President Moon Jae-in on Monday said he will cooperate with the relocation of the presidential office after closely reviewing the budget during the dinner meeting with President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, according to Yoon’s top official. The dinner meeting began at 6 p.m. and lasted about two and a half hours, attended by Moon’s Chief of Staff Yoo Young-min and Yoon’s Chief of Staff Jang Je-won. After the meeting ended, Jang held a press briefing at 9:30 p.m. and said the two ta

Politics March 28, 2022

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s approval ratings have continued to fall since the election, with the figure hitting the lowest for president-elects in recent history. Yoon’s push for relocation of the presidential office and repeated conflicts with the Moon Jae-in administration seem to have negatively affected public opinion. The poll results on Monday showed that the negative outlook for Yoon’s government performance outpaced the positive outlook in a week. The same surve

Politics March 28, 2022

President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol are to hold their first meeting on Monday evening, 19 days after the presidential election, the two sides confirmed Sunday. Monday’s meeting will be their first in 21 months since Yoon visited Cheong Wa Dae to attend the Anti-Corruption Policy Council in 2020, when he was prosecutor general. They were supposed to meet on March 16, but the meeting was postponed, saying more working-level consultations were needed. This is the longes

Politics March 27, 2022

  Experts have discussed the current status and direction of the platform economy as part of policy seminar series of “The Digital Age, the Road to the Cooperative Economy of Korea” organized by the UN-Habitat Korean National Committee on Wednesday.  In this seminar, experts from each field participated in resolving the monopoly on platform profits and legislating. They discussed regulations on “dinosaur” platforms for two hours and policy recommendations for p

Social Affairs March 24, 2022

Friction between President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol appears to be intensifying, with the two sides openly criticizing one another.  Since the presidential election earlier this month, Moon and Yoon have been at odds over multiple issues, such as the relocation of the presidential office and appointment of high-ranking officials, including the governor of the Bank of Korea. A meeting between Moon and Yoon has still not taken place, marking the most prolonged delay bet

Politics March 24, 2022

Registered as Cultural Heritage No. 428, the former Yongsan Railway Hospital has been reborn as a local history museum, representative of Yongsan’s historicity and identity. The 2,775-square-meter museum is comprised of two stories above the ground, with a viewing capacity of 100 people. The space is divided into exhibition, education, administration, preservation, landscaping and public use. The Yongsan History Museum’s building in itself is a cultural heritage. The building, buil

Social Affairs March 23, 2022

Speculations are rising that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Unification could see major changes under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. The Foreign Ministry may regain trade functions from the Industry Ministry with growing importance on economic security. The Unification Ministry, meanwhile, appears likely to see its role reduced amid increasing tensions with the North. Talk of the transfer of trade affairs dates back to the promises made by Ahn Cheol-soo, chairman of

Politics March 23, 2022

The plan to move the presidential office is bringing the incumbent and incoming administrations to a loggerhead, with each side raising concerns and complaints. President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday stressed the need to maintain readiness, in an apparent reference to President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s plans to relocate the offices of the president, Ministry of National Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff. Saying that the country currently faces a dire situation “inside and outside,” M

Politics March 22, 2022

North Korea on Sunday fired four suspected shots from multiple rocket launchers into the Yellow Sea, South Korean military officials said, the latest in a series of provocations that could heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula. “There were shots believed to be that of North Korea’s multiple rocket launchers this morning,” an official of the South Korean military said. “We are maintaining our defense readiness posture while closely following related developments,&rdq

North Korea March 20, 2022

The first luncheon between President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol was canceled about four hours before they were to sit down together, with the transition getting off to a rocky start. This is the first case in which a meeting between the incumbent president and president-elect was canceled after plans were made public. “We decided to reschedule the meeting because working-level consultations have not been completed,” a Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson said in a statem

Politics March 16, 2022

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol appears on course to fulfill his pledge to relocate the presidential office, with two locations in Seoul being discussed as potential candidates. Initially, he proposed setting up the presidential office in the Gwanghwamun area, but due to practical challenges, the Defense Ministry building in Yongsan-gu has emerged as a strong alternative, officials said. During the election, Yoon pledged to relocate the presidential office from the isolated Cheong Wa Dae to th

Politics March 15, 2022

President Moon Jae-in will hold a luncheon meeting with President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol at Cheong Wae Dae on Wednesday, the presidential office said Tuesday. Yoon will ask for a pardon for former President Lee Myung-bak. The meeting between the two is the first time in seven days since the presidential election and 21 months since Yoon visited Cheong Wa Dae to attend the Anti-Corruption Policy Council in 2020, when he served as the prosecutor general. “This luncheon will be held without

Politics March 15, 2022

Many are now watching to see whether former President Lee Myung-bak will be granted a special pardon before the end of the Moon Jae-in administration, as President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is expected to demand Lee’s pardon. Moon and Yoon are expected to meet at Cheong Wa Dae early next week, and the issue of special amnesty for politicians, including Lee, is likely to be discussed at the meeting. Yoon is in favor of pardoning Lee, who was president from 2008-2013. Earlier, he said Lee shou

Politics March 14, 2022

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol has told leaders of neighboring Japan and China to develop relations further. The leaders agreed to strengthen ties with South Korea. On Friday morning, Yoon met with the Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming in Seoul, saying he is confident that Korea-China relations will develop further. “China is Korea‘s largest trading partner, and we are China’s third-largest trading partner,” Yoon told Xing. “This year is the 30th ann

Foreign Affairs March 11, 2022

Former top prosecutor Yoon Suk-yeol rose to the presidency in less than a year, entering politics with a promise to restore fairness following a regime marred by runaway housing prices and corruption scandals. The political neophyte now needs to prove his presidential capacity by addressing the mounting political and diplomatic challenges the nation faces. Public frustration grew under the administration of Moon Jae-in, who once won in a landslide with great expectations, but who was rocked by

Politics March 10, 2022