Interim leader of the ruling People Power Party Han Dong-hoon on Sunday called for "groundbreaking" policy measures to help students alleviate the burden of college tuition costs. At a meeting of government representatives, the ruling party and President Yoon Suk Yeol's office, Han asked meeting participants to devise more policies to tackle tuition costs for tertiary education. South Korea's annual average tuition fees are estimated to be the eighth-highest among the 27 memb

Politics Jan. 14, 2024

The ball is in President Yoon Suk Yeol's court after the passage of a special bill to give the National Assembly the power to launch a new probe into the Itaewon crowd crush incident in October 2022 that killed 159 people. Opposition lawmakers called for a renewed investigation so that a wider range of decision-makers would face consequences for the failure to put in place measures to deal with overcrowding as people flocked to the nightlife district for Halloween. The presidential office, howev

Politics Jan. 12, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol tapped his secretary dedicated to economic security as the new deputy of the presidential National Security Office on Wednesday. Wang Yun-jong, secretary for economic security, was promoted to third deputy director of the NSO. Ahn Se-hyun, an international affairs professor at the University of Seoul, will take Wang's post. The 62-year-old Wang and 52-year-old Ahn will both begin in their positions on Thursday, according to Yoon's office. Wang has shaped the direction for

Politics Jan. 10, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that his administration would push to ease regulations concerning the redevelopment of apartment buildings aged 30 years or older, by allowing projects to go ahead even if the existing buildings are safe for habitation. Any residential complex built before 1994 may apply for reconstruction. Previously, owners of the apartment units had to get a municipality's approval that the buildings in the complex were dangerous to live in, no matter how old they w

Politics Jan. 10, 2024

A legal revision approved by South Korea's Cabinet on Tuesday would allow the presidential National Security Office to create a new deputy director position to be tasked with economic security and technological supremacy in the face of frequent industrial supply chain disruptions. As a result of the reorganization, the newly appointed deputy director of the NSO will be dedicated to stabilizing the supply chain, handling matters related to nuclear power plant exports and minimizing impacts f

Politics Jan. 9, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol reiterated his policy focus on Tuesday, saying that the new year should be a year to achieve a "recovery of ordinary people's livelihoods," during the first Cabinet meeting of the year he presided. According to Yoon, measures are being undertaken to help ordinary people refinance their mortgages via mobile apps, effective Tuesday, aimed potentially at offering a new term with a lower interest rate. In addition, a greater portion of the vulnerable will recei

Politics Jan. 9, 2024

South Korea is considering removing late payments from the credit history of individuals or vendors who fell victim to the COVID-19 pandemic's economic fallout, possibly before the Lunar New Year's holiday in mid-February. President Yoon Suk Yeol's office "is in talks with the financial authorities to map out the timing of (the removal of delinquency on the credit reports) and the scope of its beneficiaries," said a source from the presidential office on Monday. In Korea, individuals f

Politics Jan. 8, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol's office on Friday hinted at establishing an office dedicated to first lady Kim Keon Hee, reneging on a campaign pledge not to operate such an office during his term. The president is "considering the option to set up the office in case it wins public consent over the matter," said a source from the presidential office who declined to be named. The source did not elaborate on how to gauge public approval of the establishment. Earlier Friday, Yoon vetoed a specia

Politics Jan. 5, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday exercised his veto power to strike down a bill that would let the opposition-controlled National Assembly order a special investigation into first lady Kim Keon Hee's alleged involvement in stock manipulation. "(We) express a deep regret over the opposition bloc's unilateral move (to pass the bill to investigate the first lady) without bipartisan consent," presidential chief of staff Lee Kwan-sup told reporters. "Yoon has the obligation

Politics Jan. 5, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday reiterated his pledge to support the livelihoods of South Korean citizens, including 11 trillion-won ($8.4 billion) in funding to curb consumer inflation. Yoon's office expressed its intention to slow inflation, as measured by the monthly consumer price index, to less than 3 percent by June. The consumer price index in December jumped to 3.6 percent in 2023, compared with 5.1 percent in 2022. "We anticipate the price stability with the consumer price inde

Politics Jan. 4, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol will hold a series of policy debates instead of receiving New Year briefings from each ministry, ditching formalities to lay out policy items aimed at improving people's livelihood, his office said Wednesday. The key agendas for Yoon's 2024 policy planning encompass housing, jobs, small- and medium-sized enterprises, public safety, caregiving, public transit, medical reform, media policy, low birth rate and energy. To touch upon these areas, at least 10 sessions

Politics Jan. 3, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday proposed to withdraw South Korea's plan to introduce a net investment income tax scheme beginning in 2025. This came about a year after plans to impose the "financial investment income tax" on investors had been deferred for two years, meaning the new tax rule would go into effect in January next year. The rule, under the revision of the Income Tax Act, was initially passed in 2020 with bipartisan agreement. "Our plan to introduce the financ

Politics Jan. 2, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol expressed confidence that a plan to bolster extended deterrence on the Korean Peninsula could materialize before the end of June in his New Year's speech to the nation Monday. "By the first half of this year, we will complete the enhanced (Republic of Korea)-US extended deterrence system to fundamentally deter any North Korean nuclear and missile threat," Yoon said in a televised speech from his office, referring to South Korea as the ROK. In April, Yoon an

Politics Jan. 1, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday appointed all three top-level presidential secretaries, promoting his chief policy secretary, Lee Kwan-sup, to chief of staff, appointing an economic expert to succeed Lee and tapping First Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin as his national security adviser. All of the ministerial-level presidential secretaries, who report directly to Yoon, will start work on Monday, the first day of 2024. Appointees do not have to go through a confirmation hearing at the Na

Politics Dec. 28, 2023

The conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration and the ruling People Power Party on Wednesday agreed to defer by two years the enforcement of the controversial Serious Disasters Punishments Act, which can hold executives criminally liable for deadly workplace disasters. The announcement, made at a meeting with Labor Minister Lee Jung-sik and People Power Party lawmakers, is expected to extend the grace period of the rule to 2026 for small enterprises, as the law was initially poised to come into

Politics Dec. 27, 2023