Most Popular
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Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China
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Trump rekindles criticism: US forces defending 'wealthy' S. Korea 'free of charge'
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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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S. Korea discussed possible participation in AUKUS Pillar 2 with Australia: defense minister
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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Seoul Metro to seek legal action against malicious complaints
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[KH Explains] Will alternative trading platform shake up Korean stock market?
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Illit, mired in controversy, remains on Billboard charts for 5th week
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S. Korea lowers COVID-19 warning level, lifts last-remaining antivirus mandates
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Unification minister: N. Korea has nothing to gain from provocations
SEOUL, June 18 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has nothing to gain from provocations against South Korea, Seoul's Cabinet minister handling inter-Korean relations said Saturday, urging the communist nation to carry out reform and open up to the outside world.Unification Minister Hyun In-taek accused Pyongyang of launching "reckless political provocations after military provocations," referring to the Nort
June 19, 2011
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Gov't to consider changing public-sector working hours to spur domestic demand
SEOUL, June 18 (Yonhap) -- The government will consider changing the working hours of public-sector employees and splitting up the long school winter vacation into several breaks in an effort to spur domestic demand, officials said Saturday.The measures were among a package of proposals discussed at a meeting of Cabinet and other top government officials that President Lee Myung-bak presided over
June 19, 2011
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Lee calls for ending corruption
In an emotion-charged speech against corruption, President Lee Myung-bak called for a sweeping overhaul of the way the government works, imploring top officials Friday to end long-ingrained irregularities in officialdom.Speaking at a brainstorming meeting that brought together all Cabinet ministers, vice ministers and other top officials, Lee expressed deep frustrations about the bureaucracy, repr
June 17, 2011
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GNP in identity crisis amid reform calls
Ruling party shelves additional tax cut plan, scrambles to cut tuitionThe ruling Grand National Party has gone to great lengths to renew its image, even defying the policies of the current administration, but many still regard its moves with a doubtful eye.In a general meeting held Thursday, a majority of GNP lawmakers agreed to withdraw the additional tax cut plan for corporations, which has so f
June 17, 2011
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Ex-prosecutor says he treated Roh with respect
An ex-prosecutor who led the investigation into bribery allegations surrounding former president Roh Moo-hyun said Thursday he treated the late president with respect, rebuking a Roh aide’s claim that he didn’t.Roh killed himself during a prosecutorial probe in 2009 into suspicions that his associates and family took kickbacks from a Busan-based businessman named Park Yeon-cha. As then chief of th
June 16, 2011
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Judicial reform panel disbands with little resolved
Members see no reason to continue after plan to close key prosecution unit derailedThe special parliamentary committee on judicial reform decided to end its 16-month term, without any of its major issues being solved.The committee will continue until the end of the month, as originally planned, and the pending issues will be handed over to the legislation and judiciary committee, officials said Mo
June 16, 2011
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GNP finds no answers to tuition debate
Free-for-all forum fails to reach agreement on cutting cost of collegeLawmakers, government officials, university presidents, professors and students gathered on Wednesday for a forum on tuition cuts hosted by the Grand National Party but failed to reach any agreement.“We are running against the clock as the Education Ministry is to submit its budget bill to the Finance Ministry by the end of the
June 15, 2011
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Sohn most favored but Park most likely to be president: SNU students
Students of the prestigious Seoul National University favor opposition leader Sohn Hak-kyu as the next Korean president, but think female conservative politician Park Geun-hye is most likely to win the race, a poll released Tuesday shows. According to the survey of 660 students conducted by the Seouldae Journal, a student newspaper at the university, Sohn, the chairman of the Democratic Party, was
June 14, 2011
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Ex-USFK commander slams China for N.K. ‘strategic error’
China has made a “terrible strategic error” by failing to rein in North Korea, a former U.S. Forces Korea commander said Monday, stressing the need for it to assume a responsible role for regional peace and stability.In a meeting with reporters in Seoul, Burwell B. Bell, who served as USFK commander from February 2006-June 2008, also said that the risk of military provocations by the North remains
June 14, 2011
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DP attacks Lee over tuition cut project
Opposition says president’s call for patience an attempt to derail fee reductionsParties in Tuesday’s parliamentary education committee general meeting quarreled over the president’s call for more time on the controversial university tuition fee cuts.Lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party accused the presidential office of attempting to pressure the National Assembly to abandon their mo
June 14, 2011
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Concerns mounting over political populism
Protests over tuition cuts signal partisan race to woo voters with populist policiesOpposition leader Sohn Hak-kyu hoped that his party’s plan to cut college tuition fees would appeal to students when he attended their rally early last week.“I am not here to add fuel to your anger but to share your concerns,” Sohn told about 200 university students holding a candlelight vigil in downtown Seoul for
June 14, 2011
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President vows to end practice of offering favors to ex-officials
President Lee Myung-bak on Monday stressed he would root out the widespread practice among government officials and judges of giving favors to their retired colleagues.The “jeon-gwan-ye-woo” practice, which means giving “honorable treatment to former officials,” refers to the custom of private companies offering high-paying jobs to retired senior government officials in exchange for their connecti
June 13, 2011
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Sohn suggests meeting with Lee this month
The opposition leader and president may meet in an inter-party summit as early as this month to discuss pending economic issues concerning people’s livelihoods here. “Students and parents are out in the streets, asking for a tuition cut, and we may not blame them because they are indeed under great economic strain,” said the main opposition Democratic Party chairman Sohn Hak-kyu at the party’s Sup
June 13, 2011
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Lee meets religious leaders after detente with Buddhists
President Lee Myung-bak met with religious leaders Monday, a week after South Korea’s largest Buddhist sect announced that it was normalizing relations with the government after half a year of standoff over a budget dispute.It marked the first time that Lee has met with Ven. Jaseung, head of the Buddhist sect Jogye Order, in more than a year. Jogye’s relations with the government have been tense a
June 13, 2011
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Opposition leader offers to talk with president over economy
The opposition leader proposed a rare meeting with President Lee Myung-bak, saying Monday that he wants to discuss a string of challenges the country faces in efforts to improve people's livelihood.The offer from Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) comes as the government is grappling with growing calls for lowering college tuition costs and rising home rental prices, an
June 13, 2011
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GNP seeks mandatory schooling for 3,4-year-olds
The ruling Grand National Party is reportedly pushing to further expand the scope of compulsory education to include children aged three to four, officials said Sunday, amid controversy over its populist policy approach to college tuition fee cuts.“Expansion of childcare support is the next policy goal following the reduction of college education expenses. The party will push to gradually expand s
June 12, 2011
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[News Focus] Parties struggle to fix tuition policies
With next year’s general election looming, rival parties appear unsure over policies to ease the burden of university tuition.The ruling Grand National Party, which had preemptively raised the issue of halving tuition, has changed its policy on how much to cut tuition by, while the main opposition Democratic Party has turned drastically toward the expansion of scholarships to differentiate itself
June 12, 2011
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Multiculturalism about reciprocity, tolerance
Lawmaker leads parliamentary forum for a multicultural KoreaThe key to multiculturalism lies in reciprocal integration, according to the chairwoman of the National Assembly forum on multiculturalism.“When it comes to multiculturalism, people generally think of immigrant wives from Southeast Asia, but the term should be taken to a higher plane,” Rep. Kim Hye-seong told The Korea Herald.“Not only do
June 12, 2011
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Private universities could cut tuition fees with gov't support: council
South Korea's private universities could cut tuition fees by as much as 15 percent if the government funds their scholarship programs, the head of a private universities' council said Sunday, amid a growing political debate over tuition cuts. Park Chul, who heads a council of presidents of private universities, told Yonhap News Agency in an interview that the council is surveying its members
June 12, 2011
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State auditor to probe college tuition fees
The nation’s public and private universities will face a sweeping audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection from August, amid a growing public outcry over exorbitant tuition fees, officials at the state audit agency said Friday. “It will be the largest-ever scale,” said Sohn Chang-dong, a BAI spokesperson. About 200, or one third of the entire BAI staff, will be mobilized for the inspection, whic
June 10, 2011