A 23-year-old leader of a college s student body, an entrepreneur and 11 others, many of whom have little experience in politics, will lead reforms for the ruling party in what is expected to be a defining election for the Yoon Suk Yeol administration early next year.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) could see a possible clash between its two main heavyweights, Chairman Lee Jae-myung and former Chairman Lee Nak-yon, as the latter has been openly criticizing the current DPK leader, further deepening the divide within the party.
President Yoon Suk Yeol called for national unity to safeguard liberal democracy in a speech, Thursday, at the 43rd anniversary ceremony of the 1980 May 18 pro-democracy uprising in Gwangju. However, his office and the main opposition party traded barbs over whether to amend the Constitution to incorporate the spirit of the May 18 uprising, blaming each other for insulting it, which encompasses the courage to stand up against forces threatening democracy.
Korea s southwestern city of Gwangju is seeing a growing number of young visitors seeking to learn about the 1980 pro-democracy movement. This sudden increase in interest in the city and the historical event was triggered by the apology of former authoritarian leader Chun Doo-hwan s grandson Woo-won, educators said on Monday.
A grandson of late former President Chun Doo-hwan on Friday apologized for the 1980 bloody crackdown that his grandfather carried out to quell a pro-democracy uprising in the south.