Choi Joong-kyung, minister of knowledge economy, offered to step down Tuesday, taking responsibility for nationwide blackouts earlier in the month, a government official said. The minister in charge of energy affairs offered his resignation to President Lee Myung-bak after a cabinet meeting, according to Park Cheong-won, a spokesman for the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. "Minister Choi offered ...

Conservative candidates lambast civic activist over remarks on weir removal Park Won-soon, the liberal civic activist leading among Seoul mayoral candidates, got his first taste of election bickering Monday, after his remarks about the Han River stirred harsh criticism from conservative rivals. The river, which bisects the capital, is likely to emerge as one of the hottest issues for candidates...

Wealth hidden under borrowed names in South Korea has reached nearly 5 trillion won ($4.28 billion), a lawmaker said Saturday. Based on data provided by the National Tax Service (NTS), Rep. Lee Jong-koo of the ruling Grand National Party said that wealth held under borrowed names, including securities, bank deposits and real estate, came to 4.7 trillion won as of the end of June. The data ...

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met with Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Friday and discussed ways to help people in developing countries in Africa and other parts of the world, a focus of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The meeting took place as Lee stopped in Seattle on his way home from New York. It was their third meeting so far since Gates visited South Korea in May 2008, whe...

Rep. Na Kyung-won of the ruling Grand National Party on Friday made her Seoul mayoral bid official, a month ahead of the by-election. Na, elected to one of the seven members of the GNP’s supreme council in July, is expected to vie against former minister of government legislation Lee Seog-yeon, who announced his bid days earlier, to contest the opposition. Polls so far showed that civic activis...

SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's state-run power company said Friday it seeks to introduce a new bill to regulate power consumption during emergencies following widespread blackouts that affected homes and businesses across the country last week. South Korea reported a nationwide power outage on Sept. 15 as unseasonably hot temperatures hiked electricity demand at a time when energy aut...

SEATTLE, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak arrived in Seattle on Thursday on his way home from New York, where he attended this year's session of the U.N. General Assembly and a high-level meeting on nuclear safety. Later Thursday, Lee was to hold talks with Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire about ways to bolster trade and other cooperation between the two side...

NEW YORK (Yonhap News) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and five other leaders of the Group of 20 countries called Thursday for greater international cooperation to tackle the worsening global economic situation. "For many advanced economies, the path out of the deep and prolonged recession will be difficult. This will impact on growth in emerging markets, and there is more limited room f...

NEW YORK (Yonhap News) -- The leaders of South Korea and Peru agreed Thursday to further expand investment and trade between the two countries, building on progress made since their free trade agreement took effect last month, officials said. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Peru's new President Ollanta Humala met in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. It was their fi...

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday made a pitch for atomic power before global leaders, saying its use is inevitable to meet growing energy needs and fight climate change and that accidents like Japan's nuclear disaster can be prevented with strengthened safety measures. Lee made the case during a keynote speech at a high-level nuclear safety meeting held amid heightened internatio...