my timesThe Korea Times
South Korea

Politics

Korea Times
About Us
Introduction
History
Contact Us
Products & Services
Subscribe
E-paper
RSS Service
Content Sales
Site Map
Policy
Code of Ethics
Ombudsman
Privacy Policy
Youth Protection Policy
Terms of Service
Copyright Policy
Family Site
Hankookilbo
Dongwha Group
FacebookXYoutubeInstagram
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.

No signs of improvement in Korea-Japan relations before G20

Staff stand near the emblem of G20 2019 Japan at the entrance of the press center of G20 Finance Ministers' and Central Bank Governors' Meeting in Fukuoka, western Japan, Friday. AP-YonhapBy Park Ji-wonSouth Korean politicians and government officials are looking for ways to find a breakthrough in the deteriorating Seoul-Tokyo relations before the upcoming G20 summit in Osaka. However, Cheong Wa Dae's hawkish stance on the matter is making it harder, sources familiar with the matter said, Monday.“Lawmakers can visit Japan at any time to discuss thorny pending issues including South Korean victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonial period, but nothing has been decided yet as the National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang hasn't gave them any orders. No signs of a possible visit to Tokyo by lawmakers has been seen,” an official at the Assembly told The Korea Times asking not to be identified.The Assembly launched the parliamentary body on May 24 to find ways to improve ties with other countries including Japan. Lawmakers from the country's major political parties wer

Jun 10, 2019By Park Ji-won
No signs of improvement in Korea-Japan relations before G20
  • 'North Korea unlikely to change position on denuclearization'

Liberty Korea Party approval rating drops below 30 percent

 The main opposition Liberty Korea Party leader Hwang Kyo-ahn, left, meets with General Paik Sun-yup, 98, who served as a Republic of Korea army division and corps commander and army chief of staff during the 1950-53 Korean War, and who now serves as the chief consultant at the Institute for Military History under the Ministry of National Defense. The two met at Paik’s office at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Monday. YonhapBy Jung Da-min The approval rating for the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) dropped below 30 percent last week. It rose above 30 percent in the first week of March for the first time since October 2016 and remained there for 13 weeks.The support rate for the LKP had reached a peak of 34.3 percent in the third week of May but dropped over the last two weeks.In the latest poll of 2,002 adults over 19 conducted by Realmeter for four days from June 3 to 5 and on June 7, the LKP's approval rating came to 29.6 percent, down 0.4 percentage points from the week earlier.The approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) r

Jun 10, 2019
Liberty Korea Party approval rating drops below 30 percent
  • LKP urged to expel three lawmakers
  • Defense ministry may record historical facts about Kim Won-bong

'North Korea unlikely to change position on denuclearization'

President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook are greeted by officials from Finland upon their arrival at the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on Sunday. YonhapExpectation low ahead of G-20 summit By Lee Min-hyungIt's unlikely the upcoming G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka late this month will produce specific results in terms of putting nuclear diplomacy back on track because expectations of a diplomatic breakthrough that would end the nuclear standoff are thin, experts said Monday.The Osaka meeting will be attended by key regional leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump, all of whom have sizable stakes in the denuclearization process. At the summit, President Moon Jae-in is widely expected to pitch his ambitious idea of partial sanctions easing on North Korea and encourage the United States, Japan, China and Russia to stand behind this for an early resumption of the denuclearization talks.Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and President Moon all deserve credit for helping create a moment of “real diplomatic promise,” but pol

Jun 10, 2019By Lee Min-hyung
'North Korea unlikely to change position on denuclearization'
  • No signs of improvement in Korea-Japan relations before G20

Hungarian authorities to tie last rope around sunken boat under Danube River

Preparations are made before authorities lift the sunk shipwreck in the lee of the Margaret Bridge over the Danube River, the scene of the deadly boat accident in Budapest, Hungary, June 9. AP-YonhapHungarian authorities were set to tie the fourth and last wire rope around the hull of a sunken tour boat Monday, in their final preparations to lift it to search for the missing in last month's disaster that left 26 South Koreans dead or unaccounted for.Hungary's Counter-Terrorism Center will finish binding the wire ropes around the boat, the Hableany, as a floating crane has been on standby for the salvage operation near Margaret Bridge in the Danube River in Budapest, the scene of the May 29 accident.Should the rope work proceed without a hitch, the salvage operation could begin as early as Monday. Hungarian media predicted that the operation, expected to take around four hours, could start Tuesday.Along with the salvage efforts, South Korean and Hungarian authorities have continued their joint search along the river with divers, helicopters, drones and search dogs. The previous day, t

Jun 10, 2019
Hungarian authorities to tie last rope around sunken boat under Danube River
  • Body of another Korean recovered after boat sinking

Body of another Korean recovered after boat sinking

Hungarians watch preparations to salvage the Hableany on the Danube River. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungThe body of a Korean woman in her 20s was recovered Saturday (local time) from the Danube River in Hungary, the South's foreign ministry said, Sunday. The recovery brings the death toll to 20, with seven Koreans and the Hungarian captain still missing. “The body was retrieved by a local patrol ship, about 22 kilometers from the site the accident,” a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said.A full-scale search and rescue operation has been underway since the boat sank on May 29.Rescue teams from Hungary and Korea were initially scheduled to begin salvage work on Thursday, but high water level blocked prevented a boat from brining a crane to the wreckage site.The crane arrived on Friday, but the boat has yet to be lifted because divers must first secure the boat with wires ― one of the most crucial steps.Once the wires are secured around the wreck, it will take only a few hours for the crane to raise the sunken boat, according to local rescue teams.Inclement weather, such as lo

Jun 9, 2019By Lee Min-hyung
Body of another Korean recovered after boat sinking
  • Hungarian authorities to tie last rope around sunken boat under Danube River

Will LGBTQ issue become visible in 2020 general election?

A rainbow flag representing LGBTQ people is carried by participants of the Seoul Queer Culture Festival during the event on June 1. YonhapBy Park Ji-wonSpeculation is growing as to whether South Korea's political parties will deal with LGBTQ issues during the general election in April next year amid public participation from liberals and opposition from conservatives.On June 1, the main event of the 20th Seoul Queer Culture Festival was held in central Seoul with approximately 150,000 participants, a record number, according its organizers. Some 80 booths were operated by various groups including Hong Kong and Japan gay rights organizations and several embassies including those from Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Ambassadors to South Korea from the U.K., Australia, Canada, the EU, New Zealand, Norway and the U.S. jointly wrote a column to endorse the festival and the minorities' human rights for the first time since the event started.Liberal political parties such as the Justice Party and the Green Party Korea also had booths to promote their gay-friendly policies. A group of mem

Jun 9, 2019By Park Ji-won
Will LGBTQ issue become visible in 2020 general election?

Ex-President Kim Dae-jung's son buried in national cemetery

Kim Hong-il, a son of late former President Kim Dae-jung, is laid to rest in the national cemetery in Gwangju in South Jeolla Province, Saturday.Kim Hong-il, a son of late former President Kim Dae-jung, was laid to rest in the national cemetery in the southwestern city of Gwangju on Saturday, nearly two months after his death, people close to the matter said. The funeral service for the former politician was held at the National Cemetery for the May 18th Democratic Uprising, about 300 kilometers away from Seoul, attended by his family and some 50 other fellow politicians, including Reps. Chung Dong-young and Park Jie-won of the minor opposition Party of Democracy and Peace. Saturday's burial was a relocation of Kim's grave, which took almost two months after his passing on April 20. Kim was initially buried at a nearby cemetery because the government had to review his eligibility for the burial at the national cemetery. Although Kim was recognized as a man of merit, his 2006 criminal conviction for bribery called for an assessment for his burial. The review panel at the ministry deci

Jun 8, 2019
Ex-President Kim Dae-jung's son buried in national cemetery

Support wanes for Moon's North Korea policy

South Korean President Moon Jae-in speaks during a Memorial Day ceremony at the National Cemetery in Seoul, Thursday. AP-YonhapStalled denuke talks affects sentimentBy Park Ji-wonSouth Koreans have become less supportive of President Moon Jae-in’s North Korea policy compared to last year amid a deadlock in the denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington, according to the latest survey.The survey, conducted by Hankook Research at the request of The Korea Times’ sister paper Hankook Ilbo, showed 51.1 percent of 1,000 respondents support Moon’s North Korea policy while 47.1 percent said they don’t. The results possibly imply that an increasing number of people are viewing the government’s inter-Korean policy negatively. A similar survey by the same pollster August last year showed that 67 percent out of 1,000 respondents said they supported the government’s North Korea policy while 65 percent said they support the country’s diplomatic policy.The figure is likely a reflection of negative sentiment toward North Korea amid the stalled d

Jun 7, 2019By Park Ji-won
Support wanes for Moon's North Korea policy
  • North Korea postpones international youth football tournament
  • Cheong Wa Dae 'cautiously optimistic' about another inter-Korean summit
  • Cheong Wa Dae: 'Chinese leader won't visit Seoul around G-20'

Envoy to Vietnam fired for violating anti-bribery law

Kim Do-hyun, South Korea's ambassador to Vietnam, speaks with Hankook Ilbo in Hanoi, Vietnam. Korea Times fileBy Park Ji-wonSouth Korea's ambassador to Vietnam, Kim Do-hyun, has been dismissed for violating the anti-graft law and other misconduct, government officials said.The government's Central Disciplinary Committee decided on his dismissal for reportedly receiving a free hotel stay and airline tickets for his family from local companies to attend a golf event in October and thus violating the Kim Young-ran Act that strictly prohibits public officials from receiving gifts and donations over a certain amount.The committee also concluded that Kim misused his power by using abusive language against his embassy officials. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' disciplinary committee has sent the case to the central organization.Kim plans to file a suit against the decision. If the decision is approved, he would be unable to work as a public servant for three years.Kim, 53, was appointed ambassador in April last year after serving as a Samsung Electronics executive in charge of smartphone s

Jun 7, 2019By Park Ji-won
Envoy to Vietnam fired for violating anti-bribery law

Cheong Wa Dae: 'Chinese leader won't visit Seoul around G-20'

Korea Times fileChinese President Xi Jinping won't visit South Korea on the occasion of the upcoming G-20 summit in Japan, a government official here said Friday."President Xi is not coming to South Korea" just before or after his trip to Osaka for the June 28-29 G-20 session, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.The confirmation came amid multiple news reports here that Xi is expected to travel to South Korea on his way to Osaka or after travelling there.A Cheong Wa Dae official indicated that President Moon Jae-in instead has a plan to sit down with Xi on the sidelines of the G-20.There will be various summit-level meetings involving Moon in Osaka, he said.The presidential office earlier told reporters that "(the two sides) are closely communicating" in connection with the possible summit.No decision, however, has been made yet on the "timing, venue and formality" of a possible meeting between Moon and Xi, he added.A final decision is expected to be made after Moon's eight-day tour of Finland, Norway and Sweden from Sunday, according to the official.A majo

Jun 7, 2019
Cheong Wa Dae: 'Chinese leader won't visit Seoul around G-20'
  • Cheong Wa Dae 'cautiously optimistic' about another inter-Korean summit
  • Support wanes for Moon's North Korea policy
previous page
910911912913914
next page

Most Read in South Korea