First lady Kim Keon Hee’s absence at an opposition-led parliamentary hearing on Friday sparked a protest by opposition parties, while the ruling party came to her defense. Kim and her mother failing to appear as witnesses at the hearing organized by the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee Friday morning, to review an online petition with some 1.4 million signatures calling for the impeachment of her husband President Yoon Suk Yeol. The impeachment motion against Y

Politics July 26, 2024

A bill recently vetoed by President Yoon Suk Yeol that would mandate a special counsel investigation into the Defense Ministry's and military's response to a Marine's death, was scrapped at the National Assembly on Thursday amid intensifying bipartisan struggle. The revote had 194 votes in favor to 104 against the bill. Overriding a presidential veto requires a majority of the 300-member body to be present with two-thirds of them in favor. There was one abstention in the revote th

Politics July 25, 2024

The leadership race for the two major parties here heated up in recent days, with the main opposition kicking off its primaries and the ruling party wrapping up its weekslong contest with an election scheduled for Tuesday. Ex-main opposition leader and Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Lee Jae-myung on Sunday won a primary in Gangwon Province, the third of the 15-leg race across the country, as he tries to secure a second term. Lee won a whopping 90.02 percent of the total ballots cast by registere

Politics July 21, 2024

South Korea’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favor of a same-sex couple, who sought to receive the same spousal coverage as heterosexual couples from the National Health Insurance Service. Under the current law, South Korea does not legally recognize same-sex marriage. However, Thursday’s ruling marks the first time that the top court recognized the legal rights of a same-sex couple. The top court’s landmark ruling upholds a high court’s decision in February last year

Social Affairs July 18, 2024

Prosecutors on Wednesday requested an arrest warrant for Kim Beom-su, the founder of Kakao Corp., on charges of involvement in suspected illegal stock manipulation during the tech giant’s acquisition of K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment last year. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office filed a warrant for Kim over allegations of violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act. The move comes a week after prosecutors grilled Kim for about five hours on suspicions

Social Affairs July 17, 2024

The ruling conservative party’s leadership race has been plagued by violence, as supporters of different candidates clashed during a joint campaign speech event held early this week. Videos of the speech event held Monday in the central city of Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, showed apparent supporters of former People Power Party interim leader Han Dong-hoon and ex-Land Minister Won Hee-ryong embroiled in a physical altercation. A YouTuber, who is an apparent supporter of Won, yelled

Politics July 17, 2024

The nominee to head the National Tax Service on Tuesday apologized for controversies surrounding his master’s degree thesis, which included allegations of plagiarism and using “inappropriate terms” to describe the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising. Kang Min-soo, the former chief of the Seoul Regional Tax Office, who was tapped by President Yoon Suk Yeol as the next commissioner of the NTS, was recently accused of using terms that describe the previous military Chun Doo-hwan

Politics July 16, 2024

South Korea’s two largest political parties have decided to bolster security measures for their respective leader candidates, as both party conventions are scheduled to be held by the end of next month, sources close to the matter said Monday. The moves follow the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, the US, last week, prompting concerns about political violence here as well. With only a few weeks left until its July 23 party convention, the ruling People

Politics July 15, 2024

The ruling party People Power Party’s election management committee formed to handle the ongoing race to select its next leader said Friday it issued a warning to two of its contenders, requesting them to halt their “personal attacks” against each other. The committee revealed that it had sent warning letters to former Justice Minister and party interim leader Han Dong-hoon and former Land Minister Won Hee-ryong – two of four candidates for the chairman position –

Politics July 12, 2024

South Korea has filed an appeal against a ruling by a Hague-based arbitration court ordering it to pay $32 million to a US hedge fund to compensate for its intervention in the merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015, the Justice Ministry said Thursday. The appeal to the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration follows the tribunal’s decision in April to side with Mason Capital Management, though the compensation ordered was much less than the $200 million the hedge fund had sought. Ma

Foreign Affairs July 11, 2024

Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday officially announced he will run again to be the leader of the main opposition here, with observers saying he is likely to be reelected at the party's convention next month. The announcement comes two weeks after Lee resigned as chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party. Lee had taken office as the party leader in 2022 after winning 77.77 percent of the vote at the national convention in August that year. At a press conference

Politics July 10, 2024

Rumors that former ruling party interim leader Han Dong-hoon ignored a total of five text messages from first lady Kim Keon Hee have opened a new rift within the conservative bloc, with some questioning the intention behind the alleged texts by the wife of the president, who is expected to remain politically neutral. The intra-party rift intensified after the Telegram text messages reportedly sent by Kim to former ruling party interim leader and ex-Justice Minister Han, ahead of the April 10 gen

Politics July 9, 2024

A loud, booming voice bellowed throughout the room in the National Assembly members’ office building in western Seoul. As he spoke with The Korea Herald, switching between fluent English and Korean, Rep. Ihn Yohan of the ruling People Power Party pointed to a Hanja idiom framed and hung on the wall of his office that translates as: “There is no place where more milk and honey flows than Suncheon.” The city of Suncheon, the largest in South Jeolla Province, holds a special place

Politics July 8, 2024

Partisan gridlock is expected to dominate the National Assembly in upcoming weeks, fueled by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s expected veto of a contentious bill that mandates a special counsel investigation into the death of a young Marine last year. The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, which railroaded the bill that was passed by the opposition-led Assembly on Thursday, is gearing up to respond to a presidential veto that is likely to be announced by July 19, according to its acting c

Politics July 7, 2024

The opposition-led National Assembly on Thursday passed a contentious bill mandating a special counsel investigation into the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and the military’s response to a young Marine’s death last year. Of the total 190 lawmakers that participated in the vote, 189 voted in favor of the bill while one was against it. All ruling People Power Party, except two, boycotted and left the premises before plenary voting took place. The contentious bill, which calls for the fo

Politics July 4, 2024