[Newsmaker] Court rejects injunction on sales of Kim Il-sung memoir

The court said Friday that it had rejected an injunction request from NGOs to ban the sales and distribution of a memoir of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung. Kim Seung-kyun, who runs a company that used to trade with North Korea, republished the eight-volume memoirs, titled “With the Century,” last month for the first time in South Korea, and sales of the books once called by the Supreme Court “an item of expression that benefits the enemy” began. The set of book

Social AffairsMay 14, 2021

[Newsmaker] Gyeonggi Gov. Lee beats former prosecutor general for 1st time in hypothetical presidential race: poll

Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung has overtaken Yoon Seok-youl, the former prosecutor general, for the first time in a hypothetical two-way presidential hopeful poll released Friday. In a survey conducted by Gallup Korea on 1,007 adults nationwide from Tuesday to Wednesday, 42 percent picked Gov. Lee, affiliated with the ruling Democratic Party (DP), as their favored candidate for the next presidential election slated for March 2022. Yoon, who has led the presidential hopefuls' race in various pol

PoliticsMay 14, 2021

[Newsmaker] Seoul mulls drinking ban along Han River

Fried chicken and beer by the Han River could become a thing of the past as early as this summer as Seoul officials are weighing a ban on outdoor drinking within riverside parks. Park Yoo-mi, a disease control official at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said in a daily press briefing Wednesday that the city government is considering a ban on outdoor drinking at all of its 11 riverside parks, some of the most populous leisure areas found within the city for residents and tourists. “Rel

Social AffairsMay 13, 2021

[Newsmaker] S. Korean lawmakers arrive in US for talks on vaccine cooperation

WASHINGTON -- Two lawmakers from South Korea's main opposition People Power Party arrived in the United States on Wednesday for talks on possible US assistance to help relieve South Korea's COVID-19 vaccine shortage. Rep. Park Jin stressed the need to quickly secure vaccines for his country, calling his trip a bipartisan effort. "There is a need to strengthen the South Korea-US alliance and enhance their relations in various areas including vaccine cooperation," he said. "We wil

PoliticsMay 13, 2021

[Newsmaker] Ruling party presidential hopefuls rally supporters

With a year to go before the presidential election, three political heavyweights from the ruling bloc are rallying supporters, with each of their visions focusing on social welfare policies. Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung, former Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yon and former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, dubbed the ruling party’s Big Three, all launched their own think tanks and began working out their policies and messaging strategies. Front-runner Gov. Lee launched the Korea Growth an

PoliticsMay 12, 2021

[Newsmaker] Seoul prosecution chief indicted over power abuse allegations

Lee Sung-yoon, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office, was indicted Wednesday over allegations that he exercised undue influence in 2019 to stop an inquiry into the allegedly illegal exit ban imposed on a former senior official. The decision by the Suwon District Prosecutors Office came two days after an indictment was recommended by an independent panel created to review the validity of an ongoing investigation into Lee. Lee is accused of abusing his power in June 2019 to bloc

PoliticsMay 12, 2021

[Newsmaker] Seoul prosecution chief to be indicted

Lee Sung-yoon, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, was expected to be indicted for abuse of authority on Tuesday on the recommendation of a panel of experts. He is alleged to have stopped an inquiry into an illegal travel ban on an ex-vice justice minister. If indicted, Lee would be the first incumbent Seoul prosecution chief to stand accused in court. Out of the 13 panel members present -- including law professors, lawyers and those in religious service -- eight vot

Social AffairsMay 11, 2021

[Newsmaker] Sri Lanka adds Korean language as college entrance exam subject

Sri Lanka has decided to adopt the Korean language as a subject for the country's college entrance exams, a South Korean embassy there said Tuesday. According to the embassy, the Sri Lankan government recently added Korean to the list of foreign languages taught in the Advanced Level curriculum, as part of efforts to expand Korean education at schools. Under the policy, students entering 12th and 13th grade can choose Korean as their foreign language subject starting in the second half of this

Foreign AffairsMay 11, 2021

[Newsmaker] Moon’s approval ratings inch up to 36%

President Moon Jae-in’s approval ratings inched up to 36 percent in a weekly poll, while 60.3 percent disapproved of his presidential performance. In a survey of 2,015 adults nationwide conducted by Realmeter on May 3, 4, 6 and 7, approval ratings went up by 3 percentage points from the week before. Those who gave the president a thumbs-down slid 2.3 percentage points. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points and a confidence level of 95 percent. Compared to

Social AffairsMay 10, 2021

[Newsmaker] S. Korea denounces bomb attack in Afghanistan

South Korea strongly denounces last week's bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 68 people and wounded over 160, mostly young schoolgirls, the foreign ministry said Monday. "Our government strongly denounces the attack that occurred near a school in the Afghan capital of Kabul on May 8. We also extend our deepest condolences to the victims and their bereaved families," ministry spokesperson Choi Young-sam said in a commentary. The car bombing came amid escalating tensions

Foreign AffairsMay 10, 2021

[Newsmaker] Migrants’ voting rights in firing line

Amid growing anti-China sentiment in the nation, some South Koreans are calling for foreign permanent residents’ right to vote to be abolished because a majority of them are Chinese. On April 28, a petition was posted on the website of presidential Blue House with the title of “Foreigners’ voting rights (location election) are unconstitutional. It has to be abolished.” The writer of the post said, “(We) respect and don’t discriminate against foreigners.

Social AffairsMay 9, 2021

[Newsmaker] China says rocket debris landed in Indian Ocean west of Maldives

BEIJING (Reuters) -- Remnants of China's biggestrocket landed in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, with the bulk ofits components destroyed upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, according to Chinese state media, ending days ofspeculation over where the debris would hit. The coordinates given by state media, citing the ChinaManned Space Engineering Office, put the point of impact in the ocean, west of the Maldives archipelago. Debris from the Long March 5B has had some people lookingwarily skywa

World NewsMay 9, 2021

[Newsmaker] Chinese rocket debris falls into Indian Ocean

Debris from a Chinese space rocket fell into the Indian Ocean on Sunday, the science ministry said. Remnants of the Long March 5B rocket landed in waters southeast of India around 11:30 a.m., the ministry said, citing data from the US-based Combined Space Operations Center. The rocket was launched last week carrying a module of China's first permanent space station into orbit. But a large piece of debris plunged back in an uncontrolled reentry. (Yonhap)

DefenseMay 9, 2021

[Newsmaker] DP presidential hopefuls talk of throwing out taxpayer money

The ruling party’s presidential hopefuls have begun talking about giving money to young people who completed their military duties, young people who do not own homes and even newborns. The opposition has decried them as populist pledges. Former Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yon proposed on Thursday, “let’s spend the comprehensive real estate holding tax revenue collected from owners of multiple homes for residential stability of young people without homes and one-person hou

PoliticsMay 7, 2021

[Newsmaker] African swine fever returns after 7 months of silence

African swine fever has returned to South Korean farms after seven months, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Wednesday, after it confirmed two cases at a farm of 401 pigs in Yeongwol-gun, Gangwon Province. All domesticated pigs at the farm were culled immediately. A total of 11 African swine fever cases have been discovered from wild boars in Yeongwol-gun since the outbreak started in 2019. The pig farm is just 1.2 kilometers away from where the last case in the county wa

Social AffairsMay 6, 2021

[Newsmaker] Deadlock looms in Natl. Assembly over confirmation approvals of 3 minister nominees

A political standoff between the ruling and main opposition parties appeared imminent Thursday, as key National Assembly committees were scheduled to decide on the parliamentary approvals of scandal-ridden minister nominees recently picked by President Moon Jae-in. Earlier this week, parliamentary confirmation hearings on nominees for science, oceans, land, trade and labor ministers were carried out by the National Assembly. Of those, Lim Hye-sook, Park Jun-young and Noh Hyeong-ouk, nominees f

PoliticsMay 6, 2021

[Newsmaker] Father bids farewell to son found dead in Han River

The father of a 21-year-old medical student who was found dead in the Han River bid farewell to his son at his funeral Wednesday, as he awaits the final autopsy results. Sohn Jung-min was last seen asleep early April 25 by a friend who drank with him at the riverside park in Banpo, Seoul. Sohn’s body was found on April 30 in the Han River. The father had written on his blog asking for help to find his son. He hung banners around the area and spoke to the press about what he knew of the

Social AffairsMay 5, 2021

[Newsmaker] Top diplomats of S. Korea, US, Japan to hold talks at G-7 meeting

The top diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan were set to hold three-way talks on the sidelines of a Group of Seven (G-7) meeting in London early Wednesday (local time), the foreign ministry said. The meeting of Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi will mark the first time the top diplomats of the three countries meet in more than a year. It will also be the first direct encounter between Chung a

Foreign AffairsMay 5, 2021

[Newsmaker] Retailers accused of being ‘man-haters’ over gesture

Several South Korean retailers including convenience store GS25 and an online fashion store were forced to delete advertisements after critics accused “pinching hand signs” of being a symbol of misandry.　 In a statement to store owners on Tuesday, GS25 CEO Cho Yoon-sung apologized for the design of a poster that caused “pain” and “inconvenience” to customers and vowed to “thoroughly” investigate those involved in making the image. The now-deleted

ConsumerMay 4, 2021

[Newsmaker] Bill and Melinda Gates announce they are getting divorced

SEATTLE (AP) -- Bill and Melinda Gates said Monday that they are divorcing but would keep working together at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the largest charitable foundations in the world. In identical tweets, the Microsoft co-founder and his wife said they had made the decision to end their marriage of 27 years. "We have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,"

World NewsMay 4, 2021