Most Popular
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Contentious grain bill put directly to plenary meeting for vote
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Yoon's approval rating plunges to all-time low
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Will tug-of-war between doctors, government end soon?
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Climate impacts set to cut 2050 global GDP by nearly a fifth
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Trilateral talks acknowledge ‘serious’ slumps of won, yen
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[Graphic News] More Koreans say they plan long-distance trips this year
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[KH Explains] Hyundai's full hybrid edge to pay off amid slow transition to pure EVs
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North Korea removes streetlights along cross-border roads with South
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Russia's denial of entry of S. Korean national unrelated to bilateral ties: Seoul official
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Farming households dip below 1m for first time in 2023
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ASEAN-Korea Center trains Thai tourism officials
The ASEAN-Korea Center began on Monday a seven-week Korean language training session in Bangkok for officials from the Thai tourism, lodging and food and beverage industries to help them better accommodate increasing Korean travelers. The event is part of the institute’s Korean language education program launched early this year to improve communication skills of tourism workers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The participants will take basic courses involving reading, listening a
Nov. 12, 2012
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British Embassy welcomes all for charity dinner, raffle
For those asking for something to do this coming weekend that will also benefit a worthy cause, the British Embassy in Korea has the answer.The British Embassy is hosting a charity fundraiser on Nov. 16 for the BBC’s corporate charity “Children in Need” and local charity “Holt Ilsan Welfare Town” at the British chancery’s own Broughton’s Club in Aston Hall, locally known as the “Embassy Bar.”“Children In Need” provides grants to projects in Britain which focus on children and young people who ar
Nov. 11, 2012
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Norway offers travelers ‘detour’ in exhibition
Norway does not occupy much room in the popular imagination of many Koreans, save perhaps images of it as the wintry abode of goblins, trolls and fjords that might inhabit a Nordic fairy tale.The public can get a glimpse of a new view of Norway ― this time as a spectacular vacation destination. The Norwegian Embassy here, along with other Norwegian government offices and the Korea Foundation, brought a touring exhibition called “Detour Asia” that highlights Norway’s breathtaking natural vistas a
Nov. 11, 2012
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Egypt touts safety as part of tourism promotion
With recent headlines around the world concerning Egypt focused on demonstrations against Muhammad-defaming videos and the pro-democracy Arab Spring, one cannot be blamed for forgetting the fact that Egypt is one of the world’s main tourist destinations. Some 10 percent of Egypt’s economy and more than 20 percent of its hard currency flows depend on tourism.The Egyptian Embassy in Korea, with the Egyptian Tourist Authority by its side, assured the Korean tour agencies and travel reporters on Tue
Nov. 11, 2012
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Art fair brings Ibero-America to Korea
A slew of European and Latin American diplomatic missions in Seoul are participating, with organizer Gallery Bellarte, in the Ibero-American Art Fair Seoul 2012 at Hangaram Art Museum in Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul from Nov. 15 to 19.Gallery Bellarte brought hundreds of artworks by more than 50 artists, including pieces by art world heavyweights Wifredo Lam of Cuba, Oswaldo Guayasamin of Ecuador and Carlos Cruz-Diez and Jesus Rafael Soto of Venezuela.Gallery Bellarte created the Ibero-Am
Nov. 11, 2012
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New Lebanese envoy sees art beyond strategic ties
Korea has a strategically important relationship with Lebanon, by virtue of its 350-strong troop contingent deployed there since 2007 to help oversee a United Nations peacekeeping operation. But that relationship will now likely further expand into areas of art and culture with newly arrived Lebanese Ambassador to Korea Jad El-Hassan. El-Hassan is keenly interested in traditional Korean furniture and art, and he wants to make artistic exchanges an integral part of his posting here.“I would like
Nov. 11, 2012
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S. Korea, Thailand agree to upgrade ties to 'strategic partnership'
BANGKOK (Yonhap News) -- South Korea and Thailand agreed Saturday to launch preliminary talks and a joint study toward a possible free trade deal as their leaders pledged to upgrade relations between the two countries to a "strategic partnership."South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra reached the agreement during summit talks in Bangkok, pledging to work closely together to expand bilateral trade volume to US$30 billion by 2016, according to a joint stat
Nov. 10, 2012
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Obama to visit Asia for first overseas trip after re-election
U.S. President Barack Obama has chosen Asia as the destination of his first overseas trip since re-election, according to the White House Thursday.Obama is scheduled to visit Thailand, Burma and Cambodia Nov. 17-20, it said.The trip comes as the Obama administration pushes to rebalance U.S. diplomacy towards Asia."In Thailand, he will meet with Prime Minister Yingluck to mark 180 years of diplomatic relations and reaffirm the strength of our alliance," the White House said in a press release. "I
Nov. 9, 2012
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Korea braces for China slowdown
Following is the last in a series of articles on the future relations between China and two Koreas under next Chinese leader Xi Jinping ― Ed.A rising China has been a boon for the Korean economy as its top export market, a major manufacturing base and rich source of investment, tourism and cheap products, despite the countries’ growing competition in the world markets. Their ever-deepening ties are about to take a fresh turn as the world’s second-largest economy shifts toward domestic consumptio
Nov. 7, 2012
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Obama faces tough foreign policy challenges
This is the first in the series of articles on the growing rivalry between the U.S. and China and its implications on the two Koreas and East Asia. The first installation deals with President Barack Obama’s re-election, his foreign policy agenda and its impact on the region. ― Ed.U.S. President Barack Obama has little time to bask in the euphoria of his re-election as he faces an array of daunting foreign policy challenges including an increasingly assertive China, nuclear-armed North Korea, and
Nov. 7, 2012
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Seoul vows to double official development aid by 2015
South Korea will play a key role in devising a new global development cooperation paradigm, and more than double its assistance to developing countries over the next three years, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said Tuesday.Speaking during the second session of the Asia-Europe Meeting held in Laos for a two-day run from Monday, Kim stressed the necessity of expanding official development aid despite global economic difficulties, according to his office in Seoul.“Development cooperation is an invest
Nov. 6, 2012
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Two religious groups permitted to visit N. Korea for exchanges
Two South Korean religious groups were this week given approval for plans to visit North Korea to promote cooperation with their counterparts in the North, Seoul‘s Unification Ministry said Tuesday.The ministry said it approved the visits of the two group whose religions originated locally, one of which follows the Dangun beliefs and the other a Cheondogyo group, to visit Kaesong on Thursday and Friday, respectively.A total of 10 officials from the groups will travel to the North during the sepa
Nov. 6, 2012
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Social protection key to economic growth: UNDP
Globalization spreads growth and risks. Trade and development have lifted many countries out of poverty but also left inequality and disintegration in their wake.To cope with the “growing pains,” countries should pursue a strategy that intrinsically combines growth and social protection in a way tailored to their unique conditions and specific needs, said Anne-Isabelle Degryse-Blateau, director of the United Nations Development Program’s Seoul Policy Center. “Social protection is actually an ess
Nov. 6, 2012
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Race deadlocked as Americans vote
The long, bitterly fought race to The White House reached its end on Tuesday as Americans voted in what looked likely to be one of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history. While neither candidate had a decisive edge, the latest Reuters/Ipsos national poll of likely voters showed President Barack Obama slightly ahead of Republican rival Mitt Romney, 48 percent to 46 percent.The same poll showed Obama ahead in Ohio, considered one of the most important of the 11 swing states that will d
Nov. 6, 2012
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Seoul-Beijing ties to face new test with Xi Jinping at helm
Following is the second in a series of articles on the future relations between China and two Koreas under next Chinese leader Xi Jinping ― Ed.Despite ever-growing economic interdependence, South Korea and China remain discordant over history, territory, fishing, North Korean defectors and regional security issues.With China ushering in a new leader this week, the two governments are expected to continue to try containing those volatile issues from flaring up, as stable bilateral ties are crucia
Nov. 4, 2012
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[Newsmaker] Bloomberg blinks on NYC marathon
A call to carry on as normal in a time of crisis can be taken as an invocation of hope and strength. Or it can be interpreted as insensitivity to others’ plight. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg learned the latter on Friday when a public outcry forced him to cancel this year’s New York City Marathon in the city still recovering from Hurricane Sandy. Just hours earlier, Bloomberg had pledged the world’s biggest marathon would go ahead as planned.The billionaire mayor had argued that holding
Nov. 4, 2012
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ASEAN-Korea Centre brings Southeast Asian photo exhibition
Southeast Asia includes an enormous expanse of cultures, people and traditions across 2 million square miles and some 600 million people from Singapore to the Philippines and Vietnam to Indonesia.Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have brought Seoulites a chance to glean a photographic glimpse into this huge and diverse array of peoples and their religious practices and cuisines from a perspective that is anything but ordinary.It is all possible in an exhibition of 66 photograp
Nov. 4, 2012
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Turkey marks proclamation of modern republic
Turkey celebrated the 89th anniversary of its founding as a modern republic in a reception at Lotte Hotel in Seoul, Monday.A score of VIPs from the government and the foreign diplomatic community joined with Turkish expatriates and friends of Turkey to celebrate the proclamation of Turkey as a secular and democratic country, as well as the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Turkey.The Republic of Turkey was officially proclaimed on Oct. 29, 1923.Bahk
Nov. 4, 2012
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Dominican rum, pirate tales make splash in Korea
When one thinks of rum, it is difficult not to invoke the romantic images of the verdant environs of the Dominican Republic and, of course, the swashbuckling adventures of hardscrabble pirates.One might first think of clips from Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean,” or maybe the well known English pirate of yesteryear Blackbeard (a.k.a. Edward Teach). The most famous ― if one can use such a word when taking about pirates ― in the Caribbean and Latin America, however, was Roberto Cofresi.Cofresi r
Nov. 4, 2012
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Austria celebrates National Day, 120 years of ties
Austria celebrated its National Day and commemorated the 120th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Austria and Korea at Banyan Tree Spa & Resort in Seoul, Monday.VIPs from the government and the foreign diplomatic community, as well as special guest and former Korean Ambassador to Austria Rep. Shim Yoon-joe of the Saenuri Party joined with some 200 guests and friends of Austria to listen to a performance of the Vienna Boys Choir.Austria celebrated its first National
Nov. 4, 2012