The National Election Commission is to carry out a mock election June 30 at 158 polling stations in 108 countries, as a final dry run for the overseas voting system set to take effect next year.Among the 5,484 who registered themselves as voters, 4,708 had their residence in Korea and the remaining 776 were permanent residents in overseas countries, according to the NEC.All voters are required to

Reform bill to be submitted to parliament later this monthFrom 2013, only those with a certain period of judicial experience as prosecutors, lawyers, law professors and in similar positions will be appointed as judges according to a proposal by a parliamentary committee. The National Assembly’s special committee for judicial reform said it would vote Wednesday on a plan to change the way judges ar

Leaders to discuss tuition, FTA, savings bank probe and other pending issuesPresident Lee Myung-bak will meet with main opposition Democratic Party leader Sohn Hak-kyu next Monday, Lee’s aide said Tuesday, to discuss pending issues such as rising tuition fees and the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement which is yet to be approved by the parliaments of both countries.The ongoing prosecutorial investiga

Two rockets fell inside an Afghanistan base where South Korean aid workers and troops were stationed on Monday night, but there were no injuries, Foreign Ministry officials said Tuesday.The attack is the 10th this year, apparently targeting the base in Charikar City in the northern Afghan province of Parwan. In a previous attack on May 30, one rocket fell just outside the base.The rockets fell nea

Plan to keep prosecution’s control of police, allow police right to open criminal probesThe special parliamentary committee on judicial reform passed on Monday the revision bill of the criminal action law to allow the police to hold independent authority over investigations, largely upholding the Cabinet’s earlier decision.The bill will be handed over to the legislation and judiciary committee and

Seven candidates have been confirmed for the Grand National Party leadership election on July 4 ― Reps. Park Jin, Nam Kyung-pil, Na Kyung-won, Yoo Seung-min, Hong Joon-pyo, Won Hee-ryeong and Kwon Young-se.The lineup of hopefuls to be party chair is dominated by relatively young lawmakers.Most are in their late 40s or early 50s. Even if 57-year-old Hong wins the vote, he may be considered a “young

SEOUL, June 20 (Yonhap) -- The prosecution and police on Monday agreed to end their long-standing disputes over the rights to open criminal investigations through government arbitration, officials said.According to the compromise agreement announced in the attendance of Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, both parties agreed to the revision of the Criminal Procedure Code, which calls for granting police

The government will consider changing the working hours of public sector employees and splitting up the long school winter vacation into several breaks in an effort to spur domestic demand, officials said Saturday.The measures were among a package of proposals discussed at a meeting of Cabinet and other top government officials that President Lee Myung-bak presided over to brainstorm ideas on how

SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- The number of government officials punished for bribery has jumped more than five-fold over the last five years due to a tighter crackdown on bureaucratic corruption, the home ministry said Sunday.Civil servants who were dismissed or disciplined for accepting kickbacks numbered 624 last year, 5.5 times more than the figure in 2006, according to the Ministry of Public Adm

SEOUL, June 18 (Yonhap) -- Corruption is widespread in South Korean society and ending irregularities in the bureaucracy is a top priority for the country if it wants to become an advanced nation, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said Saturday.Kim made the remarks at a meeting of all Cabinet ministers and other top officials, a day after President Lee Myung-bak chided officialdom in harsh language ove

SEOUL, June 18 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has nothing to gain from provocations against South Korea, Seoul's Cabinet minister handling inter-Korean relations said Saturday, urging the communist nation to carry out reform and open up to the outside world.Unification Minister Hyun In-taek accused Pyongyang of launching "reckless political provocations after military provocations," referring to the Nort