Beleaguered party looks to retired, reputable heavyweights

A personnel vetting unit under the justice ministry officially went into operation Tuesday, taking over the role of looking into the qualifications of senior position candidates from the presidential office, officials said. Following up on his campaign promise, President Yoon Suk-yeol abolished the office of the presidential senior civil affairs secretary that had been in charge of vetting candi...

Fighting over who to blame does not take party any further

President Yoon Suk-yeol vowed Monday to respond firmly and sternly to any North Korean provocation as South Korea and the United States fired missiles in response to the North's missile launches the previous day. Yoon made the remark during a Memorial Day ceremony held at Seoul National Cemetery, a day after North Korea fired eight short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea in its third sh...

Ruling People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok, who is visiting Ukraine, has traveled to Kyiv and discussed ways to cooperate on rebuilding the city, a Facebook post by the Kyiv governor showed Monday. "Today, the parliamentary delegation of the Republic of Korea headed by Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the ruling People Power Party, paid an official visit to the Kyiv region," Kyiv Gov. Oleksiy Ku...

The ruling party chief, who is visiting Ukraine, has said the war-torn country is hoping for a large amount of medical and other assistance from South Korea in its ongoing war with Russia, according to his party Sunday. Lee Jun-seok, head of the People Power Party, met with officials from local nongovernmental organizations in Ukraine's western city of Lviv on Saturday and discussed ways to supp...

President Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday the economic situation is too grave to be talking about the election victory of his party. The ruling People Power Party won 12 of the 17 key mayoral and gubernatorial races in Wednesday's local elections, strengthening Yoon's mandate less than a month after he took office on May 10. "Don't you feel the windows shaking and the branches swaying in the lawn?" Y...

No more loud music, street banners and canvassing trucks. Local elections are over in South Korea now. The usual post-election scenes here include winners making a visit to symbolic sites such as a war memorial as a show of their commitment to serving the people, while losers take time to reflect on the results. Similar scenes took place on Thursday. Here are some photos that show what went dow...

The main opposition Democratic Party took a major loss in the local elections, but Kim Dong-yeon’s narrow victory for Gyeonggi Province governor came as a partial relief and possible sign that all may not be lost for the party. Although the party lost 12 of the 17 seats in the elections of metropolitan government to the ruling People Power Party, it won in the biggest battleground Gyeonggi Provi...

Even by the standards of South Korea’s convoluted politics, Hong Joon-pyo has had a rather unusual career trajectory. He was a five-time lawmaker, twice elected governor of South Gyeongsang Province and head of the main conservative party for two separate stints. He was the party’s presidential candidate five years ago and recently was a runner-up in its presidential primary, losing to Yoon Suk-...

Democratic Party has no option but to reform and overhaul, experts say

People Power Party eyes another win in 2024 parliamentary elections

President promises to put all efforts on reviving economy

Among the few consolation prizes for Democratic Party of Korea’s bitter loss in Wednesday’s local elections was the resounding victory won by its candidate Oh Young-hun in the race for the Jeju governor’s office. Born and raised in the southern resort island, the 53-year-old politician was the first Democratic Party candidate to be elected Jeju governor in 20 years. Woo Keun-min in 2002 was elec...

Conservative bloc clinches 12 out of 17 metropolitan mayoral and provincial gubernatorial elections