hankyoreh

Nov. 5. (Yonhap News Agency)

Prosecutors raided the offices of eleven lawmakers who are suspected of receiving illegal donations from a security guards association on Friday.

The opposition parties have sternly denounced prosecutors, since it was highly unusual for prosecutors to raid so many offices of incumbent lawmakers at the same time.

Of the lawmakers whose office was searched, five belong to the main opposition Democratic Party, five to the ruling Grand National Party and one to the Liberty Forward Party. They are suspected of receiving more than 10 million Won ($9,030) from the association in return for supporting legislation that raised their pay and delayed their retirement, according to the Seoul Northern Prosecutors’ Office.

The association donated a total of 270 million Won under the names of over 1,000 security guards or their families to 33 lawmakers in order to get their support, prosecutors said.

DP leaders strongly criticized the raid as “political suppression.”

“DP lawmakers received the donations in their bank accounts registered with the National Election Commission, and they also have receipts,” said Park Jie-won, the DP floor leader. “I cannot help but say the merciless raid is a dirty action attempting to permanently isolate politicians from the people.”

The GNP leaders also said that the prosecutors should have been more cautious.

South Korean Minister of Trade Kim Jong-hoon and his U.S. counterpart Ron Kirk are to hold a two-day trade ministers’ meeting in Seoul on Nov. 8-9 prior to the Seoul-Washington summit to conclude talks over renegotiations of the South Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA).

South Korea’s Deputy Trade Minister Choi Seok-young and Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler held two-day working-level discussions, but they failed to resolve outstanding issues.

Prior to final attempts for talks, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kim Sung-hwan said there is “room for negotiation” over the sensitive issue of automobiles in an interview with KBS Radio.

South Korea ranked 12th among 169 nations this year in terms of “quality of life,” according to a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report released on Thursday.

According to the Human Development Report 2010, South Korea’s Human Development Index (HDI) ranking has jumped up 14 notches from its previous annual standing of 26th in 2006.

Analysts say South Korea’s rise are mainly attributed to European countries’ sharp fall in the rankings following the global financial meltdown and Eurozone debt problems.

In particular, South Korea ranked the third in terms of speed of growth based on national income, while ranking 27th in terms of equality.

A website (www.isi.go.kr) has been opened to provide a wide-ranging information on international schools across the country for parents and students, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said Nov. 5.

The information available on the site includes financial statements, operational rules, curricula, students’ demographics, facilities and the number of faculty members.

Some have argued, however, that it does not include enough in-depth information.

South Korea has a total of 51 schools, established for foreign nationals and Korean students seeking an international education, according to the ministry.

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