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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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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KT launches new mobile plans for foreign residents
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Park orders strong deterrence against N. Korean provocation
President Park Geun-hye ordered the foreign affairs and security-related ministries on Tuesday to build up diplomatic and military deterrences to leave no room for North Korea to consider any provocation.“While it is a must to strongly retaliate against any provocation by the North, what is more important is to leave no room for North Korea to consider any provocation through robust diplomatic and military deterrence,” Park said.The meeting presided over by the president and attended by National
April 2, 2013
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Park vows swift reprisal to provocation
President Park Geun-hye on Monday ordered the military to set aside political considerations and strongly and swiftly respond to any provocation by North Korea.Her instructions came as Pyongyang continued unprecedentedly strong military threats against the South and the U.S. in defiance of the U.N. sanctions against its Feb. 12 nuclear test and joint military drills by Seoul and Washington.“I view the threats by North Korea at present very seriously,” Park told the members of the Defense Ministr
April 1, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Blue House under fire for amateurish faux pas
Cheong Wa Dae committed an unprecedented diplomatic faux pas over the weekend by leaking the names of ambassadors-designate to five major posts only minutes after it requested an embargo from the press.It started with a vernacular daily’s report on Saturday that President Park Geun-hye designated Kwon Young-se, a pro-Park former lawmaker, to become ambassador to China.Immediately, presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing addressed a press briefing and listed off the names designated as ambassadors to
April 1, 2013
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Science minister nominee grilled on ethics, Park’s policy
Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning-nominee Choi Mun-kee came under fire over the concept of creative economy policy and allegations of real estate speculation during his parliamentary confirmation hearing on Monday.Creative economy is President Park Geun-hye’s economic development model that aims to create jobs and promote economic growth through technological innovation and venture investment. In response to Democratic United Party lawmakers’ questions about the meaning of the economi
April 1, 2013
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Charges pile up against former NIS chief
The main opposition Democratic United Party on Monday filed a complaint against former National Intelligence Service chief Won Sei-hoon on charges of political interference and abuse of authority. The DUP claims that Won violated the National Intelligence Service Act and the Public Official Election Act by allegedly ordering his agents to carry out what critics call smear campaigns against opposition politicians and progressive activists.Five legal complaints have been filed so far against Won i
April 1, 2013
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President taps diplomat, key aides as ambassadors
President Park Geun-hye tapped former first Vice Foreign Minister Ahn Ho-young as South Korea’s ambassador to the U.S. and former three-term Saenuri Party lawmaker Kwon Young-se as ambassador to China, Cheong Wa Dae said Sunday.As her chief envoy to Japan, Park named Lee Byung-kee, adviser to the Youido Institute, the ruling party’s think tank. She decided to retain the current ambassador to Moscow, Wi Sung-lac, and incumbent envoy to the U.N., Kim Sook.The three new diplomats will be officially
March 31, 2013
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Saenuri denounces Park aides over nominations, policy vision
Senior members of the ruling Saenuri Party denounced President Park Geun-hye’s aides Saturday over a recent debacle in Cabinet appointments and their lack of communication with political circles and the public. During a workshop involving officials from the party and Cheong Wa Dae, the politicians also criticized the vague vision of the president’s policy for a creative economy. “The biggest reason for the fall in the president’s approval rating is personnel problems. The office of the civil aff
March 31, 2013
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‘Nuclear weapons will aggravate regional tensions’
The main opposition Democratic United Party says nuclear armament of South Korea would only generate more problems, further aggravating tension with the North and triggering an arms race in Northeast Asia.“Strong words such as nuclear armament and redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons are coming from even those with responsibility within the ruling party. It feels as though the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula is approaching a crisis,” Rep. Park Hong-keun said at a meeting of the DU
March 31, 2013
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‘Tactical nukes only means to deter N.K. nuclear ambitions’
The ruling Saenuri Party has long supported taking a hard-line approach to North Korean provocations. Some of the most prominent members of the ruling party are the staunchest supporters of redeploying tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea as a deterrent to Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.Among them, the party’s former chairman Rep. Chung Mong-joon has been the most outspoken.“The question is, for South Koreans, can we live peacefully with a nuclear-armed North Korea? The answer is ‘no.’ Nuclear
March 31, 2013
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Seoul divided over redeploying nukes
North Korea’s Feb. 12 nuclear test and continued military threats have sparked calls for Seoul to take a tougher stance against the secluded regime including enhanced nuclear deterrence. One of the most controversial issues is conservatives’ renewed proposal to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea.Unlike strategic nuclear weapons that are designed to act as deterrence to war or to damage the opponent’s war capabilities, tactical nuclear weapons are built for use on a battlefield. The
March 31, 2013
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Gov't set to reveal plans to revamp real estate market
SEOUL -- The government plans to announce a set of measures to help revitalize the country's real estate market, government officials said Sunday. The measures, set to be revealed Monday, will be the first of their kind since the Park Geun-hye administration took office late last month. The move comes as a downturn in the real estate market is also leading to a slowdown in the construction market, and thus affecting the entire economy and job market as well. As of the end of February, ther
March 31, 2013
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KEIA provides key information on Koreas in interactive format
In need of up-to-date data on North Korea's leadership or South Korea's global trade, there is now a quicker way than searching for information on Google, where many long, time-consuming articles often turn up.The Korea Economic Institute of America (KEIA) is providing a one-stop solution -- Korea Analytics (http://keia.org/landing/welcome-korea-analytics).Recently, it updated the site so as to offer what it calls "interactive visualization of data" on Korea, from what's going on in North Korea
March 31, 2013
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Gov't, ruling party, presidential office pledge closer cooperation
Senior officials from the government, the presidential office and the ruling Saenuri Party called in unison for closer cooperation with each other Saturday as they held a workshop to discuss ways to make the new administration of President Park Geun-hye successful."All of us are in the same boat," Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said during the workshop at a training center for civil servants in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul. "If the government becomes successful and wins praises, credits will go
March 30, 2013
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Presidential office apologizes for trouble over personnel appointments
The presidential office issued a public apology Saturday for mishandling personnel affairs after a series of nominees for senior government posts have resigned over alleged ethical lapses and other problems."As head of the Presidential Committee for Personnel Affairs, I am very apologetic for causing concern to the people over personnel issues of the new government," presidential chief of staff Huh Tae-yeol said in a statement read by presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing. "We will try to ensure ev
March 30, 2013
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Most top officials’wealth rises despite economic downturn
In spite of the economic downturn straining everyday life for ordinary Koreans, 7 out of every 10 members of the parliament and senior officials at government branches saw their assets increase last year, a report showed Friday. Nearly 72 percent of the country’s high-ranking officials and lawmakers reported that their assets rose in 2012 from the previous year. Under an anti-corruption law, 2,387 senior-level civil servants and members of the National Assembly were required to report their pers
March 29, 2013
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Lawmaker quits ethics panel over nude photo
Rep. Shim Jae-chul of the ruling Saenuri Party resigned from the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Ethics on Thursday, a week after he was caught on camera searching for nude photographs online during a parliamentary session.On March 22, Shim was caught on camera while looking at a photograph of a nude woman on his smartphone.At first Shim explained that he received the photograph through the popular mobile message application Kakao Talk and that he had opened the file to see what it was.
March 28, 2013
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English names of government ministries finalized
When the then presidential transition team announced last month that the incoming government will create a new ministry in charge of science and information technology, many English-language media reporters were at a loss over what to call it in English.The difficulty was because its Korean title was seen as too grand and perhaps rhetorical as well. When translated literally, it should be the ministry of "future creation and science." The name was coined apparently to underscore the new governme
March 28, 2013
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South Korea to propose family reunions, dialogue
The Seoul government will propose talks with Pyongyang “at an appropriate time” to resume reunions of separated families in a two-track approach to defrosting tension on the Korean Peninsula, the Unification Ministry said Wednesday.For this, the ministry will suggest meetings between the Red Cross representatives of each side based on how inter-Korean relations progress, while also seeking dialogue between government officials.The Foreign Ministry said it would place priority on pressuring the N
March 27, 2013
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Parties gear up for by-elections
The ruling and opposition parties are gearing up for the first elections under the Park Geun-hye administration amid escalating controversy over the president’s flawed appointments. In the April 24 by-elections, three National Assembly seats ― Seoul’s Nowon C, Busan’s Yeongdo, and the Buyeo-Cheongyang constituency in South Chungcheong Province ― and a number of provincial government and council seats will be contested. The main opposition Democratic United Party hopes to use the by-elections as
March 27, 2013
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Chung to lead Korea-China lawmakers’ association
Korean and Chinese lawmakers launched a legislators’ association for foreign affairs issues on Tuesday, with Rep. Chung Mong-joon of the ruling Saenuri Party being selected as its first chairman. “(The association) will actively work to take Korea-China relations beyond that of an economic alliance to an alliance that shares values common to mankind such as peace, human rights and upholding international laws,” Chung said at the launch ceremony. He went on to say that measures that will enable t
March 27, 2013