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Busan mayor steps down over sexual harassment

Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don makes a surprise announcement of his resignation on Thursday. YonhapThe mayor of Busan, South Korea's largest port city, on Thursday resigned and apologized for sexual harassment."In a short meeting that lasted five minutes, there was unnecessary physical contact with a person. I realized that this could be recognized as an indecent assault, (something) that should not been done," the city's Mayor Oh Keo-don said in a press briefing."As a public servant who takes responsibility, I will live my remaining life repenting and taking responsibility for this mistake," the mayor said as he cried. "I'm at fault for everything."YonhapOh reportedly touched a female civil servant inappropriately during a recent meeting at his office.The victim is known to have reported the incident to a sexual violence relief center and demanded the mayor step down.The municipal assembly of Busan said it has received his resignation letter, which has immediately gone into effect according to assembly rule.Oh was elected as the mayor of Busan, 453 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in the 2018

Apr 23, 2020
Busan mayor steps down over sexual harassment

Kim Jong-un's health continues to cause commotion

North Korea leader's sister Kim Yo-jong, center, smiles at U.S. President Donald Trump during the second U.S.-North Korea summit in February 2019 in Vietnam. YonhapBy Do Je-haeThe state of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's health is triggering speculation although Seoul said earlier that there was nothing untoward going on with him.Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun and other news outlets reported Wednesday on the possibility of Kim's sister Kim Yo-jong taking over as supreme leader in the case of an emergency regarding his health. Citing sources from South Korea, U.S. and Japan, the Yomiuri reported that North Korea's ruling Workers' Party had made a decision late last year during a general assembly of the party's central committee to focus "all authority" on Kim Yo-jong if her brother became unable to rule due to unforeseen circumstances or his death. The Japanese report added that since then, many instructions and statements have been issued in her name.Some news outlets in the United States and U.K. are also highlighting the possible transfer of power to Kim Yo-jong as part of the North Kor

Apr 22, 2020By Do Je-hae
Kim Jong-un's health continues to cause commotion

Main opposition party to operate under emergency committee

Rep. Shim Jae-cheol, center, floor leader and acting-chairman of the main opposition United Future Party, speaks during a press briefing after the party's Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday, to announce the party's decision to launch an emergency committee and ask Kim Chong-in, a veteran economist and politician, to head the committee. The announcement came a week after the main opposition party's “crushing” defeat against the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geunVeteran economist-turned-politician to head United Future Party By Jung Da-min The main opposition United Future Party (UFP) will form an emergency committee and ask Kim Chong-in, a veteran economist and politician, to head the committee, party floor leader Rep. Shim Jae-cheol said after the party's Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly, Wednesday. “According to a survey of the total 142 incumbent lawmakers and lawmakers-elect in which 140 of them participated, more than half of the respondents said they support the plan to operate th

Apr 22, 2020
Main opposition party to operate under emergency committee

Military eases restrictions on off-post travel

A service member watches TV at Seoul Station, Feb. 21. / Korea Times fileBy Kang Seung-wooThe military plans to partially lift a travel ban for all service members later this week, the defense ministry said, Wednesday, amid signs of the coronavirus pandemic slowing.The military has banned all enlisted service personnel from leaving their bases and meeting visitors since Feb. 22 after the Navy reported its first COVID-19 infection on Jeju Island, Feb. 20.However, considering the improvement in the nation's coronavirus situation, enlisted service members at designated areas will be allowed to leave their bases starting Friday as long as they follow the government's broader social distancing guidance.“After a prolonged period of intensive restrictions for two months, recruits and junior officers have been complaining of extreme stress, and our assessment is that we have reached a threshold,” the ministry said in a statement.The military will allow its personnel to visit areas that have not reported any new infections for a week and review whether to additionally lift a ban o

Apr 22, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Military eases restrictions on off-post travel

Moon unveils W40 trillion relief package for key industries, job retention

President Moon Jae-in. YonhapPresident Moon Jae-in on Wednesday announced a massive relief package, worth 40 trillion won (US$32 billion), for South Korea's key industries disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.The funds are meant to help them weather the crisis and protect jobs.Moon also unveiled an additional job protection scheme that involves spending 10 trillion won to cushion the COVID-19 impact on the country's job market.Hard-hit key industries include aviation, oil refinery, shipping, shipbuilding and car production, the backbone of the country's employment.The president then instructed his economic team to push for the Korean-version New Deal to start major national infrastructure projects."Now is the beginning stage of a crisis," he said, presiding over the fifth and last weekly emergency economic council session on the economic and financial fallout of COVID-19.Moon said companies face an "employment cold wave" just around the corner. "Employment may come more extensively and for a longer time that we have not experienced," Moon warned. (Yonhap)

Apr 22, 2020
Moon unveils W40 trillion relief package for key industries, job retention

Top court to make sentencing guidelines for digital sex offenses

The Supreme Court's sentencing commission said it will recommend new sentencing guidelines for digital sex crimes in response to rising public calls for the harsh punishment of the “Nth Room” sexual abuse suspects./ Korea Times fileBy Kim Se-jeong The Supreme Court's sentencing commission plans to make sentencing guidelines tougher for digital sex crimes in response to the rising public outcry over the Telegram sexual abuse case, it said Tuesday.Currently, no sentencing guidelines exist for digital sex crimes, and the closest thing to guidelines that do exist are the minimum five years in prison for producing child pornography and a maximum 10 years for distributing child pornography for profit.The guidelines assist judges in deciding on appropriate sentences. They're not mandatory but an important reference point for judges. The independent commission can revise the guidelines when it deems it necessary to do so. The 13-member commission met on Monday and agreed there was a need to create harsher sentencing guidelines. The chief commissioner Kim Young-ran said the member

Apr 21, 2020By Kim Se-jeong
Top court to make sentencing guidelines for digital sex offenses

'Collapsology': Is this the end of civilization as we know it?

PARIS, April 21 (AFP) ― "The world will never be the same again," has been the oft-repeated refrain since the coronavirus brought the global economy to a juddering halt.For many it has shown how fragile our civilization is. The crisis has come as a new movement called "collapsology" ― which warns of the possible collapse of our societies as we know them ― is gaining ground.With climate change exposing how unsustainable the economic and social model based on fossil fuels is, they fear orthodox thinking may be speeding us to our doom.The theory first emerged from France's Momentum Institute, and was popularized by a 2015 book, "How Everything Can Collapse."Some of its supporters, like former French environment minister Yves Cochet, believe the coronavirus crisis is another sign of impending catastrophe.A man walks past a closed restaurant in Paris, on April 20, 2020 on the thirty-fifth day of a lockdown in France aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 disease, caused by the novel coronavirus. /AFP-Yonhap- Virus domino effect -While the mathematician, who founded France's Green par

Apr 21, 2020
'Collapsology': Is this the end of civilization as we know it?

Moon urges bipartisan support to overcome pandemic

President Moon Jae-in speaks during a meeting with his senior aides, Aprill 20, at Cheong Wa Dae. YonhapBy Do Je-hae President Moon Jae-in stressed the importance of parliamentary cooperation in dealing with the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis during a meeting with senior presidential aides, Monday. This was the first time for the President to speak about the results of the April 15 general election, in which the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) clinched an astonishing victory over the main opposition United Future Party (UFP), snatching 180 out of 300 parliamentary seats in the 21st National Assembly to be inaugurated May 30.“The most important thing is to overcome the national difficulties. We can talk about a tomorrow only after protecting the people's lives and saving the economy. I believe that the meaning of this general election is the citizens telling us to work together to overcome the national crisis,” Moon said at the start of the meeting, according to press pool reports. “Koreans are people who have never been defeated by a crisis. This time as we

Apr 20, 2020By Do Je-hae
Moon urges bipartisan support to overcome pandemic

Gov't, ruling party at odds over disaster aid

By Kang Seung-wooThe ruling party and the government remain apart on the scope of beneficiaries for the emergency disaster relief money to be provided for people suffering financial strain from the COVID-19 pandemic.Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun urges swift passage of a government-proposed bill for an extra budget of 7.6 trillion won, during a speech at the National Assembly in Seoul, Monday. / Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-hanThe government is considering delivering up to 1 million won ($820) per household in accordance with the number of household members in the bottom 70 percent of income-earners. To this end, it proposed the second supplementary budget of 7.6 trillion won ($6.24 billion) last week. Along with 2.1 trillion won from local governments, a total of 9.7 trillion won will be used for 14.8 million households belonging to the income bracket. However, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is urging the finance ministry to give the money to all households ― a measure it offered as a pledge during the general election campaign. The party's plan requires an additional 4 t

Apr 20, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Gov't, ruling party at odds over disaster aid
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