Most Popular
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'Super Rich in Korea' will leave viewers appreciating Korea more: producers
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Probe of first lady on Dior bag allegations set to begin
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Top prosecutor pledges 'speedy, strict' probe into first lady's luxury bag allegations
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Indonesia’s KF-21 fighter jet deal cut back -- what’s next?
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[KH Explains] Can tech firms' AI alliances take on Nvidia?
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Korean battery makers heave sigh of relief over 2-year IRA reprieve
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Over 80,000 millionaires, 20 billionaires in Seoul: report
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Police seek arrest warrant for med student who killed girlfriend
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Local filmmakers criticize ‘The Roundup: Punishment’ monopoly of screens
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Will China's self-sufficient dream in HBM come true?
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Main opposition party holds national convention to pick leadership
The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) was set to pick its new leadership at a national convention Saturday ahead of this year's presidential race.Party sources said that Reps. Kim Han-gil and Lee Hae-chan were in the lead for the top post as the party gathering got underway at the KINTEX convention center, northwest of Seoul.They added that Kang Gi-jung, Choo Mi-ae, Woo Sang-ho and Cho
June 9, 2012
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Saenuri workshop marred by absence of presidential hopefuls
CHEONAN (Yonhap) -- The ruling Saenuri Party held a lawmakers' workshop Friday, marred by the absence of two presidential hopefuls apparently in anger after the party's leadership rebuffed their demand for changing the primary rules.The two-day worshop in the central city of Cheonan was closely watched as intense debate was expected over the primary rule issue amid speculation that three minor con
June 8, 2012
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Primary rule debate heats up at Saenuri
Underdogs threaten to boycott nomination raceThe dispute over the presidential primary rules is boiling at the ruling Saenuri Party as the party’s underdogs threatened to boycott the race, which they claim favors frontrunner Park Geun-hye.The primary rules were expected to take center stage at the Saenuri’s two-day workshop for the 19th National Assembly members in Cheonan that started Friday.The party decided to form a primary committee Monday, prompting vehement protests from the non-mainstrea
June 8, 2012
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Ahn to declare presidential bid after July: associate
Professor Ahn Cheol-soo, frontrunner among liberal presidential hopefuls, is likely to declare his candidacy for president, his close associate said Friday. “Ahn Cheol-soo will run in the presidential elections because he is a leader with a calling,” former Creative Korea Party chairman Moon Kook-hyun said in a television interview. “Ahn is likely to announce his intentions some time after July.” Moon Kook-hyun has maintained a close relationship since 1993 with Ahn, dean of Graduate School of C
June 8, 2012
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DUP leadership race down to the wire
Result unpredictable in two-way competition between Kim HG and Lee HCThe main opposition Democratic United Party is set to elect its new leadership on Saturday after weeks of preliminary voting that has yo-yoed between two frontrunners ― Reps. Kim Han-gill and Lee Hae-chan.Kim, a novelist and former culture minister, is 210 votes ahead of Lee, a former prime minister, in combined votes cast in 13 different constituencies since May 20.Kim and Lee, along with six other contenders, faced an unpredi
June 8, 2012
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47 members of new parliament won exemption from military service
Forty-seven members of the new National Assembly were exempted from mandatory military service for various reasons, including imprisonment and illness, data showed Friday.According to the Military Manpower Administration (MMA), 47 of the 253 newly elected male lawmakers, or 18.6 percent, gained exemption due to imprisonment, illness, old age and lack of education. One lawmaker was excluded because
June 8, 2012
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Ruling party moves to curtail perks of lawmakers
The ruling Saenuri Party came up with detailed plans to restrict lawmakers’ prerogatives, including holding second jobs and exemption from arrest on duty.The party will discuss the reform proposals this week, aiming to restore public trust amid rising criticism of lawmakers’ privileges and irregularities, officials said.Floor leader Lee Hahn-koo and policy chief Chin Young recently commissioned the parliamentary secretariat to analyze the authorities and privileges bestowed on lawmakers.Based on
June 7, 2012
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UPP decides to oust 2 disputed lawmakers
The Unified Progressive Party said Thursday it has decided to oust two alleged pro-North Korea lawmakers and two other party members accused of being involved in an alleged rigged primary.The move by the beleaguered party comes amid efforts by the conservative ruling Saenuri Party to strip Reps. Lee Seog-gi and Kim Jae-yeon of their seats.Lee, Kim and the two others have faced weeks of pressure to voluntarily step down amid accusations that they were involved in the UPP’s alleged vote-rigging in
June 7, 2012
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Progressive party decides to oust two pro-N.K. lawmakers
A progressive South Korean party decided Wednesday to oust two pro-North Korean lawmakers at the center of political controversy in the new National Assembly session.The move by the beleaguered Unified Progressive Party (UPP) will apparently spur efforts by conservative lawmakers to deprive Reps. Lee Seok-gi and Kim Jae-yeon of their seats.The duo has faced weeks of pressure to voluntarily step do
June 7, 2012
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President joins criticism of pro-N.K. figures
Political leaders ratcheted up their battle over ideology on Wednesday as the nation remembered fallen patriots including soldiers killed during the Korean War. President Lee Myung-bak used his address for the 57th Memorial Day to denounce “those who try to destroy the constitutional order.” “The people of the Republic of Korea will never tolerate anyone who attempts to negate liberal democracy,” Lee said in the speech at the National Cemetery.The ruling Saenuri Party is pushing to expel some la
June 6, 2012
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Lee takes center stage in ideology debate
Maverick ex-P.M. continues to spit controversial remarks, including accusations of McCarthyismRep. Lee Hae-chan of the Democratic United Party is falling back on his outspoken habits while the debate over the ideological tilt of progressive lawmakers flares again. Lee’s recent outburst, broadcasted over a live radio show, could however work in his favor in the DUP leadership race, as party members seek stronger leadership. In the DUP chairperson elections, Lee is trailing Rep. Kim Han-gill. Duri
June 6, 2012
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Assembly staggers amid tug-of-war
The National Assembly failed to convene on Tuesday as major parties engaged in a tug-of-war over committee control and the scandal involving far-left lawmakers.The ruling Saenuri Party and opposition Democratic United Party had agreed to open the 19th Assembly’s first plenary session at 10 a.m. that day to confirm each party’s nomination of speaker and vice speakers. But the DUP boycotted the session to demand the chairmanship of one of the three most important parliamentary panels. Most Saenuri
June 5, 2012
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Ruling party keeps up pressure on DUP to punish pro-N. Korean lawmaker
The ruling Saenuri Party stepped up pressure Tuesday on the main opposition Democratic United Party(DUP) to help discipline opposition lawmakers accused of sympathizing with North Korea.In a radio address, Saenuri chairman Hwang Woo-yea urged the DUP to take punitive measures against Rep. Lim Su-kyung, an activist-turned-lawmaker who made headlines in the past week for calling North Korean defecto
June 5, 2012
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National Assembly unlikely to hold first session amid row between rival parties
The new National Assembly is unlikely to convene its first plenary meeting scheduled for Tuesday as the ruling and main opposition parties continue to squabble over who will control key parliamentary committees.The 300-member parliament began its four-year term last week and was scheduled to formally open with a plenary meeting Tuesday.However, the main opposition Democratic United Party looks lik
June 5, 2012
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Lee confidant convicted of corruption
Shin Jae-min, a former vice culture minister known as one of President Lee Myung-bak's trusted aides, was sentenced to prison after being convicted of receiving bribes from a Seoul businessman years ago, court officials said Monday. The Seoul Central District Court ordered the 54-year-old Shin to serve a prison term of three years and six months, pay a fine of 54 million won ($47,000) and forfei
June 4, 2012
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Ideological attacks darken Assembly
Pro-N.K. controversy spreads to DUP in wake of Lim’s remarksIdeological disputes over allegedly “pro-North Korean” lawmakers are prompting a war of words between parties, which could worsen in the lead up to the December presidential election. The controversy ― originally implicating new legislators from the minority Unified Progressive Party ― is quickly spreading to the main opposition Democratic United Party, after a DUP activist-turned-lawmaker slandered North Korean defectors, calling them
June 4, 2012
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S. Korea, U.S. struggle over missile pact revision
South Korea and the United States are still struggling to narrow their differences over a proposed revision of a bilateral pact to allow Seoul to develop longer-range ballistic missiles, officials here said Monday.The Korean government in Seoul denied a news report that the allies reached an agreement to extend the missile range stipulated in the deal to 550 km from the current 300 km, saying that negotiations are still ongoing.The two countries have been in consultations for the past few months
June 4, 2012
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Rep. Lim, a former activist called ‘Flower of Unification’
Rep. Lim Su-kyung of the main opposition Democratic United Party, who came under fire for bombarding North Korean defectors with abusive remarks, was once a star activist in the radical pro-unification circles. Lim became embroiled in controversy on Sunday as a North Korea defector college student revealed the verbal insults she made against other defectors and Rep. Ha Tae-keung, a former activist who recently joined the conservative Saenuri Party.Student activist Lim made an unauthorized visit
June 4, 2012
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Parties wrangle over Assembly panel chairs
Major parties continued wrangling over the allocation of the chief posts of standing committees on Monday, further delaying the proceedings of the National Assembly. The ruling Saenuri Party suggested that the main opposition Democratic Party chair one of the two parliamentary committees related to national security, in an attempt to hold on to other key panels.“We are willing to hand over to the opposition the chairmanship for the foreign affairs committee or the national defense committee,” sa
June 4, 2012
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Calls for tactical nuclear weapons foolish: Halperin
JEJU ― Recent calls from the U.S. Congress for the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula stems from Republicans’ “romance” with them, a former senior Washington official said, dismissing its possibility.“The Republican Party has always had a romance with tactical nuclear weapons. They have always seen them as a way to reduce the need for manpower and to reduce the size of the budget,” Morton H. Halperin, former U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, told The Korea
June 4, 2012