Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol said Sunday he will seek to revise a law designed to filter out illegally filmed content from major internet platforms amid criticism the measure amounts to censorship. A revision to the Telecommunications Business Act and a related law went into effect on Friday, requiring large internet platforms with annual sales of 1 billion won or the num...

‘Old’ image and lackluster pledges keep younger voters at bay

President Moon Jae-in called Saturday for speeding up booster shots for the elderly as the country struggles to tackle the fast spread of coronavirus infections, including cases of the new omicron variant. The country added 6,977 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total caseload to 510,538, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Daily infections soared to a recor...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday lauded the efforts made by companies to cut carbon emissions, and reiterated that the goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 is “must” for the country. In celebration of the first anniversary of the declaration of the country’s 2050 carbon neutral vision, Moon invited company leaders and economic organizations to check on the year’s progress and re...

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential nominee of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), called on the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) on Friday to agree to immediately execute its own proposal to spend 100 trillion won ($85 billion) on compensating small businesses hit by the pandemic. Lee suggested the rival parties jointly pass a supplementary budget through a provisional session of the National...

The head of a municipal development company, who was facing prosecutorial questioning for allegedly taking bribes in a massive land development corruption scandal, was found dead in an apparent suicide, police said on Friday. Police discovered the body of Yoo Han-gi, head of the Pocheon Urban Corp., who was reported missing by his family early Friday near his home in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Y...

Booster shots for adults can be administered three months after their primary vaccination, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Friday, amid rising concerns over a surge in COVID-19 infections. The decision to cut the dosage interval between primary vaccination and booster shots for people aged 18 or older was announced as the country's daily new coronavirus infections surpassed 7,000 for the third ...

Presidential nominees launch coronavirus countermeasure teams to appeal

President Moon Jae-in will share the nation’s democratic achievements at a summit hosted by US President Joe Biden on Tuesday night. During the two-day virtual “Summit for Democracy,” 110 countries will share opinions on how to guard against authoritarianism, eradicate corruption and promote respect for human rights. China and Russia were excluded. In the first part of the plenary session, Moon...

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday slammed the main opposition party's campaign chief for refusing to hold talks over his own proposal to spend 100 trillion won ($85 billion) to support small business owners and self-employed people hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The DP criticized Kim Chong-in, the campaign chief of People Power Party (PPP)'s presidential nominee Yoon Suk-yeol, for step...

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday congratulated Germany's new Chancellor Olaf Scholz on his official inauguration, saying he hopes to work closely with the new German leader to move relations between the two countries forward. Moon and Scholz met in late October in Rome, where Moon held a bilateral summit with then German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who stepped down after 16 years in office, on th...

The Seoul city government will hold a town meeting with foreign residents later this week to listen to their suggestions to make the city a better place to live in, officials said Thursday. The event will be held at the Seoul Global Center in central Seoul at 2 p.m. Friday and be livestreamed through YouTube (youtu.be/03E15JUmGc8). The number of on-site participants will be limited due to antivi...

Sim Sang-jeung, the presidential candidate of the minor progressive Justice Party, pledged Thursday to raise troops' wages to the minimum wage level by 2030. Currently, the monthly wage for sergeants is set at 676,000 won ($576) for next year, which is half the 2017 minimum wage of 1.35 million won. Next year's minimum hourly wage has been set at 9,160 won, which translates to a monthly wage of...

The ruling Democratic Party has begun looking into delaying the introduction of the "vaccine pass" system for children aged 12 to 18 and changing the types of facilities that require the pass after strong protests from students and parents, multiple party officials said Wednesday. Under rules that took effect Monday, the list of facilities requiring visitors to present a vaccine pass -- proof of...

South Korea is not considering a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing and the country is still undecided on the matter, a senior presidential official said Wednesday. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, made the remarks when asked about the US government's announcement to stage a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics due to China's human rights abu...