The minor conservative opposition Bareun Party on Monday proposed a bill to plug the regulatory loophole that has allowed political parties to receive more than what they actually spent on an election in state subsidies. The move comes after its three larger rivals -- the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, main opposition Liberty Korea Party and centrist minor opposition People’s Party -- reportedly reclaimed extra money from the election committee after this year’s presidential election in May. 

Politics Aug. 29, 2017

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party is moving to remove former President Park Geun-hye from its ranks before Chuseok holidays, in a bid to raise ratings before the local election slated for June next year. As the national holiday, which falls on Oct. 4, is the time for family gatherings in Korea, the party seeks to prevent negative sentiment shared among voters over their party’s connection with the embattled former president. Liberty Korea Party chairman Hong Joon-pyo has been calling to cu

Politics Aug. 29, 2017

Ahn Cheol-soo, the new chairman of the minor centrist opposition People’s Party, on Monday vowed to keep the government in check, sharpening the edge against the Moon Jae-in administration.“The People’s Party should always be awake. We will become an opposition that can strongly go against the government when it makes decisions that divide the people and goes against national benefit,” said Ahn at a meeting with senior party members. The party’s former chief and presidential candidate reclaimed

Politics Aug. 28, 2017

South Korea had 14 purported terror threats in the first seven months this year but seven out of 18 regional fire defense headquarters do not have an anti-terrorism squad to respond to them. According to government data revealed by Rep. Hong Chul-ho of minor opposition Bareun Party, the seven without an anti-terrorism response team, as required by law, are Gangwon, North Jeolla, South Gyeongsang and Jeju provinces, and Daejeon, Changwon and Sejong cities. The Act on 119 Rescue and Emergency Medi

Politics Aug. 28, 2017

“Take a look at this pupa hanging from a leaf.” At the call of the guide, 5-year-olds crowded around to observe the cocooned insect hanging from a shrub inside the “infant’s forest” of Samcheong Park, in the center of the country’s busiest city, Seoul. Each with a magnifying glass in hand, the children freely explored their surroundings, poking at a slug and shrieking in delight at finding a spider hanging on a web in a tree. Amid the drone of city life and strictly planned classroom culture, mo

Social Affairs Aug. 25, 2017

President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday agreed to work together to pressure North Korea and seek a peaceful resolution to nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula, Cheong Wa Dae said.The two leaders reaffirmed their stance that they would watch closely and analyze provocative actions from North Korea and cooperate with international society, in a 30-minute conversation by phone from 10:40 a.m. to 11:10 a.m. South Korean President Moon Jae-in (left) and Japanese Prime

Politics Aug. 25, 2017

The South Korean government on Saturday began a formal environmental survey on the advanced US missile defense system deployed in a southern town amid a fierce protest by local residents and activists, officials said.The defense and environment ministries were to conduct their joint study of electromagnetic radiation and noise from the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in Seongju, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to them.Two rocket launchers and a powerful X-band radar

Defense Aug. 12, 2017

South Korean shares are expected to move in a tight range next week as escalating war rhetoric between North Korea and the United States could continue to weigh in the main index, analysts said Saturday.Cape Investment & Securities said it expected the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index to trade at the 2,300-2,360 range next week. The broader index closed at 2,319.71 points on Friday, down 3.1 percent from a week ago. Heightened tensions between North Korea and the US are negative f

Market Aug. 12, 2017

A victim of Japanese sexual slavery, Kil Won-ok, on Thursday announced she will make her debut as a singer on the fifth memorial ceremony in tribute to the comfort women. “Whether others like it or not, I believe singing is my job because I like to sing,” Kil said in a production press conference held at the War and Women’s Human Rights Museum in Mapo-gu, Seoul.  Former “comfort women” Gil Won-ok (center) smiles at a press conference for her new EP at War & Women’s Human Rights Museum in Mapo-gu

Politics Aug. 10, 2017

Lawmakers are moving to introduce a new law that would ban employers from sending work-related messages outside work hours, amid rising calls to protect the right to disconnect from work. Recently, two bills have been recently submitted to the National Assembly, both intending to revise the labor law to stop employers and managers from giving work-related orders, directly and indirectly via mobile messengers, phone calls and other forms of social network services. “Many South Koreans complain of

Politics Aug. 9, 2017

The People’s Party is facing a deepening factional feud over former party leader Ahn Cheol-soo’s bid for chairmanship. The party, which holds 40 parliamentary seats, is split mainly between Ahn’s supporters and opponents, but Ahn said Wednesday that the clash is occurring due to differing views on how to salvage the party.Ahn Cheol-soo (Yonhap)“The party is currently in a state of crisis and all of us share the same thoughts that we all need to work together. It is only a matter of how,” Ahn tol

Politics Aug. 9, 2017

MITROVICA, Kosovo (AFP) -- Kosovo’s Roma minority “are not treated as humans,” laments Florim Masurica, who is seeking justice for his disabled son, one of the children suffering from suspected lead-poisoning contracted at post-war United Nations camps.Kosovo’s pro-independence ethnic Albanian rebels saw Roma people as guilty of cooperation with Serbs during the 1998-1999 conflict -- a gratuitous accusation as Roma largely kept out of the fighting.But some of them faced summary executions, while

World News Aug. 8, 2017

BUSAN -- A Japanese man donated a photo of a Korean victim of Japan’s wartime sex slavery to a local museum on Tuesday as an apology for what he said is an act against humanity. Jikai Taketomi, an official from a private war archive in Japan, offered some 30 photos, letters and other articles from World War II to the state-run National Memorial Museum of Forced Mobilization under Japanese Occupation in Busan.  Jikai Taketomi, vice head of the War Archives on Soldiers and Ordinary People in the s

International Aug. 8, 2017

Liberty Korea Party’s reform committee on Monday announced a shift in its economic policy goals, while remaining undecided on former President Park Geun-hye’s party membership.“As we have previously announced in our reform resolution, we will promote our own ‘neo-conservatism’ and come up with detailed plans on issues such as inequality in labor, reducing pension gaps between generations and housing,” Lee Ok-nam, the committee’s spokesperson from the main opposition party said during a press mee

Politics Aug. 7, 2017

The three-way race for the leadership of the centrist People’s Party effectively kicked off Sunday, with the candidates holding separate press meetings, denouncing each other and laying out their plans to salvage the crisis-hit party. Ahn Cheol-soo, a former chief and previously the party’s presidential candidate, laid out plans to reshape it as a “small but strong opposition party.”  From left: Rep. Chun Jung-bae, former party chairman Ahn Cheol-soo and Rep. Chung Dong-yong (Yonhap)“I made my d

Politics Aug. 6, 2017