Three party leaders quit posts, demanding leadership shakeup Grand National Party chief Hong Joon-pyo said on Wednesday he would lead efforts to rebuild the embattled party, resisting mounting pressure for him to step down and allow Park Geun-hye, the party’s strongest presidential candidate, to take charge. “This is not that I want to keep my post. I want to act responsibly,” he told a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul. As head of a ruling party, he should work to have next yea

BRUSSELS (AP) ― Standard & Poor’s threatened Monday to downgrade the credit rating of 15 eurozone countries, piling pressure on the currency union’s leaders to take radical steps to resolve their debt crisis at a summit later this week.The decision to put 15 eurozone countries ― including “AAA-” rating nations such as Germany and Luxembourg ― on watch for a possible cut in their credit worthiness also threatens to throw the eurozone’s bailout mechanism into disarray, since the rescue fund relies

Police on Tuesday questioned an aide of Rep. Park Hee-tae, the National Assembly speaker and a ruling party member, as part of their investigation into the election-day cyber attack against the national election watchdog. The aide, identified by his surname Kim, is one of five people who had drinks with a main suspect ―- a staffer to Grand National Party Rep. Choi Ku-shik -― the night before the attack.“We questioned, as witnesses, all five who had drinks with Gong on the eve of the Oct. 26 by-e

A minor progressive party filed legal changes against President Lee Myung-bak and the first lady on Monday for violating the country’s real estate transaction law.The Democratic Labor Party claimed that the decision by Lee and his wife to buy land in southern Seoul for their retirement effectively caused monetary losses for the presidential office.The president bought the plot of land in Naegok-dong for 1.12 billion won ($9.3 million), but the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae had to buy more

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s second-largest maker of memory chips, said Tuesday it is seeking to build a new production line in China to manufacture flash memory chips in response to rising demand for mobile devices. The company applied for a permit from the South Korean government to build its second overseas production line for producing NAND flash devices based on the 20-nanometer class process technology, it said in a statement. If authorization is given and construction begins on sc

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The IMF on Monday released 2.2 billion euros ($2.95 billion) in rescue funds for Greece, giving a nod to new Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’s commitment to a tough reform program.Delayed for months by political turmoil that led to the early November downfall of Prime Minister George Papandreou, the move opens the way for the European Union to release its 5.8 billion euro share of the latest bailout installment.The funds could help Athens to avoid a looming default on its debt

President Lee Myung-bak ordered yet another reorganization of the Blue House staff this week. His aides explained the measure was focused on improving “communication” between the core of administration and various sectors of society. It is dismaying that Lee, after four years in office, still feels insufficient public communication is the biggest weakness in his governance.Changes included installing new secretaries in charge of publicity of state policies and communication with the people and a

A steep rise in the sale of lottery tickets is alerting government overseers. The National Gaming Control Commission under the Prime Minister’s Office is reported to be considering issuing a “stoppage order” for the online Lotto as the total lottery sales this year have nearly hit the year’s ceiling of 2.8 trillion won. From Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, Lotto and other ticket sales totaled 2,794.8 billion won. As sales in December will easily exceed 300 billion won, the year’s total will pass the authorit

CAIRO (AP) ― The runoff Monday for Egypt’s first-round parliamentary elections heated up tensions between competing Islamist groups that have so far dominated the vote, with scuffles breaking out and allegations of death threats.The strife shows the challenges facing the front-runner, the Muslim Brotherhood, after hard-line Islamist parties made a surprisingly strong showing. The more moderate Brotherhood is now under pressure to reassure both Egyptians and foreign allies that the country is not