Parties are preparing for the imminent negotiations on organizing the 19th National Assembly. At the same time, they are putting out feelers to get an idea of each other’s negotiating stance.Because so much is at stake ahead of the December presidential election, concerns are voiced in the political community that the new National Assembly may follow the footsteps of the outgoing one, whose organization it took 89 days to complete.The new National Assembly, which starts its term on May 30 as sti

The constitutional revision issue is resurfacing as potential contenders gear up for the presidential election in November.Senior ruling party lawmaker Lee Jae-oh added to the latest discourse on the issue last week when he announced his presidential bid. He pledged to amend the Constitution within his first six months in power to change the presidential tenure from the current single five-year term to two four-year terms and constrain presidential power.Lee urged other potential candidates to a

China’s detention of four South Korean activists, which has continued for 50 days with no details being released, testifies again to its opaque legal system, which is far below international standards.The case has also shown again Seoul’s passiveness in handling sensitive issues with Beijing.It was a Seoul-based rights group that first revealed that the four had been detained since being arrested in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian on March 29. The revelation on Monday apparently reflecte

Korea faces an urgent need to reform the state-run health insurance system as its sustainability is threatened by a rapid increase in health care spending. During the past 10 years, per-capita heath spending has grown at nearly 8 percent a year, about double the nation’s economic growth rate. One factor driving up health care costs is the fee-for-service payment formula, under which the National Health Insurance Corp. reimburses hospitals for each and every service they provide to their patients

The non-mainstream factions of the strife-torn United Progressive Party have managed to launch an emergency leadership headed by Rep. Kang Ki-kab, seizing the initiative from the party’s widely criticized mainstreamers. Kang was appointed at a meeting of the party’s central committee, which was convened online from Sunday night to Monday morning without the presence of the representatives from the mainstream group. The committee’s meeting on Saturday was interrupted by violence. Some 100 members

Four savings banks that have recently been declared insolvent are found to have sustained huge losses from high-risk investments. Worse still, astronomical amounts of money have allegedly been embezzled by the managers of two of them. If they are not recouped, taxpayers will have to hold the bag.Prosecutors are widening their investigation into an allegation that Lim Suk, chairman of Solomon Savings Bank, embezzled 500 billion won from customer deposits and put the money into a maritime service

Unseasonably high temperatures have raised concerns about nationwide blackouts again this year. Demand for electricity remains high at a time when many power plants are under maintenance, reducing the power reserves to a worrisome level.For the first time in recent years, the nation experienced rolling blackouts last September ― a series of intentional electrical blackouts affecting small areas in succession as a means of conserving electricity when supply was low.Korea Electric Power Corp. had

With a carnation pinned to their lapels, teachers will hear students sing a song expressing gratitude for their teaching in schools across the country Tuesday, marking the 31st Teacher’s Day.It is regrettable, however, that the actual relationship between teachers and students appears not so amicable these days.In fact, it is getting so much worse that a growing number of teachers fall victim to violence from their own students.In the latest case, a 51-year-old female teacher was hit on the head

There is no denying Korean teenagers live a most stressful life.Recent figures from Statistics Korea showed that seven out of 10 youths have been under a lot of stress, with 8.8 percent thinking of committing suicide over the past year. Suicide has already become the primary cause of death of young people in the country, which has seen about 13 in every 100,000 teenagers killing themselves every year.According to a recent study by a local research institute, Korean students ranked lowest in an i

The Yeosu Expo is opening on Saturday, putting on display the five years of preparations for the promotion of knowledge, technology and activities for the sustainable development of marine resources.These preparations by Yeosu as the host of the international exposition are showcased by the “Big-O” core facility for exhibitions and entertainment, a huge fountain over the sea, an aquarium containing robotic fish as well as actual fish, and other facilities. More than 100 countries and internation

It is a typical pattern for administrations to boost the real-estate market when the economy is in a slump. President Lee Myung-bak’s administration is no different.The policy package that the Lee administration unveiled on Thursday was intended as a shot in the arm for the housing market in the doldrums. The measure was taken at a time when the administration finds it extremely difficult to attain its modest growth target for this year ― 3.5 percent.Most notable among the policies was to free S

A recent survey by a job website showed seven out of 10 employed Koreans regard themselves as working poor.Repayment of student loans and the cost of mortgages were cited as the major reasons for being short of money, according to the survey of about 500 employees in their 20s-40s.The poll reflects the financial pinch that has gripped Korean consumers. Structural problems in the economy have held down household income for years. From 1998 to 2011, the country’s gross national income increased by

North Korea recently replied to a U.N. inquiry into the fate of the wife and two daughters left behind by a South Korean man who escaped the North in 1986 a year after defecting there with his family.In the letter sent to the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on April 27, it claimed Shin Suk-ja, the wife of Oh Kil-nam, died of hepatitis and the two daughters did not want to see Oh, whom they did not regard as their father because he abandoned his family and drove their mother to her deat

A bill to revise the Software Industry Promotion Act was passed on May 2 along with some 60 others during the last session of the 18th National Assembly. The revised law, which goes into effect from next January, bans chaebol-affiliated IT service companies from working on public-sector projects.The new regulation is one of the initiatives the government has recently taken to jump-start the stagnating domestic software industry, which it has pledged to foster as one of the nation’s future growth

The mainstream faction of the United Progressive Party is digging itself deeper into a hole as it struggles to retain power in the face of mounting pressure to take responsibility for alleged fraud in the primaries for the April 11 general election.The faction, led by Lee Jung-hee, one of the UPP’s four co-leaders, rejected the recommendation adopted by the party’s National Steering Committee over the weekend that the three proportional representation lawmakers-elect chosen through the primary r