With one day left before the start of the early voting for next week's Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections, rival parties on Thursday strived to encourage more of their supporters to go to the polls. The advance polling is set to begin at 6 a.m. on Friday and last till Saturday evening at 722 polling stations in Seoul, Busan and other regions ahead of the election day on Wednesday. Both sides believe turnout of their supporters for the early voting will be a prime determinant in the elections

Early voting for the upcoming by-elections, including polls for the new Seoul and Busan mayors, is set to kick off this week for a two-day run, election officials said Thursday. The advance polling will begin at 6 a.m. on Friday and last till Saturday evening, ahead of the election day on April 7. Some 8.4 million voters in Seoul are eligible to cast ballots for a new mayor in the by-elections that come about a year ahead of the 2022 presidential poll. In Busan, South Korea's second-bigges

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Wednesday criticized Japan for the country's latest territorial claims to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo and demanded that Tokyo withdraw its attempts to distort history. A textbook screening committee under Japan's education ministry approved 296 textbooks Tuesday for first-year high school students, including 30 kinds for social studies subjects that contain Tokyo's territorial claims to Dokdo. "We demand that Japan, as a responsible member of

As the April 7 by-election to choose Seoul’s next mayor approaches, a fierce battle is ongoing between the ruling and main opposition parties. At the same time, 10 minor parties and independent candidates are appealing to voters by talking about gender equality, LGBTQ rights, basic income and the environment. The 10 candidates, whose combined approval rating is less than 5 percent, are getting voters’ attention with issues that major candidates haven’t paid much attention to.

Rival parties were rushing to rally support in their last-minute election campaigning Wednesday, with the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections, seen as a potential game changer for next year's presidential election, only a week away. Some 8.4 million voters in Seoul are set to vote for a new mayor on April 7 in the by-elections that come about a year ahead of the 2022 presidential poll. The mayoral seat in Busan, South Korea's second-biggest city, is also up for grabs in the elections, along w

The former head of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Wednesday made a public apology in admission of the overall failure in the party's housing policy and a recent bombshell land speculation scandal involving public servants. The so-called LH scandal was triggered earlier this month when two civic groups alleged that employees at the Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH) bought plots of land in two cities -- Gwangmyeong and Siheung in Gyeonggi Province -- before the government announced a massive

President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday that the government will provide full support for the spread of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria in South Korea's business sector. He was speaking during the 48th Commerce & Industry Day event hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) at its headquarters in Seoul. The president declared a vision for turning 2021 into the original year for the expansion of "ESG management and entrepreneurship for all&qu

President Moon Jae-in appointed Kim Gi-pyo, a prosecutor-turned-lawyer, as his new secretary for anti-corruption, Cheong Wa Dae announced Wednesday. The president also picked Deputy Finance Minister Lee Hyong-il as secretary for economic policy and Kim Jeong-won, information and communication policy chief at the science ministry, as secretary for digital innovation, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok. Kim is succeeding Lee Myung-shin in a follow-up to Moon's replacement of seni

The conservative main opposition People Power Party's Seoul mayoral candidate Oh Se-hoon is leading his rival from the ruling Democratic Party Park Young-sun by an overwhelming margin of nearly 30 percentage points, an opinion poll showed Wednesday, a week ahead of the election day. According to the survey conducted on 842 voters in Seoul from Sunday-Monday by Hangil Research, 60.1 percent of the respondents said they will vote for Oh in the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election. Only 32.5 percent

President Moon Jae-in tapped Vice Finance Minister An Il-whan as his new senior secretary for economic affairs, Cheong Wa Dae announced Tuesday. An is succeeding Lee Ho-seung, who was promoted to the post of presidential chief of staff for policy the previous day. Moon also picked two new vice finance ministers, Lee Eog-weon and Ahn Do-geol, both of whom are career officials at the ministry as well. The Ministry of Economy and Finance has two vice ministers. An has been serving as second vic

President Moon Jae-in instructed the government Tuesday to accelerate the emergency relief money payment that has just begun and the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, describing the two elements as crucial in efforts for "inclusive" economic recovery. Earlier this week, his left-leaning administration started handing out the fourth batch of direct financial support for the vulnerable in a tailored program based on a 14.9 trillion-won ($13.1 billion) extra budget. Millions of small mercha

Growing attacks on candidates may lead to political apathy among young voters, experts say

President Moon Jae-in on Monday pledged all-out efforts to fight real estate corruption, especially among public officials, as he chaired an emergency session of the government’s Anti-Corruption Policy Consultative Council for Fair Society. The meeting was attended by the ministers of finance, justice and interior, as well as the head of the Financial Services Commission and the acting prosecutor general. The last meeting was convened in June last year to discuss ways to root out corrupt

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl is leading presidential hopefuls from rival parties by a large margin in the latest popularity poll on potential candidates to succeed President Moon Jae-in next year, a pollster said Monday. Public support for Yoon as South Korea's next leader surged to a record high of 34.4 percent in a Realmeter survey conducted on 2,547 adults nationwide from last Monday to Friday, according to the Seoul-based pollster. It is the first time that Yoon's support rate

President Moon Jae-in on Monday dismissed his chief of staff for policy Kim Sang-jo, who played a key role in implementing policies to better protect tenants’ rights but was recently found to have greatly raised the jeonse deposit for his Gangnam apartment days before the new laws took effect. According to government filings, Kim raised the jeonse deposit 14 percent -- from 850 million won ($751,000) to 970 million won -- when he renewed a lease with a tenant July 29 last year. Two days l