The government and ruling People Power Party will push to introduce a new subsidy for job seekers and increase support for low-income groups in next year’s budget, the ruling party said Wednesday. The ruling party and the government also agreed to include budget for planning storm drains in urban areas in light of recent rains, to direct more funds into supporting disabled people. The budget plans agreed on by the party and government will be put to a Cabinet meeting and then to the

President Yoon Suk-yeol’s schedule has been leaked through a fan club supporting first lady Kim Keon-hee, raising another security concern. On Tuesday, a user of “Keon-hee Sarang” revealed Yoon’s official schedule set on Friday through her fan club, specifying the date and place. The user said, “We’re announcing (that) President Yoon Suk-yeol is visiting Daegu Seomun Market at 12:00 (noon) on Aug. 26. We ask for your participation and promotion. Please c

The internal feud within the ruling People Power Party appears to be escalating following a petition submitted to the court by suspended party leader Lee Jun-seok. The petition‘s release comes amid the ruling party’s launch of an emergency committee to seek the party’s normalization and the Yoon administration‘s carrying out of partial reforms to regain public trust. Lee compared President Yoon Suk-yeol to “the new military coup forces” in the petition, and,

Partisan bickering ramps up over their revival

President Yoon Suk-yeol said Tuesday he will take special care of struggling citizens to prevent the recurrence of tragedies such as the recent apparent suicides of a mother and her two daughters. Speaking to reporters as he arrived for work, Yoon shared the story of the family who was found dead at their home in Suwon, south of Seoul, after reportedly struggling with illness and financial difficulties. "I have told the people until now that when it comes to welfare, which is the foundation

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) has decided to take steps to pursue disciplinary action against a party lawmaker who came under fire for making remarks wishing for more rain during voluntary cleanup work in the wake of massive downpours, officials said Tuesday. Rep. Kim Sung-won drew strong criticism in early August after he was caught on TV cameras saying he wished more rain would fall for better public relations effects of their voluntary work, even though the downpours, believed to be the

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal filed by former President Lee Myung-bak to reverse the prosecution's sell-off of his house aimed at collecting fines he was ordered to pay in a corruption case, sources said Tuesday. Prosecutors had Lee's house in Seoul's Gangnam district auctioned off last year to collect fine money after the Supreme Court finalized a 17-year prison term for Lee for corruption in 2020 along with a fine of 13 billion won ($9.6 million) and a forfeiture of 5

  President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating rose for the second straight week, a poll showed Monday, in a positive sign that his rating may be recovering from unusual lows following his pledge to listen to the people in a press conference marking his first 100 days in office. In the poll of 2,011 voters conducted by Realmeter from Tuesday to Friday, 32.2 percent gave a positive assessment of his job, up 1.8 percentage points from the previous week. It marked the second straight week in whic

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) was set to convene its ethics panel later Monday to discuss disciplinary action against a party lawmaker who came under fire for making remarks wishing for more rain during voluntary cleanup work in the wake of massive downpours. Rep. Kim Sung-won drew strong criticism in early August after he was caught on TV cameras saying he wished more rain would fall for better public relations effects of their voluntary work, even though the downpours, believed to be the

Former presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung won the latest rounds of voting in an ongoing race for the Democratic Party leadership on Sunday, inching closer to the helm of the main opposition party. Lee won some 79 percent of the votes by dues-paying DP members in South Jeolla Province and the metropolitan city of Gwangju in the region. Lee handily beat Park Yong-jin, who earned just over 20 percent of the votes in South Jeolla and Gwangju on Sunday. Lee earlier topped DP votes in North Jeoll

Rallies around the home of former President Moon Jae-in will be banned starting Monday as the Presidential Security Service expanded the guard zone for the former president amid persistent noisy and menacing protests. The decision to ban rallies within 300 meters from Moon's home in Yangsan, about 310 kilometers southeast of Seoul, came after President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the secret service to consider strengthening security for his predecessor following a suggestion from National Assembl

After a tumultuous first 100 days, President Yoon Suk-yeol’s office announced a set of new hires on Sunday in a first major shake-up of his staff. Most notably, Yoon’s office is bringing back the chief of staff for policy, among the first senior roles eliminated when Yoon was inaugurated in May. Kim Dae-ki, Yoon’s chief of staff, explained at a press briefing that the role was being reinstated for “better coordination” between the presidential office and the Cabi

Former Education Minister Park Soon-ae had ordered ministry officials to leave positive comments on mom forums when her proposal to lower the school entry age drew massive criticism, multiple sources said Sunday. Park, who resigned earlier this month after her proposal to lower the school entry age by one year to 5 infuriated parents, stressed the need to ramp up public relations on the controversial plan after convening a meeting of senior ministry officials, the sources said. She asked partici

Prosecutors investigating the case of the repatriation of two North Korean fishermen in November 2019 raided the Presidential Archives on Friday. The prosecution is investigating allegations that the Moon Jae-in government ordered the early termination of an investigation into two North Korean fishermen and forcibly returned them to North Korea despite their intention to defect. At the time, the government said the two had murdered 16 people and attempted to enter the South to avoid prosecuti

The Ministry of Security and Public Administration’s newly launched police bureau is facing further controversy, as allegations mount that its first chief, Kim Sun-ho, began his career by informing on his former labor activist colleagues. Kim attended a plenary session of the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee on Thursday and denied allegations of having been a spy, claiming the reason he had quit working for a labor activist group in his 20s was becaus