The recent passage of the budget bill has sparked public fury, as it included a plan to increase the annual salaries of lawmakers, while the budget for job creation was reduced.The ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the main opposition Liberty Korea Party on Saturday approved the 2019 budget bill of 469.6 trillion won ($416 billion), which included the plan to increase their wages by 1.8 percent. (Yonhap)The three minor parties 00 the center-right Bareunmirae Party, center-left opposition Part

The investigations and trial records of the Federation of Democratic Young Students affair in 1974 are set to be revealed more than 40 years after the incident took place.National Archives of Korea on Monday announced that it received the records from the Ministry of National Defense in November. A total of 105 volumes, about 77,000 pages, of records include investigation reports, evidence, arrest warrants, written arraignments and trial reports of 180 people involved in the affair. Records of f

Former Gwangju Mayor Yoon Jang-hyun, who allegedly had engaged in a fake ex-first lady scam, arrived in Korea early Sunday morning for a prosecution investigation. Prosecutors seized Yoon’s mobile phone at the airport and ordered him to appear for questioning Monday morning.Yoon had been in Nepal for a medical volunteer program since Nov. 16. The program ended on Nov. 21, but Yoon had not returned to Korea and did not respond to the prosecution’s summons. According to the Gwangju District Prosec

A retired former Army general under a prosecution investigation on illegal surveillance charges jumped off a building in an apparent suicide, police said Friday. Lee Jae-su, former chief of the Defense Security Command, the military intelligence unit, appears to have thrown himself off a building located in the eastern Seoul district of Songpa at 2:48 p.m., police said. Former chief of the Defense Security CommandLee Jae-su (Yonhap)A suicide note was found at the scene. Lee’s body has been trans

The court’s rejection of warrants for two former Supreme Court justices allegedly involved in a massive power abuse scandal on Friday raised questions on whether the judiciary was seeking to contain the damage by pinning all the blame on one person.(Yonhap)Two judges at the Seoul Central District Court on Friday denied prosecutors’ requests for warrants to detain retired Justices Ko Young-han and Park Byong-dae, saying that charges against them were not sufficiently substantiated to warrant a pr

A Seoul court on Friday denied prosecution requests for warrants to arrest two former Supreme Court justices in connection with a massive power abuse scandal in the judiciary. The Seoul Central District Court made the decisions on retired Justices Ko Young-han and Park Byong-dae, citing low risks of them fleeing and that the charges against them were not substantiated enough to require pre-indictment detention. (Yonhap)The two former chiefs of the National Court Administration, the top court's g

The court ruled in favor of members of a megachurch in Seoul’s Gangnam district who sought to strip the senior pastor of his position in a yearslong internal dispute. According to the Sarang Church, the Seoul High Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a remanded case to nullify a decision that made Rev. Oh Jung-hyun the senior pastor of the church 15 years ago. Rev. Oh Jung-hyun of Sarang Church (Yonhap)Oh was appointed head pastor of the megachurch by the Eastern Seoul arm of the General As

Government preparing to hold groundbreaking ceremony to connect inter-Korean roads and railways this month

A monthlong inspection of companies run by well-known IT entrepreneur Yang Jin-ho revealed numerous violations of the law, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Wednesday. The probe also found bizarre examples of workplace abuse by Yang, including throwing a glass at an employee and forcing others to eat raw garlic.Yang, the chief of several local online storage service companies and robot developer K-Technology, has been accused of brutally abusing employees at his companies after a video d

SEOUL (AFP) - The coaches of South Korea‘s “Garlic Girls” curling team, who shot to fame by winning Olympic silver in February, resigned Tuesday after the athletes accused them of verbal abuse and exploitation.　Nicknamed for their small hometown -- which is famous for farming the pungent bulb -- they were rank outsiders at South Korea’s Pyeongchang Games, and became a media sensation as they swept their way to the tournament final.　But last month they publicly accused their coaches of verbal abu

Confirmation hearing overshadowed by prolonged brawl over budget bill delay

The wife of Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung underwent prosecution questioning for a third time Tuesday over allegations she posted slanderous messages about her husband's political rivals. Kim Hye-kyung appeared at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office at around 10:05 a.m. Tuesday's questioning follows an interrogation in late October and another in early November.  (Yonhap)"It's been really tough and unfair," she told reporters. "I just hope the truth is revealed." She's suspected of writ

The opposition parties on Monday continued raising pressure on the presidential secretary for civil affairs, as President Moon Jae-in remains silent on the recent series of misconduct by Cheong Wa Dae officials. On Monday, the conservative main opposition Liberty Korea Party renewed its criticism of Cheong Wa Dae over related matters, with its interim leader Kim Byung-joon accusing the administration of turning a blind eye to wrongdoings within its ranks.  President Moon Jae-in and his Senior Se

Rapper’s disparaging remarks come just weeks after controversial single “Feminist”

Following the crash of a firefighting helicopter Saturday, concerns are rising over the safety of the aircraft, which are decades old. 　After taking off from Gimpo Airport at 10:52 a.m. Saturday, a helicopter belonging to the Korea Forest Service crashed into the Han River near Gangdong Bridge at around 11:20 a.m. The helicopter was filling its water tank there, to put out a fire on Yeongchuksan in Nowon, Seoul. The accident left one dead and two injured. Authorities dismantle a helicopter after