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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

PM asks Yoon to veto grain bill

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks during a policy consultation meeting with the ruling party at the prime minister's residence, March 29. YonhapPrime Minister Han Duck-soo said Wednesday he made a suggestion to President Yoon Suk Yeol on vetoing a contentious bill requiring government purchase of surplus rice.Han made the remarks after a policy consultation meeting with the ruling party on the revision to the Grain Management Act passed by the opposition-controlled National Assembly last week."The government cannot go down the road expected to be a failure ... We ask the National Assembly, the farming industry and the people to understand it is a decision for the national interest and the farmers to go down the right path," Han said.Han said the envisioned bill will throw the rice farming industry into a bigger crisis by paralyzing the market's control of supply and demand, exhausting funds while not benefiting national food security, which should be used for the future of the farming industry. More than 999 billion won ($767 million) of financial burden will arise annually if the b

Mar 29, 2023
PM asks Yoon to veto grain bill

Main opposition attempts to restrict president's right to appoint Supreme Court chief justice

Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su in a courtroom/ Korea Times fileThe main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) proposed a bill calling for the establishment of a committee recommending candidates for Supreme Court chief justice in a move seen as aimed at restricting the president's right to appoint the position.The proposed revision to the Court Organization Act, sponsored by 44 DPK lawmakers, including floor leader Park Hong-keun, requires the president to select the head of the top court among candidates to be recommended by the envisioned committee.Under the revision, the committee will be comprised of 11 members, including the minister of National Court Administration, head of the Korean Bar Association and five experts who do not hold a profession in law.Currently, the president first makes a nomination for chief justice and can officially appoint him or her after the National Assembly endorses the nomination following a confirmation hearing.Observers say the bill is aimed at restricting the president's right to appoint the Supreme Court chief justice as President Yoon Suk Yeol

Mar 29, 2023
Main opposition attempts to restrict president's right to appoint Supreme Court chief justice

Belarus says it will host Russian nuclear weapons to counter NATO

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, Feb. 17. Reuters-YonhapBelarus on Tuesday confirmed it will host Russian tactical nuclear weapons, saying the decision was a response to years of Western pressure, including sanctions and what it said was a military-build up by NATO member states near its borders.The statement from the foreign ministry was the government's first since Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Moscow will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and would build a nuclear weapons storage facility there.Although Putin did not say when the deployment would take place, or give further detail, the announcement appeared to pave the way for Moscow's first deployment of nuclear weapons outside its borders since the 1991 Soviet collapse.The Belarusian foreign ministry said Russia's nuclear bombs offered protection after what it called a campaign of pressure from the United States and its allies aimed at overthrowing the government of

Mar 29, 2023
Belarus says it will host Russian nuclear weapons to counter NATO

Opposition leader strongly condemns Japan over textbook row

Main opposition Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung speaks at a party meeting at the National Assembly, March 29. YonhapOpposition leader Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday strongly condemned Japan's approval of controversial school history textbooks, saying that Korea was betrayed by Tokyo because the approval came after Seoul's efforts to mend frayed ties.Lee made the remarks a day after Tokyo announced the approval of new textbooks for elementary school students that appeared to water down its atrocities against Koreans during its 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula and intensify its sovereignty claim over Korea's easternmost Dokdo islets.The approval came after President Yoon Suk Yeol held a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on March 16. The summit took place after Korea decided to compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor on its own, without asking Japan for contributions. The compensation plan has triggered a strong backlash at home because Japanese companies are excluded from making payments to the victims. "I strongly condemn Japan'

Mar 29, 2023
Opposition leader strongly condemns Japan over textbook row
  • Revised Japanese textbooks distort wartime forced labor, catching Korea off guard

Ex-military commander arrested over martial law scandal

Prosecution officials arrest Cho Hyun-chun, center, a former head of the now-defunct Defense Security Command, at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, March 29. YonhapProsecutors arrested Cho Hyun-chun, a former head of the now-defunct Defense Security Command, upon his arrival in Korea on Wednesday, more than five years after he fled to the United States over suspected masterminding of a martial law plan. Officials from the Seoul Western District Prosecutors Office apprehended the 64-year-old former commander at Incheon International Airport and transferred him to the office for investigation. Cho allegedly instructed a task force he formed in February 2017 to draw up a contingency plan based on an illegal declaration of martial law to crack down on candlelight protesters by force and reported it to the then Defense Minister Han Min-koo.Months of street candlelight vigils by many people led to the impeachment of then President Park Geun-hye at the time.After retiring in September 2017, Cho fled to the U.S. three months later amid a widening probe into the case. "I came back

Mar 29, 2023
Ex-military commander arrested over martial law scandal

Fintech, lifestyle products can help Korea grow trade ties with Hong Kong: city's trade promotion chief in Korea

People sit next to Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour across Central, the city's central business district on Oct. 28, 2022. Reuters- YonhapBy Jack LauKorea could expand trade ties with Hong Kong through fintech and lifestyle product exports, according to the director of the city's trade promotion body. Christopher Lai, the Korea director at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), said that despite the pandemic and supply chain disruptions from the Ukraine war, trade between the markets has grown, spearheaded by traditional products such as food, agricultural goods and beauty products.Korea and Hong Kong are seeking to capitalize on the rapid growth of technologies used to improve financial services from banking to blockchain, wealth management, insurance and investment.“During the pandemic ― especially in the first year or so, when traveling was impossible ― businesses relied on established partners. Negotiating new areas of cooperation was also not easy,” he said.Christopher Lai, Korea director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, poses at his office in Seoul.

Mar 29, 2023
Fintech, lifestyle products can help Korea grow trade ties with Hong Kong: city's trade promotion chief in Korea

Presidential office denies replacement of nat'l security adviser

National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han attends a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul, March 28. YonhapThe presidential office denied a news report Tuesday that it is considering replacing National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han.The Donga Ilbo newspaper reported Kim could be replaced over a planning issue related to President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to the United States next month.The paper also said Yoon is considering reshuffling his lineup of foreign policy and defense aides."That article is different from the truth," a presidential official told reporters. (Yonhap)

Mar 28, 2023
Presidential office denies replacement of nat'l security adviser

PPP leader discusses bilateral cooperation, NK with Chinese ambassador

The ruling People Power Party leader Kim Gi-hyeon, right, shakes hands with Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming for a photo during their meeting at the National Assembly in western Seoul, March 28. YonhapThe leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) met with Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming on Tuesday, and discussed bilateral relations and cooperation on North Korea.Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon said during the meeting that relations between the two countries have made strides over the past 30 years, and called for further improving the bilateral cooperation in the economy and other issues.Kim also expressed hope Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Seoul, noting Xi's remarks during a summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol in November that he will visit South Korea at the right time when the COVID-19 situation is stabilized.Kim also called for a resumption of the trilateral summit between South Korea, China and Japan. The summit, which kicked off in 2008, has been suspended since 2019. Kim asked China to play a "constructive" role to get North Korea back to the negot

Mar 28, 2023
PPP leader discusses bilateral cooperation, NK with Chinese ambassador

Clock ticks for China's massive repatriation of N. Korean defectors

Activists rally in front of Chinese Embassy in Seoul to protest against China's repatriation of North Korean defectors in this 2012 file photo. The large blue banner in front of the protestors reads, “China urged not to send North Korean defectors back to the North.” Korea Times fileHumanitarian crisis looms as April 15 could be a turning point for North Korea's 3-year border closure, experts say By Kang Hyun-kyungMany North Korean defectors are believed to be detained in China, according to activists familiar with the situation. The number of North Korean detainees varies, depending on experts, but estimated figures range from 600 to 2,000.Once North Korea reopens its border with China ― sealed in January 2020 to keep out COVID carriers, Beijing is widely expected to repatriate the North Korean escapees back to the North as the country has done for decades. If the massive repatriation takes place, a humanitarian crisis will unfold. In the past, North Korean defectors faced human rights violations by the authorities in Pyongyang, including torture, beatings, sexual assaul

Mar 28, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung
Clock ticks for China's massive repatriation of N. Korean defectors

Yoon vows not to give single won to N. Korea if it continues nuclear pursuit

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, March 28. Yonhap President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday that not a single won should be given to North Korea as long as it continues to develop nuclear weapons, according to his spokesperson.Yoon made the remark during a Cabinet meeting after being briefed by Unification Minister Kwon Young-se on the government's first public release of a North Korean human rights report this Friday."Disclosing the reality of North Korea's human rights situation is very important to national security as well, because it shows where the legitimacy of a state can be found," he was quoted as saying by Lee Do-woon during a press briefing."From now on, the unification ministry should stop giving away to North Korea and make it clear that as long as North Korea pursues nuclear development, we cannot give them a single won," he said, apparently referring to economic aid under past administra

Mar 28, 2023
Yoon vows not to give single won to N. Korea if it continues nuclear pursuit
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