Briefly

SOUTH KOREA

President Yoon takes responsibility for failings

South Korean President Yoon Sukyeol said on Thursday his government's efforts to improve people's lives had fallen short, conceding a crushing election defeat for his ruling party last month reflected voters' assessment of his two years in office. As part of a major policy push, Yoon also said a new government ministry would be created to address the country's record low birthrate and fast-aging society. Yoon's comments in his first news conference in 21 months come after the heavy defeat of his People Power Party following an April 10 vote, which prompted calls for a change in his leadership style and policy direction to salvage a presidency not yet at the halfway point.

UNITED STATES

RFK Jr says he recovered from a brain parasite

Independent US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after The New York Times reported the ailment. Citing a 12-year-old deposition, the Times said Kennedy stated that a doctor had told him an abnormality on his brain scan "was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died". Kennedy "traveled extensively in Africa, South America and Asia in his work as an environmental advocate, and in one of those locations contracted a parasite," his spokeswoman Stefanie Spear said. Kennedy could pick up 8 percent of votes nationwide in the November election, a Reuters and Ipsos poll in March showed.

GERMANY

Man, 74, held in latest attack on politicians

German police on Wednesday arrested a 74-year-old man suspected of hitting a former mayor of Berlin in the head, the latest in a rash of assaults against politicians in Germany. Chancellor Olaf Scholz blasted the attacks against politicians as "outrageous and cowardly", stressing that violence did not belong in a democratic debate. Franziska Giffey was at a library on Tuesday afternoon when the suspect came up from behind her and hit her in the head and neck with a bag containing hard objects, police said.

Agencies via Xinhua