Ruling party head calls for fair trial for main opposition leader

With a Seoul court scheduled to deliver a verdict later this week on charges that the main opposition leader violated the Public Official Election Act, ruling People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon on Monday called for the judicial authorities to carry out a fair trial, saying that “the nature of the crime is very severe.” “I request South Korea’s judicial authorities to make judgments in accordance with the law, no more nor no less, than how it does with the ordinary cit

Nov. 11, 2024

[Bills in Focus] Aligning retirement with pension eligibility, enhancing urban growth

Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act Proposed by Rep. Kim Jae-sub (People Power Party) ● This amendment expands the Act's regulatory scope to cover distribution systems involving atypical securities, paving the way for innovative solutions in fractional investing, such as "investing in bits and pieces" or "fractional share trading." It establishes legal grounds for security tokens, creates an issuer's account

Nov. 11, 2024

DP to submit revised special counsel bill targeting first lady

The main opposition Democratic Party said Monday it will submit a revised special counsel bill focused on allegations involving first lady Kim Keon Hee, which narrows the scope of the probe and allows a third party to recommend a special prosecutor. DP spokesperson Han Min-soo said the party will submit the revised proposal focused on Kim's alleged involvement in a stock manipulation scheme and allegations of interference in election nominations during a plenary session of the National Asse

Nov. 11, 2024

Yoon struggles amid lowest approval rating

As President Yoon Suk Yeol hit the halfway mark of his five-year term Sunday, he faced pressure from a record-low approval rate coupled with growing threats from the opposition to approve a bill mandating a special counsel investigation into the first lady. Yoon's approval rating fell to 17 percent, according to a Gallup Korea poll released Friday, marking an all-time low since the president took office in May 2022. An unnamed official from the local pollster explained the recently surfaced

Nov. 10, 2024

Sought by prosecutors: Key man in Yoon presidential couple’s political drama

Myeong Tae-kyun, the self-proclaimed power broker that many South Koreans had never heard of until two months ago, made a public appearance Friday as he arrived for questioning by prosecutors. He is the man driving the spiraling election drama surrounding the presidential couple and some of the most influential power players of the ruling People Power Party. The little-known man in mainstream Seoul circles apparently blew the whistle on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s wife Kim Keon Hee, claiming

Nov. 8, 2024

First lady to keep low profile as Yoon’s ratings hit new low

First Lady Kim Keon Hee will not accompany President Yoon Suk Yeol on his planned state trips this month, a senior Yoon official told reporters Friday. The official said whether she would travel with the president in the future would be decided on a “case-by-case basis.” The decision follows the press conference by Yoon on Thursday where he said that the scope of his wife’s public role and appearances would depend on how South Koreans feel about it. “If the people like it

Nov. 8, 2024

South Korean opposition head hails Trump for Korean Peninsula peace efforts

Democratic Party of Korea leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung on Friday praised US President-elect Donald Trump’s summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his first term as a “historic contribution to peace in the Korean Peninsula.” “The first Trump administration made a historic move of holding the first-ever summit with North Korea and contributed to peace in the Korean Peninsula,” he told a meeting of the party leadership. He said that as Trump won a seco

Nov. 8, 2024

Yoon’s approval rating drops to new low

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating has fallen to a new low in the latest Gallup Korea poll released Friday, coming in at a record 17 percent. The results, however, do not reflect reactions to Thursday’s press conference, which was met with mixed reactions. The poll, conducted between Nov. 5 and 7, indicated that public sentiment has further deteriorated, with only 17 percent rating Yoon’s performance positively -- 2 percentage points lower than two weeks ago. Over the sa

Nov. 8, 2024

Self-proclaimed power broker appears before prosecutors

Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed power broker at the center of a growing political scandal, appeared before prosecutors Friday for questioning over allegations of receiving illicit funds from a former ruling party lawmaker in exchange for his assistance with her candidacy in the 2022 parliamentary by-elections in violation of political funding laws. Myung, who runs a public polling agency, arrived at the Changwon District Prosecutors Office in the city about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul at

Nov. 8, 2024

South Korean courts suffer website outages in suspected cyber attacks

The websites of South Korean courts temporarily went down Thursday afternoon, a day after South Korean military websites suffered similar outages. The court websites, including that of the country’s largest Seoul central district court, were inaccessible due to suspected cyberattacks. The court administration office told reporters it suspects a distributed denial of service attack, in which servers are overwhelmed with large amounts of traffic to block access, by a potential foreign source

Nov. 7, 2024

Political sphere divided over Yoon’s public address

South Korea’s political sphere expressed divided opinions on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s public address delivered Thursday, with the main opposition party criticizing it as a speech “full of excuses” and the ruling party praising it as “honest.” In the televised address and press conference marking the second half of his term, Yoon did not directly mention his wife, but offered an apology amid the public discontent due to the multiple controversies surrounding f

Nov. 7, 2024

Yoon dismisses North Korea’s drone incursion claims

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday struck down claims raised by North Korea that South Korean uncrewed aerial vehicles had entered its skies. “It’s not worth responding to these claims when it is North Korea that is in the wrong,” he said. The president’s remarks came in response to a question from a reporter during a press conference held at the presidential office in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul. “North Korean drones have crossed the border into our skies 10 times a

Nov. 7, 2024

Yoon apologizes but denies wife's role in state affairs

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday apologized to the public for causing worry over escalating concerns regarding an election interference scandal involving Yoon and his wife Kim Keon Hee, but defended her, saying she did not meddle in state affairs. "No president is giving an excuse. It's all my fault," Yoon said. Yoon's first public apology since his inauguration in May 2022 came at a press conference held in an apparent bid for a breakthrough in his policy reform drive. He has been

Nov. 7, 2024

Yoon, Trump agree to meet 'at early date' in 12-minute call

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday that he and US President-elect Donald Trump agreed to “meet at an early date” to discuss possible resolutions on North Korean provocation and the prosperity of the alliance, in a 12-minute phone call held early in the day. "We talked for some 10 minutes on the phone at 8 a.m. I, of course, offered him my congratulations first and discussed several (issues) including (the need) to build strong solidarity and partnerships in the A

Nov. 7, 2024

A look back on US' unpredictable foreign policy in Trump's 1st term

As Donald Trump returns to the White House for a second term, the world is reminded of his high-stakes, often unpredictable approach to diplomacy, especially regarding the Korean Peninsula. During his first term, Trump navigated one of the most volatile relationships in US foreign policy with North Korea, combining tough sanctions, blunt rhetoric and unprecedented summits. Trump's administration initially took a confrontational approach to North Korea, especially after Pyongyang conducted i

Nov. 7, 2024

South Korean ruling party chief ‘confident’ in Yoon-Trump synergy

South Korean ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon said Thursday he believed US President-elect Donald Trump’s reelection will be a chance for South Korea and the US to deepen ties further. Speaking at Thursday’s meeting of the party leadership, Han Dong-hoon congratulated Trump on his victory. “My sincerest congratulations to Mr. Trump. I have said that his Asia priority policy would be an opportunity for deepening the South Korea-US relationship in a way that benefits both countr

Nov. 7, 2024

FM Cho confident S. Korea will build closer ties with incoming US administration

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul voiced confidence Thursday that South Korea will deepen the relationship with the incoming US administration of President-elect Donald Trump, based on the solid foundation of cooperation in areas across the board. Cho's remark came after Trump won Tuesday's presidential election, a victory that raises expectations in South Korea of major policy shifts from the Joe Biden administration in a way that could shake up the bilateral alliance with Washington. &quo

Nov. 7, 2024

People Power Party expresses hope for deeper Korea-US alliance

South Korea's ruling People Power Party on Wednesday expressed hope that US President-elect Donald Trump's second term would serve as an opportunity to forge a "deeper" alliance between Seoul and Washington. "We anticipate the South Korea-US alliance, forged by blood (since the 1950-53 Korean War) will become deeper," the ruling party here said in a commentary released via senior spokesperson Rep. Kwak Kyu-taek. "We sincerely congratulate Republican candidate D

Nov. 6, 2024

Trump likely to reshape US policy on alliance, North Korea under 'America First' credo: experts

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to reorient America's approach to the alliance with South Korea, North Korea's nuclear quandary, trade and other key policy issues, experts said, as he is poised to put his "America First" credo front and center. Trump's second-term administration would return to a diplomatic playbook that could put pressure on US allies to jack up their defense spending and take greater security responsibilities, and curtail the United States

Nov. 6, 2024

Democratic Party of Korea congratulates Trump on victory

South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party of Korea congratulated Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s re-election as US president Wednesday. “President-elect Trump, while he was in office as the 45th president of the US, set a milestone in the history of the peace in the Korean Peninsula by leading North Korea-US summit,” the party said in a statement. “The Korean Peninsula is now in a more perilous situation than during President-elect Trump’

Nov. 6, 2024