South Korea - The Korea Times

UAE's de facto leader visits Korea

National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang, right, shakes hands with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the National Assembly, Tuesday. YonhapBy Park Ji-wonNational Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang met with the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, Tuesday, to discuss parliamentary cooperation between South Korea and the UAE. “Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed's visit was a return visit to that of Moon who went to the UAE last year,” according to an official at the Assembly.The crown prince will meet with President Moon Jae-in today.“Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed's visit came in return for that of Moon last year,” an official at the National Assembly said.He last came to Korea in February 2014 and this is his fifth visit.The official visit by Crown Prince Zayed is largely aimed at further improving relations between the two countries, Cheong Wa Dae said earlier. The parliamentary leaders of South Korea and the UAE signed a mem

Feb 26, 2019By Park Ji-won

Independence fighter Yu to earn first-grade medal

Visitors look at a portrait of Yu Gwan-sun at Seodaemun Prison History Hall in Seoul, Tuesday. YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooYu Gwan-sun, a symbolic figure of the 1919 March 1 Independence Movement against Japan's colonial rule of Korea, will be awarded an additional order of merit for national foundation, which is more prestigious than the current medal she received posthumously, according to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, Tuesday.The government decided to bestow the Republic of Korea Medal ― the highest out of the five ranks of national decorations ― on Yu, during a Cabinet meeting presided over by President Moon Jae-in, on the occasion of the resistance's 100th anniversary.Previously, Yu had a third-grade Independence Medal given posthumously in 1962. “Yu is a symbol of the March 1 Independence Movement. At the age of 16, she organized an independence protest and devoted herself to the nation's independence,” Moon said during the meeting held at the Kim Koo Museum and Library in Hyochang-dong, western Seoul. Kim Koo was the first head of Korea's provisional go

Feb 26, 2019By Kang Seung-woo

Independence fighter Yu to earn first-grade medal

4,378 convicts pardoned to mark March 1 Independence Movement Day

The government on Tuesday said it will grant special pardons to 4,378 people, mostly those involved in political protests and convicted of crimes for the sake of their livelihoods, this week to mark the centennial of the March 1 Independence Movement.The beneficiaries included 19 people that were found guilty of staging violent rallies against a government plan to build a naval base on the southern Jeju Island, the Ministry of Justice said in a release.The pardons to be conducted Thursday will be offered to seven others who took part in the protests against Ssangyong Motor Co.'s restructuring plan that entailed a huge layoff of its workers.About 50 others included the demonstrators who took part in protests against the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system, and a controversial 2015 agreement between the previous conservative government and Tokyo regarding Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of women.It is the second time the Moon Jae-in government has granted amnesty to convicted offenders. The government announced pardons to some 6,400 people in late 2017, the president's first ye

Feb 26, 2019

4,378 convicts pardoned to mark March 1 Independence Movement Day

Kim's train steals spotlight ahead of summit

Workers inspect the Dong Dang railway station in Lang Son Province, Monday, which North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is expected to arrive at before proceeding to Hanoi for a second U.S.-North Korea summit. / AFP-YonhapBy Park Ji-wonNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un departed for Hanoi on his armored train Saturday for his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump on Feb. 27 and 28, fueling speculation about his choice of transport. Kim will travel 4,500 kilometers over the next few days, passing through industrial cities in southern China and northern Vietnam before arriving in the Vietnamese capital in a train whose top speed is estimated at 60 kilometers per hour. He will cross the country to Nanning in southern China before crossing into Vietnam at the Lang Son border. From there, it is expected that Kim will take a car to Hanoi.This is in contrast to the North Korean leader's choice of travel for his first summit with Trump in Singapore, when he traveled in a Chinese plane. It remains unclear why he chose to take the train rather than fly, and thus much speculation has circulated

Feb 25, 2019By Park Ji-won

Kim's train steals spotlight ahead of summit

US can play role for NK economic development

Motorcycles on Monday pass in front of the Vietnam-Soviet Friendship Cultural Palace in Hanoi in which the International Media Center will be established for thousands of reporters to cover the upcoming summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The summit lasts for two days from Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukBy Lee Min-hyungHANOI ― North Korea will be able to achieve faster and safer economic growth only if it signs a possible “one-shot big deal” with the United States on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during their upcoming summit in Vietnam, experts said Monday.With the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un two days away, all eyes are on whether the two unpredictable leaders will strike a surprise agreement to revive their momentum for dialogue which was stalled following their first historic Singapore meeting last June.For the North's young leader, the summit is more than important to realize his vision of the regime's economic prosperity, as the U.S. holds th

Feb 25, 2019By Lee Min-hyung

US can play role for NK economic development

Blockbuster summit excites Hanoi

First ladies won't come to Hanoi

North Korean first lady Ri Sol-ju and U.S. first lady Melania Trump / Korea Times fileWill Kim Yo-jong, Ivanka Trump meet?By Kim Bo-eunThe first ladies of North Korea and the U.S. are unlikely to come to Hanoi. There had been speculation about a possible meeting between Ri Sol-ju and Melania Trump, but North Korea and the U.S. appear to have excluded any events that could take attention away from the summit.Ri was not on the list of North Korean delegates accompanying leader Kim Jong-un to Hanoi for the summit with the U.S., in the North's Rodong Sinmun's report on Sunday. She was absent from footage unveiled by North Korean media of her husband Kim departing Pyongyang.Sara Cook of CBS News posted on Twitter that Melania Trump will not be traveling to Vietnam, citing this was confirmed by her spokesperson Stephanie Grisham.Neither of the first ladies were present at the first summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore last June.However, there had been expectations that they may meet this time, as announcements were made the summit would take place over two days.R

Feb 25, 2019By Kim Bo-eun

Blockbuster summit excites Hanoi

Trump can offer what Kim Jong-un wants - peace

People ride past a big sign about the upcoming second summit between the United States and North Korea, outside the summit's international media center in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 25. AP-YonhapBy Kim Yoo-chulHANOI ― A possible peace declaration is looming large at this week's United States-North Korea summit, here, with U.S. President Donald Trump expected to offer sanctions relief to North Korea, a former U.S. diplomat said, Monday. “Trump may offer Kim a peace declaration, sanctions relief or agree to withdraw strategic assets from the region. After all, Trump has suspended U.S.-South Korean military exercises for eight months, even labeling his own country's military exercises with South Korean ally as provocative. In Hanoi, no news is good news as I see it,” Sean King, senior vice president of Park Strategies and an East Asia specialist, told The Korea Times.King, a former senior adviser for Asia in the United States and Foreign Commercial Service at the United States Department of Commerce, added both Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are no longer talking about

Feb 25, 2019By Kim Yoo-chul

Trump can offer what Kim Jong-un wants - peace

Moon's approval rating climbs ahead of Kim-Trump summit

President Moon Jae-in / YonhapPresident Moon Jae-in's job approval rating rose last week, a poll showed Monday, apparently helped by the upcoming U.S.-North Korea summit aimed at denuclearizing the North.The president's support came to 51 percent last week, up 1.2 percentage points from a week earlier, according to Realmeter.The weekly survey was conducted Monday through Friday, involving 2,514 adults throughout the nation.The on-week increase came ahead of the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, scheduled to be held in Hanoi from Wednesday through Thursday. The two leaders first met in Singapore in June.Moon's approval rating climbed to as high as 51.6 percent after he held a telephone conversation with the U.S. president Tuesday on the U.S.-North Korea summit, the local pollster said.The ruling Democratic Party's approval rating also improved, gaining 0.1 percentage point to 40.4 percent over the cited period, but that of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party advanced at a much faster clip of 1.6 percentage points to 26.8 percent

Feb 25, 2019

Moon's approval rating climbs ahead of Kim-Trump summit

Gov't heads denounce lawmakers' false claims about May 18 movement

Six local government heads, including Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, third from right, hold signs calling for correct recognition of the May 18 Democratization Movement in Gwangju at the National Assembly in Seoul, Sunday. / YonhapBy Kim Hyun-binFifteen local government heads issued a statement, Sunday, denouncing the distortion and disparagement of the May 18 Democratization Movement in Gwangju by conservative politicians.They also called for a law to prevent distortion and defamation of the 1980 pro-democracy movement from recurring.“The May 18 movement was the most important democratization movement to enhance our democracy,” the statement said. “However, some people are using it politically to cut down and distort its meaning. We urge the National Assembly to pass a special law that punishes distortion of history.”The joint statement came after three lawmakers from the conservative main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) ― Lee Jong-myeong, Kim Soon-rye and Kim Jin-tae ― made comments on the Gwangju Uprising earlier this month, raising a conspiracy theory tha

Feb 24, 2019By Kim Hyun-bin

Gov't heads denounce lawmakers' false claims about May 18 movement

INTERVIEW Are we utilizing political rights effectively?

Lee Hyun-seung, center, the CEO of Policy Bridge, talks with a group of people in their 20s and 30s willing to run for district representative elections. / Courtesy of Lee Hyun-seungPolicy Bridge head make people access easily to politicsBy Jung Hae-myoungThese days it is easy for people to submit online petitions through the Cheong Wa Dae website on various political and social issues. But before the website, there were efforts to connect politics and citizens, and Policy Bridge, created in 2016, was one of them. Lee Hyun-seung is the CEO of Policy Bridge and Polbox, another platform, and has been devising methods to build a bridge between politics and the public. “There was no platform that connected the political arena and citizens,” Lee told The Korea Times. “Now there are websites where people can freely raise their political voices and policy ideas online, but portal sites used to be the only places where people could speak.” He started the platforms hoping to make political movements practical. Lee first got the idea while working at the National Assemb

Feb 22, 2019

Politics