The ruling People Power Party (PPP) has decided to take steps to pursue disciplinary action against a party lawmaker who came under fire for making remarks wishing for more rain during voluntary cleanup work in the wake of massive downpours, officials said Tuesday. Rep. Kim Sung-won drew strong criticism in early August after he was caught on TV cameras saying he wished more rain would fall for ...

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal filed by former President Lee Myung-bak to reverse the prosecution's sell-off of his house aimed at collecting fines he was ordered to pay in a corruption case, sources said Tuesday. Prosecutors had Lee's house in Seoul's Gangnam district auctioned off last year to collect fine money after the Supreme Court finalized a 17-year prison term for Lee for corr...

President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating rose for the second straight week, a poll showed Monday, in a positive sign that his rating may be recovering from unusual lows following his pledge to listen to the people in a press conference marking his first 100 days in office. In the poll of 2,011 voters conducted by Realmeter from Tuesday to Friday, 32.2 percent gave a positive assessment of his j...

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) was set to convene its ethics panel later Monday to discuss disciplinary action against a party lawmaker who came under fire for making remarks wishing for more rain during voluntary cleanup work in the wake of massive downpours. Rep. Kim Sung-won drew strong criticism in early August after he was caught on TV cameras saying he wished more rain would fall for ...

Former presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung won the latest rounds of voting in an ongoing race for the Democratic Party leadership on Sunday, inching closer to the helm of the main opposition party. Lee won some 79 percent of the votes by dues-paying DP members in South Jeolla Province and the metropolitan city of Gwangju in the region. Lee handily beat Park Yong-jin, who earned just over 20 pe...

Rallies around the home of former President Moon Jae-in will be banned starting Monday as the Presidential Security Service expanded the guard zone for the former president amid persistent noisy and menacing protests. The decision to ban rallies within 300 meters from Moon's home in Yangsan, about 310 kilometers southeast of Seoul, came after President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the secret service to...

After a tumultuous first 100 days, President Yoon Suk-yeol’s office announced a set of new hires on Sunday in a first major shake-up of his staff. Most notably, Yoon’s office is bringing back the chief of staff for policy, among the first senior roles eliminated when Yoon was inaugurated in May. Kim Dae-ki, Yoon’s chief of staff, explained at a press briefing that the role was being reinstated f...

Former Education Minister Park Soon-ae had ordered ministry officials to leave positive comments on mom forums when her proposal to lower the school entry age drew massive criticism, multiple sources said Sunday. Park, who resigned earlier this month after her proposal to lower the school entry age by one year to 5 infuriated parents, stressed the need to ramp up public relations on the controve...

Prosecutors investigating the case of the repatriation of two North Korean fishermen in November 2019 raided the Presidential Archives on Friday. The prosecution is investigating allegations that the Moon Jae-in government ordered the early termination of an investigation into two North Korean fishermen and forcibly returned them to North Korea despite their intention to defect. At the time, th...

The Ministry of Security and Public Administration’s newly launched police bureau is facing further controversy, as allegations mount that its first chief, Kim Sun-ho, began his career by informing on his former labor activist colleagues. Kim attended a plenary session of the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee on Thursday and denied allegations of having been a spy,...

A district court on Friday delivered a not-guilty verdict to Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon indicted on charges of making a false statement in the run-up to last year's by-election, citing the lack of evidence. Park was indicted for denying news reports that he was involved in the National Intelligence Service (NIS)'s surveillance of environmentalists campaigning against a major river restoration p...

DAEJEON -- Prosecutors on Friday raided the Presidential Archives as part of their investigations into possible illegalities in the controversial decision by the preceding Moon Jae-in government to close an aging nuclear reactor earlier than its legal expiration date. The Daejeon District Prosecutors Office sent prosecutors and investigators to the Presidential Archives in the central administra...

The presidential office expressed regret Friday over the "rude" remarks of the North Korean leader's sister on President Yoon Suk-yeol's offer of economic aid in exchange for denuclearization steps. Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, issued a scathing commentary earlier in the day, calling Yoon's initiative "the height of absurdity" and lambasting the president by name. ...

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Friday called on the government to launch negotiations with the United States to get South Korean-made electric vehicles eligible for tax benefits under the newly legislated Inflation Reduction Act. Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, PPP's floor leader, said that Korea-made electric cars should enjoy equal tax benefits as those produced in North America in accordance w...

Lee Won-seok, deputy chief prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, was nominated on Thursday for the post of prosecutor general, ending a monthslong leadership vacuum. The nomination, which is a de-facto appointment, makes Lee the first prosecutor general of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. Lee had been linked to the top post for some time, as he has been leading the organization for thr...