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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.

Yoon appoints new chief of National Office of Investigation

Woo Jong-soo, head of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police, enters the agency in Suwon, 45 kilometers south of Seoul as President Yoon Suk Yeol appointed him as the new head of the National Office of Investigation (NOI) under the National Police Agency in Seoul earlier in the day, March 27. YonhapPresident Yoon Suk Yeol named Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police chief Woo Jong-soo on Monday as the new head of the National Office of Investigation in charge of commanding police investigation forces nationwide.Woo's appointment came after Yoon's previous designation of Chung Sun-sin, a prosecutor-turned-lawyer, as police investigation chief was canceled following revelations that his son seriously bullied one of his schoolmates in high school.Born in Seoul, Woo entered police service in 1999 and served in various key positions, including investigation bureau chief at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and deputy commissioner general at the National Police Agency.The chief of the National Office of Investigation oversees over 30,000 police investigation personnel across the country, includ

Mar 27, 2023
Yoon appoints new chief of National Office of Investigation

Opposition leader calls on Yoon to reject imports of products from Japan's Fukushima

Main opposition Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung speaks at a party meeting at the National Assembly, March 27. YonhapOpposition leader Lee Jae-myung called on President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday to publicly declare Korea will not import agricultural and fisheries products from Japan's Fukushima region over radiation concerns.Korea has banned imports of all seafood and some agricultural products from the region since 2013 due to concerns over their possible radiation contamination following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown after an earthquake and a tsunami.But some have raised speculation that the government of President Yoon could resume imports from Fukushima, following Japanese news reports that it was one of the unannounced topics during Yoon's summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier this month."In order to relieve people's concerns, I hope the president will publicly declare that it is impossible to import agro-fisheries products from Fukushima," Lee said in a party meeting. "The Democratic Party of Korea will make sure that radiation-

Mar 27, 2023
Opposition leader calls on Yoon to reject imports of products from Japan's Fukushima

Yoon replaces foreign affairs secretary

Former presidential secretary for foreign affairs Lee Moon-hee / YonhapThe presidential foreign affairs secretary has recently been replaced, an official said Monday, just one month before President Yoon Suk Yeol goes on a state visit to the United States.Lee Moon-hee, a career diplomat, has been replaced after suffering from a heavy workload over the past year, the official said, rejecting speculation about why one of the main officials handling the upcoming presidential trip to the U.S. had to go."The time for replacement has come, and his successor is in the process of taking over," the official told Yonhap News Agency.Lee Choong-myon, head of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, has reportedly been tapped as the new foreign affairs secretary. (Yonhap)

Mar 27, 2023
Yoon replaces foreign affairs secretary

Yoon calls for close coordination between gov't, ruling party

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaking at a cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, March 21. YonhapPresident Yoon Suk Yeol called Monday for close policy coordination between the government and the ruling People Power Party, his spokesperson said, following a public backlash over a proposed revision to the legal workweek."There should be close consultations between the party and the government on all policies, including those that do not involve legislative or budget bills," Yoon told the Cabinet, according to Lee Do-woon.Yoon also said the public's opinions should be "thoroughly reflected" in the process.The instructions come as opposition parties, labor unions and especially young generations known as "Generation MZ" have criticized the government's proposal to raise the cap on weekly working hours.Currently, the legal cap is 52 hours, but the labor ministry's initial proposal allowed the cap to be raised to 69 hours during periods of heavy workloads on condition that the total work hours in a month did not exceed the limit in the current 52-hour workweek system.A new "ho

Mar 27, 2023
Yoon calls for close coordination between gov't, ruling party

Veteran police officer tapped as new investigation chief

By Lee Hyo-jin Woo Jong-soo, head of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police, has been recommended to head the National Office of Investigation, filling the vacant post after his predecessor resigned a month before beginning his term. Woo Jong-soo / Courtesy of National Police AgencyThe National Police Agency Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun has recently recommended Woo, 55, to President Yoon Suk Yeol, according to local reports. The presidential office will officially announce the appointment on Monday, after which he will begin his two-year term.Woo worked for the law enforcement authority for 23 years, during which time he served in key posts including the head of Yongsan Police Station and head of the investigation department at the Seoul Metropolitan Police. In 2018, he headed the investigation of a high-profile online rigging scandal known as the Druking scandal.The appointment of Woo comes a month after prosecutor-turned-lawyer Chung Sun-sin resigned just a day before assuming his post, due to the school bullying controversy of his son. Chung was named as the new chief on Feb.

Mar 26, 2023By Lee Hyo-jin
Veteran police officer tapped as new investigation chief

Firstborns account for record-high 63% of newborns

gettyimagesbankBy Nam Hyun-wooSixty-three percent of babies born in Korea last year were firstborn children, data showed Sunday.According to Statistics Korea, 156,000 babies born last year were firstborns, accounting for 62.7 percent of the 249,000 total newborns. It was the highest percentage since 1981 when the statistics agency began compiling related data. The previous record was 56.8 percent back in 2021. The total number of newborns decreased by 4.4 percent in 2021, while the number of firstborns increased by 5.5 percent during the same period. However, the number of second children decreased by 16.7 percent from 91,000 to 76,000.Since 2011, the proportion of firstborn children has been on the rise, while the ratio of second children has been declining since 2015.More parents in Korea are choosing to have only one child, as they delay childbirth, due largely, to the increasing cost of childcare.As of 2021, the average age of Korean women giving birth to their first child was 32.6 years old, up 0.3 years from a year earlier. According to a Ministry of Health and Welfare report i

Mar 26, 2023By Nam Hyun-woo
Firstborns account for record-high 63% of newborns

Legislation trapped in vicious cycle as Yoon, DPK butt heads

Workers check rice stockpiles at a government rice storage in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, March 23. YonhapBy Nam Hyun-wooKorea's legislation process faces a potential deadlock as President Yoon Suk Yeol is poised to veto bills that the majority-holding main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) approved or set to approve, unilaterally. According to the presidential office, Sunday, Yoon is contemplating whether to exercise his right to demand the National Assembly reconsider a proposed amendment to the Grain Management Act, which was passed unilaterally by the DPK during a March 23 plenary session.When the president requests the Assembly to reconsider a bill, it requires the attendance of more than half of all registered lawmakers and approvals by two-third of attending legislators to be passed, thus becoming more difficult to get a greenlight. Due to this, demanding a reconsideration is widely considered a veto by the president.The revision is aimed at requiring the government to purchase surplus rice if the production of the staple surpasses estimated demand by more t

Mar 26, 2023By Nam Hyun-woo
Legislation trapped in vicious cycle as Yoon, DPK butt heads

Major union holds rally in downtown Seoul

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the country's two major umbrella labor organizations, holds a rally in downtown Seoul, March 25, to protest the South Korean president's "prosecution-backed dictatorship." Yonhap Members of a major South Korean umbrella union rallied in downtown Seoul, Saturday, to condemn President Yoon Suk Yeol's administration, jamming traffic in the neighborhood.Some 13,000 members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the country's two major umbrella labor organizations, held multiple rallies in Daehangno, Saejongno and Jongno, to protest what they called a "prosecution-backed dictatorship."During the rallies, the protestors said the country's civil livelihood, democracy and labor had fallen to their worst conditions under the Yoon administration in less than one year of his presidency.The protestors' march blocked four of the six driving lanes near Hyehwa Station in Daehangno, as well as two driving lanes from the

Mar 25, 2023
Major union holds rally in downtown Seoul

Yoon's labor reform drive sputters due to controversy over lengthening workweek

A citizen walks past a television broadcasting President Yoon Suk Yeol's Cabinet meeting speech at Seoul Station, March 21. During the speech, Yoon said he believes working longer than 60 hours per week is undesirable in terms of protecting employees' health. YonhapWorkweek reform plan likely to fizzle outBy Nam Hyun-wooPresident Yoon Suk Yeol's drive to reform the country's labor system and work culture is losing steam, due to mounting criticism over the government's ill-fated attempt to lengthen the legal cap on the workweek.After the plan became hugely controversial, Yoon set a guideline on the maximum number of weekly work hours during a Cabinet meeting on March 21. But that was not enough to ease complaints as some workers' unions, which initially supported the president's efforts to rein in labor groups by requiring them to reveal their financial records, are now turning their backs on the leader.During the Cabinet meeting, Yoon said he still believes “working longer than 60 hours per week is undesirable in terms of protecting (employees') health” and that “it

Mar 25, 2023By Nam Hyun-woo
Yoon's labor reform drive sputters due to controversy over lengthening workweek

Parties remain split even after Constitutional Court OKs prosecution reform bill

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon enters his office at the Government Complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday, before the Constitutional Court makes its ruling on the prosecution reform bill's legitimacy. Yonhap By Ko Dong-hwanEven after the Constitutional Court decided, Thursday, that a prosecution reform bill pushed by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) last year is legally effective despite procedural flaws, the country's two major parties remain split, criticizing each other based on the ruling. In June 2022, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon and six prosecutors filed a joint petition to ask the court to review the reform bill's constitutionality, claiming it infringed on prosecutors' investigative rights guaranteed in the Constitution. However, the court ruled that investigative power should not be limited to a single government agency, giving an implied nod to the DPK's passage of the bill even though it also recognized procedural flaws during the passage of the legislation at the National Assembly, such as violating the deliberation and voting rights of the

Mar 24, 2023By Ko Dong-hwan
Parties remain split even after Constitutional Court OKs prosecution reform bill
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