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'Moon's reshuffle not enough to turn tables'

From left are Jeon Hae-cheol, the nominee for interior and safety minister, Kwon Deok-cheol, the nominee for health minister, Byeon Chang-heum, the nominee for land minister, and Chung Young-ai, the nominee for gender equality minister. / YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooPresident Moon Jae-in carried out a reshuffle of four Cabinet ministers Friday, including replacing Land Minister Kim Hyun-mee, in what appears to be a move to break through his ongoing political challenges and slow the arrival of a lame-duck period.However, the President refused to replace Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, who is under heavy pressure from the opposition which is calling on her to resign. The refusal to replace her is seen as Moon giving the green light for her to continue the government's drive for prosecutorial reform. Political watchers say the latest reshuffle, only highlighted Moon's endorsement of the justice minister, and would not be enough to turn things around in the second half of his presidency.The shake-up came one day after Moon's approval rating hit a record low of 37.4 percent, with housing prices i

Dec 5, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
'Moon's reshuffle not enough to turn tables'

Ruling bloc losing support from liberal voters

Ruling Democratic Party of Korea Chairman Lee Nak-yon speaks during a Supreme Council meeting of the party at the National Assembly, Friday. YonhapBy Jung Da-minSupport for the country's ruling bloc is continuing to decline, but what's most worrisome for the ruling camp is this was largest among its traditional supporters ― liberal voters and residents of the Jeolla provinces.In addition, President Moon Jae-in's approval rating dropped below 40 percent this week, the lowest since he took office in May 2017.In a Realmeter poll conducted on 1,508 adults from Monday to Wednesday, 37.4 percent said Moon was doing a good job, down 6.4 percentage points from the previous week, and the first time for his approval rating to drop below 40 percent. Another 57.3 percent viewed his performance negatively, up 5.1 percentage points. The decline was largest among those who identified as liberals, with their support rate falling by 7.8 percentage points, while among centrists it fell 5.5 percentage points. By region, the approval rate fell by 13.9 percent among residents in Gwangju and the Jeolla pr

Dec 4, 2020
Ruling bloc losing support from liberal voters

Moon nominates 4 new ministers in Cabinet reshuffle

President Moon Jae-in / YonhapPresident Moon Jae-in on Friday nominated a new land minister in a partial Cabinet shake-up, Cheong Wa Dae said, amid a fierce public backlash against the government's real estate policy.Byeon Chang-heum, head of the Korea Land and Housing Corporation, also known as LH, was tapped as the new land and transport minister. The nomination comes as Kim Hyun-mi, the current minister, has come under intense public criticism as of late after a series of government policies aimed at curbing skyrocketing property and rent prices was widely considered ineffective.Despite efforts to stabilize the housing market, the average apartment price per 3.3 square meters in the capital rather soared 58 percent to 41.6 million won (US$37,585) during Moon's three-year presidency, which is 4.5 times the increase tallied for nine years under the preceding two conservative governments, according to data by the civic group Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice.Moon also picked new ministers of gender equality, interior affairs and welfare in the reshuffle.Chung Young-ai, head of

Dec 4, 2020
Moon nominates 4 new ministers in Cabinet reshuffle

Prosecution chief orders probe into death of ruling party chairman's aide

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea's chairman Lee Nak-yon speaks during a meeting at National Assembly in Seoul, Friday. YonhapSouth Korea's top prosecutor on Friday ordered an investigation into the death of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) Chairman Lee Nak-yon's close aide who was found dead the previous night while under probe for an alleged breach of the political fund law.Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl ordered the human rights supervisor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office to look into whether there have been human rights violations while questioning the official. The police discovered the 54-year-old man's body in a building near the prosecution office in southern Seoul at around 9:15 p.m. Thursday, after his family reported him missing.He had been questioned until 6:30 p.m. at the prosecution office and failed to show up for more questioning after dinner. The official, who was working at the secretary office of the DP chairman, is said to have told his family "sorry" before he went missing.The police presumed he killed himself and were investigating the exact

Dec 4, 2020
Prosecution chief orders probe into death of ruling party chairman's aide

Choo's push to remove Yoon causing stir in justice ministry

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae arrives at the ministry's building in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiThe Ministry of Justice and the prosecution are in turmoil and consumed with internal strife amid signs of internal systemic collapse following the resignation of key officials over the feud between Minister Choo Mi-ae and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl.Choo is facing growing criticism that in her hurried push to remove Yoon ― with whom she has collided over prosecutorial reform ― she has ignored due ministry procedure and the prosecution in seeking to suspend him from duty and discipline him, resulting in havoc in both organizations and internal protests from members.On Nov 24, Choo ordered the suspension of Yoon from his duties, and formed a disciplinary committee to look into alleged “illegal” amassing of information on judges involved in controversial cases and interference in investigations to protect people close to him, including his family members. But the Seoul Administrative Court accepted Tuesday an injunction request from Yoon to halt

Dec 4, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Choo's push to remove Yoon causing stir in justice ministry

Moon's election pledges causing division

President Moon Jae-in/ YonhapSupport rate for President lowest everBy Do Je-hae President Moon Jae-in started off the fourth year of his term in office with a focus on achieving “outcomes” on his campaign pledges that prioritized values such as social justice, balanced national development and improvement in the people's livelihoods.But in the last month of the year, Moon finds himself far from his resolve to do this, but rather faces a grave political impasse from polarization over some of his signature pledges, such as reforming the prosecution to promote transparency in its investigations and guaranteeing its independence from politics.In particular, Moon has shown resolute commitment to seeing real progress in prosecutorial reform, which was also a core policy issue during the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration in which Moon served as a key aide. But Moon's successive choices for justice minister, including former presidential secretary for civil affairs Cho Kuk, and five-term lawmaker Choo Mi-ae, have been blamed for causing social division with their unilateral pus

Dec 3, 2020By Do Je-hae
Moon's election pledges causing division

Rival parties differ on moving Nat'l Assembly to Sejong

The National Assembly in Seoul / Korea Times fileBy Kang Seung-wooThe rival parties agreed, Wednesday, to a 12.7 billion won ($11.5 million) bill for the construction of another National Assembly building in Sejong as part of the 2021 budget, to reduce the inefficiency of public officials having to travel between the Government Complex Sejong and the Assembly in Seoul.The ruling bloc believes this will be a step forward to relocate the entire legislative branch to the special self-governing city and complete the goal of making Sejong into the nation's administrative capital. However, it remains to be seen whether the ruling party-floated plan will come to fruition as the official opposition claims the Sejong building should remain a mere branch of the Assembly.On Wednesday, the Assembly passed the 558 trillion won budget for next year, the largest budget in the country's history, and it included the money for a new Assembly.If the construction is completed, 11 legislative standing committees are likely to move to the new Assembly building, according to the parties, and they include t

Dec 3, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Rival parties differ on moving Nat'l Assembly to Sejong

Moon's approval rating hits all-time low of 37.4%: survey

President Moon Jae-in / YonhapPresident Moon Jae-in's job approval rating has fallen to a record low of 37.4 percent, a poll showed Thursday, with a rift between the justice minister and the top prosecutor deepening and housing prices in major areas continuing to rise.Public approval for the ruling Democratic Party (DP) also dropped to 28.9 percent, the lowest since the launch of the Moon administration in May 2017, while that of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) rose to 31.2 percent, according to Realmeter.The pollster conducted the survey on 1,508 voters nationwide from Monday through Wednesday. The margin of error is plus and minus 2.5 percentage points.The liberal president's rating lost 6.4 percentage points from last week. It is unprecedented that his approval has dipped below 40 percent. The previous low was 41.4 percent recorded in October last year, when Moon's leadership suffered a blow from picking Cho Kuk, one of his key confidants, as justice minister despite allegations of wrongdoings involving his family. His rating especially plunged among liberal and swing

Dec 3, 2020
Moon's approval rating hits all-time low of 37.4%: survey

National Assembly passes 558 trillion-won budget for 2021

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug / YonhapThe National Assembly on Wednesday passed a 558 trillion-won ($506 billion) national budget for 2021 that includes nearly 4 trillion won allotted for additional COVID-19 relief funds and coronavirus vaccine purchases. The assembly's plenary session overwhelmingly approved the 2021 budget bill in a 249-26 vote. Twelve lawmakers abstained.It marks the first national budget approved by the National Assembly within the legal deadline since 2014, as fierce partisan wrangling often made it difficult to pass such bills on time.By law, the National Assembly is required to approve the state budget for the following year by Dec. 2 every year.This year's prompt budget passage signifies rival parties' keen sense of urgency for the need to help the country ride out the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic devastation.The ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) together negotiated the inclusion of 3.9 trillion won to the government-proposed budget, to provide the country's third round of COVID-19 emergency relie

Dec 2, 2020
National Assembly passes 558 trillion-won budget for 2021

Walking out of Assembly meeting

Lawmakers of the main opposition People Power Party walk out of a National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee meeting Wednesday to protest the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) move to pass a revision bill to ban South Koreans from flying propaganda leaflets into North Korea, claiming the bill amounted to the nation succumbing to pressure from Pyongyang. The DPK members of the committee passed it later in the day without the opposition lawmakers. / Yonhap

Dec 2, 2020
Walking out of Assembly meeting
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