Rival parties agreed Thursday to begin the ratification process for the long-pending free trade agreement with the United States in the same pace with the U.S. Congress, officials said. The last-minute compromise averted a feared clash between the rival parties. Opposition lawmakers had hinted at the possibility of using force to block the bill’s introduction at a parliamentary committee if the ...

South Korea’s top diplomat headed for France to attend a meeting of 60 world leaders and high-level envoys to map out Libya’s future as Moammar Gadhafi’s 41-year regime comes to an end, the Foreign Ministry here said Thursday. Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, EU and Arab chiefs, the U.S. secretary of state, U.N. secretary-general and other international leaders will discuss Libya’s reconstruction...

The Defense Ministry will hold a ceremony to break ground on new elementary and high schools to be built for children of U.S. military personnel in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Friday, officials said Thursday. Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. James D. Thurman, and other military and government officials will attend the ceremony to mark the beginning of the first ...

A Seoul court has ordered the South Korean government to compensate the Seoul city government for environmental damage caused by an oil leak from a U.S. military camp here, the city said Thursday. The Seoul Central District Court handed down the ruling in favor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which filed the damages suit asking the central government to pay 340 million won ($319,608) the c...

A lawmaker who made sexist remarks dodged expulsion on Wednesday as the parliamentary ethics committee’s motion failed to meet the required quorum in the National Assembly on Wednesday. Only 111 out of the 297 lawmakers agreed to the bill, while 198 or two-thirds were required. Rep. Kang Yong-seok thus escaped the disgrace of becoming the first lawmaker ever to be dismissed for ethical reasons ...

Former parliamentary speaker Kim Hyeong-o of the Grand National Party announced that he will not enter candidacy in next year’s 19th general election. “I hope to contribute to the restoration of public trust on the party by remaining humble and low in the next parliamentary term,” Kim told reporters in Busan on Wednesday. “As the biggest pending issues, such as the New Town and the Ocean Renova...

Parties once again clashed over the ratification of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement bill during the parliamentary foreign affairs committee meeting on Wednesday, the last day of the August provisional session. The meeting was scheduled to end in the early afternoon but was extended due to the uncompromising debates between the rival parties, especially as the opposition camp hinted at physic...