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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Park calls for exam overhaul
President Park Geun-hye urged officials on Tuesday to devise ways to overhaul the nation’s college entrance exam, which came under fire after errors were found on the annual test, throwing test-takers and their parents into confusion.“Errors on the college entrance exam affect not only test-takers, but the entire nation, including students and parents, and also have an important influence on (public) confidence in education policies,” Park said at a weekly Cabinet meeting.“By reviewing the curre
Nov. 25, 2014
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Bipartisan team discusses draft bill for Sewol victims
A trilateral task force is likely to be nearing a deal over a bill that will provide financial aid to the victims of a deadly ferry accident in April that killed 304, officials said Tuesday.Disagreements among members of the governing Saenuri Party, the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy and the government are “relatively minor” over the potential bill, an aide to a senior NPAD lawmaker said.A key detail in the wording of the legislation however remains a sticking point.Saenuri
Nov. 25, 2014
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Blue House hopeful blasts Sankei indictment
Rep. Moon Jae-in, an opposition lawmaker and a likely presidential contender in 2017, criticized on Tuesday the South Korean prosecutors’ earlier decision to indict a Japanese journalist based in Seoul on a charge of defaming President Park Geun-hye with a report citing rumors about her whereabouts when a fatal ferry sank in April. Moon, who lost to Park by a narrow margin in the 2012 presidential election, called the indictment an embarrassing affair and expressed concerns about alleged attempt
Nov. 25, 2014
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S. Korea willing to consider fertilizer aid to North: minister
South Korea may send fertilizer aid to North Korea to help boost its agriculture and forestry sectors, the unification minister said Tuesday, signaling Seoul could ease its years-long sanctions on Pyongyang. South Korea has virtually banned rice and fertilizer aid to North Korea since 2010, when it slapped the sanctions following the North's deadly torpedoing of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in March that year. All inter-Korean exchanges, excluding some humanitarian aid programs and a
Nov. 25, 2014
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N. Korea, Russia agree to push for six-way nuclear talks: KCNA
Top North Korean and Russian officials agreed to redouble efforts to revive the six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program when they met in Moscow last week, the North's official news agency said Tuesday. President Vladimir Putin and Choe Ryong-hae, special envoy of the North's leader Kim Jong-un, also agreed to improve political, economic and military exchanges between the two countries in 2015, reported the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Next year, Korea will commemorate the 70th a
Nov. 25, 2014
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Leading opposition lawmaker censures libel suit against Japanese reporter
A prominent opposition lawmaker seen as a potential presidential candidate in the next election expressed embarrassment Tuesday that prosecutors have indicted a Japanese reporter on charges of defaming President Park Geun-hye. Tatsuya Kato, former head of the Seoul bureau of Japan's conservative Sankei Shimbun newspaper, was charged with libel last month after he reported that Park held a secret meeting with an unidentified man during the early hours of April's deadly ferry sinking. The sinki
Nov. 25, 2014
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Former parliament chief indicted over sexual harassment
A former parliamentary leader was indicted Tuesday on charges of sexually harassing a golf caddie in a central eastern town in September, prosecutors said. The Chuncheon District Prosecutors' Office said it indicted Park Hee-tae, 67, without physical detention for allegedly groping the female caddie several times at a golf course in Wonju, some 132 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Sept 11. Park, who chaired the National Assembly from 2010-2012, has denied any wrongdoing, saying he simply wa
Nov. 25, 2014
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Fines sought for ruling-party lawmaker for leaking classified documents
Prosecutors sought 5 million (US$4,800) in fines Tuesday for Rep. Chung Moon-hun of the ruling Saenuri Party over allegations he illegally obtained and leaked a classified transcript of the 2007 inter-Korean summit. The transcript of the summit talks between late South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il raised a political controversy after the Saenuri Party claimed ahead of the 2012 presidential election that Roh had offered to surrender the western sea borde
Nov. 25, 2014
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Park urges parliament to ratify free trade deals with China, New Zealand
South Korean President Park Geun-hye urged the National Assembly Tuesday to ratify the country's free trade agreements (FTA) with China and New Zealand, saying the new deals are expected to boost the nation's sluggish economy. Park made the remark during her first Cabinet meeting since returning from a series of multilateral summits held in China, Myanmar and Australia earlier this month. On the summits' sidelines, South Korea concluded two separate free trade deals with China and New Zealan
Nov. 25, 2014
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Seoul to soon decide on plan for Ebola response team
South Korea will likely finalize a plan next week for the dispatch of medical workers to Ebola-hit Sierra Leone following the completion of a field study, officials said Tuesday. The 12-member advance team has recently visited a British Ebola clinic being built in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, to which Seoul's medical workers will be sent. "As the field study has been wrapped up, Seoul plans to decide around next week when and how medical personnel will be sent," said a government offici
Nov. 25, 2014
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S. Korea moves to intensify penalty against illegal fishing
South Korea is moving to significantly strengthen its penalties against illegal fishing by its vessels in high seas that include more than doubling its minimum fine for pirate fishing, a government official said Tuesday. Under a revision to the law on deep-sea fishing, already submitted to the National Assembly, the country seeks to increase the minimum fine for illegal fishing to 500 million won (US$448,350), according to the official from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. "Maintaining a
Nov. 25, 2014
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Lee aide open to probe of past administration
A former close aide to former President Lee Myung-bak said Monday the governing party should accept the opposition’s calls to probe graft allegations against the Lee administration.Governing Saenuri Party Rep. Chung Doo-un is the first among those close to Lee to support the New Politics Alliance for Democracy’s demands for a parliamentary investigation. Chung is known to have played a key role during Lee’s election campaign, but fell out with him during Lee’s presidency.Main opposition NPAD law
Nov. 24, 2014
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Park supports carbon fiber tech
President Park Geun-hye on Monday visited North Jeolla Province cities for the first time since taking office in early 2013 to help mark the launch of a state-funded center for startup companies. The president urged the center, established under her creative economy mantra, to play a leading role in developing the carbon fiber and food industries in the region. “The Jeonbuk center should become a center for the realization of the creative economy by developing both traditional and future industr
Nov. 24, 2014
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Blue House denies probe of former aide
South Korea’s presidential office on Monday denied allegations that it conducted an investigation into a former confidant of President Park Geun-hye on suspicions of influence-peddling. The Segye Ilbo claimed that Cheong Wa Dae’s division in charge of civil service discipline allegedly launched a probe on Chung Yoon-hoi in January, after obtaining intelligence that he had pulled strings for officials seeking special favors for promotion. Chung was a key adviser to Park when she entered politics
Nov. 24, 2014
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Presidential office denies reported probe into former Park aide
The presidential office on Monday denied a newspaper report that the office conducted an inspection into allegations a former aide to President Park Geun-hye took bribes in exchange for favors in high-level government appointments. The report by the daily Segye Times reported that the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae launched an inspection in January into allegations that Jeong Yun-hoe, who is reported to still wield significant power in the administration, took hundreds of millions of won (h
Nov. 24, 2014
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Park calls for development of carbon industry
President Park Geun-hye called Monday for the development of the carbon industry as a source of new jobs and businesses, saying the material has emerged as a substitute for steel. Park made the remarks at the opening ceremony of an "innovation center" in Jeonju, 243 kilometers south of Seoul, on her first visit to North Jeolla Province since taking office in February last year. Innovation centers were launched by the Park administration in September under a plan to nurture local startups and
Nov. 24, 2014
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Parliament begins formal discussions on N.K. human rights bills
South Korea's National Assembly on Monday began formal discussions on a set of long-pending bills on North Korea's human rights situation, apparently prodded by last week's U.N. resolution accusing the North's top leaders of gross human rights abuses. The bills -- one proposed by the ruling Saenuri Party and another proposed by the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy -- were simultaneously brought to the floor of the Assembly's foreign affairs and unification committee, nearly
Nov. 24, 2014
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Seoul to double contribution to cooperative fund with Pacific Islands
South Korea plans to double its contribution to a cooperation fund with Pacific Island countries (PICs) from next year in a bid to cope with climate change, Seoul's foreign ministry said Monday. Seoul has provided US$500,000 to the Korea-Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Cooperation Fund that was set up in 2008 in an effort to enhance partnerships with 14 island countries. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se announced the pledge ahead of him meeting foreign ministers from the Pacific Island countries.
Nov. 24, 2014
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Gov't pushing to elevate cyber warfare into military operations
The government has been pushing to categorize cyberspace operations as de facto military ones under the control of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) commander as part of efforts to boost capabilities to counter growing security threats online, defense ministry officials said Monday. Currently, the cyber command of countering security threats in cyberspace including hacking attempts mostly by North Korea is under the Ministry of National Defense, with its activities being regarded more as adminis
Nov. 24, 2014
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Seoul, L.A. to boost cooperation in disaster prevention, tourism
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and his Los Angeles counterpart Eric Garcetti signed an agreement Monday to expand cooperation in disaster prevention and tourism, the Seoul metropolitan government said. The agreement also calls for the two cities to cooperate further in urban security, culture, transport and environment, Seoul officials said. During the signing ceremony, Park awarded Garcetti with an honorary citizenship of the South Korean capital. "Now that Mr. Garcetti is an honorary Seoul cit
Nov. 24, 2014