Rep. Min Kyung-wook of the main opposition United Future Party filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Thursday, asking it to nullify the results of last month’s general elections. He claimed that the government rigged the vote to help his rival from the ruling party win. “The April 15 election was a fraudulent election with QR code computer manipulation and voting fraud. We should carry out a fresh round of elections,” the journalist-turned-politician said in a press co

South Korea on Wednesday began to experiment with new ways of life at home, work and in leisure pursuits, with the persistent danger of the novel coronavirus. The country lifted its six-week social distancing measures and introduced relaxed recommendations called “routine distancing,” for preventing the spread of disease in everyday life. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the new strategy consisted of the “minimum” steps that should be taken to enable even a limite

The government started handing out cash to citizens Monday in order to cushion the economic blow of the novel coronavirus pandemic. President Moon Jae-in said Monday he expects ”the unprecedented disaster relief payments” to help reinvigorate the economy and console people suffering hardships caused by the dangerous virus. “The government will do its best to have the emergency disaster relief payments, which would be granted for the first time in history, delivered rapidl

South Korea’s ruling and main opposition parties are set to elect new floor leaders this week, individuals who will play vital roles in the country’s newly elected National Assembly. As soon as they take the helm, the new floor leaders are expected to convene the last plenary session for the outgoing Assembly and prepare to deliberate on a third supplementary budget, drawn up with the aim of minimizing the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The main opposition Unite

At least 38 people were killed in a fire that broke out at a construction site for a logistics warehouse in Gyeonggi Province, authorities said Wednesday. Ten others were injured. The blaze was extinguished at around 6:42 p.m., about five hours after it was first reported at the site in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, according to fire authorities. Some 78 workers were believed to be present. As of 8:30 p.m. firefighters were still searching the building for more victims. “There’s

The main opposition United Future Party has found itself in a state of confusion after the veteran politician who was picked to head its interim leadership committee turned down the job. On Tuesday, the conservative group voted for Kim Chong-in, who joined the party to lead its April 15 election campaign, to take the helm as emergency leader for about four months until the next national convention. But Kim rejected the offer, complaining about the short tenure. Previously, Kim has said he

The National Assembly moved closer on Tuesday to a final vote on the second extra budget bill, which would provide 14 trillion won to help the country deal with COVID-19, including 4.6 trillion more for coronavirus relief for households. Several parliamentary subcommittees conducted legislative reviews of the government’s plan, with Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki in attendance. Rival parties earlier agreed to vote on the bill at a plenary session schedul

South Korea began placing electronic bracelets on people who have disobeyed self-isolation orders, toughening up against quarantine violators to combat the new coronavirus. “From midnight today, those who violated quarantine rules among those who have been obliged to self-isolate at their residences started to wear the band. Only the people who consented to wear the band will do so,” Park Jong-hyun, an official at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said during a press briefi

Former President Chun Doo-hwan stuck to his lifelong claim that there was no helicopter firing at civilians during the 1980 pro-democracy uprising, while standing trial for libel in the regional city of Gwangju on Monday. “Many more lives would have been lost if shots were fired from helicopters. No son of the Republic of Korea would have done such a reckless thing,” the 89-year-old said at the Gwangju District Court. Chun’s statement runs counter to over 20 testimonies

Extensive contact tracing and testing helped South Korea avert what could have been a major novel coronavirus crisis in capital Seoul, shows a paper by a team of Korean health officials. The study, penned by Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention along with other provincial and city health officials, sheds light on COVID-19 infections that occurred at an insurance company call center located in a 19-story building of offices and condominiums. It w

The main opposition United Future Party on Sunday struggled to form a new leadership to navigate its way out of its worst election debacle, suffered in last week’s parliamentary polls. The conservative party’s Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn stepped down from his post, taking responsibility for the loss in the April 15 general elections. Kim Chong-in, a veteran politician who joined the party to lead its election campaign, is widely expected to take charge, reforming and rebuilding the c

In Wednesday’s parliamentary election to select 300 lawmakers, a revised electoral system was applied for the first time to open the doors wider for minor parties. But it only caused the opposite effect due to trickery by prominent parties. Out of 47 proportional representative seats, the ruling Democratic Party and the main opposition United Future Party, took 17 and 19, respectively, by creating satellite parties to exploit the new parliamentary election formula called semi-mixed membe

The lingering impact of the coronavirus pandemic didn’t stop hundreds of thousands of South Koreans from heading to the polls on Wednesday to pick 300 lawmakers. From Seoul to distant islands off the southern coast, mask-clad voters began to form long lines in front of some 14,330 polling stations as soon as voting kicked off at 6 a.m. Despite the election taking place amid the COVID-19 outbreak, most voters interviewed by The Korea Herald said the virus shouldn’t stop a democr

In a high-profile race watched as a preview of the presidential contest, Lee Nak-yeon of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea was seen heading for a victory against rival Hwang Kyo-ahn of the main opposition United Future Party, further cementing his position as a presidential candidate. Exit polls and early returns showed Lee comfortably ahead of Hwang in a constituency of Jongno, Seoul, in Wednesday’s parliamentary elections. His party was also projected to bag more than a majority o

Ahn Cheol-soo, chief of the minor People’s Party, said Monday that President Moon Jae-in’s missteps have been concealed by the COVID-19 crisis, appealing to voters to support his reformative center-right party in the April 15 general elections. Referring to a news article published by Bloomberg headlined “Virus helps bury controversy in South Korea’s pandemic election,” Ahn said the Moon administration and the Democratic Party of Korea were fortunate to rebuild

Faced with the unprecedented novel coronavirus threat, South Korea is gearing up for its general election with extra caution to ensure voters can exercise their rights while minimizing the risk of person-to-person viral spread at polling stations. With 43 million eligible voters, the country will hold elections at around 14,300 polling stations nationwide on Wednesday, amid its nationwide social distancing campaign to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. Nearly 11.7 million cast their

  More than a quarter of all eligible voters in South Korea have already cast their votes in last week’s advance voting period. And parties are all out to turn the higher-than-expected voter enthusiasm to their favor in the lead up to Wednesday’s main voting. Voter turnout in the two-day early voting Friday and Saturday reached a record high of 26.67 percent with 11.7 million voters, according to the National Election Commission. The ruling Democratic Party interprets it as

The novel coronavirus is forcing people around the world to keep their distance physically, but that isn’t stopping them from standing united in the fight against the global pandemic. As neighbors, landlords or consumers, many people in Korea are reaching out to those hit harder by the COVID-19 outbreak. Youngsters have initiated a “good consumer movement” through social media platforms such as Instagram. When visiting a regular haunt -- whether it’s a cafe, hair s

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday pledged 210 billion won ($172 million) for the development of medicines and vaccines, including one for the novel coronavirus, saying he wants the country to lead the world not just in virus control but also in the prevention and cure of COVID-19. Presiding over a meeting of five related parties -- the government, academia, research institutions, hospitals and pharmaceutical firms -- Moon promised to cut the red tape to expedite clinical trials. “Wit

Scrambling to make appeals to voters ahead of elections next week, rival political groups on Monday proposed coronavirus relief subsidies for all South Korean citizens to mitigate the economic fallout from the pandemic. Lee Hae-chan, the leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, said Monday that the ruling party will push to expand the scope of the government’s stimulus program to have all income brackets benefit from it. The government’s plan, announced last week, envis