1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
In focus
SyriaMiddle East crisisGerman election 2025
Latest audioLatest videos
Live TV
A 'palace guard' stands for tourists in front of the snow-covered Gyeongbokgung Palace in central Seoul
Image: Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty ImagesImage: Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty Images

South Korea

South Korea, or the Republic of Korea, faced the biggest political crisis of its democratic era when President Yoon Suk Yeol briefly declared martial law on December 3 before the parliament overrode the decision.

Skip next section News

News

December 13, 2024

South Korean opposition leader says Yoon must be impeached

December 12, 2024

South Korea's President Yoon defends martial law decision

December 11, 2024

South Korea: Police search President Yoon's office

December 9, 2024

South Korea bans President Yoon Suk Yeol from foreign travel

December 8, 2024

South Korea arrests ex-defense minister over martial law

December 7, 2024

South Korea: Bid to impeach President Yoon fails

Show more
Skip next section Reports & Analysis

Reports & Analysis

Kim Jong Un waves in an official photo on November 15

How North Korea responded to South's political turmoil

How North Korea responded to South's political turmoil

Pyongyang's propagandists have been unusually slow in responding to the political upheaval in South Korea.
PoliticsDecember 12, 2024
Han Kang at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm.

What drives Nobel Prize winner Han Kang to write?

What drives Nobel Prize winner Han Kang to write?

The author of "The Vegetarian" explores in her Nobel Prize lecture how violence and love inspire her work.
LiteratureDecember 10, 2024
A crowd of protesters in Seoul holding red signs and hand-held lights

South Korean democracy tested as Yoon clings to power

South Korean democracy tested as Yoon clings to power

South Korea's democracy has proved resilient since President Yoon's failed attempt to impose martial law.
PoliticsDecember 9, 2024
South Korea | Protesters demand resignation of President Yoon

South Korean leadership in limbo after martial law fiasco

South Korean leadership in limbo after martial law fiasco

Protesters in Seoul are demanding the resignation of President Yoon Suk Yeol after he survived an impeachment vote.
PoliticsDecember 9, 202402:36 min
Protesters wear masks depicting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, outgoing Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, People Power Party's leader Han Dong-hoon and Choo Kyung-ho at a rally calling for the impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who declared martial law, which was reversed hours later, near the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, December 7, 2024.

South Korean lawmakers fail to impeach embattled president

South Korean lawmakers fail to impeach embattled president

Will South Korea's political turmoil, triggered by President Yoon's short-lived imposition of martial law, now subside?
PoliticsDecember 7, 202402:43 min
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaking at the presidential office with Korean flag in the background

Apology but no resignation: South Korea's President Yoon

Apology but no resignation: South Korea's President Yoon

South Korea's parliament is meeting to vote on impeaching President Yoon Suk Yeol.
PoliticsDecember 7, 202402:14 min
Show more
Skip next section In the spotlight

In the spotlight

Women protesting spycam pornography in Seoul, South Korea, 2018 — one of the signs reads 'Angry women will change the world'

Feminism's sex strike: How the 4B movement is spreading

Inspired by South Korea feminists, some American women are abstaining from sex with men to resist misogyny. Why?
CultureNovember 25, 2024
People on boats collect recyclable plastics from the heavily polluted Citarum River at Batujajar in Bandung, West Java

Can a global treaty clean up plastic waste?

The final round of negotiations for a global plastics treaty will look to rapidly cut surging plastic pollution.
Nature and EnvironmentNovember 25, 2024
South Korean Finance Minister Park Jin visits Hyundai factory in Chennai in April 2023

India's IPO record shattered with $5.5 billion launch

Korean carmaker Hyundai is banking on a Bombay listing to solidify its position in the third-largest auto market.
TradeOctober 19, 2024
South Korean army soldiers patrol along the barbed-wire fence in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea

North-South Korea flare-up: Why is it alarming?

The situation in North Korea is "unstable" and predicting the regime's actions has become complicated, say analysts.
PoliticsOctober 16, 2024
Mikiale Tsegay playing football with the England homeless team

Homeless World Cup: 'We want to do something special'

Footballers will soon gather in Seoul for the Homeless World Cup. For many, the stakes are much higher than the trophy.
SportsSeptember 21, 2024
A panorama of Miryang

South Korea outraged by YouTube videos on 2004 rape case

Anger is bubbling up in South Korea over an old rape case involving three teenage girls and more than 40 suspects.
CrimeJune 11, 2024
All content (529) on this topic