With the official canvassing period for this year’s presidential election kicking off on Tuesday, contenders traveled to regions across the country in colorful uniforms to reach out to voters. The presidential candidates currently leading the race, Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party, traversed between the cities of Seoul and Busan on their first canvassing day. Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People&rs

Politics Feb. 15, 2022

YEOSU, South Jeolla Province -- It is Saturday, and People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol is making a grand entrance outside Jeonju Station in North Jeolla Province. With supporters cheering -- some chanting “President Yoon Suk-yeol” to a drum beat -- Yoon is greeted by party Chairman Lee Jun-seok who arrived at the station on the “Passion Train,” a chartered four-carriage train that the party hired for a tour of the Chungcheong and Jeolla provinces.

Politics Feb. 14, 2022

Presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party on Sunday suggested unifying candidacies with the main opposition party’s Yoon Suk-yeol, and letting the public decide which of them will run.  “Today I suggest the candidates of the opposition parties to merge campaigns for a complete regime change and to call an end to the old system (in politics),” Ahn said in a livestream on his YouTube channel. Ahn explained that, even if an opposition party candidat

Politics Feb. 13, 2022

President Moon Jae-in hit back Thursday at opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol’s statement that he would order a probe into Moon’s government for corruption and irregularities if elected president. “I am deeply resentful of (Yoon’s remarks) accusing this government as subject to corruption investigations without any evidence. I demand his apology,” Moon was quoted as saying by Park Soo-hyun, senior presidential secretary for public communication. &l

Politics Feb. 10, 2022

Anti-China sentiment sparked by controversial decisions at the 2022 Beijing Olympics is growing into a political issue, prompting presidential candidates to jump on the latest bandwagon to woo voters. On Monday, Korean speedskaters Hwang Dae-heon and Lee June-seo were disqualified in different groups for the men’s 1,000-meter semifinals held at the Capital Indoor Stadium in China. While they came in first and second in their respective group races, the two athletes were penalized and

Politics Feb. 9, 2022

With less than 30 days to go to the March presidential election, candidates from opposition parties are bringing talks to merge their campaigns to the surface. Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party expressed for the first time his openness to unifying his candidacy with Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People’s Party in a media interview Monday. Ahn, however, drew a line on merging campaigns, saying he has no intention of doing so. In an interview with a local n

Politics Feb. 8, 2022

The main opposition People Power Party on Thursday proposed a debate between its candidate Yoon Suk-yeol and Democratic Party of Korea candidate Lee Jae-myung, continuing the ongoing controversy over whether or not a presidential debate would take place ahead of the March election. The proposal, which attempts to bypass a court decision prohibiting the two leading candidates from holding a televised debate without including rivals from minor parties highlights the importance that political par

Politics Jan. 27, 2022

The planned televised debate between the two leading presidential candidates has been called off, with a Seoul court granting the injunction filed by Ahn Cheol-soo, a minor opposition candidate who had been excluded from the event. Seoul Western District Court on Wednesday ordered the three local broadcasters not to hold or broadcast a debate for the two presidential candidates leading the race -- Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and Yoon Suk-yeol of the People Power Part

Politics Jan. 26, 2022

Central Seoul’s iconic Gwanghwamun Square will reopen to the public in July after undergoing a complete makeover, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said on Thursday. The symbolic square, which has been under construction since November 2020, will return doubled in size to include a park, adding more green space to the area, the city said. According to the city government, the total size of the square has increased from 18,840 square meters to 40,300 square meters. After turning some o

Social Affairs Jan. 25, 2022

Presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party on Monday stressed the need to adopt strict measures to push North Korea’s denuclearization, and vowed to strengthen national defense, saying it is the key to prosperity and peace on the Korean Peninsula. Announcing his 20 election pledges on diplomacy and defense policies -- four on North Korea, 11 on diplomacy and five on national defense -- Yoon vowed to normalize inter-Korean relations and strengthen Sout

Politics Jan. 24, 2022

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug met with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka on Thursday to discuss expanding economic cooperation and minerals investment. Park made the two-day trip to Sri Lanka to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relations. In the meeting with the Sri Lankan president, Park stressed how the economic structures of South Korea and Sri Lanka “complement” each other

Politics Jan. 21, 2022

As the presidential election is drawing near, an unexpected figure jumped into the spotlight: Kim Keon-hee, the wife of Yoon Suk-yeol, the candidate from the main opposition People Power Party. After controversial recordings of her phone call with a reporter were published last weekend, Kim has gained an unusual fandom, with her online fan club witnessing its members grow exponentially in only a couple of days. While the latest phenomenon reflects the high expectations the electorate holds f

Politics Jan. 20, 2022

Starting his fourth year in office, Hwaseong Mayor Seo Cheol-mo is far from complacent in his governing duties for a city rapidly growing across all sectors. While regional economies have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing measures that ensued, Seo believes the real “disease” local government should battle against is their “incompetency.” “New variants of the coronavirus continue to emerge, but there is no need to be excessively afr

Politics Jan. 20, 2022

Potentially damaging phone call recordings of presidential candidates and their family members continue to plague the election campaigns across the aisle, with the latest revelation hitting Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. Lee responded quickly, apologizing for the contents of his phone calls with his late brother, which were filled with insults. The recording transcripts were made public on Tuesday. “Although there is a difficult background that I cannot reveal,

Politics Jan. 19, 2022

A high school student’s sarcastic letter to a conscripted soldier sent as part of an encouragement campaign, has recently raised questions as to whether it is worth keeping the longstanding practice. The unfriendly letter written anonymously to a conscripted soldier was first posted at an online community site on Jan. 11, with the user complaining of the message deriding the receiver. “Is military life hard for you? Still, work hard. There will be a lot of hardships in life. Don

Social Affairs Jan. 18, 2022