The race for People’s Party leadership intensified Sunday, with only a week left before the party’s national convention. The four contenders -- Ahn Cheol-soo, Rep. Chun Jung-bae, Chung Dong-young and Lee Un-ju -- each raised their voice to appeal to voters with three of the candidates using the opportunity to attack Ahn, the party’s founder and most prominent candidate in the race. Ahn, who r...

People hoping to buy commemorative stamps celebrating the inauguration of President Moon Jae-in stood in long lines in front of post offices from early Thursday morning, the liberal leader’s 100th day in office. According to Korea Post, the nation’s postal service provider, about 300 citizens lined up in front of the Seoul Central Post Office in Jung-gu, central Seoul, before sales opened at 9 a...

The chairwoman of South Korea’s ruling party likened President Moon Jae-in to Canada’s Justin Trudeau for his “handsome” appearance, unassuming and approachable attitude and respect for women. “I think the two state chiefs are similar in their ways of communicating with the public, without authoritarian attitudes,” Rep. Choo Mi-ae of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea said in a meeting with Ca...

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party adopted redeployment of US tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea as their party platform on Wednesday, amid escalating provocations from North Korea. “The government is losing its presence in the international stage. We thought we should come up with a strategic solution to the current status and so we decided to demand for redispatching the tactical nuc...

Emboldened by high-flying popularity, President Moon Jae-in has pushed for some very bold reforms aimed at “renewing” South Korea, which have garnered support and criticism alike. Here are Moon’s five most controversial agenda items. Nuclear-free nation On June 19, Moon declared a major shift in the nation’s energy policy. His vision is to phase out nuclear energy, which now provides one-third...

The South Korean government on Saturday began a formal environmental survey on the advanced US missile defense system deployed in a southern town amid a fierce protest by local residents and activists, officials said. The defense and environment ministries were to conduct their joint study of electromagnetic radiation and noise from the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in Seongju, some...

South Korean shares are expected to move in a tight range next week as escalating war rhetoric between North Korea and the United States could continue to weigh in the main index, analysts said Saturday. Cape Investment & Securities said it expected the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index to trade at the 2,300-2,360 range next week. The broader index closed at 2,319.71 points on Friday, ...

A victim of Japanese sexual slavery, Kil Won-ok, on Thursday announced she will make her debut as a singer on the fifth memorial ceremony in tribute to the comfort women. “Whether others like it or not, I believe singing is my job because I like to sing,” Kil said in a production press conference held at the War and Women’s Human Rights Museum in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Former “comfort women” Gil Won-o...

Lawmakers are moving to introduce a new law that would ban employers from sending work-related messages outside work hours, amid rising calls to protect the right to disconnect from work. Recently, two bills have been recently submitted to the National Assembly, both intending to revise the labor law to stop employers and managers from giving work-related orders, directly and indirectly via mobi...

The People’s Party is facing a deepening factional feud over former party leader Ahn Cheol-soo’s bid for chairmanship. The party, which holds 40 parliamentary seats, is split mainly between Ahn’s supporters and opponents, but Ahn said Wednesday that the clash is occurring due to differing views on how to salvage the party. Ahn Cheol-soo (Yonhap) “The party is currently in a state of crisis and...

MITROVICA, Kosovo (AFP) -- Kosovo’s Roma minority “are not treated as humans,” laments Florim Masurica, who is seeking justice for his disabled son, one of the children suffering from suspected lead-poisoning contracted at post-war United Nations camps. Kosovo’s pro-independence ethnic Albanian rebels saw Roma people as guilty of cooperation with Serbs during the 1998-1999 conflict -- a gratuito...

BUSAN -- A Japanese man donated a photo of a Korean victim of Japan’s wartime sex slavery to a local museum on Tuesday as an apology for what he said is an act against humanity. Jikai Taketomi, an official from a private war archive in Japan, offered some 30 photos, letters and other articles from World War II to the state-run National Memorial Museum of Forced Mobilization under Japanese Occupa...

Liberty Korea Party’s reform committee on Monday announced a shift in its economic policy goals, while remaining undecided on former President Park Geun-hye’s party membership. “As we have previously announced in our reform resolution, we will promote our own ‘neo-conservatism’ and come up with detailed plans on issues such as inequality in labor, reducing pension gaps between generations and ho...

The three-way race for the leadership of the centrist People’s Party effectively kicked off Sunday, with the candidates holding separate press meetings, denouncing each other and laying out their plans to salvage the crisis-hit party. Ahn Cheol-soo, a former chief and previously the party’s presidential candidate, laid out plans to reshape it as a “small but strong opposition party.” From left:...

Conflict over equal rights for sexual minorities is flaring up due to the planned constitutional revision. During the presidential election, issues regarding sexual minorities drew attention, and the topic remains a thorny issue that riles up anti-gay sentiment. On Thursday, 300 organizations formed a coalition, announcing their opposition to providing equal rights regardless of sexual orientat...