DP unilaterally adopts confirmation report on top prosecutor

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Monday unilaterally adopted a parliamentary confirmation report on the top prosecutor nominee despite protest from opposition lawmakers. The parliamentary Legislation and Judiciary Committee, where DP lawmakers command a majority, adopted the report on the result of the confirmation hearing on Prosecutor General nominee Kim Oh-soo, held last Wednesday. The committee session was, however, boycotted by lawmakers of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP)

May 31, 2021

[Newsmaker] Moon's approval rating rebounds substantially on US summit deal: poll

President Moon Jae-in's job approval rating rebounded to nearly 40 percent for the first time in nearly three months thanks to positive reception toward his recent summit deal with US President Joe Biden, according to a new poll released Monday. In the survey conducted by Realmeter on 2,512 people over the age of 18 from May 24-28, Moon's job approval rating was recorded at 39.3 percent, up 4.4 percentage points from the previous week. The result marked Moon's highest performance in public pol

May 31, 2021

S. Korea set to host virtual P4G summit on climate

A major global summit on climate and sustainable growth is scheduled to open on Sunday under the initiative of South Korea. President Moon Jae-in will host the two-day 2021 P4G Seoul Summit via video links, joined by more than 60 other top government officials and heads of international organizations, according to his office. They include British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and John Ke

May 30, 2021

DP, govt. recognize need to resume inter-Korean dialogue to restore cross-border ties

The government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Friday agreed on the need to restart dialogue with North Korea to restore inter-Korean relations as early as possible based on last week's Seoul-Washington summit deal that reaffirmed the allies' peace commitment toward the Korean Peninsula. "We have agreed that Seoul should facilitate conversations and exchanges with Pyongyang to ease the strained inter-Korean relations," DP spokesperson Rep. Koh Yong-jin said after a policy cons

May 28, 2021

Moon replaces senior secretary for public communication

President Moon Jae-in has named Park Soo-hyun, a former lawmaker, as new senior secretary for public communication, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday. Park succeeds Chung Man-ho, who has been in the post for less than 10 months. Park worked as Moon's first Cheong Wa Dae spokesman starting in May 2017 after serving as lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party for four years from 2012. He left Cheong Wa Dae in 2018 in a failed bid to become governor of South Chungcheong Province. He was defeated in last ye

May 28, 2021

[Newsmaker] Young underdog emerges as winner of primary for main opposition party leader

Lee Jun-seok, a 36-year-old politician with no experience as a lawmaker, swept to victory Friday in the primary for the upcoming election to pick the new chairman of the main opposition party. Lee was among the final five candidates selected through opinion polls to compete in the People Power Party's (PPP) chairman election on June 11, according to the party's election management committee. The former member of the party's supreme council was followed by former four-term lawmaker Na Kyung-won

May 28, 2021

Vice justice minister offers to resign over assault allegations

Vice Justice Minister Lee Yong-gu offered to resign Friday, after he was embroiled in a controversy over unpunished assault against a taxi driver. The justice ministry announced the news, without detailing reasons for his abrupt resignation. In a short statement sent to reporters, Lee said he was resigning because he believed the ministry "badly" needed a "new worker" who could help the ministry to reinvent itself for the remaining one year of the Moon Jae-in government.

May 28, 2021

DP, govt. decide to abolish housing supply program for civil servants in Sejong

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the government on Friday decided to abolish a controversial housing supply program for public sector employees relocating to the central administrative city of Sejong, calling it an "excessive privilege." The decision was reached in a policy consultation meeting between the DP, the government and Cheong Wa Dae held at the National Assembly. The special benefit program has recently been under intense scrutiny after it was revealed that an affiliate

May 28, 2021

S. Korea seeks unfettered access to space tech after ban lifted

South Korea is now free to flex its muscles in space, as it was cut loose from a Korea-US missile pact that has long capped Seoul’s missile program and space reach, experts said Thursday. At last week’s Seoul-Washington summit, the two allies agreed to abolish the 1979 pact that banned medium and long-range ballistic missiles. The US reversed the decision in what many see as an effort to reel in South Korea to counter China and North Korea. Military experts hailed the event, and s

May 27, 2021

Moon says S. Korea has room to keep aggressive fiscal policy

President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that South Korea needs to maintain expansionary fiscal policy for the time being despite a hike in national debts attributable to the response to COVID-19. He emphasized that the role of state budget spending is important amid the crisis, speaking at the outset of an annual meeting on fiscal strategy. It was convened to review fiscal policy, set the direction of next year’s budget plans and discuss midterm fiscal strategy for the period of 2021-25. He

May 27, 2021

Moon requests confirmation hearing report on prosecutor general nominee

President Moon Jae-in formally asked lawmakers Thursday to send a report on the results of their confirmation hearing on his pick to become prosecutor general. Moon requested that the National Assembly forward the report by next Monday under a related law, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. He earlier nominated Kim Oh-soo, former vice justice minister, to lead the state prosecution service, a position that has been vacant since the sudden resignation of Yoon Seok-youl in

May 27, 2021

[Newsmaker] Yoon Seok-youl leads presidential hopeful race as Lee Jae-myung's approval catches up

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl is leading the race among prospective presidential hopefuls, while runner-up Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung has managed to narrow the gap in approval with Yoon, according to a new poll released Thursday. According to the survey conducted on 2,004 voters nationwide from Monday-Tuesday by Realmeter, Yoon was the most favored candidate for the upcoming 2022 presidential election, receiving 30.5 percent of support. Lee came second, chalking up 25.3 per

May 27, 2021

Main opposition leader resumes public activities after testing negative for COVID-19

The acting chief of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) resumed his public activities Thursday after testing negative for COVID-19. Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, PPP floor leader who is currently acting as the chairman, had temporarily canceled his schedule for the day, including a meeting of the interim party leadership in the morning, following a coronavirus infection case inside the party. According to the party, Kim attended the same party meetings Monday and Tuesday as a party official wh

May 27, 2021

[Herald Interview] Young president hopeful pledges volunteer military

Ruling Democratic Party’s Rep. Park Yong-jin, 50, the first politician who announced a run for president in next year’s election, has vowed that he would reform the military conscription system. Park says it is time to transition to a voluntary military, with compulsory service restricted to basic training for men and women. “The debate on volunteer military system in our society has been quite long. But we are not going in that direction yet. We still conscript young peo

May 27, 2021

Moon to chair fiscal strategy meeting

President Moon Jae-in will convene a meeting with top government and ruling party officials Thursday on next year's budget and midterm fiscal policy, according to his office. The 2021 National Fiscal Strategy Meeting comes as South Korea is taking expansionary fiscal policy measures in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other participants include Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki and Song Young-gil, head of the ruling Democratic Party. They plan to discuss a 2021 state

May 27, 2021

Moon publicizes upcoming climate summit in person via special footage

President Moon Jae-in has rolled up his sleeves to raise public awareness on a global climate summit to open this weekend. South Korea is scheduled to host the two-day virtual summit of global leaders, officially named the 2021 P4G Seoul Summit, which opens Sunday. It will be joined by dozens of leaders of foreign countries and international organizations, according to Cheong Wa Dae. It has not revealed the list of participants yet. P4G, which stands for Partnering for Green Growth and the Glo

May 27, 2021

S. Korea vows to lend hand with global vaccine supply shortages

South Korea vowed Wednesday to play a bigger role in easing global shortages of COVID-19 vaccines during a meeting with a group of countries supporting a multilateral trading regime. "To promptly overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that the production and supply of vaccines are expanded around the globe," Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee said during the virtual meeting of the Ottawa Group. The Ottawa Group refers to a group of 14 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO)

May 27, 2021

Party leaders show mixed reactions to Moon-Biden summit

The outcome of last week’s summit between Presidents Moon Jae-in and Joe Biden drew mixed reactions from political party leaders here on Wednesday. Moon held a luncheon meeting with five party leaders at Cheong Wa Dae to brief them on the results of the summit. It was his first group meeting with the party leaders in a year and three months. During the meeting, the president urged bipartisan support for follow-up measures to implement key commitments made during the summit. The discussio

May 26, 2021

S. Korea to ramp up investment in Green New Deal projects: finance minister

South Korea plans to invest about 73 trillion won ($65.4 billion) in its signature green energy projects by 2025 as it seeks to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the finance minister said Tuesday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the country is working to attain the goal of going carbon neutral in a bid to transform the country‘s fossil-fuel reliant economy into an eco-friendly one. “We plan to invest 3.8 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025 in Green New Deal proj

May 25, 2021

Maskless summit in the pandemic era

Friday’s mask-free summit between Presidents Moon Jae-in and Joe Biden not only upgraded the 70-year Seoul-Washington alliance but also demonstrated how far the two nations have come in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Cheong Wa Dae sources on Tuesday, going maskless was almost unthinkable when Seoul’s presidential office was preparing for the leaders’ first face-to-face meeting, as they also took reference to an earlier summit between Biden and Japanese Prime Min

May 25, 2021