Most Popular
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[Exclusive] Korean military set to ban iPhones over 'security' concerns
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Korean, Romanian leaders discuss defense tech, nuclear energy
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S. Korea calls on Japan to confront history amid Yasukuni Shrine visit
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Yoon’s jailed mother-in-law excluded from latest parole list
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Hybe and Min Hee-jin, CEO of Hybe sublabel Ador, lock horns
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[Pressure points] Leggings in public: Fashion statement or social faux pas?
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Korea’s homegrown nanosatellite successfully launches into space
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[Herald Interview] 'Amid aging population, Korea to invite more young professionals from overseas'
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Over-50s, men, single-person households take up majority of those filing for bankruptcy
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Aging population to drive down Korea's housing prices from 2040: experts
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Controversy grows over legitimacy of sex slavery deal
Two weeks after South Korea and Japan reached a landmark deal over Japan’s sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II, lawyers and scholars remain split over the legitimacy of the bilateral settlement. A progressive lawyers’ group claimed that the deal was invalid according to international law, while other experts pointed out that the agreement between two governments carries legal obligations. Some also questioned the agreement as conflicting with domestic laws. “Putting aside the
Jan. 13, 2016
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Korean scholar ordered to compensate wartime sex slaves
A local court on Wednesday ordered a South Korean scholar to compensate nine women who were sexually enslaved by Tokyo during World War II by giving them 10 million won each for mental distress that they suffered because of her controversial book.The Seoul Eastern District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, including Lee Ok-seon, 87, who filed the suit against Park Yu-ha, a professor of Seoul's Sejong University, in June 2014 for her book "Comfort Women of the Empire."The book, released in
Jan. 13, 2016
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Elderly poverty increases in Korea
The income and expenditures of the average Korean nose-dives around retirement age by roughly one-third, driving up the country’s already-high poverty rate of senior citizens, a recent report by a state-run think tank showed. The average Korean senior, aged 65 or older, made roughly 63.93 percent of the average Korean's income in 2014, while their spending was 63.37 percent, according to Sung Hye-yeong, a researcher from the National Pension Research Institute. The figures were in stark contras
Jan. 13, 2016
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E-commerce fraud on social media on rise: statistics
A 25-year-old officer worker surnamed Kim purchased a handbag from a blogger in October last year. After communicating with the dealer via a social network, she sent the money. The handbag, however, was never delivered. She attempted to reach the dealer through the social media site, but no responses came. Similar cases of fraud have been on the rise, as more e-commerce take place on social media. 123rfAccording to statistics released by Seoul Metropolitan Government on Wednesday, e-commerce f
Jan. 13, 2016
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City pushes for zero-energy residential buildings
Seoul City will build zero-energy high-rise residential buildings as part of its efforts to join the carbon cut move, officials said Wednesday. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said it agreed with the Transport Ministry to build two zero-energy apartments each in Seongbuk and Gangdong districts on a trial basis. More than 2,900 households will benefit from the new project. Zero-energy buildings refer to construction projects that minimize the use of energy and maximize insulation, while generat
Jan. 13, 2016
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Few male Seoulites use paternity leave: report
The majority of fathers in Seoul have not used their paternity leave benefits, showing little improvement in sharing the child care burden over the past decade, a report showed. YonhapAccording to the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s gender report, only 3.2 percent of Seoul fathers used paternity leave benefits, although over 70 percent of them were familiar with childbirth and paternity leave schemes. This shows only a 1.9 percentage point rise in fathers using benefits compared to 2004. The c
Jan. 13, 2016
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Teacher receives 18-month jail term for sexually abusing six students
A local court on Wednesday handed down a jail term to a 54-year-old high school teacher for molesting six of his female students from 2014 to 2015. The Seoul Western District Court sentenced the defendant, whose identity was withheld, to 18 months in prison and ordered him to take 120 hours of a therapeutic program for sexual offenders.The public school educator was indicted in May 2014 after investigative authorities launched a probe into the school's five male staff members, including him, for
Jan. 13, 2016
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District pushes for controversial ex-dictator’s memorial park
A Seoul district is renewing its push to construct a public park to commemorate a former dictator, a project that was suspended in 2013 due to a budget spat and criticisms of political motivation. The Jung-gu Office in the center of the capital said it would establish the memorial park around the house of late ex-president Park Chung-hee, father of incumbent president Park Geun-hye. The one-story 11,075-square-meter building with four basement floors will consist of a public underground parking
Jan. 12, 2016
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Diving into village life in Malaysia
BANGHURIS, Malaysia -- At a remote village in the state of Selangor, Malaysia, a bus pulls over to unload a group of Korean youth in their teens and 20s.They are greeted by a group of locals playing their traditional music and the sounds of beating drums, as expressions on the Koreans’ youthful faces vary between gleeful, excited and even a little confused at the exotic welcoming ceremony. Participants of ASEAN-Korea Center’s homestay program pose for a group photo. Yoon Min-sik/The Korea Heral
Jan. 12, 2016
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First foot-and-mouth disease contracted in 8 months
The animal quarantine authorities of the Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday confirmed the first breakout of foot-and-mouth disease in eight months, vowing stronger watch on the spread of the livestock disease. The Agriculture Ministry dispatched specialists to a farm in Gimje, North Jeolla Province, where 700 pigs were tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease on Tuesday. (Yonhap)The Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, or QIA, said the 700 pigs at a farm in Gimje, North Jeolla Province, tested pos
Jan. 12, 2016
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Korean scholar calls for establishment of forum on 'comfort women'
South Korea and Japan should launch a scholarly forum to bridge wide gaps in public perceptions in the two countries of Japan's wartime sexual slavery so as to realize a genuine reconcilation, a South Korean scholar said Monday.Park Yu-ha, a professor of Seoul's Sejong University, made the remark during a seminar in Washington, calling last month's landmark agreement between Seoul and Tokyo on resolving the so-called "comfort women" issue only a "political settlement.""I hope that a consultative
Jan. 12, 2016
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Former veterans minister gets jail term for bribery
A former veterans minister and grandson of one of the country’s most revered patriots received a four-year prison sentence Monday on charges of helping a foreign defense firm win a bid to build military helicopters in exchange for kickbacks. The Seoul Central District Court convicted Kim Yang, former head of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, of lobbying senior military officers to pick the Anglo-Italian AW159 Wildcat as the country’s new multimission maritime helicopter, while recei
Jan. 11, 2016
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Koreans drink coffee 1.7 times daily
Korean adults drink coffee 1.7 times a day on average, more often than they eat mixed or white rice, statistics by the Welfare Ministry and the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed Monday.Of 3,427 men and women aged 19-64, men drank coffee 14.3 times a week, while women drank 9.6 times. The numbers were higher than the 6.52 times eating white rice per week and the 8.93 times eating mixed grain rice. Those who drank coffee at least three times a day marked 24.4 percent. Anothe
Jan. 11, 2016
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Koreans’ health at risk for sitting too much
Han Jin-hee (not her real name), an office worker in Seoul, spends about eight hours each day sitting at work. While seated, her job consists of taking phone calls and writing reports at the same time. About six months ago, Han worked in a different division which required her to stand most of the time greeting clients. “I don’t know which is better -- sitting too much or standing too much,” the 28-year-old told The Korea Herald. “But ever since I moved to my current division, I’ve been experien
Jan. 11, 2016
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Increasing number of Koreans in U.S. renounce Korean citizenship
An increasing number of South Koreans in the United States are renouncing their Korean citizenship, with more than 2,000 such cases filed with the consulate general in Los Angeles, data showed Sunday.A total of 2,117 people renounced their South Korean citizenship in cases filed with the LA consulate last year. It was the first time that the number of citizenship renunciation requests received at the mission has exceeded 2,000.Such cases have been on the rise in recent years, with 1,468 in 2013
Jan. 11, 2016
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Police think tank forecasts rise in elderly crimes
Crimes committed by senior citizens are expected to increase this year mainly due to financial difficulties, despite the decrease in the overall crime rate, a police-affiliated think tank said Sunday.The Police Science Institute, operated under the state-run Korean National Police University, predicted that Korea’s high elderly poverty rate would result in more crimes by underprivileged senior citizens aged 61 or older. According to “Pensions at a Glance 2015” by the Organization for Economic Co
Jan. 11, 2016
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Colonial period quarry to turn into public park
A quarry used during the Japanese colonial era will turn into a public park as part of Seoul City’s urban restoration project, officials said Sunday. Seoul Metropolitan Government said a 19,000-square-meter-large quarry cutting area in Jongno will transform into a sightseeing park with an observatory. The cutting side of a 40-meter-high stone pit will be the main ground of the park. The stones quarried were used in constructing historical buildings such as the Japanese Government General of Kore
Jan. 10, 2016
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Flu cases increase steadily
The number of flu patients has been steadily rising since late last month, health officials said Sunday, stirring concerns over the further spread of the influenza virus. According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the ratio of flu-suspected patients per 1,000 outpatients in the country reached 10.6 from Dec. 28 to Jan. 2. This is higher by 1.6 from the previous week and about 3 points higher on-year. The disease control agency conducted an influenza sample test at 200 med
Jan. 10, 2016
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[Weekender] Tragic and extraordinary stories of Korean prodigies
When Heo Nanseolheon (1563-1589) was just 8 years old, she wrote her iconic piece “Inscriptions on the Ridge Pole of the White Jade Pavilion in Kwanghan Palace,” a poem filled with a unique imagination about the world of spiritual beings. Today, the piece is still considered as the work of a poetic genius -- who later died at age of 27, after suffering an unhappy marriage and the deaths of her two children. Heo is one of very few women writers from Korea’s Confucian Joseon kingdom (1392-1897), w
Jan. 8, 2016
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[Weekender] From prodigies to geniuses: the 'gifted' fascination
“Mediocrities everywhere, I absolve you. I absolve you, all,” uttered Antonio Salieri in the 1984 film “Amadeus,” loosely based on the real life of the Italian classical composer and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As Mozart’s less-capable archrival, the movie version of Salieri was forced to shudder in jealousy, marvel with wonder, and bear witness to the immortal genius of a man many consider to be one of the greatest musical talents of all time. Throughout history, tales of those with exceptional c
Jan. 8, 2016