Most Popular
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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[Grace Kao] Hybe vs. Ador: Inspiration, imitation and plagiarism
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President Park Geun-hye slams rumormongering
President Park Geun-hye on Sunday reiterated her wish to keep a recent political scandal at bay during a meeting with governing party lawmakers, amid fears that the allegations against her top aides could derail her economic reforms.Accusations that Park’s former chief of staff Chung Yoon-hoi interfered in the presidential office’s personnel decisions were raised last month by the Segye Ilbo, a local daily. Since then, political debates have centered around the scandal, and less on what Park cal
Dec. 7, 2014
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Park downplays influence scandal surrounding her aides
President Park Geun-hye on Sunday lamented the snowballing scandal over allegations that a group of her core aides meddled in state affairs behind the scenes and asked that people wait for the results of prosecution probe."I think it's a shame that the entire country is swayed by the type of stories that are typically mentioned in private papers,"Park was quoted as saying during a luncheon with the ruling party leadership, referring to unofficial chit sheets, mostly carrying unconfirmed rumors,
Dec. 7, 2014
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S. Korea, Vietnam to hold new round of FTA negotiations this week
South Korea and Vietnam will open a fresh round of negotiations this week for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) as the countries seek to conclude their negotiations, the South Korean trade ministry said Sunday.The ninth round of FTA negotiations will be held in Seoul from Monday through Friday, and the two sides will seek to narrow differences on tariff concessions, service and investment, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.The bilateral FTA talks were launched in November 2012
Dec. 7, 2014
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Nominees for heads of safety agency, antitrust watchdog win
President Park Geun-hye's nominees for chief of public safety and head of the nation's antitrust watchdog won parliamentary approval Friday, paving the way for their appointment to the jobs.Last month, Park tapped former Navy admiral Park In-yong to head a new agency tasked with overseeing disaster management. She also named Jeong Jae-chan, a former vice chairman of the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), to lead the organization.Park, the nominee, was deemed fit for the job based on his 40 years of fa
Dec. 5, 2014
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Bipartisan row escalates over scandal surrounding Park aides
The nation's ruling and opposition parties clashed Friday as prosecutors widened their probe into allegations that a group of core aides to President Park Geun-hye handled state affairs behind the scenes.The scandal centers on allegations that Jeong Yun-hoe, Park's chief of staff during her term in parliament, tried to oust the president's current chief secretary Kim Ki-choon and received briefings on state affairs through regular meetings with a group of 10 key presidential officials.Jeong hold
Dec. 5, 2014
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Ex-presidential secretary summoned over leaked document
A former presidential secretary appeared before prosecutors Friday to face questioning over a leaked presidential document alleging a former close aide to President Park Geun-hye meddled in state affairs. (Yonhap)Citing the internal document, the local daily Segye Times reported last week that Jeong Yun-hoe, who was chief secretary to Park during her term in parliament, had regularly met with a coterie of 10 key presidential aides since October 2013 to receive briefings on state affairs.Jeong, w
Dec. 5, 2014
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Safety minister nominee apologizes for playing golf after N.K. attack
Safety minister-designate Park In-yong on Thursday admitted to a series of accusations, including that he played golf just two days after North Korea’s deadly shelling of a front-line South Korean island, and apologized for his actions.The former Navy admiral was alleged to have played golf at a military-owned facility after an attack by the North in November 2010 that left four dead. “I played sports after the attack. Although I had not been serving in the Navy at the time, it was an inappropri
Dec. 4, 2014
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S. Korea set for on-site survey in DMZ project
South Korea plans to conduct a field survey next week in the demilitarized zone bisecting the Koreas to select a site for a “peace park,” an official said Thursday.The Park Geun-hye administration has pushed for the ambitious project to create an ecological park in the heavily armed DMZ as part of efforts to reduce military tensions on the peninsula.“A government-civilian survey team has been created. Around 20 members will look around several candidate sites from Dec. 10-12,” the Unification Mi
Dec. 4, 2014
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Malaysian PM to visit S. Korea next week
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak plans to visit Seoul next week for talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye on trade and investment, Park's office said Thursday.The two leaders are set to hold talks on Wednesday on how to boost bilateral trade and investment. Trade volume between the two countries stood at US$19.6 billion last year, according to South Korean data.Razak also plans to attend a special summit to be hosted by Park for leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asi
Dec. 4, 2014
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Police officer summoned for questioning over document leak
A senior police officer appeared Thursday before prosecutors for questioning over suspicions that he had leaked a presidential document saying a former aide to President Park Geun-hye meddled in state affairs.Police superintendent Park Kwan-cheon, who had worked for the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae until moving to a Seoul police station early February, is suspected of authoring and leaking the document dated Jan. 6.Police inspector Park Kwan-cheon appears before the prosecution on Thursday.
Dec. 4, 2014
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Prosecutors raid Blue House leak suspect’s offices
The prosecution on Wednesday raided the offices and home of police Superintendent Park Gwan-chun in its expanding investigation into the leak of presidential documents linked to an alleged influence-peddling scandal. Park reportedly removed intelligence reports on Chung Yoon-hoi, a former aide of President Park Geun-hye, from the presidential office and leaked the information to the media. Chung is at the center of the political whirlwind as he is rumored to have meddled in state affairs by regu
Dec. 3, 2014
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Opposition readies offensive against Saenuri at Assembly
South Korea’s main opposition party intensified accusations of government corruption on Wednesday, threatening a drawn-out conflict that could hamper efforts to pass a series of key bills. New Politics Alliance for Democracy lawmakers have accused former President Lee Myung-bak of graft in his four rivers restoration project and “resource diplomacy” policy, and Chung Yoon-hoi, a former secretary to President Park Geun-hye, of illegally interfering in presidential decisions. The governing Saenuri
Dec. 3, 2014
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Park says gov't to inject 2 tln won for regional development
President Park Geun-hye said Wednesday that the government plans to inject 2 trillion won (US$1.7 billion) by 2018 into regional development.The move is the latest in a series of efforts to promote balanced regional development in a country where about one fifth of the 51 million populace lives in Seoul.Many young South Koreans in rural provinces have flocked to Seoul in search of high-paying jobs over the past decades, a move that has led to the hollowing-out of rural communities. South Korea
Dec. 3, 2014
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S. Korea, China to hold talks on illegal fishing
South Korea plans to hold talks with China this month to explore ways to better tackle illegal fishing by Chinese fishermen in South Korean waters, the Korea Coast Guard chief said Wednesday.The 6th Seoul-Beijing talks on fisheries cooperation, planned for Dec. 17-19 in Beijing, reflect the importance of increased diplomatic measures to address rampant poaching by Chinese fishing boats, Coast Guard chief Hong Ik-tae said in a meeting with senior representatives of the ruling Saenuri Party. The C
Dec. 3, 2014
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Lawmakers adopt resolution on inter-Korean dialogue
A National Assembly panel passed a resolution Wednesday calling for the resumption of talks between the two Koreas.The special committee for the development of inter-Korean ties pointed out that bilateral relations remain frosty amid the North's repeated military provocations, nearly two years after the launch of the Park Geun-hye administration in the South.It emphasized that Seoul and Pyongyang should restart talks without attaching any preconditions to discuss a number of pending issues such
Dec. 3, 2014
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Opposition calls for resignation of key presidential aides
An opposition lawmaker called Wednesday for the resignation of the presidential chief of staff and three other key aides in connection with a scandal over an alleged power struggle.Park Jie-won of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy said Kim Ki-choon, the chief of staff to President Park Geun-hye, and three other of Park's key aides should quit to ensure prosecutors can conduct a proper probe into the scandal."People would believe the outcome of the investigation if these peo
Dec. 3, 2014
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Conglomerates cut investment on sluggish economic conditions: report
South Korea's big conglomerates have scaled back their investments this year in the face of sluggish economic conditions, a report by a local corporate research firm showed Wednesday.According to CEO Score, the country's top 30 business groups spent some 91.85 trillion won (US$82.42 billion) on facilities and research and development (R&D) in the first three quarters of this year, down 5.8 percent from 97.5 trillion won tallied the year before.It said facility investment, which makes up 71.2 per
Dec. 3, 2014
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Parliament hits budget deadline
The National Assembly approved next year’s government budget Tuesday, ending weeks of partisan bickering in time for a constitutional deadline that has rarely been followed.The 2015 budget is approximately 375.4 trillion won ($340 billion), an increase of about 5.7 percent from last year. Lawmakers cut about 600 billion won from the government’s original draft budget submitted in September.Taxes on cigarettes will rise by 2,000 won per pack, while funds related to a free child care program calle
Dec. 2, 2014
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[Newsmaker] Ex-Park aide shrouded in speculation
The scandal centered on Chung Yoon-hoi continues to expand and threatens to bring rival parties to a headlong clash, but little is known about the man himself. It has been alleged that Chung is at the core of an unofficial group of advisors to President Park Geun-hye, and that he has colluded with three presidential secretaries on a regular basis to exchange classified information on her state management. Chung and his supposed collaborators are also alleged to have tried to pull strings to repl
Dec. 2, 2014
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Seoul, Washington seek to put N.K. rights on UNSC agenda
South Korea and the United States are moving to put North Korea’s dismal human rights conditions on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council within this year in a bid to continue U.N. discussions on the issue and turn up the heat on Pyongyang, government sources said Tuesday.North Korea’s human rights situation has been in the spotlight as a U.N. General Assembly committee last month passed a resolution calling for the referral of the country’s human rights violations to the Internation
Dec. 2, 2014