1. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Lee Hyung-il said that South Korea's economic growth rate could rise to the mid-3% range this year. Meeting with reporters in Bangkok, Thailand, where the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were held, DPM Lee projected that barring major external variables, this year's economic growth rate could reach between 3.4% and 3.6%. This is more than 0.4 percentage points higher than the government's projection of 3% released in July, which is interpreted as reflecting the effects of increased exports and facility investment driven by the semiconductor boom. Lee added that the potential growth rate, which can be called the foundational stamina of the Korean economy, is expected to reverse its downward trend and rebound.
2. As the Democratic Party formalized discussions on pushing for the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, the Rebuilding Korea Party has unveiled an impeachment motion against him first. The Rebuilding Korea Party included in the motion that Chief Justice Cho violated the duty of political neutrality in the process of remanding President Lee Jae-myung's Public Official Election Act case with a guilty intent. The grounds for impeachment also included that Chief Justice Cho infringed upon the public's right to a speedy trial by refusing to re-nominate Supreme Court justices. The Rebuilding Korea Party urged the Democratic Party to join the impeachment push by proposing the formation of a joint task force and the holding of a joint general meeting of lawmakers. The Democratic Party is showing a cautious stance, stating that it will gather opinions after the parliamentary audit and determine its course of response.
3. National Museum of Korea Director Rhyu Hong-joon officially apologized today (October 19) at the parliamentary audit site, following controversies over the exhibition of pro-Japanese calligraphy and the revelation that personal collection items were selected as exhibits. In his work report during the audit, Director Rhyu said, "My grave negligence caused the museum's trust and value to collapse in an instant. I failed to proudly disclose that the items in question were the director's personal collection. This is a critical error and negligence." Previously, the National Museum of Korea introduced a piece of calligraphy reading "Ilban sigeun" in the special exhibition "Our Dining Table" as the work of independence activist Park Won-geun, but withdrew it from the exhibition after it was confirmed to be the handwriting of pro-Japanese figure Park Jung-yang. The controversy further escalated as it was subsequently revealed that the calligraphy piece was Director Rhyu's personal collection.
4. Jung Myung-seok, the leader of the Christian Gospel Mission, commonly known as JMS, who was indicted on charges of sexually assaulting female followers after spiritually indoctrinating them, was sentenced to 33 years in prison in the first trial. Today's sentencing is a separate case from the one in which he was sentenced to 17 years in prison by the Supreme Court in January of last year for sexually harassing foreign-national followers. Jung has been accused of brainwashing 16 female followers into believing he was the messiah and sexually assaulting or molesting them over a four-year period starting in 2018 at training centers in Geumsan County, South Chungcheong Province, and other locations. The court emphasized that severe punishment was inevitable as the victims were in a state of psychological incapacity to resist, and both the number of victims and the frequency of crimes were greater than in the previous case.
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.