Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, a potential presidential candidate on the liberal opposition side, said Wednesday that he would “soon” announce whether he will run for the 2017 presidential election.“I will carefully consider my decision and tell you my conclusion soon,” said Park in a radio interview.Asked about whether he would make that announcement within this year -- the election is slated to take place in December 2017 -- the mayor refused to offer a specific timeline. “I think we shouldn’t get

After a weeklong legislative impasse, rival parties returned to the National Assembly to resume parliamentary audit on Tuesday. But they continued to clash at standing committees over some highly political issues. Scandals involving close associates of President Park Geun-hye were high on the agenda for lawmakers from liberal opposition Minjoo Party, while the lawmakers from the conservative ruling Saenuri Party sought to play them down.In one of the scandals, President Park’s confidant is alleg

A political standoff surrounding a parliamentary audit has seemingly subdued after the ruling Saenuri Party decided to withdraw its boycott and rival parties agreed to extend the period of the audit session.But bipartisan tension is likely to continue, as the Saenuri pushed for a law revision to reinforce the Assembly Speaker‘s political neutrality, an idea which The Minjoo Party of Korea dismissed.The vice floor leaders of the top three political parties attend a joint press briefing after a tr

South Korea’s filmmaker Hwang Yoon shot a movie titled “Farewell” in 2002 featuring a baby tiger who lives at a zoo in Seoul. Being born out of incest encouraged by zookeepers, the little tiger – named “Crane” -- was predisposed to cataracts and had a deformed face. Ten years later, Hwang reunited with Crane, who was relocated to a zoo in Gangwon Province after losing popularity among Seoul spectators when it became bigger and older. By the time Hwang saw Crane, the tiger had fallen ill because

Members of the ruling Saenuri Party on Thursday filed criminal charges against the National Assembly’s speaker for allegedly abusing his power and continued their boycott of the parliamentary audit for the fourth day, with the legislative impasse over the parliamentary audit showing no signs of abating. Warning that dissenters would be punished, the ruling party’s leadership pledged to continue their boycott of the parliamentary sessions until Assembly Speaker Rep. Chung Sye-kyun resigns over hi

The ruling Saenuri Party’s boycott continued to stymie the second day of the parliamentary audit, with tension peaking as the party’s members locked its member and chief of the National Assembly’s Defense Committee in his office for several hours to prevent him from convening a session.Rep. Kim Young-woo of the Saenuri Party was to hold an afternoon session at around 2 p.m. but was blocked at around 11 a.m. by fellow party members including former leader Rep. Kim Moo-sung. They entered Kim Young

The ruling Saenuri Party and opposition parties Sunday hit an impasse over holding a parliamentary audit as scheduled, clashing over President Park Geun-hye’s veto of a parliamentary motion to dismiss a cabinet member.The clash followed Cheong Wa Dae’s announcement that the president had refused to accept the opposition-led recommendation to dismiss Agriculture Minister Kim Jae-soo, saying the legislative process lacked legitimacy.　It was the first presidential veto against a National Assembly r

In 1949, South Korea’s first President Syngman Rhee introduced military conscription for the first time upon liberation from Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945). In 1951, the system, which was suspended in 1950, was reinstated during the Korean War. 　Since then, every Korean able-bodied man has been mandated to serve in the military for between 21 and 24 months. In doing so, they constitute the backbone of the armed forces with 640,000 active in duty and 4.3 million as reserve forces. 　Now, the m

Lawmakers criticized the government’s response to the record-breaking earthquake and aftershocks in the southeastern region during the interpellation Tuesday, noting that the nation’s safety system faces serious challenges in coping with potential natural disasters.Ruling and opposition parties alike slammed the government for failing to issue warnings immediately after the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that rattled Gyeongju on Sept. 12, and again when the 4.5 magnitude aftershock hit the region and

Political parties on Tuesday sharply criticized the government’s lackluster response during and after the country’s strongest earthquake the day before, accusing safety agencies of failing to promptly alert the public of the natural disaster.The ruling Saenuri Party and opposition camps asserted that the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, the nation’s top disaster agency, failed to inform the people swiftly enough about disaster news and safety protocol when the 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit

North Korea’s fifth and strongest nuclear test is fueling fierce debate among political parties here over whether South Korea should shift away from its decades-old non-nuclear commitment for self-defense. Ranking members of the ruling Saenuri Party are stepping up demands that the government consider seeking measures equivalent to obtaining nukes. Their calls, officially denied by the government, are joined by some of the opposition members but are also met with criticism from both within and o

The ruling Saenuri Party’s former floor leader Rep. Won Yoo-chul on Friday renewed his call for nuclear armament in South Korea, in response to North Korea’s fifth and strongest nuclear test earlier in the day. The fifth-term lawmaker said the government should promptly begin the process of developing nuclear weapons. Other preventive measures, such as sanctions by the United States and the United Nations, have failed to discourage the communist regime’s nuclear ambitions, he added. “Obtaining n

The main opposition party leader on Friday apologized over her earlier attempts to meet with former president Chun Doo-hwan, a move which caused divides within the party leadership.The Minjoo Party of Korea’s chairwoman Rep. Choo Mi-ae said that her decision to visit the disputed former president was “inappropriate,” highlighting that Chun has yet to admit his involvement with the massacre during the Gwangju May 18 democratization uprising back in 1980. The meeting, if not cancelled, would have

The number of traffic accidents involving foreign drivers increased by four times in the last three years, a report showed Thursday.A total of 1,411 traffic accidents caused by foreigners were reported in 2015, four times more than 2012. Of this number, 487 cases involved those driving without licenses, two times higher than 2012, according to the report by The Minjoo Party of Korea Rep. Kim Young-jin, who referred to data from the National Police Agency.A total of 2,235 foreigners had their dri

The third-biggest People’s Party’s interim leader criticized President Park Geun-hye’s handling of the government in a parliamentary address Wednesday, blaming her administration for worsening cross-border relations and fueling public anger over South Korea’s politico-economic system. Describing the president as the only change agent to national reform, the central-left floor leader Rep. Park Jie-won urged the president to hold a summit with North Korea and pursue constitutional amendment to cha

The newly elected leader of the main opposition party urged the government to take strong measures to jumpstart the nation’s sluggish economy, blasting what President Park Geun-hye has suggested as the nation’s growth strategy.In her debut speech as a party leader at the National Assembly, The Minjoo Party of Korea’s Chairwoman Rep. Choo Mi-ae said South Korea should move beyond a conglomerate-dominated, export-driven economy toward a “fair economy” by revamping the tax code and increasing the c

Opposition parties on Monday agreed to seek the removal of the new agriculture minister, lashing out against President Park Geun-hye for pushing ahead with the appointment despite actions by the legislature to block it. Agriculture Minister Kim Jae-soo came under fire for engaging in dubiously lucrative land-purchasing deals and for writing down his mother’s assets o profit from the government’s social security subsidies. The move came a day after President Park Geun-hye, currently in Hangzhou,

With the infamous bribery scandal involving a top presidential aide showing no signs of abating, a prominent politician from the ruling party Sunday voiced his approval of building an independent anti-corruption agency, despite vehement opposition from his party leadership. Kim Moon-soo, a former Gyeonggi Province governor and a presidential hopeful within the ruling Saenuri Party, claimed that in order to eradicate high-profile corruption scandals, it is crucial to build an independent body ded

Freshman lawmakers are not typically respected as sources of expertise at the National Assembly. But Rep. Kim Jong-dae is an exception, especially on a topic that often dominates debate among prominent politicians or presidential hopefuls: national security.  “My decades-old journey for security issues culminates here,” Kim said in an interview with The Korea Herald at his office in the 20th Assembly, where he serves as a member of a parliamentary committee dealing with national defense and mili

 Rival parties on Thursday agreed to hold a parliamentary hearing on the alleged excessive use of force by police during a massive protest last year that led to Baek Nam-gi, a 69-year-old farmer, falling into a coma after being knocked down by a water cannon. The ruling Saenuri Party and opposition parties agreed to hold the hearing on a date between Sep. 5 and 7. The agreed-upon witness list includes former National Police Agency Chief Kang Sin-myeong, who has been under criticism for instructi