The government and the ruling Grand National Party will form a joint consultative body to decide on welfare and financial support in next year’s budget.GNP chairman Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik and Presidential Chief of Staff Yim Tae-hee reached the agreement at a large-scale government-ruling party conference at the National Assembly on Thursday, the party spokesperson said.“T

Opposition demands more figures summoned, including Park Geun-hye’s brotherAs the parliament’s August provisional session draws near, parties are attacking each other over the parliamentary investigation into alleged illegal lobbying and bribery by failed savings banks. The planned inquiry by lawmakers is seen as part of a larger battle over more controversial subjects such as the Korea-U.S. Free

The National Assembly was recently shaken by a series of sex scandals, most of them involving members of the Grand National Party.Earlier this month, a major daily newspaper reported that a married ruling party lawmaker sexually harassed a drunken woman in a taxi and handed over money to the driver who threatened to upload the recorded file on the Internet.The subject of the article was the illici

GNP leader says will ensure smooth nomination of presidential candidateThe Grand National Party Chairman Rep. Hong Joon-pyo pledged to act as a “windbreak” for other frontrunners in the race for presidential candidacy next year.“I have no intention to enter candidacy, nor am I entitled to do so, according to our party constitution,” said the ruling party leader.“My role is to act as a connecting b

President Lee Myung-bak told the newly-elected leadership of the ruling Grand National Party over lunch on Wednesday that he will discuss with them before nominating the new justice minister and the prosecutor-general amid backlash from both ruling and opposition lawmakers against the president’s top candidate.During his first official meeting with the new GNP leader Hong Joon-pyo and other member

A close aide to the newly-elected chairman of the Grand National Party Hong Joon-pyo was appointed secretary-general on Tuesday, despite backlash from pro-Lee Myung-bak and pro-Park Geun-hye groups.Floor leader Hwang Woo-yea and policy chairman Lee Ju-young, together with council members Reps. Nam Kyung-pil and Na Kyung-won, supported the chairman’s selection and approved Rep. Kim Chung-kwon as ne

DP lawmakers eye GNP home turf; ruling party mulls replacing veteransParties are seeking to turn the table in next year’s general elections with a bold lineup of possible candidates as some veteran lawmakers gave up their candidacy or pledged to run in strategically important areas other than their home-turf constituencies.Rep. Kim Hyo-seuk, a third-term lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic

A consortium led by CJ Group, a South Korean food and entertainment conglomerate, said Monday that it has signed a contract to purchase a controlling 37.62 percent stake in Korea Express for 1.85 trillion won (US$1.75 billion).CJ Cheiljedang Corp. and CJ GLS Inc. will each pay 922.5 billion won to take over South Korea's largest logistics firm from two subsidiaries of cash-strapped Kumho Asiana Gr

The head coach for a local military football team has been arrested for allegedly taking cash from parents of a player involved in match fixing, the defense ministry said Monday.The bench boss for Sangju Sangmu Phoenix in the first-division K-League, named Lee, was arrested on charges of blackmail. The Sangju team is made up of professional players who have been conscripted to serve the mandatory

SEOUL (AFP) -- North Korea has agreed to hold talks with South Korea to settle a dispute over Seoul-owned buildings at a jointly run resort which have been seized by the communist country, officials said Monday.The communist North had set a deadline of Wednesday for final discussions about the properties at the Mount Kumgang resort, which is in North Korea and was supposed to have been a symbol of

The ruling Grand National Party, led by newly elected chairman Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, has announced a reformative, “people-friendly” stance.In the party workshop at the National Assembly on Sunday, the Supreme Council and the policy committee agreed almost unanimously to slash university tuition fees and reinforce regulations over conglomerates.The plan also included overturning additional corporate

Kwon Roh-gapKwon Roh-gap, close aide to the late President Kim Dae-jung and senior advisor of the main opposition Democratic Party, is to enter the graduate school of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies to earn a master’s degree in English literature.“To learn the unknown is my greatest pleasure,” said the Kwon, 81. “This will be my first campus experience in 50 years and I hope that my healt

The newly-elected chairperson of the ruling Grand National Party Rep. Hong Joon-pyo expressed concerns over the party’s recent outspoken comments on conglomerate policies.“The key point in backing small- and medium-sized businesses is to come up with active measures to help them, not to extort from large businesses,” Hong said in a radio interview on Wednesday.By this, he referred the party’s poli

Leader of the main opposition Democratic Party Sohn Hak―kyu is to set off for China on Monday to promote economic cooperation and ease political tensions in Northeast Asia, party officials said.The trip is Sohn’s second since he took over the party’s chairmanship last October, closely following his visit to Japan late last month.After meeting with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Mo

Attention focused on whether party will have young chairpersonThe ruling Grand National Party kicked off its leadership vote on Sunday, with the result to be announced in Monday’s national convention.The vote was open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at a total of 251 voting stations across the country, according to officials.The new chairperson is to be selected based upon the voting results combined with o

Party to hold emergency meeting after court says voting rules invalidThe Grand National Party is in a state of confusion after a court unexpectedly invalidated its revised rule on its chairperson election scheduled for next Monday.The Seoul Southern District Court upheld the claim that the party’s revised internal constitution was unlawful and suspended its legal effect on Tuesday.The GNP revised

Opposition lawmakers occupy committee room to thwart bill’s passageAmid the elevating conflicts over the state-run broadcaster KBS’ fee hike, opposition lawmakers boycotted the parliamentary culture committee’s general meeting on Tuesday in order to stop the ruling party from passing the related bills.The meeting was to start at 2 p.m. but lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party took ove

(from left) Park Jin, Nam Kyung-pil, Hong Joon-pyo, Na Kyung-won, Yoo Seong-min, Won Hee-ryong, Kwon Young-seSupport of Park Geun-hye faction expected to hold critical sway in electionWith the ruling Grand National Party’s internal elections to select its new chair less than a week away, the seven candidates are making their cases as to why they should lead the party through next year’s big races

South Korean activists sent five anti-North Korean propaganda balloons across the inter-Korean border on Saturday from a western border resort in commemoration of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War, their representatives said.About 10 activists, mostly North Korean defectors, released the propaganda balloons in Paju, north of Seoul, Saturday morning. The balloons carried about 100,000 leaflets

U.S. President Barack Obama has formally nominated Sung Kim, a career diplomat with expertise in Korean affairs, as his new ambassador to Seoul, the White House announced Friday.If his nomination is confirmed by the Senate, Kim, 51, will replace Kathleen Stephens and become the first person of Korean origin to serve as U.S. ambassador to Seoul. Kim immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s and obtained