In response to allegations that employees of the state-run Korea Land & Housing Corp. speculated on property in government-designated development areas, President Moon Jae-in ordered the creation of an interagency investigation team. Civic groups had accused the LH employees of using development information to speculate on land designated as part of the government’s ambitious “new town” project, which is the third of its kind. Six agencies participated in the team under

In a move to perplex his supporters and critics alike, President Moon Jae-in has recently made an abrupt about-face in his stance on South Korea’s strained ties with Japan. He said Monday that his government was ready to talk with Tokyo on enhancing cooperation between the two neighboring countries, separating efforts toward forging a future-oriented partnership from longstanding disputes over shared history. “I am confident that if we put our heads together in the spirit of trying

From this year, the range of investigation by the prosecution was reduced to six categories of serious crimes under related laws revised early last year to reset the relationship between the prosecution and the police. The six fields are economy, corruption, civil servants, elections, defense contracts and disasters. Though a little more than two months into the new system, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea is moving to strip the prosecution of all of its remaining investigation power. The

South Korea and the US have not yet announced exactly when and how they would be conducting their joint military exercise planned for this month. The allies’ combined springtime drill is expected to kick off in the second week of March for about a 10-day run. But Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Thursday the schedule and other details of the planned exercise had yet to be finalized. A ministry spokesperson said South Korea and the US were holding close discussions on them taking into c

The National Assembly passed a secial law last Friday for the construction of a new airport on Gadeokdo, an island under the jurisdiction of Busan. The point of the special law is to waive a preliminary feasibility study. In 2016, a French company specializing in airport architecture and engineering evaluated Gadeokdo as the least fit among three candidate sites of a new airport to cover the southeastern region of Korea. It cited construction engineering difficulties, excessive construction co

A senior lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea said during a parliamentary session last month that the issue of tax hikes should now be put to public debate. Following the suggestion, other party legislators have put forward numerous ideas on how to increase taxes. It was only a matter of time for the sensitive issue to come to the fore, given President Moon Jae-in’s administration has indulged in excessive fiscal expenditure since it assumed office in 2017 to offset the negati

Board of Audit and Inspection Chairman Choe Jae-hyeong said public officials must observe legal procedures, even when carrying out a presidential election pledge. He stated the obvious, but his words sound fresh, considering that the presidential office, the government and the ruling party have often behaved unreasonably when it comes to the president’s campaign promises. In a session of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly on Monday, Choe said it is not right