President Lee Jae Myung’s partial Cabinet reshuffle on Sunday appears to reflect his determination to restore the momentum of his administration, which has been weakening amid a recent decline in his approval ratings. Most notably, the two top officials in charge of real estate policy, which has been a major source of public discontent, have been replaced. The Lee administration’s real estate policies so far, including punitive tax reforms and half-baked initiatives such as plans to develop Yong

The government of North Jeolla Province in southwestern Korea will reportedly pay an annual allowance of 1.2 million won ($868) to each of 723 family members of participants in the Donghak Peasant Revolution, which took place 132 years ago. The government is using taxpayers’ money to provide cash payments to the great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of participants in the revolution, as descendants of victims of the historic event of 1894-1895. The Donghak Peasant Revolution was a po

Two Chinese nationals were arrested earlier this month for allegedly collecting classified information related to South Korea-US military exercises and intercepting fighter jet communications near an air force base, police said on Aug. 11. One of the suspects, a Chinese man in his 40s, allegedly recruited a South Korean civilian employee at Camp Humphreys, a major US military base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, and obtained information on the locations of US command facilities, weapons moveme

South Korea and the United States have scaled back field training exercises (FTX) during the Ulchi Freedom Shield, a combined military exercise, compared with last year. Meanwhile, North Korea, which is accelerating its nuclear threat, is gaining real-world combat experience by deploying troops to Russia to fight in the war against Ukraine. This year's UFS also provides an opportunity to assess South Korea's ability to lead the combined forces after assuming wartime operational control from the

Hwang Hee, a three-term lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, on Friday proposed a plan to convert scrapped buses into housing for young people. This is nothing short of an absurd idea and an insult to young people struggling to find a home. The proposal sparked an angry backlash among young people and on online communities, with critics denouncing it as an out-of-touch idea that ignores the harsh realities young people face. “Are young people homeless or refugees?” and “Why don’t

The Lee Jae Myung administration said it would gather a wide range of market views through five rounds of public debates on real estate policy. Yet the tax reform package the government unveiled on Monday following the debates ultimately amounted to a tax hike. Lee's pledge not to use taxation as a tool of housing policy has vanished into thin air. The government announced a package that would sharply raise both the holding tax (the Comprehensive Real Estate Tax) and the transaction tax (the cap

On July 31, the Democratic Party of Korea pushed through the National Assembly plenary session an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act that abolishes not only prosecutors' authority to conduct direct investigations, but also their authority to carry out supplementary investigations. Cheong Wa Dae said it respects the National Assembly's legislative process and final decision, indicating that the president will not exercise his veto power. As a result, the abolition of prosecutors' authority t

China's semiconductor industry is making an alarming leap forward. According to foreign media reports on July 27, a Chinese state-backed company in Shanghai has begun mass-producing domestically developed immersion deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines, a key piece of equipment used in semiconductor manufacturing. The equipment is used to print circuit patterns onto silicon wafers, and Dutch company ASML dominates the global market for semiconductor lithography systems. The technology Chin

Hanwha Ocean Co. last week filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court, challenging a National Labor Relations Commission ruling recognizing it as the employer of union members of an in-house subcontractor responsible for cafeteria and commuter bus services. This is the first case since the Yellow Envelope Act — the amended Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act — took effect in March in which a main contractor has challenged in court the commission's determination that it qualif

President Lee Jae Myung's recent apartment transaction has sparked controversy. The controversy stems from the fact that ownership was transferred before the full purchase price had been paid, with the seller effectively financing nearly half of the purchase price by lending the buyer the remaining balance and securing the loan with a mortgage. Typically, buyers who lack sufficient funds to pay the purchase price obtain mortgage loans from financial institutions. But because the current governme

The government and the ruling party agreed on July 16 to establish the Korean Armed Forces Academy by integrating the Military, Naval and Air Force academies and locating the new institution at Jaundae, a military education and training complex in Daejeon, about 140 kilometers south of Seoul. The Ministry of National Defense's primary justification for integrating the three service academies is to strengthen camaraderie or interservice cooperation. No matter how much modern warfare comes to cent

The government's Economic Growth Strategy for the Second Half of 2026, announced on Tuesday, is filled with rosy projections. It raised its forecast for this year's real GDP growth from 2 percent to 3 percent and projected nominal GDP growth of 12.3 percent, the highest rate in three decades. Emboldened by the recent growth trend, the government unveiled its "3-4-5 Vision," aiming to raise Korea's potential growth rate to 3 percent, make it one of the world's four largest exporters and lift per

It is noteworthy that the government plans to hold a series of public forums on real estate policy this week to solicit opinions from experts and the public. According to reports, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will discuss housing supply measures Tuesday, the Financial Services Commission will hold a forum on loans and other financial measures Wednesday, and the Ministry of Finance and Economy will address tax policy Thursday. Next week, on July 23, President Lee Jae Myung i

An incident in the Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City clearly demonstrates why prosecutors' supplementary investigative authority should not be abolished. Police investigated the May 5 stabbing death of a high school girl in the southwestern metropolitan city by suspect Jang Yoon-gi, who had no prior acquaintance with the victim, and referred the case to prosecutors. However, the police's handling of the investigation, as revealed by prosecutors' supplementary investigation, is shocking. It was reveal