The New Reform Party, a "big tent” aimed at capturing voters disaffected with the main two parties, has been rattled by another round of internal rift ahead of the April 10 legislative election. The party’s Floor Leader Rep. Yang Hyang-ja on late Thursday pledged to continue supporting the New Reform Party, two days after she hinted at leaving. Yang had expressed disagreement with the list of candidates selected by the other leadership members for the upcoming election, and was

Politics March 22, 2024

A human rights lawyer who was nominated by the main opposition party to run as a candidate in the upcoming legislative election decided to withdraw her bid on Thursday, facing mounting criticism that she has provided legal defense to multiple convicted sexual offenders, including a child rapist. Cho Soo-jin announced she would not run in the April 10 general election through a Facebook post merely three days after she won a primary against two-term lawmaker Rep. Park Yong-jin in a key district i

Politics March 22, 2024

South Korea’s Ambassador to Australia and ex-Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup returned home Thursday as the rival parties here called for a tougher investigation into his alleged manipulation of a military probe into the death of a young marine last year. Lee landed in Korea via Incheon International Airport in the morning, 11 days after he flew to Australia to assume his role as top envoy to Australia. The departure on March 10 came two days after the Justice Ministry lifted Lee’s trav

Politics March 21, 2024

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration on Wednesday announced the regional allocation for 2,000 new slots for students at medical schools across the country, finalizing administrative procedures for the plan it has pushed for months, despite doctors staging a large-scale walkout. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo reaffirmed that the government’s plan, which was announced in February, fell in line with the Ministry of Education’s decision to allot 82 percent of the quota to medical schools outsid

Social Affairs March 20, 2024

A satellite of the ruling party and another launched by former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon on Monday announced their list of candidates for the upcoming general election on April 10. The candidates will be vying for National Assembly seats through proportional representation under the current voting system. The People Future Party announced a total of 35 candidates, including Choi Bo-yun, a 45-year-old attorney with a spinal cord disability, and Park Chung-kwon, a 38-year-old North Korean defecto

Politics March 18, 2024

A dispute over the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s recent decision to greenlight the lifting of the travel ban on South Korea's new ambassador to Australia intensified Monday, as the ruling party chief and the state-affiliated corruption investigation agency expressed their disapproval of the move. The latest conflict follows the Justice Ministry’s decision earlier this month to allow the departure of the recently appointed envoy and former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup to Austra

Politics March 18, 2024

The political party recently launched by a disgraced ex-minister has become a major threat to the ruling party ahead of the April 10 legislative election, and a force that “needs to be stopped” alongside the main opposition, according to People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon on Sunday. “The main opposition party has become more toxic ... due to the current Democratic Party of Korea Chair Lee Jae-myung and the forces of (ex-Justice Minister) Cho Kuk, which works as a shield for

Politics March 17, 2024

Prosecutors on Thursday indicted 11 aides of former President Moon Jae-in, accusing them of manipulating government data on housing prices from June 2017 to November 2021. The Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office accused the suspects, including former Land Minister Kim Hyun-mi and Moon’s ex-Chief Presidential Secretaries for Policy Kim Sang-jo and Kim Soo-hyun, of manipulating the data released by the state-affiliated real estate data provider a total of 125 times to create the appear

Social Affairs March 14, 2024

South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Tuesday criticized recent attempts made by protesting doctors to delay the government's plan to increase the annual medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 and to lower the cap on the number of students. Han's remarks follow a proposal made by a group of senior doctors and medical school professors the same day, who called for the government "to decide on the quota increase after allowing overseas researchers to review the matter

Social Affairs March 13, 2024

The main opposition party said Monday they seek to impeach two incumbent ministers accused of peddling their influence in lifting former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup's travel ban. Lee departed for Australia on Sunday to take office as Seoul's top envoy to Canberra, two days after the Justice Ministry lifted his travel ban imposed by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials' in January for allegedly delaying a probe into the death of a young Marine in July

Politics March 11, 2024

The main opposition’s goal to bring President Yoon Suk Yeol to “judgment” through the upcoming April 10 legislative election, now faces major hurdles due to Yoon’s and the ruling party’s growing popularity, observers said Friday. Democratic Party of Korea Chair Lee Jae-myung in recent weeks has repeatedly stressed the party’s goal to bring the Yoon Suk Yeol administration to “judgment” by winning the election. In his visit to the political symbolic

Politics March 8, 2024

The police on Friday launched a probe into the alleged assault on former soccer player Lee Chun-soo while he was participating in former Land Minister and ruling party candidate Won Hee-ryong’s street campaign ahead of the April 10 general election. The Incheon Gyeyang Police Station received a report from Won’s office at 10 p.m. on Thursday claiming that Lee, who recently endorsed the former land minister for the upcoming election, was “physically assaulted.” Lee was att

Politics March 8, 2024

The rate of respondents willing to vote for main opposition party candidates in the upcoming April 10 legislative election dropped by a whopping 9 percentage points from the previous month, poll results showed Wednesday. In a survey conducted by local pollster Metrix on 1,000 Koreans aged 18 or older on March 2-3, when asked which party they would vote for "if the election was held tomorrow," some 26 percent of respondents chose candidates from the main opposition Democratic Party of K

Politics March 6, 2024

Main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday met former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, who recently launched a political party of his own, exhibiting the possibility of an alliance. The meeting follows Cho’s move to launch the National Innovation Party on Sunday against the Yoon Suk Yeol administration ahead of the upcoming general election, which some critics say is an attempt to avoid jail time. The Seoul High Court in early February decided to uphold a lower court ruling to sentence the 5

Politics March 5, 2024

The ruling party chief on Monday called on the main opposition leader to engage in a televised debate ahead of the April 10 legislative election, saying that it’s “what many people want.” People Power Party Interim Chair Han Dong-hoon told reporters that he is ready to face off against the Democratic Party of Korea Chair Lee Jae-myung in a debate, while hinting that the opposition leader has been avoiding it on purpose. “I believe it is what several media and many people

Politics March 4, 2024