The main opposition Democratic Party renewed its pledge to veto the KBS subscription fee rise unless the public broadcaster moves to maintain political neutrality.“Only when KBS proves the legitimacy of the fee hike and shows efforts to renew itself will we examine the necessity to raise the fee,” said a party spokesperson after the DP Supreme Council meeting. The remarks overturned the party floo

Lawmaker says education key to winning hearts of voters living abroadOverseas Korean schools have long been a blind spot for the government and National Assembly and it is time they paid attention to the issue, even if only to win votes abroad, said a second-term lawmaker.Rep. An Min-suk of the main opposition Democratic Party, who is also on the parliamentary education committee, has lately been

The National Election Commission is to carry out a mock election June 30 at 158 polling stations in 108 countries, as a final dry run for the overseas voting system set to take effect next year.Among the 5,484 who registered themselves as voters, 4,708 had their residence in Korea and the remaining 776 were permanent residents in overseas countries, according to the NEC.All voters are required to

The National Assembly’s June provisional session schedule faced a sudden halt as the main opposition Democratic Party pledged to boycott the ruling Grand National Party’s decision to increase a public broadcaster’s monthly viewing fee.The parliamentary committee on culture, sports, tourism, broadcast and communication held a subcommittee meeting on Monday and passed the revision bill to raise the

Plan to keep prosecution’s control of police, allow police right to open criminal probesThe special parliamentary committee on judicial reform passed on Monday the revision bill of the criminal action law to allow the police to hold independent authority over investigations, largely upholding the Cabinet’s earlier decision.The bill will be handed over to the legislation and judiciary committee and

Seven candidates have been confirmed for the Grand National Party leadership election on July 4 ― Reps. Park Jin, Nam Kyung-pil, Na Kyung-won, Yoo Seung-min, Hong Joon-pyo, Won Hee-ryeong and Kwon Young-se.The lineup of hopefuls to be party chair is dominated by relatively young lawmakers.Most are in their late 40s or early 50s. Even if 57-year-old Hong wins the vote, he may be considered a “young

Ruling party shelves additional tax cut plan, scrambles to cut tuitionThe ruling Grand National Party has gone to great lengths to renew its image, even defying the policies of the current administration, but many still regard its moves with a doubtful eye.In a general meeting held Thursday, a majority of GNP lawmakers agreed to withdraw the additional tax cut plan for corporations, which has so f

Members see no reason to continue after plan to close key prosecution unit derailedThe special parliamentary committee on judicial reform decided to end its 16-month term, without any of its major issues being solved.The committee will continue until the end of the month, as originally planned, and the pending issues will be handed over to the legislation and judiciary committee, officials said Mo

Free-for-all forum fails to reach agreement on cutting cost of collegeLawmakers, government officials, university presidents, professors and students gathered on Wednesday for a forum on tuition cuts hosted by the Grand National Party but failed to reach any agreement.“We are running against the clock as the Education Ministry is to submit its budget bill to the Finance Ministry by the end of the

Opposition says president’s call for patience an attempt to derail fee reductionsParties in Tuesday’s parliamentary education committee general meeting quarreled over the president’s call for more time on the controversial university tuition fee cuts.Lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party accused the presidential office of attempting to pressure the National Assembly to abandon their mo

The opposition leader and president may meet in an inter-party summit as early as this month to discuss pending economic issues concerning people’s livelihoods here. “Students and parents are out in the streets, asking for a tuition cut, and we may not blame them because they are indeed under great economic strain,” said the main opposition Democratic Party chairman Sohn Hak-kyu at the party’s Sup

As students vowed to stage a candlelight protest on Friday calling for tuition cuts, the main opposition Democratic Party on Thursday announced its three-stage plan toward that goal.“We will first restore the scholarship system for the low-income bracket, which the ruling party ruled out last year through budget reduction,” said Rep. Park Young-sun, the party’s policy chairperson.“The next steps w

Lawmakers increasingly oppose plan to shut Central Investigation DepartmentA parliamentary committee’s move to abolish the prosecution’s core investigation unit faced an obstacle as the majority of ruling party lawmakers opposed the plan, after Cheong Wa Dae urged the party to consider the matter prudently.The Grand National Party held a general meeting on Thursday to discuss whether to close down

Amid debate over recent demands to close down the prosecution’s core investigation unit, the parliamentary subcommittee on judicial reform is considering banning prosecutors from working in the Justice Ministry.The committee met on Wednesday to discuss the possible revision of the current prosecutor’s office law, officials said.The bill would forbid prosecutors from working in the ministry and est

Ruling bloc prefers fees help tailored toward disadvantaged studentsDebate over college tuition cuts once again picked up momentum in the parliamentary interpellation on social, education and culture issues on Thursday.The opposition parties called for an immediate tuition cut, whereas the ruling party claimed that an unconditional cut could lower the education level.“Some 7 trillion won or half o

During the parliamentary appellation on Thursday, parties blasted the Cabinet on the savings banks scandal and other vital economic issues.The opposition camp condemned the current administration for neglecting supervision over the savings banks, while the ruling party attributed the domino fall to the financial policies adopted by past administrations.Even some ruling party lawmakers aimed their

The ruling Grand National Party decided in its senior officials’ meeting to maintain a one-man, two-vote system in electing its new chairman early next month.The party’s standing national committee, held Tuesday at the Air Force Club, voted unilaterally not to adopt the one-man, one-vote system earlier suggested by the emergency policy committee last week. The committee holds the right to draw up

Leading members of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee are to have one-on-one meetings with U.S. Congressional counterparts to boost prospects for the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement’s ratification, officials said Monday.Reps. Nam Kyun-pil, Gu Sang-chan and Jungwook Hong ― all members of the committee and strong supporters of the KORUS FTA ― will leave for the U.S. within the week.The lawmakers will focus on individual communication with influential Congress members instead of their usua

Grand National Party factions are set for another fight on Tuesday over rules on the election of its new party chairman. The role is to be filled through an election at the ruling party’s national convention in July.“We are to reach an overall agreement, if not a final one, through a general meeting on how to elect our chairman,” said Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, floor leader and acting party chairman. A g

President Lee Myung-bak and former ruling party leader Park Geun-hye agreed that the party should pay further attention to people’s livelihoods and promote in-party unity in order to win back public trust.The two leading powers of the ruling Grand National Party met at a luncheon on Friday, the first one-on-one meeting since last August. President Lee Myung-bak talks with Park Geun-hye, former cha