026.
The United States and China are working to iron out a military accident-prevention agreement ahead of their summit in Shenzhen, although progress has been slow amid divisions within the US administration, according to sources. Both sides were still trying to reach common ground on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on military-related crisis communication and prevention, sources said on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak on the matter publicly. The MOU was first...
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. met with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and discussed a wider economic cooperation and possibly establishing stronger trade and agricultural ties.
The Republic of Cyprus, the Slovak Republic, and the Republic of Slovenia have formally joined ASEAN"s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) on Saturday, November 14, 2026.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. discussed cooperation with Lao People"s Democratic Republic (PDR) Prime Minister Saleumxay Kommasith on various sectors such as trade, labor, education, and vocational training, according to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).
TACLOBAN CITY — Borongan City and Guiuan in Eastern Samar are expected to record a heat index of up to 42 degrees Celsius, classified as “danger,” on Nov. 15, as high temperatures persist in several areas of Eastern Visayas, the state weather bureau said. Tacloban City and Catarman in Northern Samar are expected to record
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo Lacson has lauded the police for their “silent and disciplined” work in making a breakthrough in the investigation into the killing of Basilan Judge Joseph Wee Sit in Zamboanga City. “This is how high-profile cases are cracked: silent, precise, disciplined, and with methodical efficiency. No fanfare; just results. Congratulations!” Lacson
New state media footage has surfaced showing for the first time what appears to be a Chinese-modified variant of the Russian-origin Kh-29T air-to-surface missile mounted on a J-10C fighter jet. State broadcaster CCTV’s social media account posted a video on Wednesday featuring Chinese fighters, showing the missile mounted under the 4.5-generation fighter as it took off, according to posts by Chinese military bloggers over the weekend. China originally imported about 2,000 Kh-29T missiles...
