Minjoo Party chief Kim Chong-in announced on Wednesday he has decided to stay on for the sake of the party’s victory in the April elections, allowing the main opposition to avert a leadership crisis but leaving a dent on the party’s reputation.　“After much thought, I decided to stay,” said Kim in a press conference at the National Assembly. “We have almost 20 days left before the elections. That makes me feel a sense of responsibility about my decision on whether to leave the office,” he said. 　

 The ruling party’s parliamentary majority was put at stake on Wednesday as an increasing number of incumbents who had been excluded from the nomination list decided to leave the party and run as independents in the April general election. Reps. Yoon Sang-hyun and Joo Ho-young announced their defection from the Saenuri Party earlier in the day. A total of eight incumbent lawmakers have left the party, bringing its number of parliamentary seats to 149. It is just two seats short of losing the maj

The fate of a former floor leader of  the ruling Saenuri Party hung in the balance Monday as the party’s nomination committee ratcheted up pressure against him to voluntarily give up his bid to run in next month’s general election. With the Saenuri Party’s Supreme Council and nomination committee failing to reach a consensus over whether to select Rep. Yoo Seong-min as a parliamentary candidate, the committee’s key members noted that the only way to solve this gridlock would be if the third-term

A factional battle continued to engulf the ruling Saenuri Party on Friday over the candidate nomination for the April general election, with senior lawmakers defecting from the party in protest.Reps. Ahn Sang-soo and Cho Hae-jin said in the morning that they would leave the Saenuri Party to run as independents. They follow in the footsteps of Rep. Chin Young, former health minister, who left Thursday. Third-term lawmaker Rep. Joo Ho-young also indicated he is contemplating leaving. Most of those

Since taking his post in January, the main opposition party’s interim leader Kim Chong-in has been doing something that his predecessors have avoided in the past: driving out the elderly power brokers and outspoken liberal fightersFirst on Kim’s list was Rep. Moon hee-Sang, who had chaired the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, the predecessor to the Minjoo Party of Korea, from 2013 to 2014. Kim forced him to withdraw his bid to run for the April general election. Moon accepted the decision, t

　South Korea will elect new National Assembly members in a general election on April 13. The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles on the candidate agendas, election trends and notable runners leading up to the race. This is the sixth installment. --EdPark Jong-ung, a chief publicist for Korea’s Labor Party, stood with his coworkers at the front gate of the National Assembly on Tuesday to hold a press conference urging lawmakers to abandon the controversial counterterrorism bill.　“It i

　The focus of the election battle has shifted to the welfare scheme for senior citizens as rival parties stepped up their appeal to older voters in the final month before the April general elections. 　The ruling Saenuri Party and main opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea have rolled out series of election manifestos targeting voters over 60 years old -- a group projected to emerge as the most influential electorate due to its high demographic volume and turnout rate. 　According to statistics fro

　The main opposition party announced Thursday that it had excluded five incumbent lawmakers from its nominations, accelerating efforts to reinvigorate the party and reach out to moderates ahead of the April general election. 　　Reps. Jung Chung-rae, Yoon Hu-duk, Kang Dong-won, Boo Jwa-hyun and Choi Kyu-sung were barred from running in their constituencies as The Minjoo Party of Korea decided to send out “more competitive” candidates on the campaign trail.  　　The party said the excluded representa

　A former presidential aide’s derogatory comment about the ruling party’s leader sent ripples through the political community Wednesday, intensifying factional infighting over the party’s nominations for the April general elections. 　In a taped telephone conversation leaked to local media on Tuesday, Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the Saenuri Party, who had served as a presidential adviser on political affairs in 2015, said that he would “eliminate” his party leader Rep. Kim Moo-sung to block his attemp

   When North Korea makes threats to nuke its enemies, as it has twice over the last several days, outsiders often have one of two reactions: to dismiss it as yet another example of empty propaganda or to panic.    There are good reasons to do neither. There are many ways the North can retaliate that fall short of war, nuclear or conventional.    North Korea's latest warning came Monday in response to the beginning of annual South Korean-U.S. military drills, and included vows to turn its enemie

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's top flag carrier, decided to fire a pilot on Monday for rejecting the company flight order and hampering normal business operations to follow the work-to-rule campaign underway since the "yes" vote for a strike last month, company officials said.   The decision to dismiss the pilot, only identified by his surname, Park, was made earlier in the day by the company's qualification review committee, according to the officials. Park reportedly plans to appeal the d

South Korea missed out on Olympic women's football after a 1-0 loss to China in the Asian qualifying tournament on Monday.   At Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan, Wang Shanshan headed in the match's lone goal in the 42nd, as China moved a step closer to qualifying for their fifth Olympics. South Korea remained winless with two draws and two losses.   Though there's one match remaining in the qualification, South Korea will not get one of two Asian spots for the women's football tournament at the Rio

　North Korea has hacked into smartphones owned by key members of the government, local media reported Monday. 　A government official was quoted as saying “considerably important” figures within President Park Geun-hye’s administration recently had their phones hacked by the North. Railroad-related organizations also came under cyberattacks, although the incident was hushed up by authorities, the official claimed. An offical looks at the screen desribing cyber attacks on websites based on Korea.

　The nomination process for the upcoming general election is likely to see a more diverse pool of political aspirants, with the rival parties adopting new nomination rules that favor those who have been politically alienated. 　The ruling Saenuri Party and main opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea have announced that when they choose the candidates running in the April elections, they will give more points to “political underdogs” than established politicians. The beneficiaries include women, you

　The main opposition party leader’s suggestion to align the opposition politicians ahead of the April general election continued to generate hubbub among the liberals Friday, with some prominent defectors toying with the offer.　The People’s Party co-chairmen Rep. Chun Jung-bae, who had left the Minjoo Party last year, indicated that the he would accept the proposal, if the party members endorsed it. “If the party makes a call, I think we have to follow it,” said Chun.　His remark reflected a chan

　Rival parties are gearing up for a full-fledged battle for the next National Assembly, regrouping after spending more than a week in intense legislative deadlock brought about by the oppositions’ record-breaking filibuster.　While the main opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea seeks to use the filibuster as political leverage, the ruling Saenuri Party is set on putting the blame for the legislative lull on its rival. 　The Saenuri Party accused the opposition of derailing the passage of business l

Rival parties are gearing up for a full-fledged battle for the next National Assembly, regrouping after spending more than a week in intense legislative deadlock brought about by the oppositions’ record-breaking filibuster.While the main opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea seeks to use the filibuster as political leverage, the ruling Saenuri Party is set on putting the blame for the legislative lull on its rival.Passages of other pending bills, that did not make it to the last plenary session o

The National Assembly on Wednesday gave final approval to the legislation granting the intelligence agency enhanced capability to address terror threats with authority to monitor potential terror suspects. The lawmakers then approved other stalled bills such as those redrawing constituencies for the April general elections and addressing North Korea’s human right condition by allowing the government to set up a center tasked with investigating Pyongyang’s human right abuses. 　The bills cleared i

South Korea will elect new National Assembly members in a general election on April 13. The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles on the candidate agendas, election trends and notable runners leading up to the race. This is the fourth installment. -- EdWhen former Samsung Electronics executive Yang Hyang-ja announced in January that she would enter politics as a candidate for the main opposition party, the high-school graduate tried not to hype up her past achievements in breaking the

The rival parties on Monday collided over the ongoing opposition filibuster, with the ruling party threatening legal action and adding pressure to suspend the marathon debate so that imminent bills, including the new electoral map can be passed. 　The bill on new constituencies for the April 13 general election passed the public administration committee late Sunday to be put up for a plenary vote on Monday. 　Feeling the pressure, The Minjoo Party of Korea asked for a brief recess in its filibuste