Candidates for the April 27 by-elections emphasized their personal qualities over the first weekend since the official campaign kicked off last Thursday.Though candidates have been holding public campaigns during weekday commuting hours, all seized the weekend as a chance to attract the full attention of the voters.In the Bundang-B constituency, the former head of the ruling Grand National Party K

Outcome likely to be used as barometer of next year’s key electionsWith the official campaign for the April 27 by-elections kicking off Thursday, parties are scurrying to survive what may be the prelude to next year’s parliamentary and presidential elections.The ruling Grand National Party stresses its capacity as the ruling party to realize its pledges, whereas the main opposition Democratic Part

A partisan clash is expected over the ratification of the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement in which more than 200 mistranslations were found recently.The parliamentary foreign affairs committee Wednesday opened a two-day session, during which the ruling and opposition parties were sharply divided on whether to ratify the agreement.The ruling Grand National Party is determined to ratify the agreement

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology president Suh Nam-pyo has refused to step down but he pledged to abolish its incentive system applying different fees based on grades.Suh made public his stance while attending the parliamentary education committee convened Tuesday to deal with issues involving his school, including the suicides of four students and a professor since January.Suh w

A candidate from the minority People’s Participation Party was selected Tuesday as the unified runner of opposition parties in the upcoming by-election in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province.Lee Bong-soo, who beat contenders from the Democratic Party and the Democratic Labor Party in a two-day public survey, is to compete against Kim Tae-ho of the ruling Grand National Party for the legislative seat

All nuclear power facilities to undergo safety inspectionThe Korean government will conduct a safety inspection on nuclear power plants in the country amid growing worries about the radiation leaks in Japan. Officials said they may shut down reactors if they fail to meet safety standards.In a nuclear power committee meeting Monday, presided over by Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, participants decide

South Korea's financial watchdog plans to launch an investigation next week into the leak of personal data from 420,000 customers of a major financial firm, Hyundai Capital, officials said Saturday.The company, whose president returned to South Korea from an overseas trip earlier in the day, also began its own probe into the leak, which prompted the firm Friday to ask its 2 million customers to ch

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's industry minister will Saturday meet workers battling to cool overheating reactor cores and plug radioactive leaks in the first government visit to the country's tsunami-crippled nuclear plant.With Tokyo warning the crisis is far from over, Banri Kaieda will don full protective gear for his brief trip to the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant, his ministry said.Kaieda, who has o

Opposition parties have finally reached an agreement to run a single candidate for the upcoming by-election in the hometown of the late liberal President Roh Moo-hyun, forewarning a showdown with the ruling party there.“We have resolved to select a single candidate to represent the opposition parties by Tuesday, when the official candidate registration begins,” an official of a civic group advocat

Legislators also rebuke government over Dokdo, translation of EU FTALawmakers Thursday lashed out at the government over measures to handle the inflow of radioactive material from Japan, Tokyo’s approval of history textbooks claiming sovereignty over Dokdo and the mistranslation of the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement.“Our government needs to stand firm on this issue of radioactive waste disposal,” R

The by-election race in the Bundang constituency has come down to a battle between the former and incumbent leaders of the ruling and main opposition parties, as two other candidates have stepped out of the way.Park Gye-dong, former lawmaker of the ruling Grand National Party, held a press conference Thursday to announce his withdrawal from the by-election contest.“I shall accept the party’s decis

Seoul City will be holding a bimonthly lunchtime garden concert in English to help promote its English study cafe, according to officials.The concert, to be held every second and fourth Wednesday of the month, kicks off with music by an Ecuadorian band and will be followed by live folk music from various countries including Russia, Mongolia, Mexico and others, officials said.The performances will

Civic groups have for the first time joined to form a permanent consultative body to urge Japan to solve ongoing conflicts and apologize for its annexation of Korea a century ago.Next Friday, some 20 Japan-related civic groups here will launch the Korea-Japan Citizens’ Consultative Body, a consolidated body to request that Japan settle historical conflicts, according to the Institution for Researc

Four lawmakers have retracted support for a proposed revision bill which would make it harder for law-breaking elected officials to lose their seats ― with others thought likely to follow. Last Friday, Grand National Party Rep. Kim Choong-whan, along with lawmakers from other parties, submitted a revision bill to raise the minimum requirements before elected officials could be stripped of their po

Parties confirmed several candidates for the April 27 parliamentary by-elections Monday.The ruling Grand National Party announced the selection of Kang Jae-sup, the party’s former leader, as its candidate to run in the Bundang-B constituency in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Kang will compete against Sohn Hak-kyu, the chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party.“The party has decided, based on

Amid ongoing concerns over radiation leaks and territorial disputes, Education, Science and Technology Minister Lee Ju-ho visited Dokdo on Friday to install an automated radiation monitor.“We intend to protect our people from any potential effects of environmental radiation,” said Lee on one of the East Sea islets.The monitor is to start operating on Saturday, after a day of system testing, accord

The penalty system has cut the number of false fire alarm calls made on April Fool’s Day, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.A total of 98 prank calls were made on last year’s April Fool’s Day, down from 475 in 2004, showed the agency’s data submitted to Rep. Yoon Seok-yong of the parliamentary health and welfare committee.The Fire Services Act was revised in 2004 to impose a ma

The Constitutional Court ruled the law which penalizes homosexual relations in the army as being in accord with the Constitution.“The corresponding clause may be regarded neither ambiguous, nor unnecessarily discriminative against homosexual individuals,” said the court in its ruling on Thursday.“Anyone with common sense may judge what the clause signifies by ‘homosexual relations and other sexual

Ruling GNP expected to field a matching rival in key Gyeonggi constituencySohn Hak-kyu, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, announced his decision Wednesday to run in the upcoming April by-elections, making the race highly intense and unpredictable.At a news conference, Sohn said he would run for a legislative seat in the Bundang-B constituency in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.“I hav

South Korea on Tuesday denied 14 citizens remaining in Libya further stay in the turmoil-laden nation, citing the lack of safety measures should the situation there worsen, the foreign ministry said.The decision came at an inter-agency meeting that the government convened to determine whether to allow those in Libya to continue to stay there after the government placed a travel ban on the country