News Briefing: Government Pushes to Introduce Abortion Pills for Pregnancies Up to 9 Weeks (September 16, 2026)

1. Seven years after the Constitutional Court ruled the abortion ban non-conformist, the government is pushing for the official introduction of abortion pills. During a state policy coordination meeting chaired by Prime Minister Han Sung-sook, the government decided to pursue measures allowing the use of abortion pills for early pregnancies of up to 9 weeks, starting as early as next year. For the initial two years, hospitals will be allowed to both prescribe and dispense the medication, after which the process will be expanded to a system where doctors prescribe and pharmacies dispense. Because abortion pills like Mifegyne have not received government approval due to the absence of replacement legislation, women have had to rely on dangerous drugs. Expectations are rising that this new measure will improve such conditions.

2. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun will visit Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, from tomorrow (the 17th) to the 19th. He is scheduled to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that during their bilateral meeting scheduled for the 18th, both sides plan to discuss a wide range of topics, including South Korea-U.S. relations, Korean Peninsula issues, and global affairs. This bilateral meeting between Minister Cho and Secretary Rubio will be their first in seven months since February of this year. Attention is focusing on whether discussions will also take place regarding South Korea's investment in the U.S., pending security consultations following the summit, and our military's deployment to the Strait of Hormuz.

3. A man in his 30s has been sent to prosecutors in custody for making a fortune by purchasing 9,000 idol concert tickets using automated input repetition programs like macros and then reselling them as scalped tickets. The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency arrested the man in his 30s, surnamed A, on charges of using the accounts of seven other people, including family and relatives, since 2019 to buy up popular tickets and resell them at a premium, pocketing over 1.6 billion won. In November 2019, A resold a 110,000-won BTS concert ticket for 3 million won, and the year before last, resold a 400,000-won ticket for Tottenham Hotspur's Korea tour football match for 1.65 million won. A even registered as an e-commerce business operator to make scalping look like a legitimate business, and police have detected circumstances indicating that he recently attempted to destroy various pieces of evidence.

4. The South Korean men's national basketball team, challenging for its first championship in 12 years at the Nagoya Asian Games, defeated Jordan 114 to 80 to advance to the semifinals. Led by coach Mazurs, the national team completely overwhelmed Jordan, the runner-up of the previous tournament. Ace player Lee Hyun-jung poured in 28 points, including six 3-pointers, recording the team's highest score in a single game for this tournament. Four other players—Lee Jeong-hyeon, Byeon Jun-hyung, Yu Gi-sang, and Lee Woo-seok—added momentum with double-digit scores. The South Korean men's basketball team has surpassed 100 points for three consecutive games and advanced to the semifinals, where they will compete for a spot in the finals against the winning team of the Iran-Bahrain match the day after tomorrow.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.