Most Popular
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Debate rages over ‘overly fatty’ samgyeopsal
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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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[Weekender] Korean psyche untangled: Musok
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N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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Gov't appears to shelve punitive measures against mass walkout by doctors
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[Eye Interview] 'If you live to 100, you might as well be happy,' says 88-year-old bestselling essayist
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From fake prostitution ring to nonexistent robber, prank calls hamper police
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Missing S. Korean traveler in Paris found safe after 2 weeks
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S. Korea, China, Japan in talks to hold trilateral summit May 26-27: official
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Saenuri’s surprise win boosts Park’s presidential bid
Saenuri Party leader Park Geun-hye successfully fended off a commanding advance by the main opposition Democratic United Party in the general election Wednesday despite a spate of scandals afflicting the ruling party.The surprise upturn is likely to give Park, 60, a boost in her bid for the presidency with reinforced political clout and public acquiescence of her leadership skills.Park is also expected to enjoy a sturdier support base inside Saenuri since she left the helm of the party five and
April 11, 2012
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Saenuri fails to pull off upset in Gwangju
Oh Byung-yun of the Unified Progressive Party won in Gwangju’s Seo-gu-B constituency, beating the Saenuri Party’s Lee Jung-hyun.Gwangju’s Seo-gu-B constituency was brought into the spotlight because a conservative candidate had been seen as having a chance of winning a seat in the city. However, with the voters of the constituency holding onto their traditional preference for left-leaning parties, the ruling Saenuri Party’s hopes of winning a seat in Gwangju for the first time in 27 years were d
April 11, 2012
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FTA chief negotiator defeats DUP hopeful
The Saenuri Party’s Kim Jong-hoon defeated the Democratic United Party’s presidential hopeful and third-term lawmaker Chung Dong-young in a high-stakes election in Gangnam-B district in Seoul.A lot of attention was focused on the constituency as the race in the affluent southern part of the capital pitted an opponent of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement against a leading proponent.Kim had led the entire process of the FTA negotiations with Washington during both the former and current governme
April 11, 2012
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Moon proves electoral clout in Busan
Moon Jae-in, the liberal opposition’s rising presidential candidate, passed his first test in politics, winning a parliamentary seat in the conservative stronghold of Busan. Moon of the main opposition Democratic United Party scored a comfortable victory against Son Su-jo of the governing Saenuri Party in the city’s industrial district of Sasang. Just before midnight, when nearly 95 percent of votes had been counted, Moon garnered 54.7 percent of the vote against Son’s 44.3 percent. The 59-year-
April 11, 2012
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DUP’s Cho grabs third win in Saenuri turf
Cho Kyeong-tae of the main opposition Democratic United Party secured a milestone third win in the traditionally conservative Busan.Early returns and exit polls showed Cho leading Saenuri Party candidate Ahn Joon-tae by 13.0 percentage points with 56.5 percent of the vote in Busan’s Saha-B constituency.Cho’s three consecutive wins are expected to reinforce DUP’s leverage in the region together with Moon Jae-in, DUP’s aspiring presidential hopeful who gained the upper hand in the Sasang constitue
April 11, 2012
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Foul-mouthed podcast star undone by remarks
Kim Yong-min, the podcast star who earned fame through his raunchy humor, was undone by the foul jokes he made eight years ago. Early returns and exit polls showed the candidate of the main opposition Democratic United Party was headed for defeat from his rival from the governing Saenuri Party in Seoul’s Nowon-A constituency. Lee No-geun, former head of Nowon Ward Office, led Kim by some 5 percentage points. Kim, a political commentator by profession, is one of the four panelists of “Naneun Ggom
April 11, 2012
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Ex-party leader loses, hints at retirement
Rep. Hong Joon-pyo of the Saenuri Party was pushed out of his seat for the Dongdaemun-B constituency on Wednesday, breaking the 24-year hold that the conservatives have had on the area.Soon after the exit polls came out Hong accepted his defeat through his Twitter account and implied that he will be retiring from the political arena.“(I) end 30 years of life as a public official. Now, as a free person, I have gained freedom from taunts and from policies,” Hong said in the Tweet. Hong began his c
April 11, 2012
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Chung defeats veteran in capital’s bellwether
Rep. Chung Sye-kyun, former leader and senior advisor of the main opposition Democratic United Party, won the key electoral race in Jongno, the political core of the nation’s capital.The fourth-term liberal lawmaker defeated his powerful right-wing rival Rep. Hong Sa-duk by 6 percentage points, gaining 52 percent of respondents’ votes.His outstanding result in the area was a positive for the entire left wing bloc, not only because the battle was expected to be one of the fiercest but also becaus
April 11, 2012
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Cyber watch team on alert even after vote
The general elections may now be over for candidates and voters, but not for the nation’s election watchdog, especially its cyber observer team which is to operate 24 hours a day for another 10 days.“People hardly notice our existence except the official election campaign period,” said Park Sung-min, officer at Cyber Investigation Division of the National Election Commission in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.“The team, however, is a permanent organization up and running throughout the year, keeping
April 11, 2012
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Koreans cast ballots in key elections
The make up of the new National Assembly looked likely to be a delicate balance between conservatives and liberals after parliamentary elections Wednesday, seen as a prelude to the presidential race at the end of the year. With final results still in the balance late Wednesday night, the governing Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic Party were waging a tight race, with neither likely to secure a majority in the 300-seat parliament. Many races in politically neutral Seoul and its vic
April 11, 2012
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Election too close to call: TV exit polls
Rival parties were neck-and-neck Wednesday in South Korea's closely contested legislative election, a key test of sentiment before December's presidential vote, according to exit polls conducted by three major TV stations.The polls showed a tight race between President Lee Myung-bak's conservative Saenuri Party and the main opposition centre-left Democratic United Party.An exit poll by public broa
April 11, 2012
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Illegal activities, lawsuits mar election campaign
Illegal election campaign activities continued to plague the run up to Wednesday’s general election.According to the National Election Commission, the number of Public Official Election Act violations stood at 1,239 on Tuesday.Although the figure was lower than during the 2008 general election, the number of more serious offences such as slander increased significantly.The election watchdog’s figures show that the number of cases of slander and spreading falsehoods increased 31 percent from four
April 11, 2012
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Broadcasters cover all constituencies for exit polls
The country’s three terrestrial broadcasters conducted exit polls in all 246 constituencies for the general elections on Wednesday.This is the first time the three terrestrial broadcasters -- KBS, MBC and SBS -- took exit polls in all constituencies.In addition, the exit polls were calculated using only data gathered near the polling stations. In the 2008 general elections, data gathered at the polling stations was given 40 percent weighting in calculating the figures. The remaining 60 percent w
April 11, 2012
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Election outcome sets ground for Dec. race
The end of the general election this year not only indicates the start of the next parliamentary term but also the beginning of an even bigger year-end political race.This is the first time in two decades that the parliamentary elections and the presidential election are taking place in the same year.Wednesday’s race was both a test of leadership for presidential potentials and a chance for parties to win a parliamentary majority and the upper hand in the December election.The top priority task
April 11, 2012
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Cyber watch team in full run after elections
The general elections may now be over for candidates and voters, but not for the nation’s election watchdog, especially its cyber observer team which is to operate 24 hours a day for another 10 days.“People hardly notice our existence except the official election campaign period,” said Park Sung-min, officer at Cyber Investigation Division of the National Election Commission in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.“The team, however, is a permanent organization up and running throughout the year, keeping
April 11, 2012
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Ruling party pulls off upset win in crucial election
The ruling Saenuri Party scored a surprise victory in the hotly-contested general election Wednesday. The National Election Commission estimated as of 1:20 a.m. Thursday the conservative party is likely to bag 152 seats in the 300-member parliament, one seat more than a simple majority required to pass bills alone. Saenuri Party chief Park Geun-hye (center) smiles while watching the election broad
April 11, 2012
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Election watchdog's Web site attacked before elections
The Web site of the national election watchdog came under a cyber attack on the eve of Wednesday's general elections, watchdog officials said.The Web site was hit by a so-called distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack late Tuesday between 10:27 p.m. and11:01 p.m., officials at the National Election Commission (NEC) said. A search engine on the Web site, which helps voters find their designated
April 11, 2012
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Voting begins in crucial parliamentary elections
Polls opened Wednesday in tightly contested general elections that are likely to strip President Lee Myung-bak's ruling party of its control of parliament and set a crucial tone for December's vote to pick his successor.An elderly citizen votes in Seoul during general elections on Wednesday. (Yonhap News)The quadrennial poll is to elect a new 300-member National Assembly, but it takes on extra sig
April 11, 2012
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Will opposition alliance take majority of Assembly seats?
Wednesday’s election is unlikely to produce a majority winner, with the Saenuri Party and the Democratic United Party locked in a tight race, political pundits said Tuesday. However, the main opposition DUP stands a fair chance of stealing control of the parliament from Saenuri through an alliance with the far-left Unified Progressive Party, the experts said. On April 11, voters will pick 300 members of the single-chamber parliament in an election widely seen as a prelude to a presidential race
April 10, 2012
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Koreans to vote for parliament
The day of decision has arrived for Korean voters after a messy race punctuated by mudslinging between the two main political parties. Voting to elect 300 members of the parliament will begin at 13,470 polling stations nationwide at 6 a.m. Wednesday, with more than 40 million people eligible to cast ballots. Polling stations will close at 6 p.m. Of the 300 seats, 246 are to be elected directly from precincts and 54 through proportional representation.A total of 927 candidates are vying for the 2
April 10, 2012