Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Wednesday stressed the importance of maintaining strict adherence to government measures against the new coronavirus pandemic, amid no clear signs of a letup in new cases and fears of an infection resurgence. "If we lose our sense of attentiveness and allow a fourth pandemic wave to break out, it will be a painful misstep," Chung said during a daily interagency meeting on the coronavirus response. South Korean health authorities have struggled to brin

President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday held a meeting with ministers and ambassadors of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia and Brazil to discuss digital partnership with Latin American countries. This is the president’s first face-to-face diplomatic meeting over the past year amid canceled or delayed state visits in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Korea is an optimal and reliable partner for your envisioned transition towards an ecofriendly digital economy. Korea has

Park Young-sun, the Seoul mayor candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, has vowed to strengthen cooperation with Europe to drive the city to move toward a global city at a meeting with the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea on Monday. The candidate attended a special meeting hosted by the ECCK and shared opinions with European entrepreneurs on the business landscape in Seoul and ways to further develop Seoul into a global economic hub, the ECCK said Tuesday. During the meeting

Even in de facto bilateral race, opposition party’s single candidate wins ruling party

Rival parties tentatively agreed Tuesday to jointly seek an independent counsel investigation into a ballooning land speculation scandal. Rep. Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), said his party will seek to launch an independent counsel probe into the scandal, practically accepting the ruling Democratic Party's earlier call for the investigation. "I request the implementation of a special counsel probe, as well as a parliamentary investigation (in

President Moon Jae-in apologized to the people Tuesday over alleged insider property speculation involving officials at the state-owned housing supply body, two weeks after the revelation of the case by civic groups. "I am sorry for having caused great concern to the people," he said at the start of a weekly Cabinet meeting. The case has brought about a "great sense of despondency and disappointment" among the public, he added. The apology followed a string of strong messa

President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook will receive COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday next week ahead of their planned trip to the UK for the G-7 summit in June, Cheong Wa Dae said Monday. The presidential couple will be given the two-dose AstraZeneca vaccines like other citizens here, the presidential office added. “Their planned vaccination also aims to eradicate safety and efficacy concerns surrounding the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Moon’s spokesperson Kang Min-seok s

President Moon Jae-in on Monday vowed to root out corruption in the housing market, calling real estate speculation another form of “deep-rooted evil” that has long been prevalent in society. “Eradicating deep-rooted evil and restoring order in the real estate market will become one of the key goals in the remaining time of the administration,” Moon said in a weekly meeting with his key aides at Cheong Wa Dae. “We should keep in mind that this is the most import

Nearly 90 percent of experts view the level of social division and conflicts in South Korea as serious, a survey by a parliamentary advisory committee showed Monday. In its survey conducted from March 2-6 on 1,801 experts in social, political or economic affairs who are registered in the National Assembly Library's database, 89 percent of the respondents said social division and conflicts within the country are at serious levels, according to a subunit of the Committee for National Cohesion tha

President Moon Jae-in's approval rating dropped to its lowest in nine weeks, a poll showed Monday, as his administration struggles to calm public outcry over alleged speculative land purchases by officials at the state-owned housing supply enterprise. Public support for the ruling Democratic Party (DP) also dipped, while that for the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) ascended, with less than a month left before the all-important Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections, according to Realmete

Sole candidate from the ruling bloc pledges to handle Seoul’s overflowing waste on its own

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung and former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl were tied atop the list of potential candidates for next year's presidential election, a new poll showed Friday. Yoon has soared in opinion surveys since he resigned on March 4 in protest of the ruling Democratic Party (DP)'s push to create a new investigative body that reduces the prosecution's power. Gallup Korea, a pollster, said both Gov. Lee and Yoon garnered 24 percent of support in its latest survey conduc

The government has identified seven more public officials suspected of buying land for speculation, bringing the total number to 20, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Thursday, declaring a "war" against real estate crime. Chung said at a press conference that all the 20 people work for the state housing developer, Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH), and purchased land mainly in the Gwangmyeong-Siheung area of Gyeonggi Province, which has been designated as the site of a major public h

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) proposed Thursday a parliamentary probe into all sitting lawmakers over a widening land speculation scandal, to which the main opposition party responded positively. "The justice and order of our society should be re-established by launching an investigation into all of the employees at state-run institutions, high-level government officials as well as lawmakers," Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon, acting chairman of the DP, said during a party meeting. The proposal

An opposition lawmaker claimed Thursday that 74 more employees of the state housing corporation are suspected of having purchased land for speculation, the latest in a series of allegations over a growing corruption scandal. Rep. Kwak Sang-do of the main opposition People Power Party said an investigation revealed that 74 people, whose names matched those of Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH) employees, made 64 land transactions in Gwangmyeong and Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, between early 2018 a