Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon pledged to fight “welfare populism” in a city council bill to offer free school meals at all schools in the capital. “If we don’t overcome ‘welfare populism,’ the democracy of our nation cannot move forward,” he noted at the press conference marking the first year of his second term Wednesday. “Seoul citizens have made a wise move to put the free school lunch on referendu...

President Lee Myung-bak told the newly-elected leadership of the ruling Grand National Party over lunch on Wednesday that he will discuss with them before nominating the new justice minister and the prosecutor-general amid backlash from both ruling and opposition lawmakers against the president’s top candidate. During his first official meeting with the new GNP leader Hong Joon-pyo and other mem...

DP lawmakers eye GNP home turf; ruling party mulls replacing veterans Parties are seeking to turn the table in next year’s general elections with a bold lineup of possible candidates as some veteran lawmakers gave up their candidacy or pledged to run in strategically important areas other than their home-turf constituencies. Rep. Kim Hyo-seuk, a third-term lawmaker of the main opposition Democr...

The ruling Grand National Party, led by newly elected chairman Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, has announced a reformative, “people-friendly” stance. In the party workshop at the National Assembly on Sunday, the Supreme Council and the policy committee agreed almost unanimously to slash university tuition fees and reinforce regulations over conglomerates. The plan also included overturning additional corpo...

President Lee Myung-bak, who returned from his African tour Monday, is expected to replace the justice minister, prosecutor-general and senior presidential secretary for civil affairs later this month. In protest over a bill which state prosecutors believe restricts their investigative rights, Prosecutor General Kim Joon-kyu offered to resign last week while Lee was in South Africa. Lee is like...

An American politician who allegedly posted himself an imitation grenade has been accused of making false police report. Leroy Schaffer, a city councilman from Minnesota, told authorities that somebody had sent him a bomb. It turned out to be a ploy to buy sympathy from people. On July 1st, the accused had called police concerning a suspicious package he had received from Chicago. He told offic...

TBILISI (AP) -- The personal photographer to the Georgian president was shown on television Saturday confessing to supplying a colleague with secret information that was then sent to a Russian secret service. Irakli Gedenidze confessed to giving another photographer, Zurab Kurtsikidze of the European Pressphoto Agency, details of the president's itinerary, motorcade route and offices for unspeci...

ADDIS ABABA, July 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak sprayed disinfectant at alleys and toilets in Ethiopia on Saturday as he engaged in volunteer work at a poverty-stricken village in a symbolic gesture of returning the African nation's help during the Korean War. Lee's visit to Kebena Village, one of four major poverty areas in this Ethiopian capital, was one of a series of act...

The head of South Korea's ruling party said Saturday that he agreed to ditch a plan to further cut taxes for big companies, as the conservative party looks to regain votes from the poor ahead of next year's elections. "It is inconsistent for the government to continue to cut taxes for big companies, which are said to put some 100 trillion won (US$94.6 billion) in banks and block the money from ...

ADDIS ABABA -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak agreed Friday to provide active support for Ethiopia's economic development, pledging to significantly boost relations with the African nation that helped save the South from North Korea's invasion 60 years ago. In summit talks with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Lee expressed gratitude for Ethiopia's participation in the 1950-53 Korean War, and ...

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – South Korean President Lee Myung-bak arrived in Ethiopia on Friday for a three-day visit that includes economic cooperation talks with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and a series of activities paying tribute to Ethiopia's participation in the Korean War. Ethiopia is one of the 16 nations that sent combat troops as part of U.N. forces to help South Korea repel invading North ...