The National Assembly was recently shaken by a series of sex scandals, most of them involving members of the Grand National Party.Earlier this month, a major daily newspaper reported that a married ruling party lawmaker sexually harassed a drunken woman in a taxi and handed over money to the driver who threatened to upload the recorded file on the Internet.The subject of the article was the illici

Politics July 15, 2011

GNP leader says will ensure smooth nomination of presidential candidateThe Grand National Party Chairman Rep. Hong Joon-pyo pledged to act as a “windbreak” for other frontrunners in the race for presidential candidacy next year.“I have no intention to enter candidacy, nor am I entitled to do so, according to our party constitution,” said the ruling party leader.“My role is to act as a connecting b

Politics July 14, 2011

President Lee Myung-bak told the newly-elected leadership of the ruling Grand National Party over lunch on Wednesday that he will discuss with them before nominating the new justice minister and the prosecutor-general amid backlash from both ruling and opposition lawmakers against the president’s top candidate.During his first official meeting with the new GNP leader Hong Joon-pyo and other member

Politics July 13, 2011

DP lawmakers eye GNP home turf; ruling party mulls replacing veteransParties are seeking to turn the table in next year’s general elections with a bold lineup of possible candidates as some veteran lawmakers gave up their candidacy or pledged to run in strategically important areas other than their home-turf constituencies.Rep. Kim Hyo-seuk, a third-term lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic

Politics July 12, 2011

A consortium led by CJ Group, a South Korean food and entertainment conglomerate, said Monday that it has signed a contract to purchase a controlling 37.62 percent stake in Korea Express for 1.85 trillion won (US$1.75 billion).CJ Cheiljedang Corp. and CJ GLS Inc. will each pay 922.5 billion won to take over South Korea's largest logistics firm from two subsidiaries of cash-strapped Kumho Asiana Gr

Industry July 11, 2011

The head coach for a local military football team has been arrested for allegedly taking cash from parents of a player involved in match fixing, the defense ministry said Monday.The bench boss for Sangju Sangmu Phoenix in the first-division K-League, named Lee, was arrested on charges of blackmail. The Sangju team is made up of professional players who have been conscripted to serve the mandatory

Sports July 11, 2011

SEOUL (AFP) -- North Korea has agreed to hold talks with South Korea to settle a dispute over Seoul-owned buildings at a jointly run resort which have been seized by the communist country, officials said Monday.The communist North had set a deadline of Wednesday for final discussions about the properties at the Mount Kumgang resort, which is in North Korea and was supposed to have been a symbol of

North Korea July 11, 2011

The ruling Grand National Party, led by newly elected chairman Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, has announced a reformative, “people-friendly” stance.In the party workshop at the National Assembly on Sunday, the Supreme Council and the policy committee agreed almost unanimously to slash university tuition fees and reinforce regulations over conglomerates.The plan also included overturning additional corporate

Politics July 11, 2011

The newly-elected chairperson of the ruling Grand National Party Rep. Hong Joon-pyo expressed concerns over the party’s recent outspoken comments on conglomerate policies.“The key point in backing small- and medium-sized businesses is to come up with active measures to help them, not to extort from large businesses,” Hong said in a radio interview on Wednesday.By this, he referred the party’s poli

Politics July 6, 2011