Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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[Newsmaker] KakaoTaxi expansion gets mixed reactions
Outside the headquarters of Daum Kakao in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, on Monday, two groups clashed over the Korean search giant’s hot-selling taxi-hailing service, KakaoTaxi. One group, representing chauffeur service companies nationwide, protested against the company’s possible entry into a market that is crowded with smaller players, while the other group, representing their drivers, urged it to enter and solve the industry’s unfair treatment of drivers. “It is true that we are working on the
TechnologyJuly 20, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Trump calls McCain 'loser'
WASHINGTON ― Donald Trump, known for his incendiary rhetoric on the 2016 campaign trail, lobbed his latest verbal grenade Saturday, dismissing the military record of Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war.The flamboyant billionaire businessman, reality TV star and Republican presidential contender said McCain ― a decorated aviator who was tortured in a prison camp for five years ― did not deserve hero status for his Vietnam War service.“He’s not a war hero,” Trump told a gathering of social
World NewsJuly 19, 2015
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[Newsmaker] NIS in hot water amid hacking allegations
South Koreans’ distrust of the National Intelligence Service escalated Thursday after allegations arose that the spy agency had spied on a local lawyer in addition to dozens of other ordinary citizens here, with help from an Italian contractor.WikiLeaks revealed on Twitter that the NIS may have used malware to spy on the unnamed lawyer, citing emails that NIS agents allegedly exchanged with Hacking Team, a Milan, Italy-based malware surveillance vendor that supplied the spy agency with malware p
PoliticsJuly 16, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Greek crisis strains Franco-German ties
France`s President Francois Hollande (left) welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel prior to a meeting in Paris on July 6. (AP-Yonhap)BRUSSELS (AFP) -- On the frontline of the Greek debt crisis, the Franco-German partnership has been in open conflict with Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Francois Hollande deeply divided over how far to go to keep Greece in the eurozone.On Monday, Greece reached a desperately-needed bailout deal with the eurozone after marathon overnight talks, in a histor
World NewsJuly 13, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Park's new political aide faces challenges
President Park Geun-hye’s new top political aide faces the daunting challenges of restoring the frozen relationship between her and her party and putting her reform drive back on track by normalizing communication with the parliament.Hyun Ki-hwan, a former Saenuri lawmaker and one of the Park’s faithful retainers, was named as the new senior presidential secretary for political affairs Friday. Though his parliamentary career has been relatively short, Park appointing the one-term lawmaker as her
PoliticsJuly 12, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Samsung pushes to win over foreign investors
Samsung C&T, the construction and trading arm of Samsung Group, on Friday unveiled detailed new shareholder-friendly policies, including the establishment of a special committee of six experts that will oversee shareholders’ rights, as part of last-minute efforts to win a vote of shareholders on July 17 over the proposed merger with Cheil Industries. Samsung C&T CEO Choi Chi-hun (Yonhap)The committee will be composed of three outside directors and three experts. One of the three outside director
BusinessJuly 10, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Objectors challenge conscription law
The Constitutional Court held a public court hearing Thursday on the conscription law, after three conscientious objectors challenged the much-disputed law that does not recognize people’s right to refuse mandatory military service based on their religious or personal beliefs.It marked the third challenge on the law’s legitimacy, with the previous cases also being tied to conscientious objection. In both 2004 and 2011, the court ruled the law constitutional. A member of a civic group supporting
Social AffairsJuly 9, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Obama holds talks with Vietnam party chief
WASHINGTON ― U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed the leader of Vietnam’s Communist Party on Tuesday to the White House for historic but “candid” talks marking two decades of rapprochement between the former enemies.Nguyen Phu Trong is the first general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party to visit the United States and the White House, and was given the rare honor of an Oval Office meeting ― usually reserved for heads of state and government.U.S. President Barack Obama meets in the Oval
World NewsJuly 8, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Greece’s discreet new finance minister
ATHENS ― Greece’s new finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos is as discreet and tight-lipped as his predecessor Yanis Varoufakis was flamboyant and confrontational. Tsakalotos, a 55-year-old leftist economist who had been a pointman in Greece’s bailout talks, was named as Varoufakis’ replacement hours after his resignation on Monday.He is far less likely to irritate Athens’ exasperated creditors.Euclid Tsakalotos, Greece’s finance minister, addresses journalists during a handover ceremony in Athens,
World BusinessJuly 7, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Algal blooms stoke ecological concerns
A thick green tide spreading across Korea’s major rivers due to low water flow and warm temperatures is stoking concerns over the ecosystem and public health. Since mid-May, algal blooms have been seen in the Nakdonggang River in the south of the peninsula. In June, the algal blooms spread in the Hangang River in Seoul as well, and Seoul Metropolitan Government issued an algal bloom warning on June 30 in the downstream section of the river, spanning from Jamsil Bridge to Haengju Bridge. It was t
NationalJuly 6, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Korea’s MERS concerns more about politics than health
South Koreans tend to perceive the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome as a political issue, not a health issue, illustrating a different attitude from what they showed during the flu pandemic that hit the country in 2009, a study revealed Sunday.According to research led by a public health professor at Seoul National University, Koreans appeared to be more concerned about politics than the deadly virus itself, with the popular words used on Twitter in relation to the outbreak being one
Social AffairsJuly 5, 2015
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[Newsmaker] U.S., Cuba declare end of hostility
WASHINGTON ― After more than a half century of hostility, the United States and Cuba declared Wednesday they will reopen embassies in each other’s capitals this month, marking a historic full restoration of diplomatic relations between the Cold War foes. For President Barack Obama, the opening of the U.S. Embassy in the heart of Havana is one of the most tangible demonstrations of his long-standing pledge to engage directly with U.S. adversaries. Heralding the embassy agreement, Obama declared:
World NewsJuly 2, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Busan port chief to head U.N. maritime body
Since Ban Ki-moon was first named new secretary-general of the United Nations in 2006, South Korea has waited for another Korean global leader to be named. Nine years later, the president of Busan Port Authority, Lim Ki-tack, has been elected to head the United Nations maritime body. Lim Ki-tack (Yonhap)The 58-year-old veteran is the first South Korean to take the secretary-general position of the International Maritime Organization, the U.N. agency responsible for the safety and security of shi
Social AffairsJuly 1, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Widow to restore DJ’s reconciliation legacy
For Lee Hee-ho, widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, cross-border tensions are a source of deep frustration as the deadlocked relationship has eclipsed the inter-Korean rapprochement Kim laboriously fostered under his signature “Sunshine Policy.” With a plan to visit the North soon, the 93-year-old former first lady hopes to restore Kim’s legacy of bilateral engagement and cooperation, which has faded amid Pyongyang’s pursuit of nuclear arms and provocative actions, and Seoul’s hard-line resp
North KoreaJune 30, 2015
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[Newsmaker] ‘Northern Limit Line’: Korean patriotism
A scene from "Northern Limit Line" (Next Entertainment World)“Northern Limit Line” is a film with a very clear purpose. It seeks to assuage the pain of bereaved families who lost their sons during a North Korean naval attack, reveal the systematic failures of the South Korean Navy that facilitated this loss, and draw attention to the society’s misplaced priorities. Every minute is dripping with this sense of mission and self-consciousness.The film revolves around the story of three young soldier
FilmJune 29, 2015
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[Newsmaker] The embattled whip
The governing party remained split Sunday over if it should stage a confidence vote on whip Rep. Yoo Seong-min due to his role in last week’s legislative crisis that is widely viewed as a power struggle between him and the president.President Park Geun-hye last Thursday vetoed a bill, chiefly sponsored by her former chief of staff Yoo, that would have given lawmakers the right to ask for revisions to government decrees. Park said the changes violated the principle of the division of powers and b
PoliticsJune 28, 2015
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[Newsmaker] U.S. retailers pull Confederate flag
WASHINGTON -- Walmart and Amazon will no longer stock merchandise bearing the Confederate flag after the Charleston church massacre, in a growing movement against what critics say is a symbol of racism in the American South.The retail giants were joined by eBay, Sears and Kmart and follows calls from South Carolina state governor Nikki Haley to remove the controversial flag from the grounds of the state capital following protests at the weekend.Civil rights activists have long pushed for the fla
World NewsJune 24, 2015
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[Newsmaker] NPS pressed on corporate reform
The National Pension Service, the nation’s largest institutional investor, is facing growing pressure to raise their voice in merger plans being pushed by conglomerates.On Monday, Solidarity for Economic Reform, a civic group pushing for reforms of family-controlled South Korean conglomerates, or chaebol, urged the fund to review the merger plan between SK Holdings and SK C&C and to decide whether to back or veto the deal before a shareholders meeting Friday. The merger plan between the two SK a
IndustryJune 23, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Korea plans July bidding to sell Woori
Financial authorities plan to unveil a revised method for the sale of state-funded Woori Bank next month in their move to recoup taxpayers’ money, regulatory officials said Monday.Market attention is again focused on the coming announcement of the Public Fund Oversight Committee, after the agency successfully completed the sale of the now-defunct Woori Financial Group’s stock brokerage unit and two provincial bank units over the past year.Officials said the committee, as an arm of the Financial
June 22, 2015
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[Newsmaker] Fitbit CEO raises pace with hot stock debut
With the hot stock debut of Fitbit, a maker of popular wearable fitness-tracking devices, the spotlight shone on its CEO and cofounder James Park, a 38-year-old Korean-American.In its first day of trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, the company’s stock surged more than 50 percent to $30.40 a share from its initial price of $20 during regular trading hours. More than 40 million shares of Fitbit were traded, putting the company on track to rank among the top five stock market debuts o
TechnologyJune 21, 2015