[Newsmaker] Ex-chief state auditor to declare presidential bid next week

Choe Jae-hyeong, former head of the state audit agency, will declare his bid to run for the presidency next week, opposition party officials said Friday. Choe will make the announcement through an online event Wednesday, about a month after he stepped down as chief of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), hinting at his presidential ambitions. According to opposition party officials, Choe is in the final stages of drawing up his statement announcing the presidential bid. In the statement,

PoliticsJuly 30, 2021

[Newsmaker] Opposition leader urges Yoon, Ahn to join primary next month

  South Korea’s main opposition party leader said Thursday that if former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl does not join the party next month, party members who have joined his camp will be expelled. People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok said that as the party has finalized the primary in late August, he expects Yoon to join the PPP in August. “The No. 1 opposition party’s primary is like a public good. A celebrity can’t stop the bus. That’s not going to

PoliticsJuly 29, 2021

[Newsmaker] Foreign population in Korea shrinks to lowest level in 5.5 years

The number of foreigners in South Korea decreased for a consecutive 19 months amid the pandemic to its lowest in five years and six months in June, according to statistics released by the Korea Immigration Service under the Justice Ministry. The foreign population in Korea stood at about 1.98 million in June, 0.3 percent less compared to May, and the lowest since December 2015 (1.89 million). The number peaked at 2.52 million in December 2019, but plunged by nearly 100,000 in January 2020 as C

Social AffairsJuly 28, 2021

[Newsmaker] PPP leader says Lee Jae-myung is easier than Lee Nak-yon

The leader of the main opposition party said Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung was easier than former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon as a presidential candidate to compete against in next year’s election. Asked during a radio interview Monday evening which of the two ruling party presidential contenders he thought was “more comfortable to deal with,” People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok chose the governor. “If I say something like this, the Lee Jae-myung camp issues st

PoliticsJuly 27, 2021

[Newsmaker] Majority of Koreans in favor of Samsung heir parole

A majority of Koreans support the idea of granting parole to Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Aug. 15, the nation’s liberation day, a survey showed Monday. His release date is July next year. More than 66 percent of South Koreans said Lee, head of the nation’s largest conglomerate, should be released early as it would provide a boost to the economy, a nationwide survey conducted by Realmeter on Friday showed. Realmeter interviewed 500 people who were aged 18 or old

Social AffairsJuly 26, 2021

[Newsmaker] Suspect in Air Force sexual abuse case found dead: rights group

A suspect in the suicide death of an Air Force sexual abuse victim has been found dead at a military detention facility, a human rights group said Monday. The senior master sergeant was indicted on charges of inflicting secondary harm and threatening retaliation against the master sergeant who took her own life in May, three months after she was allegedly groped and suffered other abuse by a colleague of the same rank. "The senior master sergeant was found unconscious at 2:55 p.m. Sunday

DefenseJuly 26, 2021

[Newsmaker] MBC apologizes for Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony broadcast fiasco

Terrestrial network MBC admitted its carelessness and apologized for offensive images and captions that aired during its coverage of the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony. While broadcasting the parade of national teams in the virtually empty stadium, MBC showed images and captions introducing each delegation of athletes. Several of the images were inappropriate and insensitive. As the Ukraine delegation marched in, MBC showed an image of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. El Salvador was int

TelevisionJuly 25, 2021

[Newsmaker] Jeju governor joins presidential election race

Jeju Province Gov. Won Hee-ryong announced Sunday that he will run for presidency in the election slated for March next year. In a video speech, Won, a former three-term opposition lawmaker, vowed to upend "everything" the Moon Jae-in government has done. "I declare my bid for the 20th presidential election to make the Republic of Korea a country of a different class and different dimension," he said in the virtual press conference. "I would like to propose a vision o

PoliticsJuly 25, 2021

[Newsmaker] August critical month for Samsung and its leader

Expectations are high that Samsung Electronics, which for months deliberated on a new, $17 billion US investment plan, may finally be ready to make an official announcement in August. According to industry sources on Friday, Samsung is accelerating the internal process for concluding its plan to construct a new chip fabrication line for foundry in the US. Some news reports said Thursday that the City of Austin in Texas, where the South Korean firm already has a chip plant up and running, is

TechnologyJuly 23, 2021

[Newsmaker] US looks forward to 'reliable, predictable, constructive' way forward with N. Korea: Sherman

The United States looks forward to a "reliable, predictable and constructive" way forward with North Korea, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Friday, redoubling calls for Pyongyang to respond to Washington's overtures for dialogue. Sherman made the remarks after talks with First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun in Seoul, amid uncertainty over the resumption of nuclear diplomacy following Pyongyang's rejection of dialogue last month. "We are looking forward to a rel

Foreign AffairsJuly 23, 2021

[Newsmaker] Buddhist monks fined for breaching social distancing guidelines

Buddhist monks are facing criticism after seven of them were caught having a private gathering in violation of local social distancing guidelines. According to the local government of Haenam in South Jeolla Province, there was a report of several Buddhist monks having a meal together with alcoholic drinks on Monday evening, when the region’s social distancing guidelines prohibiting private gatherings of more than four people had come into effect. A photograph showed eight people sitting

Social AffairsJuly 22, 2021

[Newsmaker] Gyeonggi governor pledges to distribute universal basic income if elected president

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, the front-running presidential contender for the ruling Democratic Party, made a campaign pledge Thursday to distribute universal basic income of up to 2 million won ($1,736) per year to all citizens. "Within the (five-year) term of the next administration, (I) will provide 2 million won in basic income to each young person every year and 1 million won each to the rest of the citizens" Lee said in a press conference at the National Assembly in Seo

PoliticsJuly 22, 2021

[Newsmaker] Yoon battered over 120-hour work week comment and more

Members of the ruling Democratic Party continued to slam former prosecutor general and presidential contender Yoon Seok-youl on Wednesday for saying that people should be allowed to work 120 hours in a week if they need to. As Yoon criticized the 52-hour work week system as a failed policy in a recent newspaper interview, he said he met people in start-ups who said there should be exemptions to the work hour rule as game developers often need to work 120 hours for a couple of weeks and then hav

PoliticsJuly 21, 2021

[Newsmaker] Over 65% of S. Koreans support Moon's decision not to visit Japan: survey

The majority of South Koreans support President Moon Jae-in's decision not to visit Japan for the opening of the Tokyo Olympics and summit talks, a poll showed Tuesday. In the R&Search survey of 1,095 people aged 18 and older, 65.5 percent of the respondents were in favor of Moon's decision, while 26.7 percent were against it. Cheong Wa Dae announced Monday that the president decided not to visit Tokyo as the two neighboring countries failed to achieve sufficient progress in consultations

PoliticsJuly 21, 2021

[Newsmaker] The worst of heat yet to come

With heat wave warnings issued nationwide Tuesday, Korea is likely to see temperatures near 40 degrees Celsius this week, and possibly a return of the record-breaking heat in 2018 due to a “heat dome” phenomenon, the chief of a nongovernmental weather agency said. “Korea saw the hottest day ever recorded on Aug. 1, 2018, when temperatures hit 39.6 degrees in Seoul and 41 degrees in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province. These were official observatory records, and automatic weather stat

Social AffairsJuly 20, 2021

[Newsmaker] Fingerless Korean goes missing after climbing all 14 Himalayan peaks

A fingerless South Korean mountaineer went missing after achieving the record-breaking feat of climbing all of the world's 14 highest peaks in the Himalayas, officials here said Monday. "I received a call that Kim Hong-bin went missing on his way down from the peak," Lee In-jeong, president of the Union of Asian Alpine Associations (UAAA), said. "I heard that climbers there tried to rescue him, but failed." Kim reached the summit of the 8,047-meter-high Broad Peak, located

Social AffairsJuly 20, 2021

[Newsmaker] ‘Fingerless’ Kim Hong-bin, 1st disabled person to climb world’s 14 highest peaks

South Korean mountaineer Kim Hong-bin has become the first disabled person to successfully climb the 14 highest mountain peaks in the world -- without the use of his fingers. According to local alpine club Gwangju Alpine Federation on Monday, Kim conquered the summit of Broad Peak, the third peak of Pakistan’s Karakoram Range located in the northeastern part of Kashmir, on Sunday. This is an unprecedented accomplishment by Kim, making him the first disabled person and the world’s

Social AffairsJuly 19, 2021

[Newsmaker] Justice ministry seeks to grant legal status to animals to enhance their welfare

The Ministry of Justice on Monday gave advance notice of a revision to the civil law that would grant animals legal status as individuals with lives that deserve to be protected. The ministry said it has added the new clause, "animals are not objects," to article 82 of the Civil Code. Under the existing law, animals are identified as "an object that takes up space" and are not separated from inanimate things, so animal abusers have been punished only for damaging property i

Social AffairsJuly 19, 2021

[Newsmaker] Outbreak forces anti-piracy unit to return home from African coast

South Korea’s anti-piracy Cheonghae Unit is returning home this week after 68 seamen tested positive for the coronavirus aboard a warship off the coast of Africa, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday. Two-thirds of the 301-strong crew are still awaiting test results. This is the first time the military has cut short an overseas mission because of a pandemic. None of the seamen had received any COVID-19 vaccinations because the March vaccination campaign began a month after their dep

DefenseJuly 18, 2021

[Newsmaker] ‘COVID relief to 80% of households is too much’

Former legislator and opposition presidential contender Yoo Seong-min criticized the ongoing political argument over whether to hand out another round of COVID-19 relief grants to all Koreans or to only those in the lower 80 percent of the income brackets. Based on the national health insurance premiums, the monthly income of a four-person household in the lower 80 percent income bracket is 9.75 million won at the upper bound, which is 117 million won in annual income (before tax), Yoo wrote on

PoliticsJuly 16, 2021