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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Illit, mired in controversy, remains on Billboard charts for 5th week
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[KH Explains] Will alternative trading platform shake up Korean stock market?
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S. Korea lowers COVID-19 warning level, lifts last-remaining antivirus mandates
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[Newsmaker] U.K. greets youngest celebrity
For British newspapers, a good story about the royal family sells, and they made the most of Monday’s birth of Prince William and Princess Kate’s new son. The Sun changed its “u” to an “o” to mark the birth, while three others splashed “It’s a Boy!” across their front pages.Fountains in London were lit up in blue, along with Niagara Falls and other landmarks in Canada and New Zealand.Away from the media scrum at the hospital, crowds flocked outside Buckingham Palace to catch a glimpse of an offi
Expat LivingJuly 24, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Moon enmeshed in summit records controversy
The missing 2007 inter-Korean summit records have driven the main opposition Democratic Party on the defensive as the debate has shifted to how the transcript went missing.At the core of the dispute is Rep. Moon Jae-in, the former right-hand man to late President Roh Moo-hyun, who is alleged by the ruling camp of having ordered the transcript in question be deleted upon leaving office.Moon, supported by the pro-Roh forces against the current party leadership, had spearheaded the calls to view th
PoliticsJuly 23, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Icon of peaceful protest tainted by violence
Two years ago, “Buses of Hope,” carrying thousands of people from different backgrounds, emerged as an icon for peaceful protest.The sympathy rally was launched in support of Kim Jin-suk, a female labor union member, who protested alone on a 35-meter-high crane for more than 300 days against Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction after the shipbuilder laid off more than 400 workers. Ferried in by buses, about 8,000 participants from across the country visited the shipyard in Busan on five occa
Social AffairsJuly 22, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Crooked lobbyist back in spotlight
Prosecutors said Sunday they indicted lobbyist-turned-businessman Choi Kyu-sun for embezzlement. The chief executive of UI Energy Corp., a resources developer, and Hyundai P&C, a maker of coating and paint products, is suspected of misappropriating about 41.6 billion won ($34.2 million) in funds from the two companies. He was not detained. Choi was at the center of a series of influence-peddling scandals in 2002 including one involving then President Kim Dae-jung’s third son Kim Hong-gul. He ser
Social AffairsJuly 21, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Speaker heralds Constitution revision debate
Revising the Constitution could become a priority next year, with National Assembly Speaker Rep. Kang Chang-hee suggesting a rough timeframe for processing the issue. Kang’s comments could revive talks on constitutional amendment, which have been on the backburner for some time.“It would be right to make constitutional revision a public issue from early next year and to conclude the matter within the 19th National Assembly,” Kang said on Wednesday. Kang also said that Korean society has transfor
PoliticsJuly 18, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Chun, ruthless ex-military strongman
Former President Chun Doo-hwan’s rule in the 1980s arguably marked some of the darkest days of Korea’s modern political history. The Army general overthrew the government, ordered a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests, destroyed democratic institutions and took hundreds of billions of won in bribes. He took power through a military coup in 1979 and held that power until 1988. Chun removed opposing forces using any means necessary, even ordering the military to use lethal force against civ
PoliticsJuly 17, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Suh named BOK's first female exec
The Bank of Korea appointed a woman as deputy governor for the first time since its foundation in June 1950.Suh Young-kyung, who has worked for the BOK for 25 years, embarked on her three-year term as one of the seven executives at the central bank on Tuesday.There are five deputy governors at the bank, who share the No. 3 rank following Governor Kim Choong-soo and Senior Deputy Governor Park Won-shik. Each may be reappointed for a second three-year term.Born in Seoul in 1963, Suh joined the BOK
July 16, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Park ties record for all-time low in LPGA
Park Hee-young showed winning for her was par for the course on Sunday, scoring her second LPGA Tour win and tying for an all-time low in shot count.She captured the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic at Grey Silo Golf Course in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, on Sunday, beating American Angela Stanford with a birdie on the third playoff hole.Park and Stanford tied for an LPGA Tour all-time low with 258 shots over 72 holes. The record was first set by Karen Stupples of England at the Welch’s-Fry’s Champ
PeopleJuly 15, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Public outcry fazes state pension service
The number of taxpayers signing up in an online campaign to abolish the state-run pension system is nearing 100,000, signaling a growing opposition against the mandatory program for all employees in the country.The Alliance for Taxpayers Korea said on Saturday that the number of people who think the current pension scheme is unfair and disagree with a plan to raise subscribers’ contribution rate, is fast growing. The civic group claimed that the government should enact a dramatic reform to impro
Social AffairsJuly 14, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Governor refuses to budge on closed hospital
Lawmakers are set to file a complaint with the prosecution against South Gyeongsang Province Governor Hong Joon-pyo after he refused to attend a parliamentary hearing on his closure of a provincial public hospital. The Assembly’s special committee on the inquiry into the current status of public medical institutions, which is looking into the shutdown of Jinju Medical Center, will determine whether to take legal action against the political bigwig on Friday.After Hong refused to stand before the
DefenseJuly 11, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Sohn leaves KCCI to rescue CJ Group
Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman Sohn Kyung-shik, who is also co-chairman of CJ Group, officially resigned from his KCCI post on Tuesday, explaining that he could no longer carry on have chairmanship duties due to his extensive involvement in CJ Group’s crisis-management committee. Since CJ Group chairman Lee Jay-hyun’s arrest on July 1 for allegations of embezzlement and tax evasion, Sohn ― who is Lee’s uncle on his mother’s side ― has led Korea’s largest food and entertainment c
IndustryJuly 10, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Jangju alleges monks made gambling trips
Secret video footage showing a group of monks playing poker while drinking and smoking in a hotel room shocked the nation last year as the news of a handful of local Buddhist monk leaders from the Jogye Order, the country’s largest Buddhist order, caught gambling made headlines.At a press conference held in the Pohang City Hall Briefing Room on Monday, Ven. Jangju further revealed the severity of the gambling addiction among some monks, who even went abroad to gamble with the order’s donation mo
CultureJuly 9, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Corruption ruins Korea’s nuclear industry
Kim Jong-shin led Korea’s nuclear industry when it began to flex its muscles in the world market, culminating a $40 billion contract to build plants in the United Arab Emirates in 2009.It is becoming increasingly clear that the former president of the state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power was also at the center of a corruption scandal and safety blunders that tarnished the atomic power sector. The Busan District Prosecutor’s Office arrested him Sunday over an allegation that he took more than
Social AffairsJuly 8, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Asiana apologizes over deadly jet crash
Asiana Airlines on Sunday apologized over the deadly jet crash that killed at least two people and injured more than 180 others in San Francisco over the weekend. The Boeing 777 passenger jet traveling from Seoul crashed while landing Saturday at San Francisco International Airport, smashed into pieces and caught fire. “I sincerely apologize to the public for the crash landing,” Asiana Airlines CEO Yoon Young-doo said Sunday during a press conference at the company’s headquarters in western Seou
IndustryJuly 7, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Egypt's military ejects elected leader
The ejection of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi will likely divide the country into those who call it the toppling of a democratic government, and those who say there is more to democracy than elections.Morsi was elected to power in June 2012 after mass protests prompted the military to eject longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak. The armed forces repeated their trick Wednesday, after four days of protests against Morsi that were even bigger than those against his predecessor.Estimates put the numbe
InternationalJuly 4, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Hangeul advocates oppose Hanja classes
The government’s plan to enhance Hanja, or Chinese character, classes sparked backlash from civic groups and advocates for Hangeul, or the Korean writing system, who claim it would hamper efforts to defend the purity of the Korean language and further burden students. They launched a sit-in protest in front of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education in Jongno demanding the authority cancel the plan which would “revive an old-fashioned and unnecessary” education program. The plan could impose acad
Social AffairsJuly 3, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Beijing blames Syrians for Xinjiang carnage
Uneasy calm settled on the streets of the provincial capital city of Urumqi in the western Chinese territory of Xinjiang as paramilitary police and dozens of armored vehicles entered the region Saturday. Chinese President Xi Jinping ramped up rhetoric against separatists among Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighur minority and ordered tighter security, following at least two outbreaks of violence that claimed the lives of 35 people.Perpetrated by knife-wielding motorcycle gangs, several bloody incidents occu
PoliticsJuly 2, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Seoul to lure companies back to Korea
In an aim to boost investment in the local economy, the government said it would offer benefits to companies that leave their overseas manufacturing sites to return to Korea.According to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Monday, such returning companies will be allowed access to special economic zones with various site rental and tax benefits.Under the current system, foreign-invested companies may lease industrial sites in six free economic z
July 1, 2013
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[Newsmaker] FSS under fire for overpaying employees
The Financial Supervisory Service, Korea’s financial regulator, is facing heat for paying excessively high annual salaries to its employees amid mounting worldwide criticism against overpaid executives in the financial sector.The controversy escalated as the FSS recently posted last year’s average annual salary of its employees. Payrolls of all state-controlled organizations are required to disclose their salaries.The financial regulator’s average annual salary in 2012 ― 92 million won ($81,000)
June 30, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Rudd’s return underlines party problems
Kevin Rudd has taken dramatic revenge against Julia Gillard, regaining the Australian premiership that she took from him almost exactly three years ago to the day.But his return as prime minister may be short-lived, as he takes over just months ahead of a general election that polls suggest his party will lose badly.Rudd had come to power in 2007 in a landslide victory for his Labor Party, and his green agenda was popular. With a hard-working, businesslike manner, “24-7 Kevin” was less popular w
InternationalJune 27, 2013