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Lee Kyung-min

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South Korea

Governing party seeks to unmask protesters

Protesters wearing masks pull ropes to topple a police bus during a rally in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, on Nov. 14. The ruling Saenuri Party is moving to ban activists from wearing masks to hide their identity. / YonhapBy Lee Kyung-min  The ruling Saenuri Party is seeking to revise laws to prohibit protesters from wearing masks during street rallies.The move is in line with a remark made by President Park Geun-hye, Tuesday, in which she made comparisons between protestors covering their faces to members of Islamic State (IS), an extremist militant group responsible for the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris that claimed 130 lives.Ruling party members claim that demonstrators tend to become more violent if they are wearing masks.However, the move has prompted a backlash from the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) and civic groups, which say that prohibiting the wearing of masks would violate human rights and the right to freedom of assembly.Rep. Jeong Kab-yoon of the Saenuri Party submitted a revision to the Law on Assembly and Demonstratio

Nov 25, 2015By Lee Kyung-min
Governing party seeks to unmask protesters
South Korea

FKTU threatens withdrawal from tripartite talks

By Lee Kyung-minKim Dong-man, head of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), said Friday that his organization will withdraw from tripartite committee talks among labor, management and the government, if the latter unilaterally pushes ahead with labor reform without due deliberation. Further, they said that they will vote against lawmakers who are active in pushing such plans in the coming general election and in the 2017 presidential election.The head of the nation's second largest umbrella union said an all out strike was inevitable if the government remains unchanged regarding key labor issues involving non-regular workers and in adopting a performance-based salary system.“The ruling Saenuri Party and the government should immediately discard their labor reform plans containing unresolved issues. Failing to do so would be a direct affront to the agreement reached on Sept. 15,” he said at a press conference at the FKTU office in Yeouido.The thorny issues include the terms of employment; reduction or revising unemployment benefits; retirement allowance expansion;

Nov 20, 2015By Lee Kyung-min
South Korea

Former presidential secretary Park gets 3 years in prison for influence-peddling

By Lee Kyung-minA district court sentenced former presidential secretary Park Bum-hoon to three years in prison, Friday, for receiving 100 million won in bribes from Doosan Group in exchange for abusing his power to help Chung-Ang University, which is owned by the conglomerate.He was the university president until 2011, before moving to Cheong Wa Dae as secretary for education.    The Seoul Central District Court also fined him 30 million won, and ordered him to forfeit 37 million won he illegally gained during his term in office from 2011 to 2012.The court sentenced Park Yong-sung, former Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction chairman and the university’s foundation head, to 10 months in prison suspended for two years for paying the bribes to Park Bum-hoon.  The court said that the former presidential secretary abused his position by ordering education ministry officials to lift a ban on Doosan’s school.Earlier, the education ministry banned the university from enrolling new students after it failed to secure enough land to be qualified as a legi

Nov 20, 2015By Lee Kyung-min
South Korea

PTPI Korea to celebrate 50th anniversary

PTPI Korea National Headquarters Chairwoman Kim Gil-youn will be recognized for her efforts in promoting humanitarian values in the country at the anniversary event in the 63 Square in Seoul, Thursday./ Courtesy of PTPI Korea National HeadquartersBy Lee Kyung-minPeople to People International (PTPI) Korea National Headquarters will celebrate 50 years of activity today.Some 500 dignitaries will participate in an event to mark the anniversary at the 63 Square in Seoul.The event will also celebrate the publication of “50 Years of History of PTPI Korea,” which compiles many memorable moments of the group over the last half century here.  PTPI is a non-profit multinational organization established in 1956 by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to enhance international understanding and friendship through educational, cultural, and humanitarian activities. In Korea, the first chapter was set up in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, in 1965.The participants at today’s event include Mary Jean Eisenhower, granddaughter of the former U.S. president, who was also former CEO of

Nov 18, 2015By Lee Kyung-min
South Korea

Blame game over violent rally, crackdown

Organizers of Saturday’s rally demand National Police Agency (NPA) Commissioner General Kang Sin-myeong’s dismissal over an alleged violent crackdown by police, during a press conference in front of the NPA building in central Seoul, Monday. The photo, which one protestor holds, shows a farmer’s union member who was seriously injured after being hit by a water cannon during the rally. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Lee Kyung-minTension is escalating between police and protestors over who should be held accountable for Saturday’s rally that left one protestor unconscious and more than 140 people injured ― 113 police officers and 29 rally participants.While protestors criticized police for the violent crackdown in which water cannons were used with spray containing capsaicin, police claim the measure was necessary because protestors attempted to topple police buses and attack officers with metal pipes and sharpened bamboo sticks.From Saturday afternoon, tens of thousands of people from 53 civic, labor and farmer’s groups staged a 12-hour rall

Nov 16, 2015By Lee Kyung-min
South Korea

Police book 49 protesters

Police fire water cannon at protestors who used a rope to try and topple a police bus during an anti-government protest held in Gwanghwamun Square, central Seoul, Saturday. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukElderly man remains unconscious after being hit by water cannon sprayBy Lee Kyung-minPolice have detained 49 protesters during Saturday’s massive anti-government rally in Gwanghwamun Square, downtown Seoul, which also left a 69-year-old man, surnamed Baek, critically injured after he was hit by spray from a water cannon.  Baek, a farmers’ union member, fell after being hit by the water while trying to topple a police bus using a rope. He was taken to Seoul National University Hospital where he underwent surgery for four hours, but remains in critical condition.Forty-nine people were detained for violating the law regarding the staging of public demonstrations and two high school students among them have been released, police said.A coalition of labor unions and civic and famers’ groups denounced the police’s excessive suppression of protesters using t

Nov 15, 2015By Lee Kyung-min
South Korea

Top court strips lawmakers of National Assembly seats

By Lee Kyung-minThe Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced Saenuri Party lawmaker Song Kwang-ho to four years in prison for bribery, Thursday.The sentence immediately stripped Song of his National Assembly seat. Under the law, public officials convicted of criminal charges or fined over 1 million won are deprived of their posts.“The Supreme Court recognized the lower court’s ruling, as the testimony about the charges was solid,” the court said.The nation’s top court sentenced him to four years in prison and a 70 million won fine, as well as the forfeiture of 65 million won gained illegally during his time in office.  Song, a four-term lawmaker, was indicted for receiving 65 million won on at least 11 occasions from the head of the rail supply and construction company AVT between April 2012 and May 2014, in exchange for exerting his influence to help the firm win contracts in the government’s bullet train railroad construction projects.At the time, he was indicted without physical detention as the Assembly did not pass a motion to h

Nov 12, 2015By Lee Kyung-min
South Korea

Pathologist says Patterson could have killed victim

Witness not rules out possibility of Patterson real criminalBy Lee Kyung-minSeoul National University professor Lee Yoon-seong, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Cho Joong-pil, the victim in the “Itaewon murder” case, testified at the Seoul Central District Court, Wednesday, that it was possible for someone smaller than Cho to kill him, indicating Arthur Patterson who is tried as the suspect.Cho was stabbed to death in the bathroom of a Burger King restaurant in 1997. Previously, the prosecution had charged Edward Lee, Patterson’s friend who was also at the crime scene, based on the autopsy result that the suspect might have been taller and had a bigger build than the 176-centermeter-tall victim. Edward Lee was 180 centimeters tall and weighed 105 kilograms, while Patterson was 172 centimeters tall and weighed 63 kilograms.The professor said his earlier assumption was based on the fact that the victim had no defensive wounds on his body. “I thought that if the victim had been attacked, he would have fought back,” he said. “But Cho had no

Nov 12, 2015By Lee Kyung-min
South Korea

Former UPP lawmakers' reinstatement request denied

By Lee Kyung-minAn administrative court has rejected a reinstatement request from former lawmakers of the now-disbanded United Progressive Party (UPP), who lost their National Assembly seats following the party’s disbandment.The Seoul Administrative Court dismissed the petition, Thursday, filed by the five lawmakers ― Lee Seok-ki, Kim Jae-yeon, Kim Mi-hyui, Oh Byung-yun and Lee Sang-kyu.They filed the petition again in January after the Constitutional Court ruling that disbanded the minor opposition party in December last year, claiming they were automatically deprived of their seats without specific legal grounds.“The loss of seats was determined by the Constitutional Court which is the final authority on interpretation and application of the Constitution,” the court said. “So other courts cannot judge the issue again.”It said the Constitutional Court ruling is not subject to a suit with the administrative court. “Also, it is right to deprive them of the position because they had unconstitutional political faith by belonging to the UPP, which

Nov 12, 2015By Lee Kyung-min
South Korea

Ex-president's forfeited US assets returned

Justice Minister Kim Hyun-woong, left, receives a certificate of transfer for forfeited U.S. assets belonging to former Korean President Chun Doo-hwan, from his U.S. counterpart Loretta E. Lynch at the headquarters of the U.S. Justice Department in Washington D.C., Monday. / YonhapBy Lee Kyung-minThe U.S. Justice Department has handed $1.22 million collected from the sale of assets belonging to former President Chun Doo-hwan to Korea, the Ministry of Justice said Tuesday.This is the first time that money laundered in the U.S. has been retrieved by Korea since the two countries signed an agreement on cooperation in criminal cases in 1997. It is also the first case in which the Ministry of Justice has successfully recovered assets of a high-profile public official hidden overseas. There was a previous case where the government recovered hidden money of an illegal gambling parlor operator from Mongolia is still underway.According to the ministry, Justice Minister Kim Hyun-woong met with his U.S. counterpart, Loretta E. Lynch, at the headquarters of the U.S. Justice Department in Washing

Nov 10, 2015By Lee Kyung-min
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