With less than eight months left until the presidential election on March 9, 2022, over a dozen people are weighing their chances at presidency in the conservative arena that no longer has major factions after two former presidents have been jailed. The establishment within the main conservative party broke down with the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye and the party’s crushing defe...

Former legislator and opposition presidential contender Yoo Seong-min criticized the ongoing political argument over whether to hand out another round of COVID-19 relief grants to all Koreans or to only those in the lower 80 percent of the income brackets. Based on the national health insurance premiums, the monthly income of a four-person household in the lower 80 percent income bracket is 9.75...

A weekly presidential preference poll that showed higher support ratings for former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl compared with other surveys was stopped this week, prompting Yoon to blame political pressure from other candidates and their supporters. PNR Research, the pollster that had conducted the survey every week since April, said its clients told it last week that they would no longer ...

Ex-chief prosecutor and presidential contender Yoon Seok-youl appears more focused on bringing together centrists than joining the main opposition People Power Party, while former chief state auditor Choe Jae-hyeong is likely to join the party as another presidential hopeful, according to figures in close contact with the two men. Political critic Chin Jung-kwon said he met with Yoon last week a...

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, now a presidential contender, said his heart aches when he thinks about ex-Presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, who were jailed for corruption as a result of investigations that he led. “No matter the reasons, (I) offer consolation and express regrets to all who have gone through pain because of me,” Yoon said in an interview with the Dong-A Ilbo ...

Former prime minister and presidential hopeful of the ruling party Rep. Lee Nak-yon said on Thursday it doesn’t make sense that former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl is running for president given what he said earlier about his convicted mother-in-law. “When he was in the prosecution, (the prosecution) did not indict his mother-in-law, and he told Parliament that he will obviously have to ste...

Presidential hopefuls and the leader of the main opposition party have begun talking about scrapping the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, saying all it does is carry out campaigns and make gender conflicts worse. The ministry, launched in 2001, has often been slammed for underperforming, making divisive statements, and responding passively to sexual harassment by the late former Seoul May...

Gyeonggi Province governor and presidential front-runner Lee Jae-myung asked in a televised debate “shall I pull down my pants again?” when asked to explain his scandal with an actor. During the debate among eight candidates for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s primary for next year’s presidential election Monday evening, former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun asked Lee to explain a previous...

Cyworld, the dominant social networking site here before the era of Facebook throughout the 2000s, was set to reopen Monday evening, with many in their 30s and 40s ripe with anticipation to revisit their past. Cyworld Z, the company that bought Cyworld in January this year, said it has recovered some 17 billion photos and over 100 million videos stored in the old servers. With nearly 32 million...

Seoul’s Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon admitted hypocrisy in pushing to get rid of elite private high schools while having sent his own kids to such schools. “(I) admit it was ‘naeronambul’ to have sent my children to foreign language high schools while calling for the abolishment of autonomous private high schools,” Cho told the city council on Wednesday, referring to a popular term that...

Jailed former President Lee Myung-bak said it was a shame that the country has come to its current state in a letter to a fellow university alumnus, which was disclosed on an alumni website. On the online community of Korea University students and graduates called Kopas, a person who introduced himself as a plastic surgeon and graduate of the university’s medical school said in a post on Tuesday...

Former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae got herself in trouble by saying she opposes feminism in an interview on YouTube. Among those who criticized her remarks was Rep. Sim Sang-jung of the minor Justice Party. Choo, who has vowed to run for president next year on the ruling Democratic Party ticket, said in an interview with an online media outlet Friday that she opposed feminism and that “if one w...

A high school student was found dead on a hill in Bundang in Gyeonggi Province, Monday morning, six days after he went missing on June 22. Police suspect that Kim Hwi-seong, 18, took his own life. He was found lying down with a plastic bag over his head, and there were no signs of external injuries. Police suspect that he suffocated to death, but said they will determine the exact cause of deat...

Choi Chan-wook, 26, who is accused of using boys aged between 11 and 13 to produce videos of sexual exploitation, and in some cases molesting them himself, said he was “grateful that adults saved” him before his actions got worse, stoking public outrage online. Choi, who stood in front of press cameras Thursday before police turned him over to the prosecution, said, “(I) got here after starting ...

The district office of Busan’s Haeundae-gu said on Wednesday it will crack down on the violation of social distancing rules on Haeundae beach with local police and US military police over the period of July 2-4, which culminates with the US Independence Day holiday. American soldiers who violate social distancing rules will be immediately identified by US military police and slapped with fines, ...