President Park Geun-hye on Sunday appointed a journalist as her new spokesman, filling a post that had been vacant for 20 days.　Jeong Yeon-guk, a department head of terrestrial network MBC, resigned from his post to take up the new position, Cheong Wa Dae said. Jeong will succeed another former TV journalist from KBS -- Min Kyung-wook, who left to run in next year’s general election. 　Renowned as host of the popular TV program “100 Minute Debate,” Jeong had worked as a London correspondent and s

 A major association of private child care centers said it would shut down temporarily this week to protest over the government’s decision to cut its budget for child care. 　Upon the decision by the Korea Educare Association, parents, particularly those of double-income families, struggled to find places that can look after their kids during the shutdown.　“Even though I haven’t heard anything from the child care center that my kids attend, I am thinking about taking a few days off or asking my p

Voices of opposition against the government’s state-authored textbook plan began to emerge in the ruling party ahead of the general elections next year as protests by students, teachers, scholars and activists escalated against the Education Ministry for unilaterally pushing the scheme.　Citing the lack of efforts to gather the party’s opinion and communicate with the public, some Saenuri Party lawmakers, whose constituencies are mostly located in Seoul, blasted the government’s move as a retrogr

  　President Park Geun-hye and the leaders of the rival parties agreed Tuesday to meet after a day of tug-of-war between Cheong Wa Dae and the main opposition party over the meeting’s scope and format amid burgeoning controversy over the government’s push to issue state-authored textbooks. 　Park and leaderships from the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss pending issues, including the controversial adoption of t

Main opposition party leader Rep. Moon Jae-in on Friday accused President Park Geun-hye of attempting to hold on to her influence by having her followers elected in next year’s general election in response to the ruling camp’s nomination rule row.“It is a dictatorial way of thinking for (President Park) who wants to maintain her power and secure her post-presidency position by getting her close confidants nominated for (a general election).” Moon said of Cheong Wa Dae’s open opposition to the ri

In several sectors of Korean society, from education to the civil service, women prevail. The interpretation profession is another such field, if not one of the most notable ones.At local graduate schools specializing in interpretation and translation, female students have far outnumbered male ones for a long time, which has contributed to the female dominance in the field. For example, women account for some 80 percent of students at the Graduate School of Interpretation and Translation at Hank

Kim Sung-jun, a 30-year-old translator, relies more on the Internet than before to translate technical documents for military equipment. Tasked with books as thick as a dictionary, his trick to quick translation is to run the document through the Internet translation first before tackling the job himself.“Internet translation service saves time and efforts. Although the quality is not as good as that of translation by humans, it would have consumed twice as much time to translate the whole docum

 The political row between the president and the ruling party leader reached new heights Wednesday, as Saenuri chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung hit back at Cheong Wa Dae’s criticism of the party nomination scheme he agreed with the opposition. 　The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy also hit out at the presidential office, accusing it of attempting to meddle in electoral affairs as part of its internal power struggle.　Kim, who skipped party meetings and canceled public schedules earli

 The monthslong political deadlock of rival parties over electoral rules showed signs of easing Tuesday after the leaders inched toward an agreement on nominating procedures for next year’s general elections.　However, the prospects for an all-out agreement remained grim as they failed to see eye-to-eye on how to redraw electoral districts to reflect proper distribution of parliamentary seats between those elected from constituencies and those elected through proportional representation.　The ruli

Infighting flared up again in the main opposition party Thursday as key members resisted a controversial demand by the party’s reform committee, calling it a political ploy to push them out.　A reform committee of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy demanded Wednesday that party chairman Rep. Moon Jae-in and other heavyweights should take the initiative to run for elections in constituencies where the ruling Saenuri Party has a strong foothold. Most senior party members are resisting the call

The National Assembly finished on Wednesday the first half of its annual inspection into government agencies, as lawmakers came under public scrutiny for their below-standard performance. 　Scheduled to return to the Assembly on Oct. 1 after a recess during the Chuseok holiday, lawmakers have faced mounting criticism for engaging more in political bickering than in professional debates over policies.　Observers said the lawmakers also failed to address the dysfunctional nature of the audit, despit

 Lawmakers from the main opposition party on Tuesday upped their pressure on the government to stop its attempt to censor cultural contents amid the allegation that some artists and their projects were banned from government financial support for political reasons. 　They claimed the government was singling out some liberal-leaning artists to deny them support from the nation’s largest funding agency, a move that Rep. Lee Jong-kul, floor leader of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, cast as

President Park Geun-hye on Monday stressed the need for media to provide accurate and unbiased information, seemingly backing up the ruling party’s offensives against Korea’s major Internet portals for “prejudicial” delivery of news.　While attending an event hosted by one of the country’s major daily newspapers, Park also highlighted the role of media outlets in pursuing her key initiatives such as labor market reforms.   　“The digital revolution brought significant changes to the media outlets

Though three weeks remain before it ends on Oct. 8, it appears safe to say that this year’s parliamentary audit is a flop. Officials of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance wait to help Minister Choi Kyung-hwan (front row, second from left) at the parliamentary audit session on Sept. 14. (Yonhap)None of the major or minor parties have so far managed to set the agenda in their checking of the administration, instead being sidetracked by internal struggles ahead of next year’s general election.A s

　The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy on Friday celebrated its 60th anniversary amid an intensifying power struggle between two factions that has undermined the unity of the party and the leadership of its chairman Rep. Moon Jae-in.　Mindful of the ongoing in-house scuffle over his leadership, Moon highlighted the party’s legacy and urged the NPAD members to unite.   　“Looking back at the 60 years we have walked past, I can’t help realize that we have to work harder for bringin

The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy on Monday filed an impeachment motion against the home affairs minister for violating neutrality of public officials by delivering controversial toast in favor of the Saenuri Party.　In an impeachment proposal against Minister of Security and Public Administration Chong Jong-sup, the NPAD lawmakers said he had violated the election law by chanting “victory at any cost” during a dinner with the Saenuri Party lawmakers last month.Rep. Han Jeon

The head of the conscription agency said on Monday that the decision to exempt Seoul mayor Park Won-soon’s son from mandatory military service was lawful, denying allegations that he had fabricated medical records during the army heath checkup to evade enrollment. 　Park’s son was thrown back into the spotlight after a local broadcaster reported that a lawsuit filed by a group of 1,000 citizens remains pending against the son, who they claimed allegedly submitted someone else’s X-rays photos to g

Chinese authorities ended the search for the remaining eight missing in a massive chemical warehouse explosion last month, setting the final death toll at 173 in China's worst industrial disaster in years.     The announcement on the Tianjin city government's microblog said there was no hope of finding the eight people, and the court will now start issuing death certificates.     ``After thorough investigations by all parties, it is certain that there is no possibility of survivors,'' said the s

The head of the U.N.'s nuclear test ban treaty organization says Iran should follow up on its historic nuclear deal with world powers by ratifying the treaty and assuring it will never conduct a nuclear test explosion.    Lassina Zerbo said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press that if Iran doesn't ratify the treaty, ``it will leave room for the doubt that people have put in this deal and the good intentions of Iran.''    Zerbo said Iran should have signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Te

A powerful gas cylinder explosion in a packed restaurant in India's Madhya Pradesh state left 25 people dead Saturday, police said.     The death toll rose after rescuers recovered five more bodies from the debris of the shattered restaurant and surrounding buildings.    The blast occurred at around 8:30 am (0300 GMT) at the restaurant in the town of Petlawad in Jhabua district, as dozens of office workers and schoolchildren were having breakfast, senior district police official Seema Alava said