The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed the acquittal of a former presidential chief of staff charged with falsifying a public document in connection with the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry. The final ruling for Kim Ki-choon, chief of staff to ousted President Park Geun-hye, came after the Supreme Court struck down a guilty verdict for him in August last year and the Seoul High Court acquitted him of lying in a Sewol-related document submitted to the National Assembly in a retrial in November o

Former special counsel Park Young-soo appeared for a court hearing held Thursday to determine whether he should be arrested over corruption allegations related to a high-profile land development scandal. The former special counsel is suspected of taking 800 million won ($611,000) from private developers in return for helping their project to develop the Daejang-dong district in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, into apartment complexes in 2014, when he served as the chair of the Woori Bank board of

Around 4,000 children born to noncitizen parents in 2015-2022 remain unregistered, according to state inspector

Mayor hopes for 'special city' status after population exceeds 1 million

The government and the ruling People Power Party agreed Wednesday to amend a relevant enforcement ordinance to prevent university students from facing possible disadvantages when missing classes due to mandatory military reserve training. In South Korea, all able-bodied men are required to serve in the military for at least 18 months, with most of them enlisting in their early 20s. They are also obligated to serve as reservists for approximately eight years after their discharge. Criticism has a

South Korea’s ruling party leaders and government officials on Tuesday agreed to expand the energy bill support scheme as the weather agency has forecast a hotter than average summer for much of the country. The measures announced on this day at a meeting of the People Power Party leaders and officials of the Energy and Education Ministries focused on schools and vulnerable households, with possible further support on the way. Schools across the country will be each afforded with an extra

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday commended his administration for attracting $16.5 billion of foreign investment to South Korea in the first half of the year, calling it "the largest ever." Stressing that a total of $940 million in investments from six European high-tech companies was clinched during his recent trip to France and Vietnam, Yoon urged Cabinet members to continue efforts in facilitating deals. Yoon, who has called himself South Korea's top salesperson, has consiste

President Yoon Suk Yeol is weighing replacing the unification and industry ministers in a small-scale Cabinet reshuffle, a source at the presidential office said Monday. The source told Yonhap News Agency that Yoon is mulling replacing the chiefs of the unification and industry ministries, but uncertainty still remains due to unspecified "variables." Kim Young-ho, a professor at Sungshin Women's University and the chief of an advisory committee designed to lay out a new vision on unifi

  Proposed bill: Partial Amendment to the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology Proposed by Rep. Song Eon-Seog (People Power Party) ● Under the current Criminal Act, brokers who arrange job transfers with the precondition of divulging industrial technology often go unpunished or receive lenient penalties. This amendment imposes civil liability on brokers to discourage them from participating in divulging or infringing industrial technology for economic inte

Former Democratic Party of Korea dissidents go their own ways

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is poised to conduct a wide-ranging reshuffle of ministers and vice ministers, possibly this week, following his return from France and Vietnam, according to sources and local reports on Monday. The sources expressed a strong expectation that secretary-level officials in the presidential office, who were instrumental in helping Yoon manage state affairs, will be appointed to government ministries. Nearly half of the 19 ministries are anticipated to undergo pe

The minor opposition Justice Party was set to hold a press conference in front of the Japanese Embassy on Monday after some of its lawmakers traveled to Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant in protest of the planned release of contaminated water. The party's floor leader Bae Jin-gyo, deputy floor leader Lee Eun-ju, and Rep. Kang Eun-mi, who leads the party's special task force opposing the release, made a three-day trip to Japan last week, including a visit to the nuclea

An advisory panel of the parliamentary ethics committee was to hold a meeting Monday to determine the level of disciplinary measures against independent lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk accused of dubious cryptocurrency dealings. The Ethics Investigation Advisory Committee had held three rounds of meetings since early this month to see if there were any irregularities surrounding Kim's once massive virtual assets holdings, and its chair has said the panel hopes to make a conclusion at its fourth meetin

President Yoon Suk Yeol is likely to retain the head of the intelligence agency in spite of a recent mishap in personnel appointment at the National Intelligence Service (NIS), an informed source at the ruling bloc said Sunday. NIS Director Kim Kyou-hyun has been in hot water after the spy agency reportedly summoned chiefs of its key overseas missions, raising questions over the agency's personnel management. Yoon, who returned home Saturday after visiting France and Vietnam, was briefed

Onetime presidential hopeful Lee Nak-yon on Saturday announced his return to politics after being out of the public eye for about a year. He was welcomed back by a handful of Democratic Party of Korea dissenters, whose support for Rep. Lee Jae-myung -- the main liberal opposition party’s leader mired in legal scandals -- has waned, signaling a possible split within the party. “The world is worried about South Korea right now,” Lee Nak-yon told a crowd of supporters at Incheon A