Most Popular
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Yoon apologizes for first lady Dior bag scandal, calls push for special probe ‘political’
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Korea forecast to overtake Taiwan in chip production by 2032: report
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Girl hanging on bridge, police trying to rescue her both fall off; rescued immediately
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[K-pop’s dilemma] Can K-pop break free from ‘fandom’ model?
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YouTuber fatally stabbed on livestream by another YouTuber in Busan
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Yoon rebuffs opposition's call for special probe into wife
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Arrest warrant issued for medical student for allegedly killing girlfriend after breakup
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Stray Kids hit with racism in Met Gala photo line
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[News Analysis] Yoon's first 2 years marked by intense confrontations, lack of leadership
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Yoon apologizes for wife's 'unwise conduct'
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Cheong Wa Dae steeped in history
Cheong Wa Dae has been at the center of Korea’s modern history, from Japan’s colonial rule, through a succession of dictatorships and to the grueling struggles for industrialization and democratization.The site for today’s presidential complex in central Seoul was once occupied by Japan’s colonial governor and then by the U.S. military administrator before South Korea’s first president, Syngman Rhee, took it for his official residence in 1948.Its history dates back to the Goryeo Dynasty (918-139
Jan. 4, 2013
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Lee’s court appointment faces stiff opposition
President Lee Myung-bak’s appointment of Lee Dong-heub, a former Constitutional Court justice, to head the top judicial body, is facing stiff opposition from the main opposition Democratic United Party for his past rulings and alleged ideological bias.“Appointing Lee Dong-heub, who exhibits far-right conservatism, as head of the Constitutional Court is inappropriate,” Yoon Gwan-seok, a DUP spokesperson, told reporters in a briefing at the National Assembly on Friday. Yoon accused Lee of exhibiti
Jan. 4, 2013
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Park’s team filled with experts, aides
President-elect Park Geun-hye finally completed her much-awaited lineup for the transition committee that faces a slew of tasks over the next seven weeks, before the government handover.Apparently aiming at stability, the transition team is a mixture of experts such as social science professor Yoo Min-bong of Sungkyunkwan University (planning and coordination of state affairs), and key members of Park’s presidential campaign team, such as former Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo (foreign affairs and
Jan. 4, 2013
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Park urges Japan to face up to history
President-elect Park Geun-hye on Friday called on Japan to face up to history and make joint efforts to forge a future-oriented bilateral relationship during her meeting with the special delegation sent by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.“It is important to face up to history and strive for a future of reconciliation and cooperation, and for the two countries to consistently accumulate trust,” she told the four-member delegation, including Japan’s Ambassador to Seoul Koro Bessho and former Fin
Jan. 4, 2013
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Ex-defense minister Kim Jang-soo named to head foreign policy team in Park's transition committee
President-elect Park Geun-hye named former defense minister Kim Jang-soo to lead a transition team handling external affairs, security and North Korea policies Friday as she finalized the selection of about two dozen top committee members.The long-awaited announcement paved the way for the transition committee to begin work -- more than two weeks after Park was elected South Korea's first female president in the Dec. 19 vote.The committee is made up of nine smaller teams and their 23 leaders wer
Jan. 4, 2013
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Park to meet with special envoys of Japan's Abe
South Korea's incoming President Park Geun-hye was to meet with special envoys of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday in her first diplomatic test amid concern relations between the two neighbors could worsen further under the right-wing Abe.Aides say Park's meeting with the delegation, led by former Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, is unlikely to take up hard issues and turn testy as it will be their first meeting. Still, the meeting has drawn attention to see whether Park w
Jan. 4, 2013
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Park seeks to curtail presidential power
President-elect Park Geun-hye’s government overhaul plans prioritize decentralizing presidential power to craft a more accountable, transparent and efficient government. The reform steps being discussed include granting more power to the prime minister and the head of each government ministry, strengthening the role of Cabinet meetings, and reinstating the post of vice prime minister.During the early phase of the presidential campaign, Ahn Dae-hee, Park’s chief political reform strategist and fo
Jan. 3, 2013
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Budget committee lawmakers under fire for overseas trip
A group of lawmakers criticized for back-door deals to insert pork-barrel projects into the national budget has again come under fire for leaving on costly overseas trips using taxpayers’ money.On Tuesday, the Saenuri Party’s Rep. Chang Yoon-seok, the chair of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, and fellow Reps. Kim Jae-kyung and Kweon Seong-dong, along with Reps. Ahn Gyu-baek and Min Hong-chul of the Democratic United Party left for an 11-day trip to Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama.On t
Jan. 3, 2013
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More N. Korean escapees receive asylum in U.S.
The total number of North Korean escapees who received asylum in the United States reached 23 in 2012, up by seven from the year before, a news report said Thursday.Washington-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that there was a trickle of North Korean nationals who won legal refugee status in the U.S. with numbers peaking at five and six in June and July, respectively.The total is a gain from 16 people accepted by Washington for the whole of 2011 and 17 in 2010, but it is still a small number
Jan. 3, 2013
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Korean diplomat in Saudi Arabia dies in car accident
A South Korean diplomat in Saudi Arabia died earlier this week in an apparent car accident, a senior official at Seoul’s foreign ministry said Thursday. The body of the consular official, who was only identified by his surname Kim, was found inside his car on Wednesday on a motorway in Riyadh, the Seoul official said on the condition of anonymity. “Local police are investigating into the exact cause of the apparent car accident,” the official said. The consular official was working at the South
Jan. 3, 2013
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Lee names former justice to head Constitutional Court
President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday tapped Lee Dong-heub, former Constitutional Court justice, to head the top judicial body.Lee, 61, is the first former justice of the court to be nominated for the top post, Cheong Wa Dae said. All the presidents, including current chief Lee Kang-kook, were from outside the court. Lee’s six-year term ends on Jan. 21.“While serving as a Constitutional Court justice, Lee made stable legal judgments based on his strong resolve to preserve the democratic constituti
Jan. 3, 2013
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70% of Japanese see Dokdo as their land: survey
TOKYO (Yonhap News) ― Some seven out of 10 Japanese people regard South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo as their territory, with 90 percent being aware of a diplomatic row between the two countries over it, a survey showed Thursday.According to the survey of 440 Japanese citizens and students on the Dokdo issue, 91 percent said they have heard of Japan’s diplomatic tension with South Korea over Dokdo, the rocky outcroppings in the body of water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.Of the r
Jan. 3, 2013
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Transition team to tackle long to-do list
President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team has a long to-do list to prepare the incoming government for a weak economic outlook, prickly relations with neighboring countries and a clamor of calls for wider welfare.With a mandate to pursue “national unity and happiness” as touted by Park, a total of nine sub-committees and two exclusive committees are likely to start work as early as this weekend.About 100-strong and led by chairman Kim Yong-joon, vice chairman Chin Young and 24 committee me
Jan. 3, 2013
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NIS employee linked to online election activity
Police said it found traces of activity by a National Intelligence Service agent connected to online posts about the presidential election.The employee came under fire over allegations that she had posted negative online comments about the Democratic United Party presidential candidate Moon Jae-in. The opposition party’s officials surrounded the agent’s house, virtually putting Kim under house arrest for two days without presenting evidence, just ahead of the presidential election last month. Th
Jan. 3, 2013
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Park to launch transition team this week
President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team could be launched within this week with the personnel line-up taking shape, sources said Wednesday.“The list of the remaining members of the committee will be released within the next two to three days at the latest,” said Yoon Chang-jung, spokesman for the transition team. On Wednesday, Park remained at her residence in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, going over her choices for the team that will be in charge of designing the new government’s organ
Jan. 2, 2013
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Budget process revives scourge of old politics
The nation’s politicians appear to be still mired in populism and vulnerable to special interests despite much-touted pledges of political reform.The National Assembly’s year set off Tuesday with the delayed passage of the budget which included pork-barrel funding at the expense of security, research and other crucial national projects.The 342 trillion won ($321 billion) spending plan was approved after hours of wrangling over the funding for the naval base on Jeju.The approval came a month afte
Jan. 2, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Yoon’s selection starts with controversy
President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team is receiving criticism even before it is launched.At the center of the controversy is Yoon Chang-jung, a journalist-turned-columnist with vulgarity to match his radical conservativeness.Park’s appointment of Yoon as her senior spokesperson on Dec. 24 came as a complete surprise to all.Yoon was one of the most active columnists during the election, making such over-the-top comments as calling progressives “anti-Korean forces,” or former conservative
Jan. 2, 2013
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P.M. calls for national unity for new year
Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik on Wednesday called on government officials to strive to achieve national unity, a key ideal to make the country a better place.“Our society experiences fast-spreading conflicts among different classes and along generational and ideological lines, which splits public opinion,” Kim said during the government’s kick-off meeting for 2013.“If we fail to overcome these divisional factors, we will neither be able to achieve the advanced, top-class country status nor win li
Jan. 2, 2013
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Japan P.M. tells envoy to improve ties with Korea
TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan’s new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Tuesday told his special envoy to Seoul to work to improve ties with South Korea, describing it as Tokyo’s most important neighbour, media reports said.Abe plans to dispatch veteran lawmaker and former finance minister Fukushiro Nukaga to Seoul to see president-elect Park Geun-Hye on Friday in an attempt to improve relations soured by a rumbling row over disputed islands.Abe, who took office last week, met Nukaga at his private house and instru
Jan. 2, 2013
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New taxi bill presents conundrums for Lee
To deny the rare display of bipartisanship would be a slap in the face, but to agree to the new taxi bill, a chain of actions could be triggered to hurt the government’s commitment to fiscal health.With less than two months remaining in office, President Lee Myung-bak is faced with the tough choice of whether to sign a new taxi regulation into law, which will test his finesse for statesmanship one last time.It was passed in the National Assembly on Jan. 1 with overwhelming bipartisan support. Th
Jan. 2, 2013