The ruling Democratic Party (DP) has threatened to conduct a parliamentary investigation into the finance ministry for underestimating this year's surplus tax revenue, ratcheting up pressure on the government to endorse the DP presidential nominee's push to provide universal COVID-19 relief funds. DP floor leader Rep. Yun Ho-jung said during a YTN radio interview Tuesday that this year's excess ...

The parliamentary defense committee on Tuesday sharply cut the Navy's 2022 budget for the country's first light aircraft carrier, giving a red light to the military shipbuilding project. The defense ministry requested 7.18 billion won ($60 million) for next year's budget to build the country's first light aircraft carrier, but the committee only approved 500 million won, questioning its feasibil...

President Moon Jae-in and Richard Hatchett, CEO of Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, held a meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday and exchanged views on South Korea’s pandemic preparedness and its vision for a global vaccine production hub. Moon applauded CEPI’s leadership role in facilitating investment into vaccine development and manufacturing against COVID-19, which he said great...

Kim Chong-in, a veteran election campaigner often referred to as "kingmaker," is once again at the center of attention in the political arena, with the conservatives betting on him to help them win next year’s presidential election. In recent weeks, the main opposition People Power Party has been openly reaching out to Kim to head Yoon Seok-youl's election campaign and wrest power from the rulin...

A prison sentence or fine exceeding 1 million won for election law violations invalidates an election win

Reporters covering the wife of the ruling party's presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung outside their home have been sent away by police after being warned of potential stalking offenses, officials said Tuesday. According to the Bundang Police Station in Seongnam, South of Seoul, five reporters who were covering Kim Hye-kyung, Lee's wife, in front of her home Monday have been sent away after bein...

Both the leader and the presidential nominee of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) met with a veteran politician Monday and publicly asked for his help in the 2022 presidential campaign. The request was made by PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok and presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl during a book event for Kim Chong-in, a former five-term lawmaker credited with steering both the ruling and ...

President Moon Jae-in on Monday sent a pot of orchids to the main opposition People Power Party's presidential candidate, Yoon Seok-youl, to congratulate him on his nomination and pledged to remain politically neutral during the presidential race, a lawmaker said. Lee Cheol-hee, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, paid a visit to Yoon to deliver the orchids with a message from M...

Sim Sang-jeung, the presidential candidate of the minor progressive Justice Party, said Monday she will make the military switch to a full volunteer system from 2030 and reduce the number of standing troops if elected president. Currently, all able-bodied South Korean men are mandated to serve about two years in the military. Sim vowed to change the country's compulsory military draft system if ...

Yoon Seok-youl, the presidential nominee of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), is leading his opponent Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) by some 13 percentage points in a hypothetical multicandidate race, a survey showed Monday. Yoon garnered 45.6 percent support against Lee's 32.4 percent in the survey conducted on 1,009 adults nationwide on Friday and Saturday, accor...

His call for relief grant is at the center stage of November budget talks

President Moon Jae-in on Monday attended a christening ceremony for a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility set to head to Mozambique, saying the platform will expand energy cooperation between the two nations. The christening ceremony of the Coral-Sul floating facility came about four years after Samsung Heavy Industries Co., a major Korean shipyard, won a $2.5 billion deal to build th...

Ruling party lawmakers are gearing up to adjust details of South Korea’s capital gains taxation program to match the rising price level of housing units and thereby make up for their continued losses in public support. The National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee is on track to hold a sub-committee meeting Monday to discuss details of a bill aimed at revising the guidelines on imposing...

Parties discuss lowering age requirement for electoral posts ahead of elections

Presidential hopeful Yoon Seok-youl on Friday said he is open to providing economic support in return for Pyongyang’s progress toward denuclearization, while pledging to change the current “master-servant” relationship between the two Koreas. Yoon, the presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party, elucidated his camp’s approach to North Korea and foreign and security policies...