For many years, South Korea has lived with the infamy of being one of the unhappiest places to grow up in among advanced nations. Dozens of articles have highlighted how saddening it may be to live as school-age children in Korea. Citing statistics that put South Korea at the bottom of advanced nations in terms of children’s happiness, they point to the competitive educational environment and lack of time and resources for leisure and extracurricular activities. A 2019 study by Save the

President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday promulgated the two controversial bills on prosecution reform despite fierce opposition from the public and related sectors, seeing further progress on his vow to overhaul the law enforcement agency. At the last Cabinet meeting of his five-year term held 2 p.m. Tuesday, Moon officially signed the two prosecution reform bills that passed the final vote at the National Assembly, completing the Democratic Party of Korea’s push to strip most of the remaining i

With less than a month left until the local elections, South Korea’s two major political parties finished drawing their lineups for 17 metropolitan mayoral and gubernatorial elections. South Korea’s conservative People Power Party is hoping to win at least 10 of the 17 posts, putting forward some well-known candidates. The party is looking to score another win following its success in the presidential election in March and in the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections in April 2021.

South Korea’s state-run forest authority is keen on sharing its tale of successful reforestation as South Korea hosts its first World Forestry Congress and becomes the third country in Asia to host the largest gathering of the global forestry sector. The WFC, held every six years under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, is seeing its 15th iteration held in Seoul from Monday to Friday. It is the first time in 44 years that the congress is being hel

The Democratic Party of Korea is pushing to try again in introducing regulatory measures on the press and the media industry, proposing a series of fresh bills this month for formal consideration. The liberal party on Wednesday submitted three separate bills for review after its legislators decided in a special committee that legislative fixes are needed to fulfill the party’s vision to bring reforms to the press and the media environment after its failed attempt to do so last year. Rep.

The controversial prosecution reform bill is expected to pass the final vote in the coming days, after the Democratic Party of Korea forcefully shut down its conservative rival People Power Party’s filibuster at the end of Wednesday. Proposed revisions to the Prosecutors’ Office Act is on track to be presented for a final vote this Saturday, as the People Power Party’s filibuster ended with the Democratic Party voting for an early end to April’s provisional assembly, whi

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family deliberately hid an internal sexual harassment case and went against the guidelines the ministry made for state-run agencies in preventing sexual crimes from being hidden or left unpunished, a lawmaker claimed Thursday. The revelation adds fuel to the voice demanding abolition of the Gender Equality Ministry amid growing gender divide as promised by President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol during the presidential race. According to reports obtained by Rep. Ha Ta

South Korea was excluded from the list of countries that Ukraine thanked for support in its ongoing defense against Russia’s invasion, drawing mixed response from the public after the East Asian country publicly provided humanitarian aid, but declined to supply arms. A video posted by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ official Twitter account on Monday showed a list of 31 countries it declared as Ukraine’s “partners,” with Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-c

South Korea’s liberal Democratic Party of Korea is pushing to put the controversial prosecution bill up for a final vote, having arbitrarily passed the bill through a parliamentary committee by early Wednesday morning. The National Assembly started a plenary session at 5 p.m. where the Democratic Party was targeting to present proposed revisions to the Criminal Procedure Act and the Prosecutors’ Office Act for a final vote. It is likely the bill is passed within this week no matter

The Democratic Party of Korea is on track to pass the controversial prosecution reform bill as it originally proposed, after the bipartisan compromise it reached with the conservative bloc fell apart. Floor leaders of the Democratic Party and its main rival People Power Party met for a meeting with National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug on Tuesday but parted ways without progress. The 70-minute meeting started at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday but was concluded without any update on how the bill will b

Controversy over the move to reduce the prosecution’s investigative authority continued Monday, with both the president and president-elect chiming in on the issue. President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Monday broke his silence over the controversial prosecution reform bill, asking the political community to “deeply reflect” on what is needed for the people, as the prosecution continues to vocally oppose the ruling party’s move to strip them of their investigative powers.

A miniscule version of the parliamentary elections will be held in June on the sidelines of local elections, as incumbent legislators are to give up their lawmaker seats to run for local administration posts. At least five constituencies are to be up for grabs in the by-elections slated for June 1, and as many as 10 legislative seats are expected to be available for new figures to take over. The opening hints at the possible return of key heavyweights to the main stage and a change in political

Parliamentary confirmation hearings for President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s Cabinet picks are to kick off Monday, with Prime Minister nominee Han Duck-soo taking the stand for a two-day hearing. The Democratic Party of Korea, which has vowed a tough vetting for all nominees, is likely to focus on Han’s career after he retired from the public sector. Prime minister is the only Cabinet post that requires parliamentary approval in South Korea. Han’s hearing is to be followed by tho

Facing immense opposition from almost all sides, cracks are emerging within the Democratic Party of Korea among its legislators over the controversial prosecution reform bill. Rep. Park Hong-keun, floor leader of the Democratic Party, on Thursday requested a plenary session of the National Assembly to be held Friday to pass proposed revisions to the Criminal Procedure Act and the Prosecutors’ Office Act. The request comes as the party seeks to pass the bill that would strip the prosecutio

Busan has invited three major figures from Colombia and Peru for a tour of the city as the southern port city of South Korea looks to host the World Expo in 2030. The city government said Wednesday that Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon invited Tito Jose Crissien Borrero, minister of Science, Technology and Innovation for Colombia; Nicolas Del Castillo Piedrahita, head of Colombia’s National Aquaculture and Fisheries Authority; and Jorge Vicente Martin Munoz Wells, mayor of Lima, Peru, for a tw

The leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea has ruled out Reps. Song Young-gil and Park Ju-min from the Seoul mayoral candidate selection, sparking an internal feud over whether it was fair to exclude key figures without undergoing primaries. The internal nomination committee of the liberal party decided late Tuesday to exclude Song and Park from the list of possible nominees in the upcoming local elections, hinting the party will search for another candidate to bear its flag and compete wi

The first nationwide meeting of junior prosecutors in 19 years has been called, as the prosecution continues to vocally oppose the legislative push to strip investigative powers from the law enforcement agency, despite growing calls for the ruling party to stop acting against public interest. At 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul, around 150 junior prosecutors from offices across South Korea were scheduled to gather and express discontent with p

The leaders of six high prosecutors’ offices gathered on Monday morning to discuss response measures on the Democratic Party of Korea’s legislative push to strip investigative power from the prosecution, continuing the law enforcement agency’s vocal opposition to the controversial move. At 9:30 a.m. at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul, the six senior prosecutors entered an undisclosed meeting held just 10 days after the last such meeting took

South Korean lawmakers passed a bill Friday to open a special inspection into a sexual assault case linked to the suicide of an Air Force master sergeant, after a monthslong investigation into the case failed to satisfy the victim’s family. The bill, passed during a National Assembly plenary session on Friday afternoon, will allow the National Court Administration and the Korean Bar Association to recommend a total of four candidates to serve as the lead investigator for the special inspe

South Korea’s liberal Democratic Party of Korea officially submitted for review a bill that would completely strip away the prosecution’s investigative powers. Legislators with the Democratic Party told reporters Friday that they submitted a bill proposing revisions to the Criminal Procedure Act and the Prosecutors’ Office Act, which will leave the prosecution only with the power to indict and prosecute charges on given cases. The bill would need to be reviewed by parliamenta