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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.

Minor opposition tables bill for special counsel probe into stock manipulation allegedly involving first lady

The minor opposition Justice Party floor leader Lee Eun-ju, left, and Rep. Bae Jin-gyo submit a bill to the National Assembly calling for a special counsel probe into stock manipulation allegations involving first lady Kim Keon Hee, March 24. YonhapThe minor opposition Justice Party tabled a bill Friday calling for a special counsel investigation of first lady Kim Keon Hee over stock manipulation allegations.Kim is accused of being involved in the stock manipulation case where Kwon Oh-soo, former head of Deutsch Motors, a BMW car dealer in Korea, allegedly conspired with influential market players to boost the company's stock prices years ago. Kwon was convicted and given a suspended prison sentence for the charge. The bill was signed by 12 lawmakers, including all six lawmakers of the Justice Party and five lawmakers from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).It is similar to a separate bill proposed by the DPK earlier this month but stipulates that the president should pick a special prosecutor from two candidates, both recommended by the DPK and the minor opposition

Mar 24, 2023
Minor opposition tables bill for special counsel probe into stock manipulation allegedly involving first lady

Ruling party ramps up pressure on main opposition leader

Lawmakers of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) pledge to renounce their right to immunity from arrest in a press conference held at the National Assembly, Thursday, YonhapBy Lee Hyo-jin Over 50 ruling People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers have pledged to renounce their right to immunity from arrest, in an apparent move to pressure the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and its leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung.On Thursday, 51 PPP lawmakers out of its total 119 members, pledged that they will give up their immunity rights. The announcement came a day after the Ministry of Justice asked for parliamentary consent to arrest Rep. Ha Young-je, a PPP member, who is facing corruption charges. Under the Constitution, during an ongoing session, an incumbent lawmaker is immune from being arrested or detained without the consent of the Assembly ― unless he or she is caught in the act of committing a crime. Parliamentary consent requires a majority vote with a majority of lawmakers present at the plenary session.The arrest motion for Ha is expected to be put to a vote in a plenary session on

Mar 24, 2023By Lee Hyo-jin
Ruling party ramps up pressure on main opposition leader

Main opposition to request parliamentary probe into Yoon-Kishida summit next week

The main opposition Democratic Party floor leader Park Hong-keun speaks at a party meeting held in Ulsan, about 305 kilometers southeast of Seoul, March 24. YonhapThe main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said Friday it will submit a request next week to open a parliamentary investigation into a recent summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The summit was aimed at mending frayed ties with Japan, but it triggered a backlash in Korea because it took place after Korea decided that its companies would compensate victims of Japan's wartime forced labor, not Japanese firms. Rep. Park Hong-keun, floor leader of the DP, said, "The people view the Yoon Suk Yeol government's diplomacy as a complete failure."Park said the DP will uncover the truth about suspicions that the Yoon administration put the national interest at risk, as well as the lives, stability and economy of the people, during last week's summit with Kishida. Criticism of the summit intensified after Japanese news outlets reported that unannounced topics were also discussed between Yoon

Mar 24, 2023
Main opposition to request parliamentary probe into Yoon-Kishida summit next week

Korea calls on N. Korea to pay back $80 million loan

This Dec. 13, 2022 file photo provided by the Ministry of Unification shows Unification Minister Kwon Young-se speaking to reporters at a resort on Ganghwa Island off South Korea's west coast.Korea's unification ministry Friday called on North Korea to repay its 2007 loan of industrial raw materials, worth $80 million, from Seoul, saying it is coming to maturity.Under an inter-Korean agreement at that time, meant to help improve the North's light industries, the South loaned the North raw materials needed to produce garments, shoes and soaps.In return, Pyongyang was supposed to make a repayment in kind, such as with zinc and other minerals. But after making initial payments in 2007 and 2008, the North has not repaid any more of the debt.The ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs urged the North to "faithfully" repay the principal and interest, with the maturity coming due Friday."The North's inaction constitutes a violation of the inter-Korean agreement and also runs counter to international trade practices," Lee Hyo-jung, the ministry's deputy spokesperson, said at a press brief

Mar 24, 2023
Korea calls on N. Korea to pay back $80 million loan

PPP expels member for hanging Japanese flag on Independence Movement Day

This March 7 file photo shows a man waving a Japanese flag at a rally calling for the removal of a statue of a girl symbolizing victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery in Sejong, 112 kilometers south of Seoul. YonhapThe ruling People Power Party (PPP) had one member quit the party after he was confirmed to be the man who flew the Japanese flag on a national holiday marking Korea's independence movement against Japanese colonial rule, a lawmaker said Friday.The person, who identified himself as a PPP member in a media interview, came under fire after hanging the Japanese flag outside his apartment in the central city of Sejong, 112 kilometers south of Seoul, on March 1, a national holiday marking the country's 1919 independence movement."He engaged in a stunt that goes completely against the common sense of ordinary party members," Rep. Lee Chul-gyu, the PPP's secretary general, said in an MBC radio interview. "We immediately convened a meeting of the party affairs committee and … took disciplinary action and asked him to leave the party, and he immediately quit."Lee said the

Mar 24, 2023
PPP expels member for hanging Japanese flag on Independence Movement Day

PM meets with speaker of Czech Parliament's lower house

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, right, poses with Marketa Pekarova Adamova, speaker of the Czech Parliament's lower house, Thursday. Courtesy of Prime Minister's OfficePrime Minister Han Duck-soo met with the visiting speaker of the Czech Parliament's lower house Thursday and they exchanged opinions on bilateral ties, Han's office said.Marketa Pekarova Adamova, the speaker of the Czech lower house of parliament, told Han that the Czech Republic expects to bolster cooperation with South Korea in the fields of energy and public health. Han asked Pekarova Adamova to help South Korean firms join a project to build new nuclear power plants in the eastern European country. Also, Han asked Pekarova Adamova to support South Korea's bid to bring the 2030 World Expo to the port city of Busan, 325 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the office said. (Yonhap)

Mar 23, 2023
PM meets with speaker of Czech Parliament's lower house

Korea drops WTO trade complaint against Japan

Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shake hands prior to their expanded summit talks at Kishida's residence in Tokyo, March 16. YonhapKorea on Thursday completed procedures to drop a complaint it filed with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Japan over Tokyo's trade curbs as it began domestic procedures to put Japan back onto its "white list" of trusted trade partners, the industry ministry said.The moves are in line with Seoul's effort to improve relations with the neighboring country long marred by historic and diplomatic rows stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rules of the Korean Peninsula.Seoul's industry ministry said that it withdrew the WTO complaint it filed in 2019 against Japan's tighter regulations on exports to Seoul of three materials ― fluorinated polyimide, photoresist and hydrogen fluoride ― that are critical for the production of semiconductors and flexible displays.The export curbs were seen as Japan's apparent retaliation against the Korean Supreme Court rulings in 2018 that ordered Japanese companies to pay c

Mar 23, 2023
Korea drops WTO trade complaint against Japan

DPK denounces Lee's indictment as attempt to dilute criticism of summit with Japan

Main opposition Democratic Party floor leader Park Hong-keun speaks at a party policy meeting at the National Assembly on March 23. YonhapThe floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) on Thursday denounced the prosecution's indictment of party leader, Lee Jae-myung, as an attempt to dilute criticism of last week's "humiliating" summit with Japan.Rep. Park Hong-keun made the remark a day after Lee was indicted over development corruption and bribery charges arising from his term as mayor of Seongnam, south of Seoul, from 2010-2018. Lee has denied any wrongdoing, denouncing the investigation as political oppression.Park said Lee's indictment is an attempt to dilute criticism at a time when public sentiment turned against the Yoon Suk Yeol administration due to its "humiliating diplomacy" toward Japan."Isn't it that the prosecution put forward the indictment card against the opposition leader as (Yoon's) disapproval rating again rose higher than the 60 percent mark?" Park said in a party meeting.The DPK has strongly denounced last week's summit between Yoon and

Mar 23, 2023
DPK denounces Lee's indictment as attempt to dilute criticism of summit with Japan

INTERVIEW Forbes-listed entrepreneur pursues partnerships with Samsung, LG, SK to help Ukraine

Alice Min Soo Chun, right, poses with former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton when she was invited to New York last year by the Clinton Global Initiative for an award thanking her for providing 100,000 lights to Puerto Rico. Courtesy of Milo AgencyThis is the third in a series of interviews with senior politicians in Korea and executives at leading think tanks in Washington over the issue of the country's provision of direct military support to Kyiv as the Ukraine war passes the one-year mark since Russia launched its attack, ending decades of relative stability in Europe. ― ED.'The risk of doing nothing is greater than the risk of being wrong'By Kim Yoo-chulA year after Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, the critical energy and civilian infrastructure of Kyiv was destroyed. This is simply a violation of international humanitarian laws and a threat to the lives of Ukrainians.Alice Min Soo Chun is well aware that Russia's continued attacks on Ukraine's energy grid have left many without power. She visited refugee camps in Ukraine during Christmas last year. Her goal was to

Mar 23, 2023By Kim Yoo-chul
[INTERVIEW] Forbes-listed entrepreneur pursues partnerships with Samsung, LG, SK to help Ukraine

INTERVIEW Expert pitches Laotian rural reform to solve NK's chronic food shortages

Cho Chung-hui, the director of Good Farmers Research Institute, speaks about a development assistance project in Uganda during an interview with his office in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, March 14. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukThis is the second in a series of interviews with North Korean defectors and their assimilation into South Korea―ED.Defector recalls discrimination against Zainichi Koreans, their descendants in the NorthBy Kang Hyun-kyungSUWON, Gyeonggi Province ― Cho Chung-hui, the director of an in-house research institute of the development NGO Good Farmers, visited Laos recently to check with local partners on an egg farm project aimed at generating side income for local farmers. It was an eye-opening trip, he said. In Laos, he added he was inspired to think what North Korea's future could be like. “The agriculture sectors of North Korea and Laos have several things in common,” Cho said during a recent Korea Times interview in his office in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. “Farmers of the two countries are poor. Agricultural automation has not been in

Mar 23, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung
[INTERVIEW] Expert pitches Laotian rural reform to solve NK's chronic food shortages
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