Assembly speaker appeals to British counterparts to support end-of-war declaration

Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug appealed for support for the declaration of the end of the war on the Korean Peninsula in a bilateral meeting with the speakers of the UK’s two houses of Parliament. Park made the request at a meeting with Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle and House of Lords Speaker John McFall at the 7th G20 National Assembly Speakers Meeting. According to a news release from the Korean speaker’s office, Park told Hoyle, “South Korea is pushi

Oct. 10, 2021

Police seize key suspect's phone in Seongnam land development scandal

Investigations into a key suspect in the snowballing corruption scandal surrounding a lucrative land development project near Seoul are expected to make progress, as police said Friday they have secured his mobile phone. The Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency in Suwon, south of Seoul, said its investigators have discovered a mobile phone of Yoo Dong-gyu, former acting president of Seongnam Development Corp., which went missing during a prosecution raid on the suspect's home in Yongin, also south of

Oct. 8, 2021

People Power Party shortlists 4 presidential candidates

The main opposition People Power Party on Friday shortlisted four contenders heading toward the primary’s second elimination round to pick a candidate for next year’s presidential election. The party announced Friday morning that former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min and former Jeju Island Gov. Won Hee-ryong are the remaining contenders in the People Power Party’s primary. The four candidates were chosen based on results f

Oct. 8, 2021

Assembly speaker stresses transnational cooperation in G-20 talks

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug stressed international cooperation while meeting with global leaders and promising cooperation and support with his counterparts from other nations in his trip Thursday to Europe for G-20 diplomatic talks. Upon attending the opening ceremony of the 7th G-20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit in Rome, Park held bilateral talks with Germany’s President Reiner Haseloff and South Africa’s National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqukula. Pa

Oct. 8, 2021

Main opposition's presidential candidates shortlisted to 4, ex-Jeju Gov. Won makes cut

The presidential field for the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) was shortlisted to four candidates Friday, with former Jeju Province Gov. Won Hee-ryong making the cut in the primary's second elimination round. Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, former opposition lawmaker Yoo Seong-min and Won were announced as the four remaining contenders in the main opposition's presidential primary. Friday's result was based on a survey that combined a national poll and a se

Oct. 8, 2021

Gyeonggi Gov. Lee sees lead over ex-chief prosecutor Yoon narrow in presidential race: survey

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, the leading presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), saw his lead over opposition rival Yoon Seok-youl narrow slightly amid a swirling development corruption scandal, a poll showed Thursday. Lee was leading Yoon of the People Power Party (PPP) 26 percent to 17 percent, according to the joint poll by four pollsters -- Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research. In the same poll last week, Lee was leading Yoon 29

Oct. 7, 2021

Moon calls for swift action for carbon neutrality

President Moon Jae-in called Thursday for greater efforts to curb global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, saying the Earth is getting warmer at a much faster speed than expected. Moon made the remark in a video message to a forum of environment ministers from Asia-Pacific countries held in Suwon, 46 kilometers south of Seoul, saying the Asia-Pacific is an environmentally vulnerable region where 40 percent of all natural disasters, such as typhoons and drought, took place in 2019. "Pl

Oct. 7, 2021

Yoon accused of ties to anal acupuncture specialist

Yoon Seok-youl, the leading opposition presidential candidate, has increasingly faced questions about superstitious or unscientific beliefs, this time over his alleged ties to an anal acupuncture specialist that he claims to have no knowledge of. The allegation surfaced Tuesday during the sixth TV debate among presidential contenders of the main opposition People Power Party, when one of Yoon's competitors, former Rep. Yoo Seong-min, asked him if he has met someone "known to perform acupun

Oct. 7, 2021

Intelligence chief booked for election meddling

South Korea’s anti-corruption agency has launched an investigation into allegations that South Korea’s spy chief Park Jie-won attempted to meddle in the upcoming presidential election. On Tuesday, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials booked Park on charges of violating the National Intelligence Service Act and the Public Official Election Act. The investigation kicked off around three weeks after Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl’s campaign aides

Oct. 6, 2021

Moon takes Hyundai Casper for a spin

President Moon Jae-in and his wife Kim Jung-sook on Wednesday test-drove their new car, the Hyundai Casper, renewing awareness for the first private-public experiment to create jobs at a car manufacturing plant.  “Despite its compact size, it is a sturdy car. I like the spacious interior, too,” the president said as the couple was briefed on the car structure and function from a Hyundai Motor official upon the car’s delivery at Cheong Wa Dae. 　 The Casper is a 1-liter m

Oct. 6, 2021

Once tight-lipped Yoon talks self into trouble

In June, former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl stormed the political landscape as he announced his bid to run for the presidential campaign. Since then, polls have repeatedly picked him as one of the front-runners among all presidential contenders both from his People Power Party and the opposite Democratic Party. Yoon has continuously put himself at the center of attention with his controversial comments. His latest lapse came during People Power Party’s televised debate hosted by lo

Oct. 6, 2021

Vice FM calls for Koreas to build lasting peace with end-of-war declaration

First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun called Wednesday for the two Koreas to work together to build a "future order of peace" on the Korean Peninsula, starting with the proposed declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War. President Moon Jae-in again proposed the declaration during the U.N. General Assembly last month, in an effort to bring North Korea back to dialogue and revive his stalled drive for peace. "The share of the task to build step by step a future order

Oct. 6, 2021

DP presidential front-runner Lee projected to step down as Gyeonggi governor in late Oct.

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, the front-runner in the presidential primary of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), is expected to resign from his governorship late this month to focus on campaigning for next year's presidential election if nominated as the party candidate. According to sources, Lee's team has determined that it would be best for Lee to step down as soon as the parliamentary audit wraps up later this month or no later than Nov. 5, when the main opposition People Power Party

Oct. 6, 2021

CIO launches probe into spy chief over alleged meddling in presidential election politics

The state anti-corruption investigation office on Wednesday began a probe into National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won over allegations of political meddling ahead of the March presidential race. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) announced that it booked Park on Tuesday on charges of allegedly violating the National Intelligence Service Act and the Public Official Election Act. Park has been accused by Yoon Seok-youl, former prosecutor general and a

Oct. 6, 2021

Police closed internal probe into case linked to Seongnam development scandal in 3 months: lawmaker

Police were found to have concluded an internal investigation into a case linked to a controversial development project near Seoul three months after receiving a probe request from the state anti-corruption commission without pressing any charges, a document showed Wednesday, with the project now being at the center of a massive political scandal. In a document submitted to main opposition lawmaker Rep. Kim Do-eup, the National Police Agency (NPA) said it assigned the case involving a land owne

Oct. 6, 2021

Parties plan to hold audit on Joint Chiefs of Staff amid row over corruption scandal

Lawmakers were to hold the annual parliamentary audit of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) on Wednesday, officials said, a day after the planned session for the defense ministry was disrupted due to a partisan strife over a snowballing land development corruption scandal potentially involving the ruling party's presumptive nominee to run for next year's presidential election. The audit is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. at the JCS headquarters in Seoul, during which the parliamentary national d

Oct. 6, 2021

Lawmakers take aim at presidential frontrunners at audits

Two presidential front-runners embroiled in political controversies came under fire at Tuesday’s parliamentary audits from ruling and opposition lawmakers alike. Lawmakers denounced Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea and former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, the leading People Power Party hopeful, over allegations of preferential development in the Daejang-dong neighborhood of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and abuse of authority in last year’s

Oct. 5, 2021

Moon calls for co-prosperity with N. Korea after restoration of cross-border hotlines

President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that South and North Korea should work together for joint prosperity ahead of eventual unification, signaling a willingness to push actively for cooperative projects with the North after the restoration of inter-Korean hotlines. Moon made the remark during an address at a ceremony marking the 15th World Korean Day, a day after the North reopened its liaison and military hotlines with the South, which had been suspended since early August due to Pyongyang's pro

Oct. 5, 2021

Lawmaker accused of using 'comfort women' group's money 217 times

A lawmaker, who formerly headed a major civic group supporting women forced into wartime sexual slavery by Japan, has been accused of embezzling the organization's funds 217 times, mostly for personal purposes, such as paying at "galbi" or rib restaurants, an opposition lawmaker said Tuesday. Rep. Youn Mee-hyang, who led the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan until her election in 2020, spent over 100 million won ($84,300) of

Oct. 5, 2021

Assembly Speaker Park to embark on visits to Italy, Egypt

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug will travel to Italy and Egypt to attend a Group of 20 (G-20) meeting of parliamentary speakers in Rome and hold other bilateral meetings, his office said Tuesday. Park will depart for Italy later Tuesday to attend the seventh G-20 Parliamentary Speakers' Summit to be held from Thursday-Friday in Rome and the Pre-meeting of the General Assembly of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (Pre-COP26) on Friday. This year's G-20 par

Oct. 5, 2021