Big shots are running in these constituencies. Some may not prevail

Being a member of South Korea’s National Assembly comes with many perks, legal and otherwise. On top of having the power to legislate, conduct budget reviews, audit and investigate the government and its affiliated institutions, assembly members also enjoy benefits that are not directly related to their parliamentary role. Every election season, there is some initiative to “abolish the rights and privileges of lawmakers.” Han Dong-hoon, soon after taking office as the interim l

General Election set to shape Korea's political landscape for next 4 years, test Yoon's presidency

S. Korea aims for 10% chip market share, to be in global top 3 for AI by 2030, says Yoon

Former South Korean presidents have traditionally maintained a reserved stance regarding elections held after their tenure, but some have been making rather different moves in this general election. Showing active support for his party, the Democratic Party of Korea, Moon Jae-in, the predecessor of incumbent President Yoon Suk Yeol, has been the most vigorous among the past three presidents, directly joining rallies of individual candidates from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. Dre

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung accused the Yoon Suk Yeol government of trying to knock out his political enemies as he attended a court hearing on charges connected to a development corruption scandal on the eve of the parliamentary elections Tuesday. Lee, the chair of the main opposition Democratic Party, appeared for the hearing at the Seoul Central District Court on corruption charges related to two apartment construction projects in Seongnam, south of Seoul, launched during his term as the

The ruling and opposition parties intensified their final appeals for support on the eve of the quadrennial parliamentary elections Tuesday, concentrating on the most fiercely contested battlegrounds in Seoul. Wednesday's general elections are to pick 300 members of the National Assembly, with 254 of them to be selected through direct elections and the remaining 46 proportional representation seats to be allocated to parties according to the number of votes they receive overall. The quadrennial

Democratic Party of Korea Chairperson Rep. Lee Jae-myung has come under fire after he was caught on a hot mic saying he “put on a show” after a campaign event Sunday. “I put on a show of working (hard). My back hurts,” the main opposition leader said as he was getting into his van while still live on air on his YouTube channel. The hot mic remarks came immediately after Lee held a campaign rally in a district in Incheon, where he is running for a second term in the Nation

South Korea on Monday succeeded in sending its second domestically made military reconnaissance satellite into space from the US to enhance its space-based surveillance of North Korea and deterrence against nuclear and missile threats. The Ministry of National Defense said the satellite was launched at 8:17 a.m., Korea time, on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. About 45 minutes after liftoff at 9:02 a.m., the satellite entered its target o

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday touted his administration's policy efforts as the reason behind the recent signs of the housing market stabilizing. Yoon said his conservative administration will spare no efforts to further stabilize the housing market, as the interest rate and the cost of construction remain high, posing hurdles for the housing supply in Seoul, which is suffering a shortage of affordable housing for prospective homeowners. "Now is the (optimal) time to normalize the housi

S. Korea entertains new form of political satire through 'SNL Korea Reboot' aired via streaming service under more relaxed rules

The presidential office said Monday that it has no plan to defer the medical school admissions quota hike, fueling confusion both in the government and medical community, which briefly saw the possibility for dialogue over the matter. “The government has never reviewed postponing the plan for a year, nor will it do so in the future,” an official from the presidential office told reporters during a closed-door briefing, reiterating that the government remains unchanged on its medical

Pending Bill: Partial Amendment to the Income Tax Act Proposed by Rep. Park Dae-chul (People Power Party) ●This amendment proposes canceling the planned implementation of the financial income tax system next year, which imposes a 20-25 percent tax on capital gains from investments in financial investment products, such as stocks, bonds and funds, that are worth 50 million won ($38,230) or more. The financial investment income tax, also known as the “geumtuse,” is a system that levi

The green onion, a beloved vegetable among South Koreans, has unexpectedly become the latest political weapon for opposition parties to attack President Yoon Suk Yeol and the ruling party. It all started with Yoon's visit to a hypermarket in southern Seoul on March 18, just before he rolled out measures to tame food prices in the country. There, Yoon noticed that a bundle of green onions weighing 1 kilogram was selling for 875 won ($0.65), significantly lower than the usual price of between

Changing voter priorities, emergence of young voters could impact country's deeply-rooted regionalism, but not in the short run, experts say