Most Popular
-
1
[Exclusive] Korean military set to ban iPhones over 'security' concerns
-
2
Korean, Romanian leaders discuss defense tech, nuclear energy
-
3
[Graphic News] 77% of young Koreans still financially dependent
-
4
S. Korea calls on Japan to confront history amid Yasukuni Shrine visit
-
5
Yoon’s jailed mother-in-law excluded from latest parole list
-
6
Hybe and Min Hee-jin, CEO of Hybe sublabel Ador, lock horns
-
7
[Pressure points] Leggings in public: Fashion statement or social faux pas?
-
8
Yoo Jae-suk, Yoo Yeon-seok team up in 'Whenever Possible'
-
9
Aging population to drive down Korea's housing prices from 2040: experts
-
10
North Korea holds drills simulating nuclear counterattack against enemy
-
Parties bicker over Lee home probe
Two sides clash over president’s rejection of counsel nomineesRival parties on Thursday clashed after President Lee Myung-bak’s office rejected both opposition-named independent counsel candidates to probe a scandal over his retirement home plan.The main opposition Democratic United Party sharply criticized Lee as it seeks to make the probe a key campaign issue for the Dec. 19 presidential election, while the ruling Saenuri Party strived to contain negative fallout on its candidate.Cheong Wa Dae
Oct. 4, 2012
-
Rival parties clash over special prosecutor candidates
The ruling and opposition parties clashed Thursday over a presidential office request to renegotiate the appointment of two special counsel candidates tasked with re-investigating allegations of state funds being misused to buy land for President Lee Myung-bak's retirement home.The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae urged political parties to follow the letter of a pact on the appointment of candid
Oct. 4, 2012
-
Lee office asks parties to recommend new special prosecutor candidates
President Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday boycotted two special counsels recommended by parliament to re-investigate suspicions that taxpayer money was used to buy a plot of land where he had planned to build his retirement home.Last year, Lee bought a land in southern Seoul for about 5.4 billion won with a plan to build his retirement home there when he leaves office in early 2013. He called off the p
Oct. 3, 2012
-
Candidates ready pledges in tighter race
Park regroups, Moon gains momentum as Ahn starts tourWith the clock ticking until the Dec. 19 election day, the presidential candidates are sharpening their campaigns in the knowledge that the slightest misstep could lose votes in the cut-throat race.The ruling Saenuri Party’s Rep. Park Geun-hye gained an edge against her progressive contenders over the national Chuseok holiday, with her support rating slightly up in the latest polls by Realmeter. The main opposition Democratic United Party’s R
Oct. 3, 2012
-
Maverick human rights lawyer to run for president
Former lawmaker Park Chan-jong will declare his bid to run in the Dec. 19 presidential election in a news conference on Thursday, an association said. He will take part in a nomination race to become the candidate of a moderate civic group launched last month by scholars, experts and activists to field an independent candidate.The human rights lawyer and former five-term lawmaker has drawn public attention with controversial remarks including that the National Assembly should be blown up, and hi
Oct. 3, 2012
-
Presidential candidates continue rallying camps
Major presidential candidates are set to finalize the lineup of their campaign teams this week as they strive to secure figures influential and popular enough to win over voters outside of their traditional support bases. Rep. Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party on Wednesday appointed a number of celebrity artists and civic activists to his camp.Rep. Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party took the day off for last-minute deliberation in deciding her election committee c
Oct. 3, 2012
-
Park gains on Ahn, passes Moon
The presidential race tightened after the Chuseok holidays as the ruling Saenuri Party’s nominee Park Geun-hye boosted her approval rating, closing the gap with Ahn Cheol-soo, who struggled to quell controversy over tax dodging and plagiarism allegations.According to a poll conducted on Monday by Media Research and the Chosun Ilbo, Park gained on Ahn in a two-way matchup to within the margin of error, with 44.7 percent to 47.4 percent.A week before Chuseok, the right-wing candidate had lost mome
Oct. 2, 2012
-
Giant of newspapers took stand for press freedom
It is perhaps fitting that the man largely responsible for reviving the fortunes of the U.S.’ most iconic newspaper should pass away at a time of such uncertainty over the future of the medium itself.Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, the former publisher and chairman of the New York Times who died on Saturday aged 86, appreciated that the financial realities of business applied even in the idealistic world of journalism. Upon taking the helm of the title in 1963, Sulzberger, whose grandfather had purchase
Oct. 2, 2012
-
Parliamentary audit both boon, challenge to candidates
With the Chuseok holiday behind them, the three leading presidential candidates braced for the parliamentary audit of the government, a key political event coming up later this week, while scrambling to find star figures to fill key posts in their teams. The trio ― Park Geun-hye of the Saenuri Party, Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party and independent Ahn Cheol-soo ― all got back on the campaign trail Tuesday, with a bunch of new polls suggesting a tighter race. Park, the conservative Sae
Oct. 2, 2012
-
S. Korea presses Japan on wartime sexual slavery at U.N.
Kim Sung-hwan, Foreign Minister of Korea, addresses the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters, Friday. (AP-Yonhap)In a thinly-veiled swipe at Japan, South Korea's top diplomat urged the world to make utmost efforts to end "wartime sexual violence" and exhorted any offender to face "the dark side of its history and rectify past wrongdoings." Addressing the U.N.
Sept. 29, 2012
-
Libya attackers linked to Al-Qaeda: U.S.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The U.S. intelligence community said Friday that a deadly assault on a US consulate in Libya was a planned attack linked to Al-Qaeda but it stressed that "many unanswered questions" remained."It remains unclear if any group or person exercised overall command and control of the attack, and if extremist group leaders directed their members to participate," Shawn Turner, spokesman
Sept. 29, 2012
-
Ahn faces new ethics questions
Additional suspicions were raised about independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo on Friday that could seriously damage his upright image that has gained him the support of young and liberal voters.Local TV media and newspapers reported that the rookie politician dodged tax-paying duties, took credit for research work that was not his own and received a high salary even after he left the management of his computer virus developer Ahn Lab.Fresh allegations were raised a day after Ahn made
Sept. 28, 2012
-
DUP’s Park Jie-won indicted on bribery
Prosecutors on Friday indicted without arrest the main opposition Democratic United Party’s floor leader Rep. Park Jie-won on charges of receiving 80 million won ($71,000) from two savings banks between 2008 and 2011.The Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said Park is suspected of receiving 20 million won of illegal political funds from Im Seok, president of Solomon Saving Bank, around March 2008. Park is also suspected to have received around 30 million won each
Sept. 28, 2012
-
Candidates get tactical on Moon-Ahn alliance
As the presidential race picks up speed, the war of nerves over the potential alliance between presidential candidates Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party and independent Ahn Cheol-soo is escalating.Both Moon and Ahn, for the time being, are focused on securing the upper hand in the would-be alliance. The aides of the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate Rep. Park Geun-hye, on the other hand, are stepping up their vilification of the opposition.Various methods are being weighed f
Sept. 28, 2012
-
Seoul ups pressure on Japan over Dokdo, colonial atrocities
Japan has double standard over Dokdo and Senkaku islands: KimSeoul has ratcheted up pressure on Japan to give up its claim over Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo and properly recognize its colonial atrocities during the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week.Korea’s Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan on Thursday reiterated Seoul’s concern over Tokyo’s unapologetic stance during his meeting with Japan’s Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba on the sidelines of the assembly.“We delivered our stance o
Sept. 28, 2012
-
DUP floor leader indicted without detention on bribery charges
Rep. Park Jie-won, the floor leader of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP), was indicted without detention on Friday on suspicion of accepting illegal campaign funds from two troubled savings banks, prosecutors said.Park, who served as a chief of staff under the late former President Kim Dae-jung, is suspected of receiving a combined total of 80 million won (US$72,000) from the heads
Sept. 28, 2012
-
Ahn apologizes for wife’s tax-dodging
Ahn Cheol-soo apologized for tax-dodging by his wife related to a real estate contract in an effort to contain a burgeoning scandal at odds with his pledges to tackle tax evasion. The presidential candidate nevertheless came to face the public’s growing suspicion that some other financial irregularity allegations against him may also be true.A local online newspaper reported on Wednesday that Kim Mi-kyung, Ahn’s wife and a medical professor at Seoul National University, misrepresented the purcha
Sept. 27, 2012
-
Officials from all parties in N. Korea nuclear talks meet
DALIAN, China (Yonhap News) ― Senior officials from the six nations involving in stalled talks on North Korea’s nuclear program gathered Thursday at an annual security conference here, where long-standing tensions over the North’s nuclear ambition are likely to top the agenda, a diplomatic source said. The Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue drew government officials and civilian experts from South Korea, North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia to this eastern Chinese port city o
Sept. 27, 2012
-
N. Korea sharply increases training flights of fighter jets
North Korea’s air force has sharply increased training flights of its fighter jets since July, with the number of sorties reaching as many as 100 a day, a government source said Thursday.The move is uncommon because North Korean pilots usually focus on ground training in summer.The communist nation is also showing signs of large-scale artillery exercises along its west coast, and activity of small submarines has also increased, the source said.These moves could be part of the North’s attempt to
Sept. 27, 2012
-
Korea to send peacekeeping troops to South Sudan
South Korea’s National Assembly on Thursday authorized sending about 300 military personnel to South Sudan on a peacekeeping mission that will last until the end of 2013, officials said. Since last year, South Korea has taken steps to join the U.N. Mission in South Sudan, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the newly independent African nation. The Korean peacekeeping unit, consisting mostly of engineers and some medics, will be dispatched to South Sudan at the end of this year or early next year,
Sept. 27, 2012