A Seoul court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for the owner of an asset management firm at the center of an urban development corruption scandal over allegations his firm received business favors in exchange for bribes. Kim Man-bae, owner of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, is facing charges of breach of trust and bribery in connection with a 2015 project to develop the Daejang-dong district in Seongnam, south of Seoul, into apartment complexes. Prosecutors have been looking into suspicio

Justice Party’s presidential candidate pledges a new era where the citizens hold power

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) said Wednesday it has asked a local high school to lift a ban on the use of mobile phones by students in school. The state human rights watchdog said the ban on the use of mobile phones at the high school, whose name was withheld, infringes on its students' general right to freedom of action and freedom of communication. The school's students are allowed to possess cell phones on campus but are completely prohibited from using them, accordi

A Seoul court questioned the owner of an asset management firm at the center of an urban development corruption scandal Wednesday to determine whether to issue an arrest warrant for him on bribery and other charges. Kim Man-bae, owner of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, is facing charges of breach of trust and bribery in connection with a 2015 project to develop the Daejang-dong district in Seongnam, south of Seoul, into apartment complexes. Prosecutors have been looking into suspicions over h

The Seoul city government said Wednesday it will offer a new concept public service through online virtual worlds by building its own metaverse platform for the first time among local governments nationwide. The city's own high-performance platform, tentatively named Metaverse Seoul, will be established by the end of next year, according to its five-year "Metaverse Seoul Basic Plan." The city government will then begin implementing the metaverse ecosystem for administrative services

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Wednesday the government cannot afford another round of universal COVID-19 relief grants as proposed by Lee Jae-myung, the presidential nominee of the ruling Democratic Party (DP). Kim made the remark during a radio interview, stressing that the most urgent task for now is to compensate the self-employed and small business owners suffering from the pandemic. "Our finance does not have enough capacity to do that," Kim said of Lee's proposal during the

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, has said he has no interest in unifying candidacies with the main opposition party, calling it an "impossible" deal. Ahn said, however, that if the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) yields to him, he will achieve a change of government in the upcoming presidential election in March as the single unified candidate. "I have no other thoughts at the moment," Ahn said in an interview with Y

President Moon Jae-in paid tribute on Tuesday to the Korean and Hungarian people killed in a 2019 boat sinking, as he began a state visit to Hungary for a series of summit talks with Eastern European leaders. The accident happened on the Danube River on May 29, 2019, when the sightseeing boat Hableany (Mermaid) carrying 33 Koreans and two Hungarian crew members collided with a cruise ship. The sinking left 25 Koreans and the two Hungarians dead. One of the 33 Koreans remains missing. Shortly

Democratic Party gets head start in tight race for top post

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) launched its presidential election committee on Tuesday to help steer its presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung to victory in the upcoming election in March. The committee is the liberal party's largest ever and includes all 169 of its National Assembly lawmakers with party chairman Song Young-gil as its standing chief and 12 others as co-chiefs. The party held a massive launching ceremony that was expected to be attended by up to 499 people under the government

If anti-corruption agency secures critical evidence, future probe to point to Yoon

The unification ministry on Tuesday vowed efforts to push for inter-Korean cooperation in the forestry sector as agreed to in an earlier deal, after President Moon Jae-in again stated on the global stage that Seoul will seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on the peninsula in cooperation with Pyongyang. Moon was addressing an annual UN climate conference in Glasgow on Monday (local time) that brought together more than 100 world leaders, including US President Joe Biden. Chinese President Xi

The leader of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) met with a victim of Japan's wartime sexual slavery on Tuesday and discussed her calls for bringing the issue to a United Nations committee. Rep. Song Young-gil, chairman of the DP, said he met with Lee Yong-soo, one of the 13 registered surviving South Korean victims of sexual slavery, and discussed ways to bring Japan's wartime sexual slavery case to the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT). The UN body, comprising 10 experts, monitors

A sitting prosecutor was questioned Tuesday over allegations of conspiring with the main opposition party to investigate key ruling camp officials last year when Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl, now a leading opposition presidential contender, was in office. Prosecutor Son Jun-sung appeared for questioning at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) for allegedly asking Kim Woong, a prosecutor-turned-lawmaker of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), to lodg

The justice ministry acknowledged Monday that human rights violations occurred at a detention center for illegal immigrants in June after an investigation into allegations that an inmate suffered torture-like treatment. The investigation came after the inmate from Morocco in his 30s filed a petition with the national human rights watchdog, claiming he was maltreated while being detained in June at an immigration processing center in Hwaseong, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul. He accused offi