Opposition chief acquitted of instigating perjury

Main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was acquitted Monday of subornation of perjury, with the Seoul Central District Court ruling him not guilty of allegedly asking a former mayoral secretary to provide false testimony in his favor in late 2018. Last year, prosecutors charged Lee with attempting to persuade a witness to make false testimony in his favor in December 2018, for a court trial over an alleged election law violation. Lee was accused of lying during a televised debate during his campai

Nov. 25, 2024

S. Korea, Malaysia ink strategic partnership

The leaders of South Korea and Malaysia forged a strategic partnership on Monday to bolster cooperation in trade, the defense industry, clean energy and critical materials as they eye the 65th anniversary of diplomatic ties next year. This came as President Yoon Suk Yeol received Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on the occasion of his official visit to South Korea. It was the first visit by a Malaysian leader in five years. During the talks, Yoon expressed anticipation that their "bil

Nov. 25, 2024

Yoon's approval rating inches up to 25.7%: poll

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating rose for the second consecutive week to 25.7 percent, a survey showed Monday. According to the survey by Realmeter and commissioned by a local news outlet, the positive assessment of Yoon's performance rose 2 percentage points from the previous week, while the negative assessment fell 2.7 percentage points. The survey was conducted on 2,508 adults from Monday to Friday last week and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, wi

Nov. 25, 2024

Opposition leader set for sentence on subornation of perjury charges

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung is set to be sentenced Monday on charges of suborning a former mayoral secretary to make false court testimony in his favor, marking the second in a series of rulings that could jeopardize his potential presidential bid. Lee, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, is accused of encouraging a secretary to former Seongnam Mayor Kim Byung-ryang to give false testimony during a 2019 trial related to his alleged election law violations. The alleged offen

Nov. 25, 2024

Yoon, first lady replace mobile phones

President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee have stopped using their mobile phones and replaced them with new phones, an official at the ruling bloc said Sunday. The move came after Yoon said in a Nov. 7 press conference that both he and his wife should have changed to new mobile phones after his inauguration, in response to criticism over the first lady using her personal phone for communications linked to controversies surrounding her. "I was given advice on changing the mobile ph

Nov. 24, 2024

Tensions to escalate over third revote of bill targeting first lady

Tensions between the rival political parties are expected to escalate in the following days, with the main opposition seeking to put a bill calling for a special counsel investigation into allegations involving first lady Kim Keon Hee up for a revote on Nov. 28. On Nov. 14, the opposition-led Assembly passed the revised special counsel probe bill in a 191-0 vote, as the ruling People Power Party lawmakers boycotted the vote. The Assembly has previously passed two similar bills, in December 2023

Nov. 24, 2024

Opposition leader awaits perjury trial ruling

The Seoul Central District Court is set to rule Monday on perjury subornation charges against Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party. The ruling of the first trial comes just 10 days after Lee received a suspended prison sentence in a separate trial for violating the Public Official Election Act, further compounding the legal challenges that could cost him his parliamentary seat and jeopardize his presidential aspirations. Prosecutors filed the perjury subornation case aga

Nov. 24, 2024

Opposition leader faces sentencing hearing over allegedly suborning perjury this week

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung is set to face a sentencing hearing this week for allegedly suborning perjury, legal sources said Sunday, 10 days after he got a suspended prison term for election violations. The Seoul Central District Court is set to deliver a verdict Monday on Lee's charges of suborning a secretary of a former Seongnam mayor to make false court testimony in his favor in a 2018 election law violation case involving him, according to the sources. Prosecutors suspect the lead

Nov. 24, 2024

S. Korea not to attend Sado mine memorial: foreign ministry

  South Korea will not be attending a memorial ceremony scheduled to take place in Japan to honor wartime forced labor victims, including many Koreans, from an old Japanese mine complex, the foreign ministry said Saturday. The decision, made only a day before the planned ceremony, came after Tokyo announced that a Japanese vice foreign minister with an apparent hard-line political stance on past history will be attending the ceremony as its government representative. "We have decided n

Nov. 23, 2024

Russia sent 'anti-air' missiles to Pyongyang, Yoon's aide says

President Yoon Suk Yeol's national security adviser said Friday that Russia had already provided North Korea with military equipment and "anti-air" weapons in return for North Korea's recent troop dispatch to the Ukraine war. Shin Won-sik, director of the presidential National Security Office, said in a televised interview with SBS Friday that these weapons were sent to Pyongyang, which would "allow North Korea to address vulnerabilities in its anti-air defense capability." T

Nov. 22, 2024

Japan confirms vice-ministerial level figure attending Sado mine memorial

Akiko Ikuina, parliamentary vice minister at Japan's Foreign Ministry, will attend the Sado gold mine memorial ceremony on Sunday to commemorate wartime forced labor victims there, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Friday. From Saturday to Sunday, Ikuina will visit Sado, in Japan's Niigata prefecture, to "attend the memorial service for the Sado Island Gold Mine and also tour (the mine)," the Japanese government said in a notification. South Korean Ambassador

Nov. 22, 2024

Final sentencing hearing for Cho Kuk draws near

Rep. Cho Kuk, an ally of former Democratic Party of Korea President Moon Jae-in, is due to be sentenced by the highest court in three weeks. Cho faces a dozen charges. Most notably he is charged with using illicit means to get his children into prestigious schools, for which his wife Chung Kyung-shim was handed four years in jail in 2022. The court ruling led to their daughter Cho Min losing her admission to Korea University and medical school at Pusan National University. He is also charged wit

Nov. 22, 2024

Yoon's office signals supplementary budget review

The presidential office on Friday signaled it would consider a supplementary budget with President Yoon Suk Yeol addressing the issue of social polarization as the policy priority its administration should tackle. A senior official of the presidential office said that it "will not rule out the possibilities of the proactive fiscal intervention including the allocation of an extra budget," adding the timing for the supplementary budget "has yet to be determined." This signals

Nov. 22, 2024

Yoon's approval rating 'unchanged' after opposition leader's conviction: poll

President Yoon Suk Yeol's job approval rating has remained unchanged for two straight months, despite Yoon's handling of foreign affairs during his trip to the South American countries and the conviction of the opposition leader for election law offenses the previous week. According to Gallup Korea's weekly poll result of 1,001 respondents released Friday, Yoon's popularity came to 20 percent. His job disapproval rating edged up 1 percentage point to 72 percent compared to th

Nov. 22, 2024

S. Korea completes production of core vacuum vessel sectors for intl. nuclear fusion research project

South Korea has completed the production of vacuum vessel sectors for the international thermonuclear experimental reactor project, aimed at achieving fusion power production at power plant scale, the science ministry said Friday. The country has completed building four vacuum vessels for the ITER, the world's largest tokamak to be set up in southern France, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. A tokamak is a magnetic fusion device created to demonstrate the viability of fusion as

Nov. 22, 2024

Defense chiefs of S. Korea, U.S., Japan, Philippines, Australia discuss cooperation on sidelines of ASEAN meeting

Defense chiefs of South Korea, United States, Japan, the Philippines and Australia discussed multilateral cooperation on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) defense ministerial meeting in Laos. In their first joint meeting held in Vientiane, the defense chiefs "emphasized their shared commitment to advancing a vision for a free, open, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region where international law and sovereignty are respected," according to Seoul'

Nov. 21, 2024

S. Korea issues travel ban alert for entire Kursk region in Russia amid intensifying clashes

South Korea is banning travel to the entire Kursk region in Russia amid intensifying clashes between Ukrainian forces and Russian-North Korean troops there, the foreign ministry said Thursday. The Level 4 travel ban, the highest of the four-scale travel warning system, will be applied to all areas in Kursk effective from Thursday midnight. Previously, a Level 4 advisory was applied to certain areas within 30 kilometers of the border in five Russian regions bordering Ukraine. However, with this a

Nov. 21, 2024

Anti-foreign spying bill awaits final vote

Bipartisan momentum is building at the National Assembly for the passage of a set of bills that would expand existing espionage laws to punish spies working for foreign countries other than North Korea. The anti-foreign espionage bill, which failed to pass in a vote last year, is ripe for passage this time, lawmakers of the two main parties say. Under the existing laws, South Korea only recognizes spying by North Korea as a punishable crime. The broadened espionage bill passed the legislative co

Nov. 21, 2024

Main opposition pushes to ease, not postpone, tax on crypto gains

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea is planning to pass a bill that raises the threshold for a planned tax on virtual asset-related gains, up to 50 million won ($35,800) from the previously planned 2.5 million won, sources said Thursday. The original scheme for crypto tax gains would have taxed crypto-related income of over 2.5 million won per year starting January 2022, but it has been pushed back twice to January 2025. Main opposition Rep. Jin Sung-joon said the party would carry out

Nov. 21, 2024

Court decides against live broadcast of opposition leader's sentencing hearing

A local court on Thursday decided against broadcasting live opposition leader Lee Jae-myung's upcoming sentencing hearing for allegedly suborning perjury. The Seoul Central District Court said it decided against broadcasting the sentencing scheduled for next Monday after considering the "legal benefits." Lee of the main opposition Democratic Party is set to be sentenced on charges of suborning a secretary of a former Seongnam mayor to make false court testimony in his favor in a 2

Nov. 21, 2024