Democratic Party election committee officials resign en masse to support Lee

Senior officials of the ruling Democratic Party offered to resign en masse on Wednesday, saying they hope to inject fresh vigor into the flailing campaign of its presidential nominee Lee Jae-myung. Rep. Youn Kwan-suk, the party's secretary-general, said the decision involved himself and four other lawmakers in political posts who wished to "put the party before self." The others are chief policymaker Park Wan-joo, deputy chief policymaker You Dong-soo, chief spokesperson Koh Yong-jin

Though two main contenders dominate the race, four party-backed candidates are gunning for the presidency

Prosecutors questioned a former chief secretary to Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party, on Wednesday in connection with a far-reaching corruption scandal surrounding a development project undertaken in the city of Seongnam when Lee was mayor. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office summoned Lim Seong-min, who served as Lee's chief of staff while he was serving as Seongnam mayor, for questioning as a witness earlier in the day, according to officials.

Victims of the brutal crackdown on a 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju have launched a damage suit against the government, a lawyer's group announced Wednesday, a day after the death of former President Chun Doo-hwan accused of ordering the crackdown. Lawyers for a Democratic Society said it has filed the suit on behalf of 70 people who were subject to brutal violence by soldiers during the democracy protests in May 1980 in Gwangju, 329 kilometers south of Seoul, a

There’s no free lunch in China’s “vaccine diplomacy”

Unification Minister Lee In-young on Wednesday denied speculation that Seoul is seeking to declare a formal end to the Korean War in time for the upcoming Beijing Olympics, amid concerns that a possible US boycott of the games would dash Seoul’s hopes for diplomacy with Pyongyang. 　 “The end-of-war declaration is not necessarily aimed at the Beijing Olympics,” Lee told reporters during a press conference in Seoul, stressing that the two are separate issues. “We do hope

South Korea's military reported 14 additional COVID-19 cases Wednesday, bringing the total caseload among its personnel to 2,217. Six Army service members tested positive before and after they returned to their bases after their vacations. An officer of an Air Force unit in Osan, 55 kilometers south of Seoul, contracted the virus after developing symptoms. Another in the same unit also tested positive after coming in contact with him. One draftee of an Army unit in Pyeongtaek, 70km south of

South Korea plans to offer more than a dozen military choppers to support UN peacekeeping operations (PKO) , multiple sources said Wednesday, as Seoul seeks to increase its contributions to the key mission of the international organization. Seoul has been in talks with two or three countries that have shown an interest in using the helicopters as part of their PKO operations in conflict-laden parts of the world, according to a source who requested anonymity. Another source said the United Nati

Police will reinforce training of its workforce on the use of stun guns and other weapons to enhance their ability to deal with violent criminal scenes, officials said Wednesday amid public fury over a bungled police response to a knife attacker. The plan came after criticism that police officers failed to stop a knife-wielding man from seriously wounding a neighbor over a noise dispute earlier this month even though they were deployed at the scene and were in possession of a stun gun and a gu

Police have apprehended 130 members of a criminal ring that operated an illegal gambling website from the Philippines, where about 1.3 trillion won ($1.09 billion) was bet over a two and a half year period, officials said Wednesday. Of them, nine have been formally arrested, and the group's leader, who had fled to the Philippines, will be repatriated to South Korea, the international crime investigation unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said. The group was found to have streamed ga

PM urges public to take booster shots, vaccinate teens

The number of babies born in South Korea fell to a record low in September, data showed Wednesday, underscoring the country's bleak demographic situation with the chronically low birth rate. A total of 21,920 babies were born in September, down 6.7 percent from the previous year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest for any September since 1981, when the statistics agency began compiling related data. In the third quarter, the number of newborns also reache

A massive search operation resumed Wednesday to find an Asiatic black bear that remained on the loose for a third day after escaping from a bear farm just south of Seoul, officials said Wednesday. The escape occurred at the farm in Yongin, 50 kilometers south of Seoul, at 10:30 a.m. Monday, when five Asiatic black bears left their cage. Three of the bears were soon discovered by officials of the Han River Basin Environmental Office, who captured two of them and killed a third that ran to attac

Main opposition People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl is leading his ruling Democratic Party rival, Lee Jae-myung, by a smaller margin than before in a hypothetical multicandidate race, a survey showed Wednesday. Yoon garnered 44.1 percent support against Lee's 37 percent in the survey of 1,011 adults conducted Monday and Tuesday, according to Realmeter. The difference was down to 7.1 percentage points from 9.8 points two weeks ago after Yoon lost 0.3 point and Lee gained 2.