Top prosecutor resigns in defiance of weakening prosecution’s power

Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl announced his resignation Thursday in protest against the government’s push to weaken the power of the prosecution. An hour later, President Moon Jae-in accepted the resignation. At 2 p.m. in front of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seoul, Yoon said in front of reporters, “I am going to resign as the prosecutor general today. It is difficult to watch common sense and justice collapse any more. (My role) in the prosecution ends here.”

March 4, 2021

Govt. launches probe into LH officials' alleged land speculation, vows speedy process

The South Korean government launched a task force Thursday to look into allegations that employees of a state housing corporation used secret information on a residential area development project for land speculation. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the interagency team would examine all recent land transactions by officials at the land ministry and Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH) in areas chosen by the government for the latest massive land redevelopment project. At a press briefing, he

March 4, 2021

[Newsmaker] Ex-Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon wins main opposition's ticket for Seoul mayoral election

Former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on Thursday won the main opposition party's ticket to run in the upcoming Seoul mayoral election seen as a barometer of public opinion ahead of the 2022 presidential election.  Oh, who served as Seoul mayor from 2006-2011, won the People Power Party's primary for the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, solely based on a two-day public opinion poll, according to the polling results. He beat former four-term lawmaker Na Kyung-won, former two-term lawmaker Oh Sh

March 4, 2021

FM Chung meets victim of Japan's wartime sexual slavery

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong met with a victim of Japan's wartime sexual slavery Wednesday, as Seoul seeks to defuse persistent historical tensions with Tokyo amid Washington's calls for tighter trilateral cooperation with its key Asian allies. The meeting with Lee Yong-soo, Chung's first with a sexual slavery victim since taking office last month, came as the 92-year-old Lee has stepped up calls for the government to bring the case to the International Court of Justice with no diplomatic s

March 3, 2021

Moon, Biden to discuss climate on Earth Day

President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden will discuss climate change at a virtual Earth Day summit on April 22, in their first video conference since Biden took office, a local media outlet reported Wednesday. They had a phone conversation last month. “The US is driving the discussion on the agenda,” a Seoul official said, pointing out the US-hosted gathering will mark Washington’s return to the carbon-cutting commitment. Biden reversed the Trump administration’s

March 3, 2021

PM orders review of authorizing AstraZeneca vaccine for people aged 65 and over

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Wednesday instructed officials to review the authorization of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people aged 65 and over. "New research results have been disclosed, indicating the AstraZeneca vaccine is effective for older people as well," the prime minister said during a daily interagency meeting on the coronavirus response at the government complex in Seoul. "South Korea is withholding AstraZeneca vaccine shots for people aged 65 or older, but I ask

March 3, 2021

Gyeonggi Gov. Lee retains solid lead in latest presidential hopefuls' poll

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, affiliated with the ruling Democratic Party (DP), retained his solid lead in the latest poll of potential presidential candidates. According to the survey conducted on 2,536 voters nationwide from Feb. 22-26 by Realmater, the Gyeonggi governor was the most favored candidate for the upcoming 2022 presidential election, receiving 23.6 percent of support. The number marks an increase of 0.2 percentage point from the previous Realmeter survey a month ago and t

March 2, 2021

Moon picks new secretaries for digital communication, culture, industry

President Moon Jae-in has tapped a journalist as his new Cheong Wa Dae secretary for digital communication, his office announced Tuesday. Ko Joo-hee, currently in charge of digital strategy at the Seoul-based Hankook Ilbo daily, has been nominated to the post, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok. The president also picked Jun Hyo-gwan, secretary-general of Arts Council Korea, as secretary for culture, and Lee Ho-joon, chief of policy planning at the Ministry of Trade, Industry a

March 2, 2021

PM says vaccine safety being validated, voices vigilance against fake news on vaccines

The safety of COVID-19 vaccines is being validated, with no major cases of adverse vaccine reaction reported in the four days since the rollout of the national vaccination campaign, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Tuesday. A total of 23,086 people received COVID-19 vaccine shots in the four days since the country kicked off the inoculation campaign last Friday, with no major adverse reaction reported among the receivers, the prime minister said during a daily interagency meeting on the coro

March 2, 2021

Ex-Startups Minister Park Young-sun wins ruling party's ticket for Seoul mayoral election

Former Startups Minister Park Young-sun on Monday won the ruling Democratic Party‘s ticket to run in the Seoul mayoral by-election next month. 　 Park, also a former four-term lawmaker, was declared the winner of the party primary against sitting four-term lawmaker Woo Sang-ho for the April 7 mayoral election, according to the voting results. 　 Park won an overwhelming 69.56 percent of the ballots cast by voters in and outside of the party over the phone and the internet for four days to M

March 1, 2021

Ahn Cheol-soo wins 1st round of primary for Seoul mayor candidacy

Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the minor opposition People's Party, cleared the first hurdle Monday in his bid to become a single candidate of South Korea's opposition bloc, critical of the Moon Jae-in administration, for the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election. He won a primary with Keum Tae-sup, a former lawmaker who left the ruling Democratic Party (DP), the outcome of which was decided by a public opinion poll. The two had two rounds of formal debates ahead of the two-day survey last week on their

March 1, 2021

Moon says S. Korea ready to talk with Japan anytime, urges separation of history with future-oriented ties

President Moon Jae-in stated Monday that South Korea is ready to talk with Japan anytime for stronger cooperation, separate from longstanding disputes over shared history, as it would also be helpful to the trilateral partnership with the United States. "The South Korean government is always ready to sit down and have talks with the Japanese government. I am confident that if we put our heads together in the spirit of trying to understand each other's perspectives, we will also be able to

March 1, 2021

DP, government to allot W9.5tr for 4th relief funds

The ruling Democratic Party and the government agreed Sunday to allot 19.5 trillion won ($17.3 billion) for the country's fourth round of COVID-19 relief assistance. The agreement was made during a tripartite meeting of the DP, the government and Cheong Wa Dae, attended by DP Chairman Rep. Lee Nak-yon, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and Kim Sang-jo, the presidential chief of staff for policy. The upcoming aid package will be funded by an extra budget bill worth 15 trillion won, with the remaini

Feb. 28, 2021

Govt. plans sale of land lots confiscated from Japanese collaborators

The veterans affairs ministry said Sunday it plans to prioritize selling 148 land lots confiscated from former pro-Japanese collaborators to better compensate the sacrifices made by Korean independent activists and their families. The ministry said it has selected the pool of land with relative high practical utilization from among the 855 total land lots it controls that were previously owned by Japanese collaborators. When combined, the land designated for priority sales covers some 3.29 mil

Feb. 28, 2021

Foreign COVID-19 patients on steep rise in Korea this year

The number of foreigners diagnosed with COVID-19 in South Korea has soared this year due mainly to the steady outbreaks of cluster infections at industrial workplaces, a government agency said Saturday. According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, 1,747 foreign nationals have tested positive for the coronavirus here since the beginning of the year, accounting for 6.6 percent of all domestic cases in the same period. The growth of foreign COVID-19 patients was particularly steeper ov

Feb. 27, 2021

About 18,500 Koreans get COVID-19 vaccines on vaccination Day 1

About 18,500 people received a vaccination for COVID-19 in South Korea on the launch day of the nation's public vaccination campaign against the pandemic, a government agency said Saturday. According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, 18,489 people across the country got their first shots of the two-dose AstraZeneca vaccine Friday. "On Friday, 18,489 medical workers, health care workers and nursing home patients received the AstraZeneca vaccine at community h

Feb. 27, 2021

S. Korea ratifies key UN labor conventions

South Korea's parliament on Friday ratified key International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions on workers' rights and forced labor, which have long stalled due to objections from businesses and conservative politicians. The nation joined the United Nations agency in 1991 but had not adopted four of its eight key conventions, lagging behind international standards in protecting labor rights. The National Assembly passed motions to ratify three of them -- No. 29 on forced labor, No. 87 on f

Feb. 26, 2021

Controversial bill on constructing new airport in Busan gets final parliamentary nod

A politically controversial bill on building a new airport in the second-biggest South Korean city of Busan got the final nod from the National Assembly on Friday. The bill nails down a multi-billion-dollar state project to build a new airport on Gadeok Island, the biggest island of Busan, to handle growing air traffic demand and facilitate prosperity in the country's southeast region. The bill proposes special exemption for the compulsory preliminary feasibility study for the construction pr

Feb. 26, 2021

[Newsmaker] National Assembly calls on Myanmar military to restore democracy, release detainees

South Korea’s National Assembly called for restoration of democracy in Myanmar, condemning its military government for using violence and failing to uphold human rights. The parliament on Friday passed the Resolution Condemning Myanmar’s Military Coup and Urging Restoration of Democracy and Release of All Persons Arbitrarily Detained, criticizing the military government’s crackdowns on protests and expressing support for the democratic movement. The resolution defined Myanmar

Feb. 26, 2021

CIO head vows to maintain political neutrality

Kim Jin-wook, the head of the new powerful investigative agency, on Thursday vowed to remain politically neutral and not to give in to political pressure when it comes to investigations. In his first public debate since taking office last month, Kim, the inaugural chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), said he will try his best to listen to different opinions on contentious and divisive issues. "I will be impartial towards everyone with different op

Feb. 25, 2021