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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.

Rival parties fail to reach consensus on controversial media bill

A poster jointly made by seven media-related organizations ― Korean Association of Newspapers, Journalists Association of Korea, Korea News Editors' Association, Korea Journalists' Club, Kwanhun Club, Korea Internet Newspaper Association and Korea Woman Journalists Association ― to protest the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's push to revise a law to allow punitive damages on media outlets or reporters producing “fake news.” The organization views the bill as an attempt to prevent reports critical of those in political and economic power.Rival parties on Monday failed to agree on a controversial media bill and decided to meet again the next day to discuss its fate.Reps. Yun Ho-jung and Kim Gi-hyeon, floor leaders of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), respectively, said their negotiations over the so-called media arbitration bill ended without an agreement after holding four rounds of back-to-back meetings earlier in the day. The bill is designed to impose a fivefold increase in penalties on media outlets that make

Aug 30, 2021
Rival parties fail to reach consensus on controversial media bill

Confirmation hearing for rights commission chief nominee

Song Doo-hwan, the nominee for the head of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, speaks during a National Assembly confirmation hearing for the post, Monday. If selected, Song, 72, pledged to review the variety of human rights issues that the commission has handled over the past 20 years, since its establishment in 2001, and vowed to do his best to prepare for the next 20 years. Yonhap

Aug 30, 2021
Confirmation hearing for rights commission chief nominee

National Assembly set to vote on contentious bills

The floor leaders of the Democratic Party and the People Power Party greet each other during their meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Aug. 29. YonhapThe National Assembly on Monday is set to vote on a string of contentious bills in a plenary session.The ruling Democratic Party (DP), holding an absolute parliamentary majority, initially planned to push a highly contested media reform bill through the meeting scheduled for 5 p.m., but the prospect of its imminent passage remains slim amid the main opposition's threat to launch a filibuster.Among the bills likely to be submitted to the session are one to block U.S. tech giant Google's upcoming policy to enforce the exclusive use of its in-app payment system and the law mandating the installation of surveillance cameras inside hospital rooms.The former bill would prohibit app market giants, such as Google and Apple Inc., from forcing mobile content providers, based on their dominant market status, to exclusively use designated billing methods that impose a 30 percent commission for in-app transactions of digital content, such as

Aug 30, 2021
National Assembly set to vote on contentious bills

Korea's contentious 'fake news' bill at crossroads

Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, floor leader of the main opposition People Power Party, speaks during a rally to protest the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's revision bill to the Act on Press Arbitration, held in front of the National Assembly on Seoul's Yeouido, Wednesday. YonhapRuling party set to pass 'draconian' media reform bill on MondayBy Jung Da-minThe ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) controversial bill aimed at increasing punitive damages on media outlets producing “fake news” is at a crossroads, as it has been facing strong backlash not just from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) but also from civic groups and journalists of both domestic and international media outlets.The DPK initially planned to pass the bill at a plenary session of the National Assembly last Wednesday, but the plenary session has been pushed back to Aug. 30 due to a procedural problem. The Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee approved the revision bill to the Act on Press Arbitration early Wednesday morning but a bill can only be introduced in a plenary session at least one

Aug 29, 2021

Miraculous evacuation operation overshadowed by justice ministry's bureaucracy

Justice Minister Park Beom-kye, second from right, speaks to Afghan evacuees who arrived at Incheon International Airport via a KC-330 military tanker transport aircraft, Thursday. YonhapVice minister slammed for aide kneeling while holding umbrella for himBy Jun Ji-hyeKorea's evacuation mission, which airlifted a total of 390 Afghans seeking refuge from the Taliban in their homeland, has been completed. However, the successful operation, hailed by many ― including international media outlets ― has been tarnished by the Ministry of Justice's apparent emphasis on performing excessive ceremonies. Under the mission, named “Operation Miracle,” Afghan evacuees, who include medical professionals and interpreters who worked for Korea's embassy and its humanitarian and relief facilities in Afghanistan, as well as their family members, were evacuated to Korea in two groups, with two military aircraft mobilized, amid worsening security conditions there, due to the ongoing pullout of U.S. troops and the Taliban retaking power.The justice ministry stirred up a controversy when the fi

Aug 29, 2021By Jun Ji-hye
Miraculous evacuation operation overshadowed by justice ministry's bureaucracy
  • Nearly 7 in 10 Koreans support granting long-term stay visas to Afghan evacuees

Meeting with young biz owners

Former Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong, second from left, a presidential hopeful of the main opposition People Power Party, talks during his meeting with young small business owners at a restaurant in southern Seoul, Sunday. The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has hit them hard as the government bans more than two people from getting together after 6 p.m., while placing a 9 p.m. curfew on restaurants and cafes. Yonhap

Aug 29, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Meeting with young biz owners

Vice justice minister at press conference

An aide holding an umbrella kneels behind Vice Justice Minister Kang Sung-kook at a state-run human resources development center in Jincheon, 91 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Aug. 27, as Kang holds a press conference on the government's support for Afghan evacuees, who entered the center for a six-week stay to help them adapt to Korean culture. About 380 Afghans, who worked for South Korea in the war-ravaged nation, and their family members were airlifted to South Korea the previous day. Yonhap

Aug 28, 2021
Vice justice minister at press conference

DP lawmakers withdraw contentious bill banning 'slander' of ex-wartime sexual slavery victims

A statue symbolizing "comfort women" in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul / Korea Times fileA group of ruling party lawmakers have withdrawn a controversial bill designed to curb alleged “slander” of former wartime sexual slavery victims and their advocacy groups, in the face of strong criticism from opposition parties.According to a National Assembly website tracking legislative bills, the proposal to revise the act on protecting so-called comfort women was withdrawn Wednesday after its submission 12 days ago. "Comfort women" is a euphemistic Japanese term for those who were sexually enslaved by the imperial Japanese army before and during World War II.Jointly proposed by nine lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and former DPK member Rep. Youn Mee-hyang, Aug. 13, the proposed bill sought to prohibit, through legislation, alleged defamation against not only the former wartime sexual slavery victims and their families but also civic organizations working on their behalf. The bill, however, immediately came under heat from opposition lawmakers and critic

Aug 28, 2021
DP lawmakers withdraw contentious bill banning 'slander' of ex-wartime sexual slavery victims

Germany drops Spain from virus high-risk list

Tourists from Germany arrive at Palma de Mallorca Airport following Berlin's lifted quarantine requirement for travelers returning from the Balearic Islands amid COVID-19 pandemic, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on March 21. REUTERS-YonhapGermany is dropping all of Spain from its list of “high-risk areas” for COVID-19, meaning that unvaccinated people arriving from popular Spanish tourist destinations will no longer need to go into quarantine.Germany's national disease control center said the parts of Spain still on the list, which currently include the vacation island of Mallorca, will be removed as of Sunday. The Lisbon area of Portugal also will be taken off, leaving the coastal Algarve region as the only part of Portugal on the list.Most people who haven't been vaccinated or recently recovered from COVID-19 have to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival to Germany from “high-risk areas,” the lower of two German risk categories. Negative test results can be used to cut the quarantine period to five days. A raft of countries remains on the “high-risk” li

Aug 27, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Germany drops Spain from virus high-risk list

USFK reports cluster infection at Osan base after recent no-mask dance party

U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Gerald Allen, 51st Civil Engineer Squadron assistant chief of fire protection, receives the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at Osan Air Base, Dec. 29, 2020. Korea Times fileAt least 33 American service members stationed at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said Friday, after the base came under fire for a no-mask dance party in disregard of social distancing rules.The infections were reported on Thursday and Friday at the base, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, and contact tracing is underway, according to South Korean government officials.A dance party took place at the base Saturday involving dozens of individuals not wearing face masks.The incident has drawn criticism, as South Korea is experiencing its fourth wave of COVID-19 infections and the country has enforced the highest level of social distancing for the greater Seoul area since mid-July. At that time, South Korea and the United States were also conducting major combined exercises while enforcing strict antivirus rules. The

Aug 27, 2021
USFK reports cluster infection at Osan base after recent no-mask dance party
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