Ushering in 2019: Arirang's top headlines for 2018
- 5 years ago
And now we are joined by two Arirang reporters to help us look back at the year in news.
To our right we have our parliamentary correspondent Kim Min-ji and our left foreign affairs correspondent Lee Ji-won both of whom were on the ground covering the stories that made headlines this year.
Minji, I want to start with you -- as we were working to come on the air and recap the past 12 months on the last day of the year... you were also covering yet another big story at the National Assembly... a busy New Year's Eve there?
It was an extremely packed year -- and also a busy last day of the year as well.
One of the top news stories today was the grilling of senior officials of the Moon administration at the National Assembly -- for allegedly ordering the illegal surveillance of civilians.
( That's something we saw under the previous Park Geun-hye administration. How did this come about?)
The scandal exploded when a special inspector from the prosecution claimed he illegally gathered information on civilians while working for the presidential office.
In parliament answering questions today... were President Moon Jae-in's chief of staff and his senior secretary for civil affairs,... who denied all the allegations.
They said no surveillance whatsoever has taken place under the Moon administration.
A probe is currently underway on the matter.
New Year's Eve, but lawmakers were questioning them all day.
I believe it's still going on even now.
But let's get right into the stories that trended this year -- of course, the headline of the year would have to be the series of summits between some high-profile figures.
Right,... let me pull this list of Arirang's top 10 domestic news of the year.
Among them, we've had three inter-Korean summits this year alone,... the K-pop boyband BTS claiming worldwide fame,... the June local elections in South Korea -- which saw a massive win for the ruling party and a devastating loss for the opposition... and the MeToo movement also hit Korea.
Also topping headlines were climate issues -- from worsening fine dust levels to a severe heatwave.
Well,... as for the top **global stories of the year,...
We had the first-ever summit between the leaders of North Korea and the U.S.
And over in Europe, Brexit struggles continued to top headlines.
The assassination of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Kashoggi also drew condemnation worldwide... as a flagrant violation of human rights by the Saudi government.
And last but not the least, Arirang's final pick was the major development in space exploration,... where NASA's spacecraft revealed the first sound recording from Mars.
So let's go into details on some of those headlines,... perhaps starting with the one that may have started as perhaps domestic,... but quickly became an international story.
Multiple summits and ever more connections between the two Koreas.
Right. Inter-Korean relations this year were nothing like we've seen in the past.
If
To our right we have our parliamentary correspondent Kim Min-ji and our left foreign affairs correspondent Lee Ji-won both of whom were on the ground covering the stories that made headlines this year.
Minji, I want to start with you -- as we were working to come on the air and recap the past 12 months on the last day of the year... you were also covering yet another big story at the National Assembly... a busy New Year's Eve there?
It was an extremely packed year -- and also a busy last day of the year as well.
One of the top news stories today was the grilling of senior officials of the Moon administration at the National Assembly -- for allegedly ordering the illegal surveillance of civilians.
( That's something we saw under the previous Park Geun-hye administration. How did this come about?)
The scandal exploded when a special inspector from the prosecution claimed he illegally gathered information on civilians while working for the presidential office.
In parliament answering questions today... were President Moon Jae-in's chief of staff and his senior secretary for civil affairs,... who denied all the allegations.
They said no surveillance whatsoever has taken place under the Moon administration.
A probe is currently underway on the matter.
New Year's Eve, but lawmakers were questioning them all day.
I believe it's still going on even now.
But let's get right into the stories that trended this year -- of course, the headline of the year would have to be the series of summits between some high-profile figures.
Right,... let me pull this list of Arirang's top 10 domestic news of the year.
Among them, we've had three inter-Korean summits this year alone,... the K-pop boyband BTS claiming worldwide fame,... the June local elections in South Korea -- which saw a massive win for the ruling party and a devastating loss for the opposition... and the MeToo movement also hit Korea.
Also topping headlines were climate issues -- from worsening fine dust levels to a severe heatwave.
Well,... as for the top **global stories of the year,...
We had the first-ever summit between the leaders of North Korea and the U.S.
And over in Europe, Brexit struggles continued to top headlines.
The assassination of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Kashoggi also drew condemnation worldwide... as a flagrant violation of human rights by the Saudi government.
And last but not the least, Arirang's final pick was the major development in space exploration,... where NASA's spacecraft revealed the first sound recording from Mars.
So let's go into details on some of those headlines,... perhaps starting with the one that may have started as perhaps domestic,... but quickly became an international story.
Multiple summits and ever more connections between the two Koreas.
Right. Inter-Korean relations this year were nothing like we've seen in the past.
If