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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 gov't likely to hold first Cabinet meeting Thursday

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol / YonhapThe incoming Yoon Suk-yeol government is likely to hold its first Cabinet session this week to approve an extra budget proposal aimed at compensating COVID-19 pandemic-hit small merchants, officials said Monday.The meeting will likely be held at the new presidential office in Yongsan in Seoul with the participation of a mix of outgoing and incoming Cabinet members due to delays in the National Assembly confirmation process."We're working to make a Cabinet meeting possible on Thursday in order to pass the extra budget proposal," one official close to the president-elect said.The finance ministry is expected to announce a proposal estimated at some 34 trillion to 36 trillion won ($26.8-$28 billion) after Yoon takes office Tuesday to fulfill the incoming government's promise to wholly compensate small merchants hit by COVID-19 business restrictions."The day after the president's inauguration will be packed with meetings with foreign guests who attended the inauguration ceremony, so at the moment, it's highly likely the Cabinet meeting will be held T

May 9, 2022
Yoon gov't likely to hold first Cabinet meeting Thursday

Assembly adopts confirmation hearing report for defense minister nominee

Defense minister nominee Lee Jong-sup is seen in this May 4 photo during a National Assembly confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly complex in southern Seoul. YonhapThe National Assembly adopted a confirmation hearing report on defense minister nominee Lee Jong-sup, Monday, a day before President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol takes office.The National Assembly Defense Committee unanimously approved Lee's nomination following last week's hearing, saying he has leadership and plenty of experience and expertise in national defense policies and military operations.Lee, a former three-star Army general, graduated from the Korea Military Academy and served as the Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chairman from 2017 to 2018.He is the fifth out of a total of 18 Cabinet nominees to get Assembly approval. (Yonhap)

May 9, 2022
Assembly adopts confirmation hearing report for defense minister nominee

Moon appeals for resumption of inter-Korean dialogue in farewell speech

President Moon Jae-in delivers a farewell address at Cheong Wa Dae, Seoul, May 9. YonhapOutgoing President Moon Jae-in appealed for the resumption of inter-Korean dialogue Monday as he delivered a farewell address on his last day in office amid heightened tensions over North Korea's repeated weapons tests. "Peace is a condition for survival for us, a condition for prosperity," Moon said. "I sincerely hope that efforts for denuclearization and institutionalization of peace will continue with the resumption of dialogue between the South and the North." Taking a look back on his five years as president, Moon touted his role in converting the 2017 crisis, when North Korea conducted a nuclear test and launched ICBMs, into dialogue and diplomacy.Moon said he turned a "crisis of war on the Korean Peninsula" in 2017 into a "phase of dialogue," and it raised hopes for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.The outgoing president, who met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un three times in 2018, put his top priority on engaging with the North, and brokered summits between Kim and then U.S. Pr

May 9, 2022
Moon appeals for resumption of inter-Korean dialogue in farewell speech

Yoon to begin term at midnight with military briefing

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol /YonhapIncoming President Yoon Suk-yeol will begin his term at midnight Monday at an underground bunker set up at his office building by receiving a briefing from the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the commander-in-chief, according to an official. Yoon will be briefed by phone in the underground bunker of the new presidential office in Yongsan, which will serve as the situation room for the national crisis management center. "He will receive his first phone briefing from the JCS command and control center upon the transfer of military command," the official said. The national crisis management center is used for meetings by the presidential National Security Council and was previously set up in the underground bunker of Cheong Wa Dae prior to the presidential office's relocation. Yoon's predecessors, Moon Jae-in and Park Geun-hye, received their first JCS briefing at their homes, while former President Lee Myung-bak received his briefing at the office of his transition team. Lee and Park held the calls at midnight, while Moon held the call at 8 a.m. as his ter

May 9, 2022
Yoon to begin term at midnight with military briefing

Teenage hopefuls run in local elections

Kang Dong-yeob, who ran for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's primary for a county lawmaker seat in Daegu's Dalseong-D District, poses as he registers as a hopeful in this April 19 photo at the Dalseong-gun Election Committee in Daegu. Courtesy of Kang Dong-yeobBy Jung Da-min Teenage hopefuls have declared their bids for the upcoming June 1 local elections. It is the first time in the 74-year history of the Public Official Election Act that teens are running for public office. Last December, the National Assembly passed revisions to the act to lower the age limit for those running for the National Assembly and local assembly elections from 25 to 18.Kang Dong-yeob, 18, who participated in the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) primary for a county lawmaker seat in Daegu's Dalseong-D District, was among those who received media attention. Kang ranked first in open interviews for young hopefuls held early April by the DPK Daegu branch's youth chapter. But in late April, Kang did not pass the party's nomination screening process.After failing to get the ticket for the local el

May 9, 2022
Teenage hopefuls run in local elections

Former presidential candidates to run in by-elections

Former Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea holds a press conference in Gyeyang, Incheon, Sunday, to run for the parliamentary seat in the Gyeyang-B district in the June 1 by-elections. YonhapLee, Ahn seek to seize party hegemony via by-elections By Lee Hae-rinFormer presidential candidates Lee Jae-myung and Ahn Cheol-soo declared their bids, Sunday, for parliamentary seats in the June 1 by-elections, transforming the event to one of potentially high political stakes. Lee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is the former Gyeonggi Province governor who lost the March 9 presidential election to President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol by a razor-thin margin, while Ahn Cheol-soo, the head of Yoon's transition committee, also ran for president and merged his campaign with Yoon's days prior to the election. Lee will run for the seat representing Incheon's Gyeyang-B district, which has been vacant since former DPK Chairman Rep. Song Young-gil resigned to run in the Seoul mayoral election in April, while Ahn will run for seat representing Bundang-A distri

May 8, 2022By Lee Hae-rin
Former presidential candidates to run in by-elections

Bumpy start expected for Yoon administration due to Cabinet vacuum

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol delivers congratulatory remarks at a ceremony celebrating Buddha's Birthday at Jogye Temple in Seoul's Jongno District, Sunday, two days ahead of his inauguration slated for Tuesday. Joint Press CorpsNew Cabinet likely to be operated under acting prime ministerBy Jung Da-minPresident-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is set to be sworn into office, Tuesday, but his administration is expected to get off to a bumpy start as he finds several seats of his Cabinet unfilled due to delays in ministerial nominee hearings at the National Assembly amid ongoing bipartisan conflicts linked to corruption allegations.Plus, the Cabinet vacuum is expected to continue after his inauguration, because Yoon is also determined not to succumb to calls by the current ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the minor opposition progressive Justice Party to withdraw some of the nominations. Yoon's conservative People Power Party (PPP) is seeking cooperation from the DPK and the Justice Party, but both sides have yet to iron out their differences over the nominees. In particular, it

May 8, 2022
Bumpy start expected for Yoon administration due to Cabinet vacuum

Yoon to greet members of the public before taking oath of office

A Ministry of National Defense honor guard rehearses for the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, set for May 10, 2022, in front of the National Assembly's main building in western Seoul, May 8. Korea Times photo by Ko Young-kwonIncoming President Yoon Suk-yeol will shake hands and take selfies with people at the National Assembly plaza before walking up to the stage to take his oath of office, the chief of the inauguration committee said Sunday.Yoon will step out of his car as soon as he enters the National Assembly compound Tuesday and walk 180 meters across the plaza, Park Joo-sun said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency, noting past presidents got out of their cars right in front of the stage.The inauguration ceremony is set to begin at 11 a.m.One boy from the southeastern city of Daegu and one girl from the southwestern city of Gwangju will be waiting for Yoon below the stage to give him flower bouquets when he arrives."It will be a symbol of harmony between east and west," Park said, adding that Yoon takes a special interest in children.Yoon and his wife,

May 8, 2022
Yoon to greet members of the public before taking oath of office

Cheong Wa Dae online petition platform comes to an end

The online public petition platform introduced by outgoing Moon Jae-in government will shut down, Monday, nearly five years since its launch in August 2017. Screenshot from Cheong Wa Dae's websiteBy Lee Hyo-jin The popular online public petition platform launched by the outgoing Moon Jae-in government will shut down, Monday, with the end of Moon's presidency. The public petition platform on Cheong Wa Dae's website was introduced in Aug. 19, 2017, 100 days after Moon took office, with the aim of gathering public opinions better through direct communication with citizens and reflecting them in government policies.Anyone could upload a petition anonymously to the platform, and those who supported the petition could sign it using a social media account. The government was required to give an official response to any petition that collected more than 200,000 signatures within 30 days.According to the presidential website, until Feb. 28 of this year, a total of 1.11 million petitions had been submitted. The aggregate count of visitors to the website stood at 516 million, and the number of

May 8, 2022By Lee Hyo-jin
Cheong Wa Dae online petition platform comes to an end

'Little LA' planned near new presidential office

Moving trucks are parked at the defense ministry building in Seoul, May 5, as the ministry wraps up relocation work to empty its main building, which will be used as the country's new presidential office. YonhapThe incoming Yoon Suk-yeol government is planning to convert part of a U.S. Forces Korea base adjacent to the new presidential office in Yongsan into a cultural space reminiscent of a "Little LA" and open it to the public in September, officials said Sunday.The 500,000-square-meter space is just outside the defense ministry headquarters, which is being converted into the new presidential office.The USFK plans to return the land to the South Korean government at the end of this month as part of its ongoing relocation to Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul."We plan to let the people see it in its exotic state as much as possible," an official involved in the project told Yonhap News Agency, noting the area features various religious, educational and sports facilities used by the USFK.More facilities could be added, such as cafes and exhibition or concert halls, to evoke a s

May 8, 2022
'Little LA' planned near new presidential office
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