New board members for public broadcasters approved amid opposition parties' protest

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday officially approved Lee Jin-sook, a former journalist of Munhwa Broadcasting Corp., as the new chief of the country’s top broadcasting regulator amid threats from the main opposition to propose an impeachment motion against her. Lee’s term as the new chief of the Korea Communications Commission immediately began Wednesday, with the 63-year-old former reporter and ex-CEO of the public terrestrial broadcaster's Daejeon branch pledging to &ldquo

President Yoon Suk Yeol told the ruling People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon to embrace his political allies as they sat down for closed-door talks for about 1 1/2 hours Tuesday morning, the president's office said Wednesday. It was among the agenda items discussed at the highly anticipated meeting of Yoon and Han that took place in the presidential office from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. -- 30 minutes longer than initially planned. Yoon's chief of staff Chung Jin-suk was also in attendanc

President Yoon Suk Yeol nominated Kim Moon-soo, a seasoned conservative politician and a former labor activist who recently served as the governor of Gyeonggi Province, as the new labor minister on Wednesday. Kim, who is currently a chair of the presidential advisory body the Economic, Social and Labor Council, will succeed Lee Jung-sik once he gets Yoon's final approval after going through a parliamentary hearing. Yoon is likely to push for appointing the former Gyeonggi governor without t

Yoon expected to exercise veto yet again

The National Assembly confirmed the appointment of Cho Ji-ho as the country's new police chief Tuesday. The parliamentary committee on public administration and security adopted a confirmation hearing report on Cho's nomination as the commissioner-general of the Korean National Police Agency after holding a hearing the previous day. Adoption of the report is seen as parliamentary consent to the appointment, though the National Assembly has no power to reject the nomination and the pres

Kim weighs about 140 kilograms, prone to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, NIS tells lawmakers

Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Income Tax Act Proposed by Rep. Song Eon-seog (People Power Party) ● Under the current Act, income from the transfer or lease of virtual assets will be classified as “other income” and be subject to taxation from January 1, 2025. This aims to achieve tax parity between physical assets, such as cash and real estate, and virtual assets, such as cryptocurrency. However, given the deteriorating sentiment towards investment in virtual assets due to

The main opposition Democratic Party on Monday criticized the government for failing to prevent a Japanese gold mine associated with Korea's wartime forced labor from being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On Saturday, the UNESCO World Heritage committee decided to add the controversial mine as a cultural heritage site after South Korea, which had initially opposed Tokyo's bid, gave last-minute consent to the listing. "The Sado mine was listed as World Heritage, backed by t

The opposition-controlled National Assembly passed one of the four contentious broadcasting bills aimed at reducing the government's influence over public broadcasters Monday, with lawmakers of the ruling party walking out in protest. The main opposition Democratic Party led the bill's passage in a 187-0 vote after passing a motion to forcefully end a filibuster by the ruling People Power Party (PPP). The revision to the Foundation for Broadcast Culture Act aims to increase the number

Gridlock is expected to persist in South Korea's legislature, as the rival parties remain locked in a cycle of the ruling party filibustering opposition-led bills, with the president then vetoing them, with no efforts to find bipartisan consensus. The latest in this ongoing political tug-of-war centers on a series of broadcasting bills to curb government influence over public broadcasters. On Sunday, the opposition-led National Assembly passed the second of four such bills, overriding a fil

Internet and smartphone use interferes with the lives of almost one out of five students in South Korea, recent data showed. A diagnostic survey on youth media use and habits conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family showed that over 221,000 youths have difficulty managing their daily lives due to uncontrolled use of the internet and smartphones in 2024, accounting for 18 percent of the total survey group. More than 1.2 million youths in the school transition period, such as those

The International Olympic Committee apologized to President Yoon Suk Yeol, the government, and the country's athletes for the error made during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics Friday afternoon local time, at which the South Korean delegation was mistakenly identified as representing North Korea, with which South Korea is technically still at war. According to the Sports Ministry on Sunday, IOC President Thomas Bach apologized for the "mistake in the audio broadcast of the op

The opposition-controlled National Assembly passed one of the four contentious broadcasting bills aimed at reducing the government's influence over public broadcasters Friday, with lawmakers of the ruling party leaving in protest. The passage followed the main opposition Democratic Party ending the ruling People Power Party's filibuster during a plenary session after 24 hours. The bill was then put to a vote and passed in a 183-0 vote, in which only lawmakers from opposition pa

Rival parties lock horns over Kim Keon Hee's absence from hearing on online petition calling for Yoon's impeachment