Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae pledged to reform the prosecution as she took office Friday, calling it the “demand of the times.”“Reforming the prosecution, which is (seen) as the most difficult (task), has become a demand of the times that nobody can resist,” Choo said in her inaugural speech at the ministry building in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul. President Moon named on Dec. 5 the five-term lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea to succeed Cho Kuk, who stepp

Social Affairs Jan. 3, 2020

The prosecution on Thursday filed charges against 28 lawmakers from rival parties and main opposition Liberty Korea Party chief Hwang Kyo-ahn, in connection with a mass brawl that broke out inside the National Assembly in April 2019 over a set of reform bills. The Seoul Nambu District Prosecutors’ Office indicted, without physical detention, Hwang and 23 lawmakers from the Liberty Korea Party and five from the ruling Democratic Party for obstructing justice, breaching parliamentary law and

Politics Jan. 2, 2020

A civic group filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, taking issue with baby products that come in pink for girls and in blue for boys, a civic group said Thursday. From clothing to stationery and toys, retailers have traditionally assigned blue to boys and pink to girls when they design products, which the civic group Political Mamas says deprives infants and their parents of rights to choose. They also took issue with playhouse toys, such as pretend kitchen ranges

Social Affairs Jan. 2, 2020

A new decade has dawned. Unprecedented challenges await Korea from an aging and shrinking population to accelerated warming of the peninsula. The Korea Herald has prepared a four-part series looking into some of the changes and challenges facing the nation in the 2020s. -- Ed.As South Korea enters a new decade with a looming demographic crisis, immigrants make up only 4 percent of the country’s total population of 51.7 million. The proportion looks set to rise in the 2020s, but the co

Social Affairs Dec. 31, 2019

The season’s strongest cold wave hit South Korea on Tuesday, New Year’s Eve, with temperatures in many parts of the country dropping below minus 10 degrees Celsius. Cold wave alerts or advisories were issued for most parts of the country as of 7 a.m., except for the resort island of Jeju. Temperatures dipped to the season’s record lows, reaching minus 11.7 C in Seoul and minus 9.8 C in Incheon as of 8:30 a.m., according to the nation’s weather agency. In the mountainous r

Social Affairs Dec. 31, 2019

A new decade has dawned. Unprecedented challenges await Korea from an aging and shrinking population to accelerated warming of the peninsula. The Korea Herald has prepared a four-part series looking into some of the changes and challenges facing the nation in the 2020s. -- Ed.The sea level is rising. Spring and autumn are getting shorter, while summer is becoming longer. South Korea is blanketed by toxic air more frequently. All these point to one thing: Global warming is unfolding on the K

Social Affairs Dec. 31, 2019

Justice minister nominee Choo Mi-ae on Monday pledged a swift and thorough implementation of prosecution reform, one of the most controversial reform initiatives of President Moon Jae-in and his ruling Democratic Party. Speaking at her parliamentary confirmation hearing, Choo, a five-term ruling Democratic Party lawmaker and former judge, expressed her support for an envisioned independent investigation body to probe corruption of senior government officials, including the president, public pros

Social Affairs Dec. 30, 2019

A bill on setting up an independent body tasked with investigating corruption of high-ranking officials was expected to be put to vote Monday amid fierce opposition from the prosecution and the main opposition party. The nearly 27-hour filibuster, which the main opposition Liberty Korea Party began Friday to stop the bill’s passage, ended at midnight Sunday as the extra parliamentary session ended. A new session was called for Monday, where lawmakers are expected to vote on the contentious

Social Affairs Dec. 29, 2019

Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk denied allegations on Thursday that he had abused his power to suspend a presidential inquiry into a former Busan vice mayor, as he attended an arrest warrant hearing in connection with the case.     　After the hearing, Cho said through his lawyer that he had neither abused his power nor stopped the internal inquiry into Yoo Jae-soo, who was suspected of taking bribes. Cho also denied attempting to destroy evidence. 　At the hearing, which laste

Social Affairs Dec. 26, 2019

More than 7 out of 10 residents of Seoul said the reunification of South and North Korea was necessary despite soured inter-Korean relations, a survey showed Wednesday.According to the survey of 2,000 Seoul citizens by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, 74.2 percent of the respondents said reunification of the Koreas was necessary, whereas 26 percent said it was not.The liberal Moon Jae-in administration has focused its efforts on improving relations between the two Koreas, which remain technica

Social Affairs Dec. 25, 2019

Lawmakers from rival political camps took to the parliamentary podium for a marathon, relayed speech, as a filibuster continued into the second consecutive day Tuesday over a proposed reform of election rules.  The main opposition Liberty Korea Party began the filibuster at the National Assembly on Monday night in an attempt to block the passage of the ruling Democratic Party-led election law revision. Speaker Moon Hee-sang introduced the bill for a parliamentary vote earlier in the day aft

Politics Dec. 24, 2019

The prosecution on Monday demanded a retrial for a man who may have been wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in 1988, in light of new evidence and a series of flaws in the original investigation.The Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office has reopened the decades-old case after Lee Chun-jae, who is already serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of his sister-in-law in 1994, confessed to the crime in October. 　A recent DNA breakthrough has pinpointed Lee as th

Social Affairs Dec. 23, 2019

The prosecution on Monday sought an arrest warrant for former Justice Minister Cho Kuk over allegations he abused his power to end a presidential inquiry into a former Busan vice mayor. The Seoul Eastern District Court will hold a hearing Thursday morning to decide whether to arrest him on a charge of abuse of power, and a decision is expected later in the day or early Friday morning.    　Cho, then-presidential secretary for civil affairs, faces suspicions that he ordered the susp

Social Affairs Dec. 23, 2019

A national fine dust information center opened Thursday as part of government efforts to more systematically and comprehensively manage data related to particulate pollution. Set up under the Ministry of Environment, then National Fine Dust Information Center is tasked with analyzing, gathering and managing data on the causes and sources of particulate pollution, amount of emissions from different sources and the impact of the government’s anti-fine dust policies. The establishme

Social Affairs Dec. 19, 2019

Sejong University ranked No. 401 in the 2020 World University Rankings by Times Higher Education, the university said Thursday. The Seoul-based university placed 10th among South Korea’s universities, climbing one notch from a year prior. Seoul National University ranked highest in the university league table among Korean universities. The World University Rankings 2020, published in September, evaluated almost 1,400 universities across 92 countries based on 13 performance indicators that

Social Affairs Dec. 19, 2019