With the United Nations’ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon eyeing a return to his home country with a potential bid for next year’s presidential election, rival parties are scrambling to capitalize the situation in their favor amid political turmoil over President Park Geun-hye’s corruption scandal.  　The ruling Saenuri Party’s divided factions -- Park’s loyalists and their dissenters -- are competing to put the world’s top diplomat on their ticket, in an apparent effort to boost their record-low ap

Former presidential aide Woo Byung-woo flatly denied his involvement in the corruption scandal tied to President Park Geun-hye and her confidante Choi Soon-sil during a parliamentary inquiry Thursday on the case that led to Park’s impeachment. Woo, Park’s senior secretary for civil affairs from January 2015 to October 2016, claimed that he had never met Choi, the president’s longtime friend accused of meddling in state affairs. “Even at this moment, I don’t know of Choi Soon-sil. I only saw her

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pledged to devote his life to the advancement of South Korea on Tuesday, sending the strongest signal yet that he might run in next year’s presidential election. “If what I have learned, seen and felt during my 10-year service as UN secretary-general could help advance Korea, I am more than willing to sacrifice myself for this cause,” said Ban during a farewell press meeting with Korean reporters. His term ends on Dec. 31. Though Ban has not clarified his bid for

The main opposition party’s front-runner Moon Jae-in is stepping up his attack against major initiatives of the President Park Geun-hye government, but his assertive stance has unnerved moderate groups within opposition parties. In a series of remarks following Park’s impeachment -- who now awaits her impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court -- Moon laid out his vision for a “complete overhaul” of the nation and vowed to pursue “revolution” if the court decides to reinstate the president. W

Ever since the United Nations’ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hinted at his potential bid for the 2017 presidential election, it has been speculated that he would run on a ticket led by President Park Geun-hye and her loyalists from the ruling Saenuri Party. But the political situation here has been working against such a scenario, as a corruption scandal has caused Park and her party to plunge to record-low approval ratings. The more Ban was associated with the president, polls suggested, the le

The ruling Saenuri Party’s chairman Rep. Lee Jung-hyun, a prominent loyalist of President Park Geun-hye, resigned Friday, leaving a newly elected floor leader with the task of navigating the embattled party through escalating factional strife following the impeachment of Park. 　Earlier in the day, Rep. Chug Woo-taik, a fourth-term lawmaker supported by the pro-Park faction, was elected as Saenuri’s new whip. Chung beat his contender Rep. Na Kyung-won, who represents Park dissenters, by 62 to 55

A parliamentary inquiry into the scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye and her close friend Choi Soon-sil produced a rare new testimony Thursday that the presidential office conducted a massive surveillance operation on the nation’s top justice. Cho Han-gyu, a former publisher of local daily Segye Ilbo, claimed to have documents that reveal the presidential office spied on senior members of the judiciary branch, including the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae.“It is a grave viola

Lawmakers from ruling and opposition parties on Wednesday scrutinized President Park Geun-hye’s handling of the rescue operation during the Sewol ferry disaster, questioning presidential aides about what the president was doing amid the nation’s worst maritime disaster in 2014. In the third parliamentary inquiry session on a scandal that led to Park‘s impeachment last week, the bipartisan panel of parliamentarians grilled former chief of the Presidential National Security Office, Kim Jang-soo, r

Woo Byung-woo, a former aide to President Park Geun-hye previously thought to be in hiding, said Tuesday that he would testify before lawmakers about the scandal that led to the president’s impeachment last week. “Given that there has been repeated requests (for my attendance), I will (attend the parliamentary hearing session and) respectfully and faithfully respond to the (lawmakers’) questions,” said Woo in an interview with Yonhap News Agency. Woo is among the witnesses being summoned for a p

Two rival factions within the ruling Saenuri Party continued to clash with one another Monday, as the conservative ruling camp’s factional strife reached a boiling point following the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. Adding more chaos to the conservative camp, which is on the verge of a breakup, the party’s Floor Leader Rep. Chung Jin-suk called it quits, saying he wanted to take responsibility for the president’s impeachment. “The governing party bears the same amount of responsibility a

Now that the parliament has voted to impeach Park Geun-hye, the fate of her presidency is left to one unique entity that is rarely in the public eye: the Constitutional Court. A tough legal battle looms, as the president, embroiled in a corruption and nepotism scandal involving her secret confidante Choi Soon-sil, is determined to defend her job and name. Legal issues aside, observers say the court itself is stacked against forces that want Park gone as soon as possible. Two factors come into pl

Now that the parliament has voted to impeach Park Geun-hye, the fate of her presidency is left to one unique entity rarely see in the public eye: the Constitutional Court. A tough legal battle looms, as the president, embroiled in a corruption and nepotism scandal involving her secret confidante Choi Soon-sil, is determined to defend her job and name. Legal issues aside, however, observers say the court itself is stacked against forces that want Park gone as soon as possible. Two factors come in

Friday’s parliamentary vote on whether or not to impeach President Park Geun-hye is unlikely to involve a filibuster or physical brawls among rivalling lawmakers. According to the National Assembly on Thursday, no lawmakers have requested time to address the floor ahead of the ballot during a plenary session slated for 3:00 p.m. Friday. “Traditionally, the motion related to the seat of public officials does not require additional debate among those that approve and those that disapprove,” an off

South Korea’s top business tycoons on Tuesday rejected the notion their donations to two foundations controlled by President Park Geun-hye’s friend were bribes to the state head. Yet, some admitted the contributions were not 100 percent voluntary. 　Nine business leaders, including Samsung Group’s heir and de facto chief Lee Jae-yong, faced feisty lawmakers at a parliamentary hearing at the National Assembly over their alleged involvement in the scandal swirling around the president and her frien

President Park Geun-hye’s friend at the epicenter of South Korea‘s worst political crisis in recent memory has refused to take the witness stand in the upcoming parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday, dealing a blow to lawmakers’ efforts to investigate the influence-peddling scandal that has plunged the nation into a state of turmoil. The bipartisan panel of lawmakers probing the case said Monday they were notified by Choi Soon-sil’s attorney that she would not testify before lawmakers at a hearing

A bipartisan panel of lawmakers sought answers to questions surrounding President Park Geun-hye‘s alleged mishandling of state affairs during a parliamentary inquiry into a scandal involving Park, her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil and her former aides. Topping the agenda in Monday’s session was the president’s whereabouts on the day the Sewol ferry sank in 2014. Rumors are rife that Park might have received plastic surgery with assistance from military medical officers during the nation’s worst-

　An opposition coalition decided Friday to press ahead with a vote on parliamentary impeachment of President Park Geun-hye on Dec. 9, patching up cracks that erupted after the president’s surprise offer earlier in the week to cut her term short. 　The vote will take place as scheduled, they confirmed, regardless whether Park announces her plan for early departure. The president said on Tuesday that she is willing to resign if the political parties offer her a time frame and legal process for it,

The third-biggest People’s Party urged the National Assembly to propose an impeachment motion against President Park Geun-hye on Thursday, suggesting that the motion should be put to a vote no later than Monday. The decision came hours after the opposition coalition failed to reach consensus on when to submit the motion to the floor, which effectively killed chances of the impeachment ballot taking place at the parliament’s plenary session Friday. While Democratic Party lawmakers insisted that t

The opposition coalition Thursday failed to submit a motion to impeach President Park Geun-hye, which effectively killed chances of the impeachment ballot taking place at the parliament’s plenary session Friday. The failure came as two of the three parties -- the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and the runner-up opposition People’s Party -- clashed over the timing of the vote, with the former insisting on immediate action and the latter calling for more time to secure enough votes. Alo

Opposition parties Tuesday reiterated their commitment to impeaching President Park Geun-hye, dismissing Park’s pledge to abandon her presidency as a ploy to avoid the looming parliamentary impeachment. The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and the runner-up People’s Party accused the president of not giving a specific timeline for her resignation to deflect the people’s attention away from the impeachment process. In a speech earlier in the day, the president asked the National Assembly