The ruling Democratic Party of Korea is raising concerns that it will abuse its large majority -- having won 177 of 300 seats in the general election. It was belatedly discovered that the party had punished former lawmaker Keum Tae-sub on May 25 for not voting in favor of a bill pushed by the party.　 The bill calls for the creation of a new agency to investigate high-ranking officials, and was passed. Keum was the only lawmaker of the party who cast a blank ballot on the bill in December last

President Moon Jae-in was unexpectedly quick to accept an invitation from US President Donald Trump to a Group of Seven summit slated for this fall. During their phone conversation Monday, the second in about six weeks, Moon expressed gratitude for the invitation, reaffirming Seoul’s commitment to play a global role in quarantine and economic fields. Trump earlier told reporters that he would like to invite South Korea, Australia, India and Russia to this year’s G-7 summit the US i

Creditors will lend an additional 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion) to the financially distressed Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction. The state-owned Korea Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of Korea previously pledged 2.4 trillion won in emergency loans to the company. The latest loan was extended on the condition of Doosan Heavy carrying out a self-rescue plan that was worked out with creditors and submitted to the government last month. In exchange for the loans, the firm should

Though not unexpected, it is still disappointing that Japan has ignored South Korea’s latest call to lift export restrictions. On May 12, Seoul gave Tokyo until the end of the month to retract export curbs imposed in July last year on three high-tech materials. The measure was taken in an apparent reprisal against an earlier ruling by the Supreme Court here that ordered Japanese firms to compensate Koreans forced into hard labor during Japan’s 1910-45 colonization of the peninsula.

Yoon Mi-hyang, a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, denied any suspicions amplified after former comfort woman Lee Yong-soo’s revelation. Yoon said she had no intention to resign as a lawmaker. She headed a civic group for those women forced by Japan to serve its soldiers as their “comfort women” -- actually sex slaves -- during its colonial rule of Korea (1910-1945). They are simply called grandmas. Earlier, Grandma Lee revealed that the group under Yoon us

Political parties are becoming increasingly active and positive toward the controversial issue of introducing a universal basic income system in the country. Universal basic income refers to money evenly distributed to all individuals to support their livelihoods, regardless of their wealth level or job status. The liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea is preparing to submit a bill on the introduction of the scheme to the next National assembly that begins its four-year term Saturday. The