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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.

Justice ministry's personnel vetting team sets sail

Justice Ministry / Korea Times fileA personnel vetting unit under the justice ministry officially went into operation Tuesday, taking over the role of looking into the qualifications of senior position candidates from the presidential office, officials said.Following up on his campaign promise, President Yoon Suk-yeol abolished the office of the presidential senior civil affairs secretary that had been in charge of vetting candidates for Cabinet seats and other senior government jobs amid illegal surveillance accusations. Instead, the justice ministry launched the "personnel information management team" to take over the role. According to ministry officials, the team is staffed with 17 officials dispatched from the defense, education and personnel management ministries as well as the national police, intelligence and tax agencies, including chief of the team Park Hang-yeol. Park is considered an expert on personnel management, spending most of his career at the ministry of personnel management. Before assuming the new post, he was an official of the National Human Resources Developme

Jun 7, 2022
Justice ministry's personnel vetting team sets sail

Yoon names ambassadors to Japan, China, Russia, UN

From left, Yun Duk-min, Chung Jae-ho, Chang Ho-jin and Hwang Joon-kook / Yonhap President Yoon Suk-yeol named ambassadors to China, Japan, Russia and the United Nations, Tuesday, completing a new lineup of the top envoys to all four major powers after selecting a new ambassador to the United States last month.Yun Duk-min, a foreign policy expert who previously headed the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, was named ambassador to Tokyo, while Chung Jae-ho, a professor of Seoul National University, was named ambassador to Beijing.Chang Ho-jin, a former ambassador to Cambodia, was named ambassador to Russia while former Ambassador to Britain Hwang Joon-kook was tapped as ambassador to the United Nations, the presidential office said.The selections completed the lineup of ambassadors to the four major nations.Last month, Yoon picked then Rep. Cho Tae-yong of the ruling People Power Party, who previously served as vice foreign minister, as his first ambassador to the Uni

Jun 7, 2022
Yoon names ambassadors to Japan, China, Russia, UN

Vice speaker critical of ruling party leader's Ukraine visit

People Power Party (PPP) Chairman Lee Jun-seok, right, speaks with PPP Rep. Chung Jin-suk, left, and party's floor leader Kweon Seong-dong, center, as they watch the counting process of June 1 local elections at the National Assembly in Seoul, June 1. YonhapBy Nam Hyun-wooRuling People Power Party (PPP) Chairman Lee Jun-seok and fellow party member, Rep. Chung Jin-suk, exchanged verbal shots as the latter criticized Lee's visit to Ukraine as “politics for his own sake” on Sunday.Chung wrote on Facebook Monday, “If Lee's Ukraine visit were nothing more than a political activity for his own sake, it wouldn't usually be a problem.” Lee departed for Ukraine on Friday with a plan of meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his stay. Chung wrote that most of government officials in foreign policy and security and the presidential office disapproved Lee's Ukraine trip, but that Lee insisted on visiting the war-torn country, thus Seoul's foreign ministry accepted the invitation from Lee's counterpart in Ukraine. Lee is visiting Ukraine as the head of Kor

Jun 6, 2022By Nam Hyun-woo
Vice speaker critical of ruling party leader's Ukraine visit
  • Yoon's plan to attend NATO summit causes stir

Ruling party chief says Ukraine seeks large amount of assistance from S. Korea

Lee Jun-seok, chairman of the ruling People Power Party / Yonhap The ruling party chief, who is visiting Ukraine, has said the war-torn country is hoping for a large amount of medical and other assistance from South Korea in its ongoing war with Russia, according to the party Sunday. Lee Jun-seok, head of the People Power Party, met with officials from local nongovernmental organizations in Ukraine's western city of Lviv, Saturday, and discussed ways to support refugees fleeing the war."They are hoping for a lot of assistance from South Korean society," Lee was quoted as saying. "In particular, they are asking for medical supplies and food that can be stored for a long period of time."Lee is leading the party's delegation, which also includes Reps. Kim Hyung-dong, Park Seong-min, Jeong Dong-man, Tae Young-ho and Her Euna.Before leaving for Ukraine, Friday, Lee met with Ukrainian Ambassador to South Korea Dmytro Ponomarenko in Seoul, and delivered the delegation's in

Jun 5, 2022
Ruling party chief says Ukraine seeks large amount of assistance from S. Korea

DPK embroiled in post-election blame game

Park Hong-keun, floor leader and acting chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), speaks during a meeting of lawmakers and party officials at the National Assembly in Seoul on Friday to discuss the aftermath of the party's defeat in Wednesday's elections. YonhapLee Jae-myung's election victory tarnishedBy Kwon Mee-yooThe main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has been reeling from the consequences of its crushing defeat in the June 1 local elections, just months after its humiliating loss in the presidential race.The party is deeply divided as lawmakers blame Lee Jae-myung, a former DPK presidential candidate who unsuccessfully ran in the March 9 presidential election and the winner of the June 1 by-election in Incheon to become a lawmaker, for his premature return to politics.The DPK only secured five out of 17 metropolitan mayoral and gubernatorial posts. Lee succeeded in joining the National Assembly by winning a by-election in Incheon's Gyeyang District, but his victory was tarnished by the party's defeat. Although he won the election, he has been

Jun 4, 2022By Kwon Mee-yoo
DPK embroiled in post-election blame game
  • How a young activist failed to reform the Democratic Party

How a young activist failed to reform the Democratic Party

Park Ji-hyun is surrounded by reporters at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday, after resigning as a co-chief of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. YonhapBy Jung Min-hoWhen a 26-year-old activist who fought to shed light on digital sex crimes became the co-leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) in March, many hoped she would be able to utilize the crucial months left before the June 1 local elections to galvanize the support of young female voters.But instead of solving the problems that were deeply rooted in the main opposition party, Park Ji-hyun, who helped expose systematic sex trafficking crimes (known as the “Nth” room scandal), revealed to the public the shortcomings of the DPK at a time when many voters were still undecided.The result was devastating for the DPK, which won only five out of 17 metropolitan mayor and governor posts and lost its majority in local offices nationwide. In the previous elections four years ago, the DPK won 14 of those posts.As she resigned from the party leadership along with other top officials, Park thanked thos

Jun 4, 2022By Jung Min-ho
How a young activist failed to reform the Democratic Party
  • DPK embroiled in post-election blame game

Right-wing YouTuber blamed for botching up battleground election

Lawyer Kang Yong-seok holds a banner reading “Travel ban for Lee Jun-seok” during a news conference in front of Seoul Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul on May 30. Kang, also a conservative YouTuber, ran unsuccessfully in the Gyeonggi gubernatorial election held on Wednesday. YonhapDifferent kind of blame game under way in ruling party over Gyeonggi election resultsBy Kang Hyun-kyungThe main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is not the only political establishment that has been embroiled in a post-election blame game following its crushing defeat in Wednesday's local elections.Plenty of second-guessing, remorse and belated what ifs have erupted inside the ruling People Power Party (PPP) after the elections. Its candidate Kim Eun-hye's defeat in the highly-contested Gyeonggi gubernatorial election by a razor-thin margin has triggered soul-searching among some sympathetic ruling party members to figure out if her defeat was inevitable.Kim lost the election due to an upset victory by her rival Kim Dong-yeon of the DPK, thanks to an abrupt surge in votes supportin

Jun 3, 2022By Kang Hyun-kyung
Right-wing YouTuber blamed for botching up battleground election

PPP chief says he is innocent of sexual bribery allegations

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) Chairman Lee Jun-seok / Yonhap The chief of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) said Friday he is innocent of allegations that he had received sexual services as a bribe more than 10 years ago and attempted to get evidence destroyed.PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok was referred to the PPP's ethics committee in April over allegations that he received sexual favors as a bribe from a businessperson in 2013 and abetted destruction of evidence in the case. "I am clean and have no problems," Lee said on CBS radio. "If a meeting of the party's ethics committee takes place, I would ask for an open meeting."The allegations were first raised by Hover Lab, a far right-wing YouTube channel run by former lawmaker Kang Yong-seok, in December. Lee has been saying that they are false claims, adding that Kang had actually offered to delete the YouTube video on the allegations in exchange for the PPP accepting his request to rejoin the party. Kang's appl

Jun 3, 2022
PPP chief says he is innocent of sexual bribery allegations

Yoon taps NIS' chief of planning and coordination

Chief of planning and coordination at the National Intelligence Service (NIS) nominee Cho Sang-joon / Courtesy of the presidential officePresident Yoon Suk-yeol tapped a former prosecutor as chief of planning and coordination at the National Intelligence Service (NIS), his office said Friday.Cho Sang-joon, a former prosecutor at the Seoul High Prosecutors Office, is known as a close associate of the president. The two worked together during a 2006 investigation into U.S. private equity firm Lone Star's sale of the Korea Exchange Bank. The NIS Office of Planning and Coordination oversees organizational and budget matters at the spy agency.Kim Soo-youn, who previously led the NIS bureau for anti-Communist investigations and the agency's regional office in Incheon, was named second deputy director of the NIS.The nominations follow the appointments of former deputy national security adviser Kim Kyou-hyun as NIS director and Kwon Chun-taek, a former NIS official and diplomat, as first deputy director.Yoon also tapped Park Sung-keun, a former prosecutor, as chief of staff to Prime Minister

Jun 3, 2022
Yoon taps NIS' chief of planning and coordination

Yoon's approval rating slightly rises to 53%: poll

President Yoon Suk-yeol / YonhapPresident Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating rose slightly to 53 percent, a poll showed Friday, following the ruling party's landslide victory in this week's local elections.In a Gallup Korea poll of 1,001 adults conducted Thursday, 53 percent said Yoon was doing a good job, up 2 percentage points from the previous survey last month, while 34 percent said he was not.On the favorability rating of political parties, Yoon's People Power Party received 43 percent, up 2 percentage points from the previous poll, while the main opposition Democratic Party had 32 percent, up 3 percentage points from the earlier survey.In Wednesday's local elections, the PPP claimed a resounding victory as it won 12 of the 17 key mayoral and gubernatorial races, including that for Seoul mayor. (Yonhap)

Jun 3, 2022
Yoon's approval rating slightly rises to 53%: poll
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