Both ruling and opposition lawmakers have recently highlighted the need for a solid control tower within the Cabinet to tackle the latest surge in digital sex crimes involving deepfake pornography, while criticizing the weak coordination among ministries tasked with handling the issue. During a parliamentary hearing held by the National Assembly's Gender Equality and Family Committee on Wednesday, main opposition Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Kim Nam-hee blamed the Ministry of Gender Equal

Politics Sept. 5, 2024

Tensions between the rival parties have escalated in recent days over the opposition's move to float a revised version of a special counsel probe bill into the death of a young Marine, as it claimed to have added an earlier suggestion from the ruling party leader into the latest version of the legislation. On Wednesday, the ruling People Power Party and main opposition Democratic Party of Korea clashed over opposition parties' move to propose the latest and fourth version of the bill t

Politics Sept. 4, 2024

Armed Forces Day, which is celebrated annually on Oct. 1 to honor the country’s military, has been designated by the government as a temporary holiday this year to boost awareness of the new security challenges on the Korean Peninsula, officials said Tuesday. In the afternoon, President Yoon Suk Yeol approved the Cabinet's decision in the morning to pass the motion to designate Oct. 1 as a temporary holiday, according to the presidential office. "Oct. 1 is when (UN troops) crosse

Politics Sept. 3, 2024

The National Assembly on Monday held its opening ceremony nearly 100 days after the members of the new parliament began working and with the incumbent president skipping the event for the first time since South Korea ended decades of military dictatorship in 1987. President Yoon Suk Yeol’s decision to skip the Assembly’s ceremony, where it had been customary for the president to give a congratulatory speech since 1987, followed hearings held by the parliamentary judiciary committee i

Politics Sept. 2, 2024

People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon and Democratic Party of Korea Chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung on Sunday agreed to launch a special consultative body for livelihood policies, review issues tied to the financial investment tax policy and urge the government to establish an emergency medical system for the upcoming Chuseok holiday. The agreements came as part of a joint statement announced by the ruling and the main opposition parties as the result of the first official talks between Han and Lee. T

Politics Sept. 1, 2024

The government and the ruling party agreed on adopting longer prison sentences of up to seven years for deepfake sex crimes Thursday, as South Korea grapples with a surge in female victims of such illegal pornography. The decision made during an emergency meeting at the National Assembly followed President Yoon Suk Yeol’s order, on Tuesday, of a crackdown on the latest reports of digital sex crimes involving the production and circulation of fake sexually explicit images of women and girls

Politics Aug. 29, 2024

The National Assembly on Wednesday passed a total of 28 bills aimed at improving the people’s livelihoods, marking the first time the rival parties showed such bipartisan support in advancing legislation since the 22nd Assembly started its four-year session in late May. Among the 28 was the Nursing Act, which specifies the roles and responsibilities, while providing better legal protection, for nurses and nursing assistants, across the country. The bill is in line with the Korean Nursing A

Politics Aug. 28, 2024

While South Korea’s infrastructure for people with disabilities has significantly improved in the past decades, the government still needs to appoint more of them to key posts in the administration, a former member of the US National Council on Disability said. Pak Dong-woo, known to people around him as Joe Pak, who served as the first Korean American member of the NCD under US President Barack Obama's administration from 2009 to 2013, highlighted the importance of such inclusivity w

Politics Aug. 26, 2024

The ruling People Power Party on Friday called for further intergenerational equity in the government’s plan to reform the country’s ailing pension system. “In order to make the country’s retirement security system sustainable enough to be effective for the next 100 years beyond the current generation of youth to a future generation, we cannot overlook the issue of fiscal sustainability. This means that our foremost task for (the government’s) pension reform is to b

Politics Aug. 23, 2024

National Assembly Speaker Rep. Woo Won-shik reiterated Wednesday the need for a bill to revise the Constitution, with the aim of changing the term limit for the president, stressing that an advisory body will be launched soon. Woo’s remarks, made at a press conference at the Assembly in western Seoul, are in line with the opposition’s goal to hold a national referendum in 2026. The ruling party has denounced the referendum as a move to shorten President Yoon Suk Yeol’s single,

Politics Aug. 21, 2024

The government and ruling party on Tuesday said they plan to allocate over 5.5 trillion won ($4.14 billion) for measures to improve people’s livelihoods here, including bigger discount coupons for small businesses and subsidies for electric vehicle users. The announcement comes as the Democratic Party of Korea has upped the ante in its pledges and policies to improve people’s livelihoods, with the main opposition’s Rep. Lee Jae-myung reelected as the party's leader in a landsli

Politics Aug. 20, 2024

The newly elected leaders of the rival parties will hold their first bilateral meeting next week, drawing national attention to the turbulent political climate as both are viewed as potential candidates for the 2027 presidential election. The announcement was made a day after Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Lee Jae-myung clinched his second term with a record-high 85.4 percent of the votes from registered party members Sunday. He will meet the recently elected ruling People Power Party Chair and

Politics Aug. 19, 2024

Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Lee Jae-myung was reelected to lead the country's main opposition party on Sunday, cementing his power within the National Assembly. Lee, who had served his first term as Democratic Party chair from August 2022 to June this year, won 85.4 percent of the votes from registered party members, confirming his second term as party leader, in a convention at the KSPO Dome in southeastern Seoul in the afternoon. His second term is due to end August 2026. Lee was widely exp

Politics Aug. 18, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday unveiled a new vision for unification, stressing that "complete liberation remains an unfinished task" as long as the Korean Peninsula remains divided, during his speech commemorating Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. However, his vision for a unified Korea, presented at the 79th Liberation Day ceremony, was overshadowed by internal discord within South Korea. Independence activist groups and opposition parties

Politics Aug. 15, 2024

The controversy over Korea's national day has resurfaced in the past week, after the Yoon Suk Yeol administration appointed a conservative professor accused of supporting a political movement that wants the country’s founding to be recognized as happening in 1948, instead of liberation in 1945. Kim Hyoung-suk, who took office as the new director of the Independence Hall of Korea earlier this month, has been accused by the liberal bloc and some descendants of Korean independence fighte

Social Affairs Aug. 14, 2024