South Korea - The Korea Times

Moon pledges efforts for national unity, harmony

President Moon Jae-in, third from right, has tea with leaders of seven major Korean faiths ahead of a luncheon at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. From left are Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong; Song Beom-doo, leader of Cheondogyo originating from the 19th-century Donghak movement rooted in a peasant rebellion against the Joseon Kingdom; Oh Do-chul, executive director of the Won Buddhism administration; Kim Young-geun, head of the Seonggyungwan National Confucian Academy; pastor Kim Sung-bok (protestant); President Moon; Ven. Wonhaeng, secretary general of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the nation's largest Buddhist sect; and pastor Lee Hong-jeong (protestant). Korea Times photo by Ryu Hyo-jinBy Do Je-hae President Moon Jae-in highlighted his resolve to establish national unity in the “post-Cho Kuk” period during a meeting with religious leaders at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Moon's message for the religious leaders centered on how to mend the escalating political divide among the public in the aftermath of the scandal involving his former justice minister. Rallies for and against

Oct 21, 2019By Do Je-hae

Moon pledges efforts for national unity, harmony

Activists, lawmakers call for passage of traffic safety bills for children

Rep. Lee Jeong-mi of the minor Justice Party, second from left, and parents of children killed in traffic accidents rally in front of the National Assembly on Yeouido in Seoul, Monday, to call on the Assembly to pass pending bills on children's traffic safety. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiParents and activist groups as well as lawmakers have urged the National Assembly to pass pending bills on children’s traffic safety.In a press conference in front of the Assembly in Seoul, Monday, independent Rep. Lee Yong-ho, Rep. Lee Jeong-mi of the minor Justice Party and members of Political Mamas, an activist group, said there are several bills designed to protect children from traffic accidents, calling for their passage during the Assembly’s autumn regular session.Some of the pending bills were named after children who died in traffic accidents — Choi Ha-joon, Kim Tae-ho, Jeong Yoo-chan, Lee Hae-in and Kim Min-sik.Choi died at age four after being hit by a car that slid from an inclined parking lot at Seoul Grand Park in 2017. The relevantly named bill is aimed at strengthening duty

Oct 21, 2019By Bahk Eun-ji

Activists, lawmakers call for passage of traffic safety bills for children

Assembly speaker hints at submitting reform bills

National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang speaks during his interview with reporters who accompanied him on his overseas trip in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday. Moon took a nine-day trip to Serbia, Azerbaijan and Georgia from Oct. 13 to 21. YonhapBy Jung Da-min National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang said Monday he would exercise his authority to submit judiciary reform bills during the Assembly's plenary session, if the ruling and opposition parties fail to reach an agreement.“I cannot remain idle though. But I won't seek to breach the spirit of mutual agreement among the opposing parties but to urge them to reach an agreement,” he told reporters while visiting Tbilisi, Georgia.The speaker said he might propose a package settlement to the major parties to seek an overall agreement on different bills including the judiciary reform bills, the electoral reform bills and the budget.The issue of the judiciary reform bills is the main agenda item pending at the Assembly. After President Moon accepted an offer of resignation from former Justice Minister Cho Kuk over his alleged involve

Oct 21, 2019

Assembly speaker hints at submitting reform bills

'Moon-Abe summit possible at APEC'

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe walk to their seats before the start of a bilateral meeting held on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, on Sept. 11, 2018. YonhapBy Kim Yoo-chul, Park Ji-wonSEOUL/TOKYO ― Cheong Wa Dae didn't rule out the possibility of President Moon Jae-in holding a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of their participation at next month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in Chile.“President Moon plans to forgo meeting with Abe at other chances including an ASEAN meeting in October and an APEC meeting in Chile in November. If the Seoul-Tokyo summit happens, APEC could be the right venue for the bilateral summit as U.S. President Donald Trump is considering attending the gathering,” a presidential aide said, Monday.“But the summit won't take place unless Tokyo takes some visible and even constructive measures on the issue of Korean victims of forced labor during the Japanese occupation of Korea and steps to withdraw its ear

Oct 21, 2019By Park Ji-won

EXCLUSIVE Mahindra-Ford-SsangYong alliance emerging

Mahindra & Mahindra Managing Director Pawan Goenka, who concurrently serves as chairman of the SsangYong Motor board, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at Mahindra's office in Seoul, Thursday. This photo was taken from a videotape recorded by Han Su-jin, Korea Times intern.By Oh Young-jin Mahindra & Mahindra, the Indian multinational automaker, seeks to have SsangYong Motor, in which it has a major stake, join a three-way alliance with Ford Motor, its joint venture partner, in developing products ― including electric vehicles ― platform sharing and global marketing, a senior Mahindra official says. “SsangYong products are very much similar to products Mahindra and Ford are developing,” Pawan Goenka, Mahindra's managing director and chairman of the SsangYong board, said in an exclusive interview Thursday at his office in Seoul. ”SsangYong can also participate in product development, which will help reduce costs substantially ― cost sharing among three parties rather than two.”“Ford is very well aware of our SsangYong ownership and th

Oct 21, 2019By Oh Young-jin

[EXCLUSIVE] Mahindra-Ford-SsangYong alliance emerging

Cheong Wa Dae strives to ride out poor job approval ratings

President Moon Jae-inMoon looking to renew momentum with focus on economy By Do Je-haePresident Moon Jae-in's job approval rating fell below the 40 percent mark for the first time since he took office in the latest Gallup poll, reflecting the growing public discontent toward his administration in the wake of the Cho Kuk disaster, which paralyzed politics and divided society.In an Oct. 18 survey, 39 percent of the 1,004 respondents said Moon was doing a good job, down 4 percent from a week ago. The falling rating is particularly bad news for Cheong Wa Dae, which is looking to lift up the sagging momentum for state affairs as the President marks the halfway point of his five-year presidency, Nov. 10. Moon made a public apology over Cho, but that was not enough to regain the public's trust amid increasing criticism of his “arbitrary” style of management. A reshuffle of the cabinet or Cheong Wa Dae is not being considered as a means to reinvigorate the administration, an official from the presidential office said. The 30-percent approval range is a blow for Moon, who at the h

Oct 20, 2019By Do Je-hae

Cheong Wa Dae strives to ride out poor job approval ratings

Moon pledges efforts for national unity, harmony

Three S's in 1980s - a left-wing conspiracy?

GETTYIMAGESBANKThree S's quoted out of context By Kang Hyun-kyungThe discourse of the “Dark Days” of Korean cinema in the 1980s centers around a conspiracy theory, dubbed the Three S's ― screen, sport and sex. According to the popular view, then President Chun Doo-hwan, who took power through a military coup, tried to divert the public's attention away from the troubling domestic politics to sports or cinema screens featuring bold sex scenes. Chun wanted the public to gather in theaters, not in the squares for anti-government protests, and have some fun without thinking seriously about the political situation, the theory goes. The military general-turned-president has been accused of having used cinema to save his presidency and thus a flurry of low-quality, erotic movies came out in the 1980s which in turn created the Dark Days. The term “The Three S's” has since been frequently used to describe the military government's heavy-handed, covert tactic to turn public opinion in their favor. But it has not been confirmed whether such a policy really existed.

Oct 20, 2019By Kang Hyun-kyung

Three S's in 1980s - a left-wing conspiracy?

Rival parties refer each other to ethics body for probe

Reps. Jung Choun-sook and Kim Young-ho of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea submit a proposal at the National Assembly, Tuesday, asking the Assembly to penalize Rep. Yeo Sang-kyoo of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party for swearing during a parliamentary audit. YonhapBy Park Ji-wonThe political parties continue to refer members of their rivals to the National Assembly’s Ethics Committee, urging it to impose penalties for defamatory remarks made during audits. But critics say the move will not work because the committee is not functioning normally.The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) referred Reps. Yeo Sang-kyoo and Kim Seung-hee of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) to the Assembly ethics committee recently for swearing at colleagues and allegedly making defamatory remarks about President Moon Jae-in during audit sessions.DPK spokeswoman Rep. Jung Choun-sook said Yeo, chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, pressured the prosecution when he said Song Sam-hyun, chief of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office, should back off fr

Oct 18, 2019By Park Ji-won

Rival parties refer each other to ethics body for probe

Moon hosts 1st reception for heads of foreign missions

President Moon Jae-in, accompanied by first lady Kim Jung-sook, with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha behind, is greeted by heads of foreign diplomatic missions, including ambassadors, during a reception at Cheong Wa Dae, Friday. YonhapBy Yi Whan-wooPresident Moon Jae-in invited heads of foreign diplomatic missions in Seoul to Cheong Wa Dae, Friday ― the first such event since Moon took office in May 2017.Among 113 ambassadors, 111 attended the reception at the presidential garden Nokjiwon. Envoys from the Marshall Islands and Venezuela sent apologies, according to presidential officials. Seventeen representatives of international organizations also attended the reception that started at 3 p.m. and lasted for about two hours.The President called for the diplomatic corps' support for the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. He also sought to bring their attention to a special summit between the 10-member ASEAN and South Korea in Busan from Nov. 25 to 26.The reception took place amid concerns over a rift in the Seoul-Washington alliance, prompted by South Korea's decision to end its i

Oct 18, 2019By Yi Whan-woo

Moon hosts 1st reception for heads of foreign missions

Moon to send 'handwritten letter' to Abe via PM

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, left, shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a bilateral meeting held on the sidelines of Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, in this Sept. 11, 2018. YonhapLee-Abe meeting confirmed on Oct. 24 in TokyoBy Park Ji-won, Kim Yoo-chulPrime Minister (PM) Lee Nak-yon will deliver a “handwritten message” from President Moon Jae-in to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when they meet next week on the sidelines of Lee's attendance at the coronation of Japanese Emperor Naruhito.“Prime Minister Lee will meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on October 24 in Tokyo. Further specifics of the meeting will be announced once the relevant details are determined,” the Prime Minister's Office said Friday.Cheong Wa Dae and ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) sources told The Korea Times that President Moon's messages will include his hopes for an improvement in bilateral relations in various areas.“We are pretty open about the delivery format of the President's message to Abe via the prime minister. The key point is Lee