Lee Jae-myung

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South Korea Finally Relents on Tattoo Artists

New law will let them operate openly with government licenses

(Newser) - South Korea is shedding its long-held taboo against tattoos. The country's National Assembly passed a bill Thursday that will legalize widespread tattooing, lifting decades-old restrictions that pushed the industry underground. Getting a tattoo has never been illegal, but since 1992, it's been considered a medical procedure, meaning...

Trump Praises Kim to South Korea's President

White House meeting follows posts criticizing visitor's country

(Newser) - President Trump welcomed South Korean President Lee Jae Myung with a critical Truth Social post on Monday before he even reached the White House, then repeatedly praised North Korea's dictator during their talks. The post seemed to refer to the way Lee came into office this year: winning an...

South Korea: Fine, We'll Take Down the Propaganda Speakers

It's a small conciliatory gesture toward the North

(Newser) - South Korea's military said Monday it had begun removing loudspeakers along its border with rival North Korea in a move aimed at reducing tensions. The speakers had previously been used to blast anti-North Korean propaganda across the border, but the South's new liberal government halted the broadcasts in...

Kim Jong Un's Sister Shuts the Door on South Korea

Kim Yo Jong: 'There is neither a reason to meet nor an issue to be discussed with' the South

(Newser) - The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rebuffed an appeasement overture by South Korea's new liberal government, saying Monday that North Korea has no interest in talks with South Korea no matter what proposal its rival offers. Kim Yo Jong's comments suggest again that North...

6 Americans Tried to Float Bibles, Rice Into North Korea

South Korea makes arrests in border incident

(Newser) - Six Americans were detained Friday in South Korea for trying to send 1,600 plastic bottles filled with rice, US dollars bills, and Bibles toward North Korea by sea, police said. The Americans tried to throw the bottles into the ocean from front-line Gwanghwa Island so they could float toward...

South Korea Just Turned Down Its Giant Loudspeakers

New President Lee Jae-myung suspends blaring broadcasts at border to ease tensions with North

(Newser) - South Korea has halted its loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts directed at North Korea in an effort to improve relations, the country's military has announced. The decision comes just a week after President Lee Jae-myung's election , which was won partly on promises to ease tensions with the North and...

Exit Poll in South Korea Gives Win to Liberal Candidate
Liberal Candidate
Wins in South Korea
UPDATED
Jun 3, 2025 6:14 PM CDT

Liberal Candidate Wins in South Korea

Lee Jae-myung will be next president after conservatives' martial law debacle

(Newser) - Liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung has won South Korea's snap presidential election , two months after his archrival and then conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office over his short-lived imposition of martial law. Lee, who rose from childhood poverty to become South Korea's leading liberal politician, vowing...

Stabbed S. Korea Opposition Leader 'Recovering Smoothly'

Surgeon says attack damaged Lee Jae-myung's jugular vein

(Newser) - South Korea's main opposition leader is recovering well from surgery after being stabbed in the neck earlier this week, his doctor said Thursday, as police seek a formal arrest warrant to extend the suspect's custody. Lee Jae-myung, head of the liberal Democratic Party, South Korea's biggest political...

Leader of South Korea's Opposition Party Stabbed

Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck; his condition is not clear

(Newser) - The leader of South Korea's opposition party was left with a 1-centimeter laceration on his neck after he was stabbed Tuesday, a Democratic Party spokesperson says. Lee Jae-myung has "suspected damage to his jugular vein" and doctors were concerned about possible additional bleeding, the spokesperson says, per CNN...

New S. Korea Leader Plans to Shake Up Foreign Relations

Conservative Yoon Suk-yeol plans to take harder line on N. Korea

(Newser) - Conservative candidate Yoon Seok-yeol is South Korea's president-elect after an election that had some parallels to the US presidential election in 2016: A populist candidate new to politics narrowly defeated a liberal ruling party candidate—and both candidates were widely unpopular during a bitter campaign. With more than 99%...

He's Running for President in S. Korea. Bald People Love Him

Lee Jae-myung is pushing government to pay for hair loss treatments

(Newser) - South Korean presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung isn't bald. But he is enjoying the support of many bald voters over his push for government payments for hair loss treatments. Since his proposal was disclosed earlier this week, hair loss has emerged as a hot-button topic ahead of March's presidential...

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