[Election 2022] Next target in election campaign: COVID-wary voters

The leading presidential candidates are scrambling to draw up their own pandemic response plans as they try to reach out to COVID-19-wary voters, and to benefit for growing discontent against the current administration’s measures. As the number of COVID-19 cases hit daily highs over 7,000 on Tuesday and Wednesday, the election camps of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the main opposition People Power Party both announced their respective launches of COVID-19 countermeasure teams.

Dec. 9, 2021

Moon Jae-in to share democratic achievements in Biden-led summit

President Moon Jae-in will share the nation’s democratic achievements at a summit hosted by US President Joe Biden on Tuesday night. During the two-day virtual “Summit for Democracy,” 110 countries will share opinions on how to guard against authoritarianism, eradicate corruption and promote respect for human rights. China and Russia were excluded. In the first part of the plenary session, Moon plans to share South Korea’s democratic achievements and outline the nati

Dec. 9, 2021

Ruling party slams opposition campaign chief for rejecting talks on small biz support

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday slammed the main opposition party's campaign chief for refusing to hold talks over his own proposal to spend 100 trillion won ($85 billion) to support small business owners and self-employed people hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The DP criticized Kim Chong-in, the campaign chief of People Power Party (PPP)'s presidential nominee Yoon Suk-yeol, for stepping back from an idea he floated for the government to allocate 100 trillion won to compensate damag

Dec. 9, 2021

Moon congratulates Germany's new chancellor on inauguration

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday congratulated Germany's new Chancellor Olaf Scholz on his official inauguration, saying he hopes to work closely with the new German leader to move relations between the two countries forward. Moon and Scholz met in late October in Rome, where Moon held a bilateral summit with then German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who stepped down after 16 years in office, on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting. "I am pleased we met in Rome in October and anticipate closer

Dec. 9, 2021

Seoul City Hall to hold town meeting with foreign residents

The Seoul city government will hold a town meeting with foreign residents later this week to listen to their suggestions to make the city a better place to live in, officials said Thursday. The event will be held at the Seoul Global Center in central Seoul at 2 p.m. Friday and be livestreamed through YouTube (youtu.be/03E15JUmGc8). The number of on-site participants will be limited due to antivirus restrictions, officials said. Officials from the Seoul office of the International Organization

Dec. 9, 2021

Progressive presidential candidate pledges higher wages for troops

Sim Sang-jeung, the presidential candidate of the minor progressive Justice Party, pledged Thursday to raise troops' wages to the minimum wage level by 2030. Currently, the monthly wage for sergeants is set at 676,000 won ($576) for next year, which is half the 2017 minimum wage of 1.35 million won. Next year's minimum hourly wage has been set at 9,160 won, which translates to a monthly wage of 1.91 million won. Sim said at the National Assembly that she also plans to let troops use their mob

Dec. 9, 2021

Ruling party mulls changing timing, scope of teenage vaccine pass

The ruling Democratic Party has begun looking into delaying the introduction of the "vaccine pass" system for children aged 12 to 18 and changing the types of facilities that require the pass after strong protests from students and parents, multiple party officials said Wednesday. Under rules that took effect Monday, the list of facilities requiring visitors to present a vaccine pass -- proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result -- has expanded to include restaurants, cof

Dec. 8, 2021

Cheong Wa Dae says Beijing Olympic boycott not under consideration for now

South Korea is not considering a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing and the country is still undecided on the matter, a senior presidential official said Wednesday. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, made the remarks when asked about the US government's announcement to stage a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics due to China's human rights abuses. The official said the US informed South Korea of the diplomatic boycott, and Seoul has not de

Dec. 8, 2021

Lee welcomes opposition's proposal to allocate W100tr to virus-hit small businesses

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party, on Wednesday welcomed the opposition campaign chief's proposal to spend 100 trillion won ($84.9 billion) to support small business owners and self-employed people hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. "We have been the stingiest nation in the world when it comes to supporting small business owners, passing over duties to people that are supposed to be handled by the state," Lee said during his campaign event for small a

Dec. 8, 2021

[Election 2022] AI spokesman, avatars enter election campaigns

At the kickoff ceremony of an election committee for the main opposition party’s presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, a familiar face showed up to encourage support for the nominee, calling himself “AI Yoon Suk-yeol.” “Hello. I am AI Yoon Suk-yeol. Are you surprised because we look alike?” the digitally-created character resembling the People Power Party’s presidential candidate said in a video clip revealed at the ceremony on Monday. “AI Yoon Suk-y

Dec. 8, 2021

Moon vows to support creation of mutually beneficial local jobs

President Moon Jae-in pledged Wednesday to provide a variety of support for an initiative to create jobs through joint cooperative projects between local governments, businesses and residents. The government has pushed for the initiative to create "mutually beneficial local jobs" in an attempt to build an economy in which workers and businesses can grow together by creating new jobs with labor and management cooperating and upholding the value of people and labor. In congratulatory

Dec. 8, 2021

Lee pledges to increase budget for startups to W10tr

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential nominee of the ruling Democratic Party, said Wednesday he will increase the government's investment in startups to 10 trillion won ($8.50 billion) by 2027 and help create 300,000 annual jobs in new technologies and industries. If elected, Lee said he will also improve the financial, tax and regulatory system for small businesses and offer them tailored assistance to support their growth to mid-sized and large firms. "Fair growth in which businesses large an

Dec. 8, 2021

Yoon leads Lee by 8.2 percentage points in presidential race: survey

Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential nominee of the main opposition People Power Party, is leading his rival Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party by 8.2 percentage points in a hypothetical multicandidate race, a survey showed Wednesday. Yoon earned 45.3 percent support against Lee's 37.1 percent in the survey of 1,036 adults conducted Monday and Tuesday by Realmeter. Yoon gained 1.6 percentage points from the previous Realmeter survey released on Nov. 29, while Lee added 2 points. The poll

Dec. 8, 2021

DP presidential candidate defends his 'basic finance' program for youths

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), on Tuesday defended his election pledge to provide low-interest loans for youths, saying there are "good debts." "Whether they are national debts or personal debts, it is a foolish thought to say all debts are bad," Lee said at a lecturing event at Seoul National University. "If using your future assets in advance is more valuable, I think it is right to do it." Lee's election pledge of

Dec. 7, 2021

Presidential office creates new technology and cybersecurity role

South Korea’s Office of National Security will establish a new technology and cybersecurity role to take charge of strengthening innovative research capabilities and coordination among related ministries, officials said Tuesday. The launch of the new position, Secretary to the President for Emerging and Critical Technologies and Cybersecurity, comes amid an intensifying global technology competition and a growing need for protecting core technologies such as artificial intelligence and qu

Dec. 7, 2021

Did real-life ‘Arrowhead’ take down ex-DP campaign member?

Dispute surrounding Cho Dong-youn, a former member of the ruling party’s presidential campaign, recently took a new turn when she claimed that her child born out of wedlock had been conceived by sexual assault. Legal representatives for Cho, who recently resigned from her post as a co-chair of the election committee for the liberal Democratic Party of Korea’s presidential nominee Lee Jae-myung, said late Monday that his client had evidence to prove this, following Cho’s statem

Dec. 7, 2021

Moon calls for more efforts to prevent spread of omicron, people to get booster jabs

President Moon Jae-in instructed aides Tuesday to make greater efforts to prevent the spread of the omicron variant, urging more people to get booster shots as the nation is struggling with a spike in COVID-19 deaths and infections. "We are facing a very grave situation as the numbers of confirmed patients, critically ill patients and deaths are on the rise, coupled with the omicron variant," Moon told a Cabinet meeting. Amid growing alarm over omicron, which is potentially more cont

Dec. 7, 2021

Candidates from ‘third party’ meet up, discuss runoff system

Presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo from the People’s Party met with Rep. Sim Sang-jung from the Justice Party on Monday to discuss how to improve nation’s election system and agreed to push for special prosecution against two key candidates from the ruling and main opposition parties. “We shared that the two party system has caused difficulties in people’s lives. We will cooperate on what we can do to restore the politics for the future, for the people,” Sim s

Dec. 6, 2021

[Election 2022] Lee narrows gap with Yoon in poll

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling party, is chasing Yoon Suk-yeol, his rival from the main opposition party, closing the gap in support to 6.5 percentage points, a poll showed Monday. In a survey by local pollster Realmeter, Lee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea posted 37.5 percent support against Yoon of the main opposition People Power Party at 44 percent. The survey, conducted at the request of OhmyNews, a local online media outlet, took responses from 3,054 p

Dec. 6, 2021

[Newsmaker] [Election 2022] Yoon mends fences in team, officially kicks off election committee

Smoothing over a month of discord in the party, Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party, has officially kicked off his election committee and pledged to reform the government and country, Monday. “The Korea I dream of is a country with strong fundamentals. It should not be the people for the country, but the country for the people,” Yoon said in the inauguration ceremony of his central election committee that will lead his electioneering

Dec. 6, 2021