The Korea Herald

Campaign heats up for vote on school meals

Aug 19, 2011

Election commission bans mayor from picketing, probes education board for ‘encouraging’ vote boycott The nation’s conservative and liberal forces, siding with Seoul government and education authority respectively, exchanged barbs Friday, arguing about whether citizens should participate in the upcoming plebiscite on free school lunches. They also clashed over a decision by the city’s election c...
Roh ordered attack on Japanese ships near Dokdo: aide

Aug 19, 2011

Former President Roh Moo-hyun had ordered his maritime police to smash into Japanese vessels in 2006 if they approached Dokdo in an attempt to claim the easternmost Korean islets, one of the late leader‘s former aides said. Roh, president from 2003-2008, was known for his hard-line stance on Japan’s attempts to lay claim to Dokdo or gloss over atrocities committed during its 1910-45 colonial rul...
Former top court justice named new Supreme Court chief

Aug 18, 2011

Former Supreme Court Justice Yang Seung-tae was named the new chief justice of the Supreme Court on Thursday, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said. Yang, 63, had been a justice at the top court from 2005 to February 2011. His term as the chief justice will also run six years. If approved, Yang will replace the incumbent Lee Yong-hoon, whose term is set to end next month. "Yang is a vetera...
Hanjin boss apologizes for dispute

Aug 18, 2011

Cho Nam-ho, chairman of Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co., apologized multiple times during a parliamentary hearing Thursday over a prolonged labor dispute at the company’s shipyard in Busan. The humbled tycoon, however, defended the firm’s layoff plan, which sparked the dispute, saying it was inevitable for survival. “I apologize for having caused unnecessary confusion and public conc...
President Lee lauds Chung for donation

Aug 17, 2011

President Lee Myung-bak lauded ex-ruling party leader Chung Mong-joon’s donation of 200 billion won ($186 million) for charity, which came a day after Lee called for a compassionate market economy. Lee said Chung’s donation was “a very good thing” during a weekly meeting with his aides on Wednesday, those who attended the meeting said. Lee noted that the Chung’s endowment was made shortly after...
GNP leader calls for family reunions ahead of Chuseok

Aug 17, 2011

The two Koreas should make cooperative efforts on holding another round of reunions of families separated by the Korean War ahead of next month’s Chuseok holiday, chairman of Seoul’s right wing ruling party said Wednesday. Considering the old age of most of these family members, there is a need for the divided Koreas to make more effort in resuming the long-stalled reunions at an early date, Hon...
Big firms pressed on social responsibility

Aug 17, 2011

Business lobbying group chief agrees some markets should be only for small firms Lawmakers on Wednesday chided business giants for taking advantage of their dominant status to squeeze out suppliers and muscling in on business that should be run by smaller firms such as coffee shops and restaurants. The parliamentary panel for knowledge economy called on conglomerates to play a greater role in s...
Ex-lawmaker indicted over savings bank scandal

Aug 16, 2011

Prosecutors said Tuesday they have indicted a former opposition lawmaker on charges of taking illegal political funds from a scandal-ridden savings bank. Suh Gab-won, a former lawmaker with the main opposition Democratic Party, is charged with receiving 30 million won($27,985) from Kim Yang, vice president of Busan Savings Bank, in October 2008, officials at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said....
Court rejects ban on free meal vote

Aug 16, 2011

President backs Seoul mayor in opposition to free school meal plan A Seoul court on Tuesday dismissed a request to suspend a plebiscite next week on free school lunches, clearing the way for the city to hold the vote as scheduled. The Seoul Administrative Court rejected the appeal made by the city’s opposition-dominated council and liberal civic groups. A member of the city council Lee Sang-so...
Events to mark anniversary of Kim Dae-jung’s death

Aug 16, 2011

Liberal political circles are holding a series of events to mark the second anniversary of the death of former President Kim Dae-jung, who they have long hailed for his lifelong devotion to promoting democracy and inter-Korean reconciliation. Observers said that such a collective move to mark the late liberal leader would help bring opposition forces together ahead of the parliamentary and presi...
Chung’s donation draws attention to his presidential ambitions

Aug 16, 2011

Former Grand National Party chairman and the country’s third-richest man Chung Mong-joon took a major step in his run-up to the presidential election next year by donating 200 billion won for charity. Former Hyundai Group affiliates announced Tuesday that they will set up a 500 billion won ($467 million) foundation, 200 billion of which came from Chung’s private coffers, to help reduce social in...
GNP backs Lee’s call for kinder capitalism

Aug 16, 2011

Opposition demands abandonment of growth-first policy, says more welfare needed The ruling party geared up its policy drive for the working class a day after President Lee Myung-bak trotted out a new socioeconomic vision for compassionate capitalism. Opposition politicians called on Lee to start with dropping his own growth-first economic policies. The governing Grand National Party vowed to i...
Lawmaker calls for budget hike for East Sea campaign

Aug 16, 2011

South Korea should increase its budget and assign more diplomats to bolster its campaign to change the international community’s name for the waters separating the Korean Peninsula and Japan to the “East Sea,” a ruling party lawmaker said Tuesday. Amid renewed passions over the East Sea name, Rep. Chung Ok-nim of the Grand National Party pointed out that South Korea allocated only 50 million won...
Lee calls for measures to curb expected rise in home rental

Aug 16, 2011

President Lee Myung-bak expressed concern Tuesday that home rental prices are feared to spike in the fall again and instructed the Cabinet to study ways to curb them, his spokesman said. Earlier this year, home rental prices rose sharply, pulling up overall consumer prices. In April alone, rental prices jumped 12.5 percent from the same period last year, the sharpest increase in more than eight ...
Chaebol pushed to change their ways

Aug 16, 2011

Latest bout of friction with political circles presses conglomerates to assume more social responsibility When asked what word first comes to mind when large corporations are mentioned during a TV interview in July, Grand National Party Chairman Hong Joon-pyo gave an answer that left his interviewer and audience taken aback: “Exploitation.” At the end of the interview, Hong came back to the que...