🇰🇷Week of November 2

President Lee Jae-myung nominated Lee Yong-cheol, head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, as his candidate for justice minister. He also named Choi In-ho, a former Democratic Party lawmaker, as the Blue House's new senior political affairs secretary.1234

Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo described Lee Yong-cheol as part of a "Seongnam line," a reference carried in their headlines on the nomination. The nomination places the arms procurement chief in line to lead the Justice Ministry.56

Attributed claim: 문화일보: Kim Jung-cheol criticized the pick, saying Lee Yong-cheol's career is in notarial work and that "he is someone who would have to learn criminal law from the beginning." The remark was carried in Munhwa Ilbo's headline on the nomination.7

Separately, the nominee for National Tax Service chief said he would deliver fair tax administration that meets public expectations. The pledge was the headline of Maeil Business Newspaper's report.8

The ruling Democratic Party has put a special counsel bill on so-called fabricated indictments before the National Assembly, with a vote on passage approaching. The bill would allow prosecution of officials accused of bringing politically motivated charges, and the question of cancelling indictments already filed remains disputed.12

The People Power Party denounced the bill as a "parliamentary coup for Lee," framing it as legislation written to protect the president. The Democratic Party pushed the measure forward over that objection.2

The fight moved into the Budget and Accounts Committee, where the opposition demanded that review of the bill be postponed and the ruling party accused it of abandoning its responsibility. The two sides traded those charges in the committee session.3

People Power Party lawmakers staged a protest with placards outside the chamber as the bill advanced. The party has kept up its campaign against the special counsel measure through the week.4

Lee Jun-seok said a US southern opposition party "swept everything away" and asked whether Gyeonggi's southern region would be any different, a remark carried as the special counsel fight continued. The bill's opponents say the dispute over cancelling indictments will keep running past the vote.51

South Korea's government has widened the operational area of its Cheonghae Unit anti-piracy deployment, extending the mission from the Strait of Hormuz to waters 650 kilometres south of Oman, roughly doubling the Hormuz operating zone. The government is also sending additional maritime patrol aircraft and mine-clearing assets. The government said South Korea will never be involved in or intervene in a war.123

The expansion answers a US request for forces, according to Munhwa Ilbo's account. The government's stated position is that the added patrol aircraft and mine-removal capability are being dispatched alongside the wider sea area rather than as combat participation.23

Attributed claim: Critics inside the ruling camp's orbit call the step a workaround deployment. JTBC reported that Kim Jun-hyung described it as a "roundabout trick deployment," and Cheonji Ilbo reported that the broader ruling bloc is split over the expanded operational zone.45

The government's framing stresses limits: the mission remains a naval deployment with no combat role, and the added aircraft and mine-clearing forces are presented as support for the widened area. The expanded zone reaches from Hormuz to the waters off southern Oman.13

South Korea has approved the creation of new national medical schools in the Gwangju-Jeonnam region and North Gyeongsang Province, with outlets describing the decision as the long-awaited settlement of a decades-old regional demand. The Gyeongbuk provincial government's spokesperson, Park Sang-hyun, presented the new National Gyeongguk University medical school as part of the region's future vision.12

Yecheon County announced a blueprint to become a "residential city for medical personnel" to match the new national medical school. The plan sets out how the county intends to house and settle the doctors and staff the school is expected to bring.3

Attributed claim: 경향신문 / 연합뉴스: Mokpo National University, which was excluded from the recommendation, is in a legal dispute with Gwangju-Jeonnam after Sunchon National University's medical school was confirmed, arguing it has grounds to object to the outcome. The Gwangju-Jeonnam city council has continued to argue over the fairness of the selection even after the decision was made.45

The dispute over the selection has moved into the courts and the council chamber rather than fading once the schools were named. Mokpo National University's challenge contests the recommendation process that produced the Sunchon result, while councillors in Gwangju-Jeonnam keep pressing questions of fairness.45

US Democrats won control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, a result described as a historic "blue wave" and a verdict on Donald Trump. Republicans also lost Kansas, a state the party had held since 1994, with high fuel prices blamed for driving rural voters away.12

Trump said he is willing to accept the midterm results and to cooperate with the Democrats. He also said that if he had been on the candidate list he would have won by a landslide.34

The outcome is expected to have a significant impact on South Korea's industrial security, and the South Korean government is watching the congressional power shift closely.5

An appellate court upheld a prison sentence with a suspended term for former President Yoon Suk Yeol on election-law charges, a ruling that would void his election if it stands. The court applied the precedent from the Lee Jae-myung guilty ruling at both the first and second instances, according to Chosun Ilbo. If the sentence is finalized, the People Power Party must return 39.7 billion won in election expenses.123

The People Power Party said it will handle the refund issue without disrupting party affairs. "We will take care of it without any disruption to party business," the party said, according to MBC News. The party did not dispute the ruling's effect on its finances.4

Attributed claim: JoongAng Ilbo reported that the precedent from President Lee's remand ruling targets 36.7 billion won for the People Power Party, a figure that differs from the 39.7 billion won cited by Kyunghyang Shinmun, Kookje Shinmun and MBC News. The outlets agree the party faces a large election-expense refund but give different amounts.1425

The ruling is the second court to find Yoon guilty under the election law, following a first-instance conviction. The appellate decision keeps the sentence at a prison term with a suspended execution, meaning Yoon would not serve time unless the term is finalized.123

Personal information belonging to President Lee Jae-myung, his spouse and other members of a presidential overseas delegation has been exposed, and the Foreign Ministry now says an internal leak is more likely than a hacking attack. The ministry said it is putting weight on a leak rather than a hack, and the president's passport has been reissued as a result.12

The leaked list matches the format of a Foreign Ministry document but is not a formal official dispatch, Yonhap reported. A delegation official may have uploaded the material for a malware scan, according to Kyunghyang Shinmun, which described the episode as a hole in VIP security.34

Dong-A Ilbo, in an editorial, called the exposure of the president's passport number a security disaster. The disclosed data covers the presidential couple and other delegation members, not a single record.52

President Lee Jae-myung said his government is already preparing measures against falling home prices, and that escaping what he called a ruinous real-estate speculation republic matters more than the fate of his administration. He said home prices have fallen by a surprising degree and that the statistics should be reported properly.123

Lee also said a growing number of people in the Seoul metropolitan area now worry about a sharp drop in housing prices, and that the government must reduce the size of swings in the property market. My Daily reported that he declared a break with the belief that property prices never fall, saying the government would step in if prices plunge.45

The main opposition People Power Party attacked the remarks, with Yonhap reporting its charge that Lee is living alone in a different world. Chosun Ilbo, a right-leaning outlet, carried the same line that the party accused the president of being out of touch over his talk of preparing for a housing crash.67

Attributed claim: Chosun Ilbo's editorial argued that a president who promised to look after the least well-off now sees only falling prices in Gangnam, framing the remarks as a selective reading of the market. The centre-left and centre outlets reported the same presidential statements without disputing their content, and the disagreement turns on how the remarks should be read rather than on what Lee said.817