Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol said Thursday he wants to pay a visit to former President Park Geun-hye when she recovers her health, as Park was to be set free later in the day under a presidential pardon. Park's release puts Yoon in an awkward position as he headed the investigation of Park's corruption scandal in 2016 that eventually led to her impeachment, ouster from office and imprisonment. "I would like to visit and meet former President Park Geun-hye when she

The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) claimed Thursday it has detected suspicious opinion rigging attempts against its presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol as it plans to lodge complaints with election and law enforcement authorities over the issue. The PPP said it found signs of illicit cyber operations targeting Yoon through its self-developed software Kraken. The software was designed to spot manipulative online comments in order to prevent incidents like the 2017 opinion rigging scan

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung has widened his lead over his main opposition rival Yoon Suk-yeol to 11 percentage points in a hypothetical four-way race, a survey showed Thursday. Lee of the liberal Democratic Party garnered 39 percent support against Yoon of the conservative People Power Party's 28 percent, according to the survey of 1,000 adults conducted Monday through Wednesday by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research. Lee gained 4 percentag

Bill to lower age bar for electoral posts on the verge of final approval

Park will not receive courtesy as a former president; will only receive security support

The government on Thursday hinted at easing a real estate holding tax for those who have become temporary multiple homeowners following a call from the ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung. "There are some positive sides (of Lee's proposal)," Koo Yun-cheol, Minister for Government Policy Coordination, said in a MBC radio interview. He added that the government is currently discussing with the ruling Democratic Party (DP) over its real estate taxation scheme to stabilize

The floor leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) on Thursday demanded a meeting with President Moon Jae-in following revelations that a state investigative agency checked the phone records of its presidential nominee, the nominee's wife and dozens of party lawmakers. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) has come under fire over revelations that it obtained the phone records of journalists in an alleged attempt to identify the source of leaks to th

A ruling party lawmaker plans to accept political donations in cryptocurrencies, his office said Thursday, amid rising interest in virtual assets in the country. Rep. Lee Kwang-jae of the ruling Democratic Party is trying to get campaign contributions in virtual currencies and issue non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a receipt for such donations starting mid-January. If realized, Lee would be the first lawmaker in South Korea to accept virtual assets for campaign finance. "We are currently re

The United States declined to directly comment on any progress made on a draft for an end to the Korean War declaration professed by the South Korean foreign minister on Wednesday, only saying the US remains committed to dialogue with North Korea. South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on Wednesday (Seoul time) said South Korea and the US have already reached a de facto agreement on the draft of a declaration to formally end the Korean War. A state department spokesperson offered no dire

Left-leaning figures have come under fire for making comments about Kim Keon-hee’s appearance, with some calling the remarks “misogynous.” The latest comments on Kim, the wife of People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, came after she publicly apologized for embellishing her career history. On Wednesday, former lawmaker Sohn Hye-won once again took to social media to comment on Kim’s makeup and facial expressions when she delivered the apology. Sohn

Main opposition People Power Party’s presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl has come under fire over a comment he made on Tuesday that “most South Koreans, especially young people, dislike China.” Following the comment, a spokesperson of the ruling Democratic Party’s campaign committee said the comment was “shocking” and “low” to reduce diplomatic relations between countries to whether who likes who. “China is an important partner in securit

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, appears to be taking a head-on tactic to tackle controversies. In a radio interview Wednesday, Lee admitted to academic plagiarism and reiterated that Gachon University should revoke his master’s degree. “I did not provide citations in my thesis, and it is plagiarism. I gave up on my degree,” Lee said in the interview. “The school should cancel it, but it has not. They gave me a doc

The ruling Democratic Party and the government agreed Wednesday on the need to extend the current virus curbs and allocate funds for the purchase of a fourth shot of vaccines, a DP spokesperson said. The two sides reached the consensus during a meeting on the COVID-19 response, noting that key indicators, such as the operation of ICUs and the numbers of critically ill COVID-19 patients and deaths, have yet to improve, Rep. Shin Hyun-young said in a press briefing. The party asked, however, tha

President Moon Jae-in pledged Wednesday to step up efforts to give students with disabilities equal rights to education so as to help them better integrate into society. Moon made the remarks at a ground-breaking ceremony of the nation's first vocational school affiliated with a state-run university for students with disabilities in Gongju, 160 kilometers south of Seoul. "We must have equal opportunity and anyone can equally contribute to society," Moon said. "Students with dis

About 42 percent of South Koreans think that President Moon Jae-in did a good job in handling state affairs over the past five years, an approval rating slighly higher than the vote he received in the 2017 presidential election, a poll showed Wednesday. Moon, who was elected president with 41.1 percent of the vote, has enjoyed relatively high approval ratings through his term so far, compared with his predecessors. His single-five year term ends in May after the March 9 presidential election.