Most Popular
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1 in 3 Koreans live alone, family types becoming diverse
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Korea, Japan finance chiefs vow to tame rampant FX market volatility
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US 'incredibly concerned' about suspected NK-Iran military ties
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K-pop group's manager dismissed for setting up spycam in theater dressing room
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K-pop singer lost consciousness after being hit by foul ball, cancels show
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Korean Muslim YouTuber's plan to build mosque in Incheon goes viral
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Why is Apple Pay struggling to get purchase in Korea?
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Yoon's office denies considering liberal figures for key posts
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Seoul says Fu Bao loan 'not going to happen'
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[Today’s K-pop] BTS pop-up event to come to Seoul
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High college tuition fee drives student thefts
A college student on a leave of absence to raise college funds worked a part-time job by day and allegedly committed thefts by night has been arrested, according to Yonhap News.The student, surnamed Lee, 22, faces charges of breaking into shopping malls and offices to rob them late at night. Lee allegedly stole fourteen times recently, by sneaking into offices and arcades around Jinyeong, Gimhae c
June 26, 2011
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Samhwa Mutual Savings Bank declared bankrupt
The Samhwa Mutual Savings Bank, one of the local banks troubled with capital shortages, was declared bankrupt Friday.The savings bank filed for bankruptcy on May 19. In January, the Financial Services Commission suspended the bank for six months during moves to weed out unviable banks that failed to meet regulatory capital requirements.The ill-fated bank has been criticized for its allegedly illic
June 24, 2011
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Korea set to approve world’s first stem-cell drug
Medication passes safety, quality testsKorea will approve the world’s first stem-cell medication as early as this month, the Korea Food and Drug Administration said Friday. The state-run drug regulator said Friday that Hearticellgram-AMI, a stem-cell medication for treating heart attack victims, passed all the required safety and quality tests early this week. It will be the world’s first therapeu
June 24, 2011
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Seoul wins U.N. public service awards again
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Friday that it has won the United Nations Public Service Awards for the fourth consecutive year.This year, Seoul won two United Nations awards in recognition of its efforts to help troubled teenage girls and establish an open tax appeals system for citizens, the municipal government said. Park Kyo-ok (left), deputy director general for complaints analysis of
June 24, 2011
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Prosecutors snub GNP probe demand
Refuse to reinvestigate illegal deposit withdrawal, say found nothing to look intoThe prosecution seemed to refuse Friday to reinvestigate suspected illegal deposit withdrawals from a corruption-ridden savings bank despite demands from the ruling Grand National Party. “If we have dug up a mine and found nothing, we have to move to another mine. That’s the position of the prosecutor-general and the
June 24, 2011
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Police clear marathoners of doping allegations
CHUNCHEON, South Korea, June 23 (Yonhap) -- Police said Thursday that they have cleared a marathon coach and his athletes of doping allegations, wrapping up their probe two months before South Korea hosts the world athletic championships.The Gangwon Provincial Police Agency said it has examined records from a rehabilitation hospital where 19 athletes were treated, and found no evidence that they h
June 23, 2011
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Court orders compensation for Samsung employees who died of leukemia
SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court ordered compensation for the families of two young Samsung Electronics employees who died of leukemia, recognizing for the first time a link between leukemia and working in a computer chip-making line.The Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of the families, who requested the court annul the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Services' 2009 decision
June 23, 2011
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GNP proposes 30% tuition cuts
The government and the Grand National Party announced Thursday a new college tuition plan, which aims to cut fees by 30 percent by 2014.A total of 6.8 trillion won ($6.3 billion) from the national budget and 1.5 trillion won from school scholarship programs will be set aside for tuition cuts in the coming years, said GNP floor leader Hwang Woo-yea. In order to reduce tuition fees by 15 percent nex
June 23, 2011
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Minister touches off debate on allowing Koreans into casinos
Casino gamblers sit around a gaming table. The government is seeking to allow more casinos to admit Korean nationals. (The Korea Herald)The government plans to review whether to allow foreigner-only casinos to admit Korean nationals, citing the lack of casinos as one of the main reasons for the country’s unfavorable trade balances in tourism.Currently, only one casino, Kangwon Land in Gangwon Prov
June 23, 2011
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Children with foreign parents exceed 150,000
The number of children in South Korea with at least one foreign parent nearly tripled over the past four years, as international marriages continued to increase, statistics showed. According to data released by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security on Thursday, there were 151,154 such children registered as of Jan. 1, surpassing the 150,000 mark for the first time. This year’s figure
June 23, 2011
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S. Korea has less forest per capita than OECD average
South Korea had one of smallest per-capita forest areas among major economies, an international report said Thursday, indicating the country’s dense population.The nation’s forest area was 1.3 square kilometers per every 1,000 people as of 2008, the “Toward Green Growth” report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development showed.The reading marks the seventh-lowest level among thos
June 23, 2011
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Electronic ID card plan hits resistance
A controversial government plan to introduce electronic personal identification cards is unlikely to be realized as scheduled in 2013, faced with strong opposition from those fearing human rights infringements and a waste of taxpayers’ money.A related government bill has yet to be submitted to a parliamentary committee for deliberation although a committee session was held recently, the Ministry o
June 23, 2011
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Bill to support livelihood of freelance artists
From as early as next year, screen playwrights and other freelance artists in film, performance and publishing industries may be insured against unemployment or industrial disasters like salaried workers.According to a bill submitted to parliament this month, the government will draw up policies to guarantee the social and legal status of artists. It also calls for the government to fund a finance
June 23, 2011
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Father’s fight to save his family
Mom, two daughters stricken by mysterious lung diseaseAt 0:30 on Sunday morning, Jin-ju finally stopped breathing.It was the 93rd day since the 15-month-old baby girl had been hospitalized with flu-like symptoms, which turned out to be an unidentified acute lung disease that has claimed the lives of four patients since May. “I went to Busan (where she was hospitalized) upon hearing the news, had h
June 23, 2011
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Baby found dead in subway locker
A single mom, who discarded her newborn baby in a subway locker, is under police investigation, Yonhap News has reported. The woman, surnamed Kim, 20, said that four days after she gave birth alone in a motel room, she found her son suffocated to death, face down in a blanket. She apparently then put the dead body in her carrier filled with her clothes, before placing it in the subway locker of Sh
June 23, 2011
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Seoul launches annual global student forum
The fourth Seoul International Student Forum will kick off on Friday, with 84 members from 32 different countries attending, the Seoul Global Center, a city-run support center for foreign residents, said Wednesday. The program, launched in 2008, is aimed at reflecting the ideas and proposals of international students studying in Seoul to better serve foreign residents and visitors here. After hold
June 22, 2011
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Heavy rain expected throughout this week
The rainy season officially started Wednesday, with up to 150 milliliters of rainfall expected to hit the central part of the peninsula through Thursday. The state weather agency forecast that the country would be under the rainy spell until the end of July, with up to 20 percent more precipitation than previous years. Over the weekend, typhoon Meari, which is heading north from the Philippines, i
June 22, 2011
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Critics say public officials’ conduct code is unrealistic
Attention is being drawn to the code of conduct for civil servants as a recent string of corruption cases involving public officials has upset the public, seriously tarnishimg the government’s vision of a “fair society.”Critics argue that while the intention of the code that prohibits officials from receiving expensive meals and other pricy entertainment services from people they meet on official
June 22, 2011
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Seoul to probe forced colonial laborers’ deaths
Some 30,000 Koreans believed to have been drafted for construction work in SakhalinThe Korean government will launch its first official investigation into the deaths of Koreans forced to labor under the Japanese colonial rule in Sakhalin, an island in Russia’s Far East, a Seoul fact-finding panel said Wednesday. The investigation will be carried out in July and August at a public graveyard in Yuzh
June 22, 2011
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Girl group member stabbed to death
Lee Eun-mi, member of the girl group "Iris"A member of the K-pop group Iris was stabbed to death by her boyfriend on Sunday. Lee Eun-mi, 24, was stabbed multiple times by her boyfriend, surnamed Cho, who got angry after she broke up with him. She was attacked on a street at around 2 a.m. as she was going home.The police arrested Cho at a highway service station the next day. Cho later confessed to
June 22, 2011