my timesThe Korea Times
South Korea

Politics

Parliamentary committee OKs bill on reducing age of eligibility for joining political parties

Rep. Park Kwang-on, head of the Legislation and Judiciary Commission, bangs the gavel at a committee meeting at the National Assembly, Monday. YonhapA parliamentary committee on Monday approved a bill on lowering the age at which people can join a political party, a move seen as aimed at wooing young voters ahead of the March presidential election.The Legislation and Judiciary Commission passed the revised bill that calls for lowering the age of eligibility for joining political parties to 16 from the current 18.Under the bill, people aged 16 and older will be able to participate in the process of creating a political party and become a party member.The move is a follow-up to the passage of a bill on lowering the age of candidacy for parliamentary and local elections to 18 from 25.It marked the first time that the age of candidacy has been lowered since the country's Constitution was established in 1948.In case of a presidential election, the age of candidacy is set at 40 or older. (Yonhap)

Jan 10, 2022
Parliamentary committee OKs bill on reducing age of eligibility for joining political parties

Presidential candidates focus on micro pledges linked to daily life

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, attends a press conference with female startup CEOs held in Seoul's Dongjak District, Monday. Joint Press CorpsBy Jung Da-min The rival candidates of the country's two major parties are promoting campaign pledges that are closely linked to people's daily lives, in a bid to appeal to the public by presenting plans on how to improve their welfare.While some say these pledges are practical because they are closely related to people's daily needs, others say that the candidates are only focusing on “micro” and “populist” issues that get immediate and rave responses, without specific plans on how to secure the relevant budgets, and that they are failing to present promises on “macro” and “serious” issues that require long-term planning and discussions.The competition involving such campaign pledges linked to people's daily lives and welfare is heating up, especially after ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) candidate Lee Jae-myung's pledge to expand

Jan 10, 2022
Presidential candidates focus on micro pledges linked to daily life

Opposition candidates face growing pressure to form coalition

People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a seminar at the Sheraton Grand Incheon Hotel in Incheon, Monday. Joint Press CorpsThird-ranked Ahn's growing popularity raises possibility of fielding unified candidateBy Nam Hyun-wooThe main opposition People Power Party (PPP) faces growing pressure to form a coalition with Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People's Party for the March 9 presidential election, as surveys show that an alliance offers a greater chance for the opposition bloc to beat ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung. So far, the PPP has been downplaying the recent rise in Ahn's support rate, saying it is a “temporary phenomenon” stemming from infighting in the main opposition party between its presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol and party Chairman Lee Jun-seok throughout last month. However, anticipation is growing that the main opposition party may make a decision in the coming weeks in order to grab the public's attention before the Jan. 31-Feb. 2 Lunar New Year holidays. According to a R

Jan 10, 2022By Nam Hyun-woo
Opposition candidates face growing pressure to form coalition

Gender issue heats up presidential race after Yoon's pledge to abolish relevant ministry

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in Seoul / Newsis The issue of gender has resurfaced to heat up the presidential race in South Korea after the main opposition candidate called for the abolishment of the country's ministry in charge of women's affairs in an apparent attempt to woo male voters in their 20s. Yoon Suk-yeol of the People Power Party (PPP) rekindled the sensitive issue of gender conflict after he posted a simple message on Facebook, Friday, which read, "The abolishment of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family." The pledge is a change from his previous idea of seeking to reorganize the ministry by changing its name and adjusting its operations. Though its English name includes "gender equality," the ministry's Korean title reads "the Ministry of Women and Family." "I will push for the creation of a new ministry that can deal with issues involving children, families and population decline, not dividing men and women," Yoon said in a follow-u

Jan 10, 2022
Gender issue heats up presidential race after Yoon's pledge to abolish relevant ministry

Yoon says coding should be given priority in children's education

Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, speaks during a lecture at a hotel in Incheon, Jan. 10. Yonhap Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol said Monday that computer programming should be dealt with as a school subject that's more important than mathematics, English and Korean in order to meet the need for digital-savvy human resources."I think it will only be possible to supply ample digital-savvy human capital to the market by allotting a greater weight to coding than that given to the Korean language, mathematics and English in evaluation for school admissions," Yoon of the People Power Party said during a lecture in Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul. "If I take charge of the next government, I will without fail draw up a blueprint for sweeping educational reform covering the next 50 or 100 years before retiring," the presidential candidate said. His remarks indicate computer programming may be added to the school c

Jan 10, 2022
Yoon says coding should be given priority in children's education

Lee pledges to block debt inheritance for minors

Ruling Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung meets with people at a subway station in Seoul, Jan. 9. Yonhap Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung said Monday he will prevent the inheritance of debts by minors through an amendment to Korea's Civil Law.In an election pledge posted on Facebook, Lee of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said he will seek to protect young people from becoming credit delinquents before starting their careers due to debt inherited from their parents.Lee noted about 80 minors filed for personal bankruptcy due to their inheritance of parental debt between 2016 and March 2021."Our Civil Act adopts the heir's limited liability system, in which heirs give up their inheritance or take responsibility for their parents' debts only within the limits of inherited property. But there are many cases in which parental debts are inherited (by minors) due to their legal representatives' lack of legal knowledge or abi

Jan 10, 2022
Lee pledges to block debt inheritance for minors

Lee leads Yoon by 6 percentage points: poll

This combination of file photos shows, from left, Ruling Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, main opposition People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol and Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party. Korea Times fileRuling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung is leading his main opposition rival Yoon Suk-yeol by 6 percentage points with the election less than two months away, a survey showed Monday. Lee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) garnered 40.1 percent, while Yoon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) had 34.1 percent, according to the Realmeter survey of 3,042 adults conducted last week. Lee's support edged down 0.8 of a percentage point from a week earlier, and Yoon's support fell 5.1 percentage points. The survey was conducted at a time when the main opposition party was mired in an internal feud after Yoon disbanded his campaign team for an overhaul. Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, saw his support rise 4.5 percentage points to 11.1 percent. Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progress

Jan 10, 2022
Lee leads Yoon by 6 percentage points: poll

Ruling party campaign worker accused of sexually harassing voter

A screenshot of Lee Jae-myung Plus, a communications platform operated on KakaoTalk by the Democratic Party of Korea's election committee, posted by a user who claimed the platform staffer sexually harassed her / Captured from Democratic Party of Korea's websiteBy Kwon Mee-yooAn online communications worker for ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung drew criticism for making comments about the appearance of a female user, which could be considered sexual harassment. A post was uploaded to the DPK's online board, last Thursday, by the woman, who used "Lee Jae-myung Plus," a communications platform operated on KakaoTalk by the DPK's election committee to provide direct answers to questions from citizens.The user said she posted on the platform asking if Lee had the final approving authority for the Daejang-dong development project, in which a newly established small company took charge of the lucrative project in a region of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, when Lee was the Seongnam mayor. One of the staff members then answered: "Your name is pretty. Yo

Jan 9, 2022By Kwon Mee-yoo
Ruling party campaign worker accused of sexually harassing voter

Ahn beats Lee in hypothetical alliance with Yoon: opinion poll

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party / YonhapAhn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, came out on top in a poll released Sunday in a hypothetical alliance with the major opposition nominee Yoon Suk-yeol.In a survey by the Southern Post, Ahn earned 42.3 percent of support as the main opposition candidate in a unified presidential bid with Yoon, the People Power Party (PPP) nominee. Lee Jae-myung, representing the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, had 28.9 percent support in that scenario.The survey was conducted on 1,002 people from Friday to Saturday. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.In the same poll, 34.4 percent said they would support Yoon if he ended up as the standard-bearer of the opposition in an alliance with Ahn. Lee had 33.6 percent support in that hypothetical situation.In a multicandidate race without any alliance for the opposition, Lee led the poll with 34.1 percent, followed by Yoon at 26.4 percent and Ahn with 12.8 percent, more than double the figure fr

Jan 9, 2022
Ahn beats Lee in hypothetical alliance with Yoon: opinion poll
previous page
625626627628629
next page

Most Read in South Korea