June 20 is World Refugee Day. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, an unprecedented 68.5 million people around the world have been forced from home, and among them are nearly 25.4 million refugees. To put it in perspective, nearly 1 person is forcibly displaced every two seconds as a result of conflict or persecution.Whether it’s people fleeing from Afghanistan, Syria, South Sudan, Honduras or Yemen, their reasons for flight are universally the same: to seek safe

Recently, Cheong Wa Dae denounced the political community for two days in a row.　Bok Ki-wang, presidential secretary for political affairs, responded positively on Wednesday to a petition calling for the introduction of a recall system to remove lawmakers.　“People can recall the president, governors, mayors and provincial councilors, but there is no system to recall lawmakers. It is unconvincing from the standpoint of common sense,” he said.　“Is a country righteous if its peopl

Former South Korean first lady Lee Hee-ho who passed away Monday at the age of 97 stands out among wives of presidents who ruled the country since establishment of the republic in 1948. Most of all, her life -- since she got married to former President Kim Dae-jung in 1962 when she was 40 -- was closely knitted with her husband’s tumultuous political career that spanned from the darkest dictatorial era to full-blown democracy. Indeed, her name cannot be separated from Kim, whose fight agai

In an about-face from its persistent economic optimism, the presidential office has begun to concede that the country’s economy may be slipping into a prolonged downturn.During a press briefing last week, Yoon Jong-won, the senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, said the Korean economy is poised to face heightened downside risks amid deteriorating external conditions. He said the possibility of the risks being drawn out could not be ruled out, as external uncertainties have in

Cheong Wa Dae emphasizes the unity of the people, but what it actually says causes disunity. In his Memorial Day address on Thursday, President Moon Jae-in mentioned Kim Won-bong, a fighter who was decorated by North Korea for his distinguished service in the Korean War (1950-53).Moon mentioned Kim and several other independence fighters, suggesting they had formed the roots of the Republic of Korea’s (South Korea’s) armed forces and helped to lay the foundation for the Korea-US alli

President Moon Jae-in on Sunday started an eight-day tour of Finland, Norway and Sweden. It is his first trip to the northern European nations since he took office more than two years ago. Summit diplomacy with any country is important, and as the head of state of a country that has maintained friendly and cooperative relations with the three countries, Moon’s task is to use his trip to forge closer ties with them. That doesn’t seem so difficult, compared with other foreign policy an

A tripartite commission last week kicked off its deliberation to set the minimum wage for next year amid mounting calls to adjust the pace of increase to cushion the fallout from previous steep hikes.The commission, which comprises 27 members, nine each representing labor, business and the wider public, raised the minimum wage by 16.4 percent on-year to 7,530 won ($6.39) per hour in 2018, the steepest rise in 17 years. The hourly minimum wage increased further by 10.9 percent to 8,350 won in 201