Journalist

KWONKYUHONG
  • South Korea presidential office says real estate tax overhaul not imminent
    South Korea presidential office says real estate tax overhaul not imminent The presidential office said it is taking a cautious approach to discussions on revamping real estate taxes, citing the potential impact on markets, while stressing the need for a long-term review to address housing issues at their root. In a briefing with reporters on Tuesday, Policy Chief Kim Yong Beom said that if the government is to find a fundamental solution to real estate problems, the tax system is “an important part” of that effort. But he said it is not something that can be announced “within a month or two,” given its market effects, adding that it requires “long-term, in-depth” talks involving multiple ministries. Kim’s remarks suggested the government is not immediately moving to tighten tax rules, but sees taxation as a possible tool if market conditions shift sharply. He said the government had signaled during last year’s Oct. 15 measures that it would review real estate taxes based on principles including tax fairness, and that related research projects are underway. Kim said there are “many possible combinations” for what to do and when, indicating that ministries are conducting deeper discussions and simulations. He also addressed President Lee Jae Myung’s comment at a New Year’s news conference that real estate tax regulation would be a “last resort,” saying it did not mean it would be used as a priority, but that the government would prepare thoroughly so it can be used whenever necessary. Citing Lee’s remarks about the dangers of real estate-driven national decline, Kim said the government is keeping all options open for a fundamental solution. On the closely watched issue of the temporary suspension of heavier capital gains taxes for multi-homeowners, Kim reaffirmed the principle that it will end as scheduled. “Under the principles of administration, there will be no extension,” he said, while adding that “technical” adjustments are under review. Kim noted the end date is May 9 and said, in hindsight, that date may have been set too hastily. He said the office is internally considering ending the measure not on May 9 but a month or two later, after contracts are signed and transactions are completed. He stressed this would not be an extension, but a possible shift of the cutoff date by about one or two months. He added that nothing has been decided. 2026-01-28 20:39:00
  • Ruling party bloc slams court after Kim Keon Hee gets 1 year, 8 months in stock case
    Ruling party bloc slams court after Kim Keon Hee gets 1 year, 8 months in stock case Former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, was sentenced in a first trial to 1 year and 8 months in prison on charges including alleged stock manipulation, drawing sharp criticism from politicians aligned with the ruling camp who said the punishment was far lighter than prosecutors had sought. On Tuesday, Park Soo Hyun, senior spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said Kim — whom he called a “comprehensive case of power-related corruption” — received a 1-year, 8-month term, adding it marked the first time in South Korea’s constitutional history that a former president and spouse have both been legally punished. Still, he said the sentence was “far from enough” for wrongdoing he said shook democracy and damaged state affairs for private gain. Park said the ruling left “many regrets,” arguing there was clear evidence Kim manipulated the capital market and gained more than 800 million won in illicit profits, yet the court did not recognize her as a co-perpetrator in the stock manipulation. He criticized the court’s reasoning that even if she knew about price-rigging acts, it was hard to conclude she was a joint offender. He also pointed to the court’s partial acceptance of allegations that Kim received polling results from political broker Myung Tae Kyun and accepted valuables — including an expensive necklace and Chanel bags — while receiving requests from the Unification Church. Park said the decision left a “bizarre precedent,” with one luxury bag deemed not taken in exchange for influence-brokering while another was. Park said he deeply regretted what he called a ruling out of step with the facts, the public and legal common sense, and urged a special prosecutor to appeal. He said the sentence was so light it seemed aimed at protecting the standing of Kim, who he said was known as “V0” and wielded influence over state affairs. Rep. Park Jie Won, a member of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, criticized the ruling as one that “rolled out the red carpet” for Kim to walk free soon, adding, “This is too much.” Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Deuk Gu called it a biased ruling that ignored public common sense, and party Supreme Council member Lee Sung Yoon said it felt as if the judges were acting like Kim’s lawyers. Rep. Park Sung Joon asked whether Kim had become a sanctuary immune from punishment and called for judicial reform, saying he was seriously concerned about the court’s grasp of reality. Cho Kuk, leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party, wrote on social media that Kim, an “unelected power,” exercised authority alongside Yoon, alleging she engaged in influence peddling, intervened in candidate nominations and used political prosecutors as underlings — but that the court saw it differently. He said Kim may have wanted to shout “manse” in court after hearing the sentence, while the public would have felt empty, drained and angry. Cho said equality before the law was still far off, arguing it was easy to find cases where people received two or three times heavier sentences for conduct that did not reach even half of Kim’s alleged wrongdoing. He said the verdict should be overturned on appeal and said he would renew his resolve, as the head of a party that has advocated prosecutorial and judicial reform. Earlier Tuesday, the Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Division 27, led by Presiding Judge Woo In Sung, sentenced Kim to 1 year and 8 months in prison and ordered her to forfeit 12,815,000 won. Kim had been tried on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act and the Political Funds Act, and for influence peddling under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. Of the three main allegations, the court found her guilty only of receiving valuables tied to the Unification Church. It acquitted her of all charges related to the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation and receiving polling results from Myung. The special prosecutor team led by Min Joong Ki said the ruling was unacceptable legally and as a matter of common sense, and said it would appeal.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-01-28 19:57:00
  • Cold Wave to Grip Central South Korea; Snow or Rain Expected on Jeju
    Cold Wave to Grip Central South Korea; Snow or Rain Expected on Jeju Cold weather will persist Thursday, with the harshest conditions centered on South Korea’s central regions. Morning lows are forecast at minus 15 to 3 degrees Celsius (5 to 37 degrees Fahrenheit), with daytime highs of minus 3 to 7 C (27 to 45 F). That is colder than seasonal averages of minus 12 to 0 C (10 to 32 F) in the morning and 1 to 8 C (34 to 46 F) in the afternoon. Cold wave warnings remain in effect for Gyeonggi Province, inland and mountainous Gangwon Province, inland Chungcheong, and inland and northeastern mountainous areas of North Gyeongsang Province. In those areas, morning temperatures are expected to hover around minus 10 C (14 F), with daytime temperatures staying below freezing. Winds will be somewhat stronger, making it feel even colder. Snow or rain is expected on Jeju Island from the afternoon into the night. Forecast snowfall is 1 to 5 centimeters (0.4 to 2 inches) in Jeju’s mountains and less than 1 centimeter (0.4 inch) in mid-mountain areas. Along the west coast of North and South Jeolla provinces, some areas may see flurries from early morning through the morning. Where snow is on the ground or newly falling, roads may be slippery, with icy patches and black ice widespread. Drivers are urged to use extra caution. Dry weather advisories are in place for Seoul; parts of inland Gyeonggi; central and southern inland Gangwon; Gangwon’s east coast and mountains; the eastern coast of South Jeolla; and the Gyeongsang region. With strong winds, officials urged heightened vigilance against fires. Fine dust levels are expected to be “good” nationwide due to clean northwesterly airflow and favorable atmospheric dispersion. Seas are forecast at 1.0 to 3.5 meters (3.3 to 11.5 feet) in the East Sea, 0.5 to 2.0 meters (1.6 to 6.6 feet) in the Yellow Sea, and 0.5 to 1.5 meters (1.6 to 4.9 feet) in the South Sea. In offshore waters about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the coast, waves are expected at 1.0 to 3.5 meters (3.3 to 11.5 feet) in the East and Yellow seas and 1.0 to 2.5 meters (3.3 to 8.2 feet) in the South Sea.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-01-28 18:06:24
  • Ex-DP lawmakers aide under police investigation for alleged bribery
    Ex-DP lawmaker's aide under police investigation for alleged bribery SEOUL, January 6 (AJP) - A former aide to ex-Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Sun-woo is being questioned over bribery allegations, police said on Tuesday. Questioning began around 7 a.m. at a police station in Mapo, western Seoul, with the aide suspected of receiving 100 million won on behalf of Kang in return for the DP's candidate nominations for the 2022 local elections and holding onto the cash. The investigation came after a relevant recording surfaced last week, which led Kim Byung-ki to resign from his post as the DP's floor leader after it appeared he had overlooked the alleged bribery. Kang said she had instructed her aide to return the money and confirmed that it was returned, but the aide claimed to know nothing about it. Meanwhile, Seoul city official Kim Kyung, who is believed to have handed the money to Kang, left for the U.S. shortly after the allegations were revealed. 2026-01-06 13:52:40
  • Special counsel seeks 10-year jail term for ex-President Yoon over martial law case
    Special counsel seeks 10-year jail term for ex-President Yoon over martial law case SEOUL, December 26 (AJP) -A special counsel team on Friday asked a Seoul court to sentence former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 10 years in prison on charges including obstruction of justice and abuse of power related to his short-lived martial-law declaration in December last year. It is the first request for sentencing on the disgraced president whose term was cut short in the wake of his Dec. 3 martial-law stunt. During the final hearing of Yoon’s obstruction-of-justice trial at the Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Division 35, the prosecution team argued the former president had abused state power to block investigators, infringed on Cabinet members’ constitutional rights and attempted to conceal evidence after the lifting of martial law. The special counsel team, led by Cho Eun-suk, sought five years in prison for allegedly obstructing the execution of an arrest warrant; three years for infringing on Cabinet members’ deliberation and voting rights, spreading false information to foreign journalists and destroying evidence linked to a secure phone; and two years for drafting a martial law proclamation after the decree had already been lifted. “This case involves a serious crime in which state institutions were effectively privatized to conceal and justify unlawful acts,” Assistant Special Counsel Park Eok-su said during closing arguments. He added that Yoon showed no remorse and instead attempted to justify his conduct, even describing efforts to detain him as “childish." Prosecutors argued that South Korea, as a democratic republic, operates on the principle that all power derives from the people, and that Yoon violated constitutional checks on presidential authority. They said his actions damaged the country’s legal order and betrayed voters who elected him, stressing the need for a heavy sentence to prevent the recurrence of abuses of power by future leaders. On the charge of obstructing arrest, the team emphasized that it was unprecedented for a president to allegedly mobilize Presidential Security Service personnel as “private soldiers” to block the execution of a warrant. The requested five-year sentence exceeds the standard sentencing guideline of one to four years for such offenses. The court has said it is likely to deliver a verdict on Jan. 16, two days before Yoon’s detention period expires. His lawyers had requested that sentencing be postponed until the conclusion of his separate insurrection trial. The article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-26 13:16:22
  • First verdict in impeached ex-presidents martial law case set for next month
    First verdict in impeached ex-president's martial law case set for next month SEOUL, December 16 (AJP) - Disgraced former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who faces several charges related to his botched martial law debacle, will receive his first verdict next month. The Seoul Central District Court said on Tuesday it intends to deliver its ruling on January 16 on whether Yoon obstructed the law enforcement by blocking investigators and other officials who attempted to detain him in relation to the debacle. The court cited a law requiring the first ruling to be made within six months of an indictment by independent prosecutors investigating the case. In response to the court's decision, prosecutors who filed the charge against Yoon in mid-July said they would complete their final arguments for the case by next week or by the end of the month at the latest. Yoon's legal representatives immediately raised objections, arguing that the ruling should be postponed until the main trial on charges of insurrection and abuse of power concludes. But the court rejected their request, saying that the decision on the charge could be made independently, regardless of the main trial's verdict. Meanwhile, the insurrection trial is expected to conclude in January, with a verdict likely in February. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-16 16:38:59
  • Koreas ex-president brooded on martial law scheme more than a year before acting out
    Korea's ex-president brooded on martial law scheme more than a year before acting out SEOUL, December 15 (AJP) -Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol brooded over a scheme to invoke martial law to “eliminate political opponents and consolidate power” before October 2023, more than a year before the stunning decree was declared in December 2024, a special counsel investigation claimed Monday. The finding was detailed by Special Counsel Cho Eun-suk, who led a 180-day probe into allegations of insurrection and foreign collusion surrounding the December 3, 2024, martial law episode. Cho’s team concluded that Yoon sought to use military force to remove political opponents and monopolize power, contradicting the former president’s reasoning that the move was aimed at defending the nation from so-called “anti-state forces.” “Yoon Suk Yeol and others intended to suspend political activity and the National Assembly’s functions through military force, and to seize legislative and judicial authority via an emergency legislative body,” Cho said at a press briefing in southern Seoul. “They framed normal parliamentary activity as anti-state conduct to justify the declaration.” According to the investigation, Yoon repeatedly referred to his “emergency powers” from the early days of his presidency, which began in May 2022 and ended in April 2025 after the Constitutional Court upheld his impeachment. At a dinner with senior figures of the then-ruling People Power Party in November 2022, Yoon said he possessed emergency authority and would “wipe them all out,” even at the risk of being shot, investigators said, citing testimonies. Former senior officials from investigative agencies also told the team they had heard as early as mid-2022 that Yoon was considering imposing martial law after the next general election. Preparations accelerated ahead of a military leadership reshuffle in October 2023, when Yoon and his aides discussed whether to impose martial law before or after the personnel changes, the team said. Several officers later implicated in the case — including former Defense Security Commander Yeo In-hyung and former Army Chief of Staff Park An-su — were promoted to key posts at the time. Notes recovered from a notebook belonging to Noh Sang-won, a former intelligence commander described by investigators as one of the “designers” of the plan, mirrored those personnel arrangements, according to the findings. The investigation concluded that Yoon and his allies aimed to establish what prosecutors described as an unchecked authoritarian system, using the military to control the judiciary and an emergency legislative body to replace the National Assembly. As evidence, the team cited written directives ordering the cutoff of National Assembly funding and budgeting for an emergency legislative body, power and water shutdowns at media outlets, the blockade of opposition party headquarters, lists of politicians to be arrested found in military commanders’ notes, and handwritten entries calling for the collapse of “all left-wing forces” ahead of the next presidential election. The special counsel also concluded that Yoon sought to manufacture conditions justifying martial law by provoking a military response from North Korea through what investigators described as “abnormal military operations.” Internal military notes referred to the need for a situation “beyond police control” and for “offensive measures to create enemy conditions,” the team said. South Korean forces subsequently deployed drones carrying leaflets over Pyongyang, but the plan failed when North Korea did not respond militarily. The probe further found that Yoon attempted to portray the ruling party’s defeat in the April 2024 general election as the result of electoral fraud orchestrated by “anti-state forces,” using that narrative to justify suspending parliamentary functions. Former intelligence officials assigned dozens of agents to detain election commission staff under martial law, investigators said. Equipment including cable ties, blindfolds, clubs and hammers was prepared, and military personnel briefly occupied the commission’s server room. No arrests were carried out after parliament swiftly voted to lift the decree. The special counsel team — comprising 238 prosecutors, investigators and support staff — indicted 27 people in total, including Yoon, former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, former National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong, and former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun. At least 24 were indicted on insurrection-related charges, according to the team.Yoon was indicted three times by the special counsel on charges including obstruction of justice, aiding an enemy and perjury, in addition to earlier indictments for leading an insurrection and abuse of power. On conviction, insurrection carries a possible sentence of life imprisonment or death under South Korean law. Several senior officials were re-arrested or had detention periods extended, while arrest warrants for others were denied by the courts. A separate special counsel investigation into corruption allegations involving Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, is ongoing. Investigators said there was no evidence linking her to the martial law conspiracy. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-15 13:46:51
  • Former Prime Minister faces trial over martial law involvement
    Former Prime Minister faces trial over martial law involvement SEOUL, September 30 (AJP) - Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo attended the first hearing of his trial on charges related to former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law debacle late last year. Upon his arrival at the Seoul Central District Court around 9:30 a.m., Han did not respond to a barrage of questions from reporters. He faces charges of aiding Yoon in his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law, making perjury, and falsifying documents. The court allowed filming and broadcasting of the trial, citing the case's public interest. The full footage will be released online later. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-09-30 15:27:40