Most Popular
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride
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Golden chance to liquidate babies’ gold rings?
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Seoul to more than double military drones by 2026 to counter NK threats
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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Seoul alerts overseas missions to NK terror threats
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Russia sent more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to N. Korea in March: White House
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Over 60% of S. Koreans support W100m childbirth incentive: survey
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‘Inside Out 2’ adds four new emotions, explores teenage life
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Questions raised over fair promotion of RM, NewJeans
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Top court upholds Sewol captain's life imprisonment for murder
The nation's top court on Thursday upheld a life sentence for the captain of the sunken ferry Sewol for murdering 304 passengers aboard.Upholding a lower court's ruling, the Supreme Court said Lee Jun-seok, 70, willfully neglected his duty as a captain to evacuate passengers when the ferry sank off the southwest coast on April 16, 2014."While he could have easily informed the passengers of the urgent situation and reduce the number of casualties, Lee fled the ferry without doing so," Chief Justi
Nov. 12, 2015
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Seoul to excavate ancient fortifications in southern Seoul
The city of Seoul will kick off a massive project next year to excavate what is believed to be the palatial site of an ancient fortification in the southern part of the capital, according to city officials Thursday.The results of the project are widely expected to unveil the mystery over Pungnaptoseong, an ancient earthen fortress wall located in the south district of Songpa, southern Seoul.Running nearly 3 kilometers at the southern edge of the Han River, Pungnaptoseong is speculated to have be
Nov. 12, 2015
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Superstitions and cheering squads on ‘Suneung’ day
More than 630,000 South Korean 18-year-olds began the “Suneung” college entrance exam at over 1,000 exam sites Thursday morning. Korea’s education fever is most evident on exam day, with mothers praying outside school gates and younger students wishing good luck to the seniors in the brutally competitive daylong exam. Scroll down to see the typical scenes from this year’s exam day. 1. Police motorbikes This will the first and last chance that most students will get to ride a police motorbike. So
Nov. 12, 2015
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Education ministry, foreign embassies ink deal on biz cooperation
The Unification Ministry and eight foreign embassies in Seoul agreed Thursday to cooperate on developing a program that will help middle school students explore their career options, government officials said.The education ministry, the institute for vocational training and foreign embassies, including the British Embassy, inked a deal to cooperate on ways to facilitate the "free semester" program, a key pillar of President Park Geun-hye's education policy, the ministry said.The free semester pr
Nov. 12, 2015
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Why I’m giving ‘I.Seoul.U’ some love
It was a privilege a couple of weeks ago to play a small part in helping to choose a new brand for this dynamic city, so wanted to give my thoughts on what is a really brave approach to branding:‘I.Seoul.U’, the world’s first (mostly) crowd-sourced city brand.It’s fair to say, that on first sight ‘I.Seoul.U’ is linguistically curious and grammatically maverick but once I saw it with the accompanying line ‘A city of me and you’, then it was pretty clear that it was saying ‘Me, Seoul and you’ toge
Nov. 12, 2015
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Database for world's largest historic recordings completed
The database for "Seungjeongwon Ilgi," the world's largest historic recordings written in the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897), has been completed after 15 years of documentation and proofreading, the national history institution said Thursday.Dozens of historians had been mobilized per year for the highly specialized process started in 2001, which is also when the recordings were listed as a UNESCO documentary heritage, the National Institute of Korean History said."Seungjengwon Ilgi," also known as
Nov. 12, 2015
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630,000 students take college entrance exam
More than 630,000 high school seniors and graduates in South Korea took the state-administered annual college entrance exam Thursday, as the government implemented various traffic control and anti-noise measures near nationwide testing sites.A total of 631,187 students, down about 10,000 from last year, registered to take the standardized College Scholastic Ability Test that was administrated at 1,212 testing sites, according to Ministry of Education.The exam, which is similar to the American Sc
Nov. 12, 2015
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Korea enters full ‘Suneung’ mode
As South Korean students across the country honed their academic skills in the final preparation for this year’s “Suneung” college entrance exam Wednesday, the authorities also prepared to support the youngsters for what many still consider to be a “life-deciding” test.The exam has been held in Korea on the second Thursday of November annually since 1993. Although the college admission also includes interviews and essays, getting a top grade on the nine-level curved grading system is essential f
Nov. 11, 2015
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Housing main reason for Seoul newlyweds to work
One in 3 newlywed couples in Seoul with dual careers said they both worked in order to afford a house in the city with skyrocketing real estate prices, a study showed this week. According to the Seoul Institute’s analysis of 2014 data by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on newlyweds’ residential status in Seoul, about 37 percent of couples who have been married less than five years were double-income households. Of those surveyed, more than half choose to work to pay for housi
Nov. 11, 2015
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Tension escalates over Seoul overpass
Tension between Seoul city government and the police authorities is escalating over the city’s plan to restore the outdated flyover near Seoul Station into an eco-friendly walkway.In September last year, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon vowed to transform a 1-kilometer-long section of the flyover into a pedestrian park as part of its urban restoration scheme, dubbed Korea’s version of New York’s High Line Park. Under the name of “Seoul Station 7017 Project,” the city aims to boost the neighboring marke
Nov. 11, 2015
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Former POSCO chairman indicted without detention
The months-long investigation into alleged corruption involving the nation’s biggest steelmaker and its subcontractors came to a close Wednesday with the prosecution indicting former POSCO chairman Chung Joon-yang without detention. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office filed charges against the 67-year-old Chung for taking bribes and breaching his duties by causing financial losses to the nation’s biggest steelmaker, it said in a press briefing Wednesday morning. Chung Joon-yang (Yonha
Nov. 11, 2015
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SNU’s LGBT group supports gay student chief candidate
A sexual minority group at Seoul National University on Friday expressed support for a female candidate running for SNU student council president who recently revealed that she is homosexual.Queer In SNU posted online and offline messages to support Kim Bo-mi, a 23-year-old student in the school’s department of child development and family studies, on publicly declaring that she is a lesbian. Kim had said she is coming out of the closet in hopes that “people can accept themselves for whoever the
Nov. 11, 2015
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Lawyer brings history textbook dispute to Constitutional Court
A lawyer filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court Wednesday to foil the government's move to reintroduce state-authored history textbooks.Bringing the heated debate over the issue to court, Chang Deog-cheon argued that the government's decision violates the Constitution which stipulates autonomy in education."The right of students to decide independently on their education includes the right to choose their textbooks," the 50-year-old lawyer said.Last week, the government announced that it wi
Nov. 11, 2015
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Former POSCO chief indicted over alleged corruption
Prosecutors said Wednesday they have indicted the former chief of the country's top steelmaker POSCO over alleged bribery and breach of trust which cost the company more than a hundred billion won in losses.Chung Joon-yang is suspected of providing kickbacks to Lee Sang-deuk, the elder brother of former President Lee Myung-bak, to solve one of the company's key problems - a height limitation on its factory buildings, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said in a press briefing.In retu
Nov. 11, 2015
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Grand Korea Leisure nixes bid for casino on Yeongjong Island
Grand Korea Leisure Co., South Korea's state-run casino operator, said Wednesday it will not apply for a casino resort on Yeongjong Island on worries Beijing's corruption crackdown could crimp demand from Chinese high rollers. The gaming unit of the Korea Tourism Organization aborted the plan after seeking a joint partnership to build an integrated resort on the western gateway island as Seoul is set to hand out two more casino licenses this year. The deadline is slated for Nov. 27."We have made
Nov. 11, 2015
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Aircraft takeoffs, landings to be halted for college entrance exam
All aircraft takeoffs and landings at South Korean airports will be suspended for 35 minutes on Thursday to prevent noise from affecting the nationwide university entrance exam.The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Wednesday that takeoff and landing operations will be put on hold Thursday from 1:05 p.m. through 1:40 p.m. "The move is to prevent aircraft noise from affecting the language listening part of the critical exam," the ministry said.Some 69 scheduled flights will be re
Nov. 11, 2015
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Iceland president receives honorary doctorate from Kookmin University
Iceland President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson received an honorary doctorate from Kookmin University on Monday during his visit to South Korea this week.“We highly praise President Grimsson’s accomplishments as a politician and in preserving the global environment and contributing to international peace, and therefore decided to give him the honorary doctorate degree on the occasion of his first visit,” said Kookmin University President Yu Ji-soo. Grimsson also delivered a special lecture for the uni
Nov. 10, 2015
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Korea seizes ex-president’s assets in U.S.
The Justice Ministry said Tuesday that the U.S. government finalized the transfer of former South Korean president Chun Doo-hwan’s laundered money in the country to South Korea. The U.S. Justice Department returned $1.12 million in U.S. assets belonging to Chun’s family to the Korean government in the first such case as part of the Korean authorities’ drive to collect unpaid fines from the 84-year-old former dictator.Justice Minister Kim Hyun-woong confirmed the agreement with his U.S. counterpa
Nov. 10, 2015
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Health Ministry to air graphic antismoking TV ads
South Korea’s Health Ministry plans to broadcast a more “explicit” antismoking TV commercial starting next week, replacing the current one featuring ballet dancers expressing the agony of smoking’s side effects through dance movements. The new commercial, currently in production, is aimed to curb smoking among Koreans more effectively, using a combination of possibly disturbing images and messages, said Choi Shin-gwang from the Health Ministry. “We’ve been told that the current commercial with
Nov. 10, 2015
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Korea to build second airport on Jejudo Island
The South Korean government said Tuesday it plans to build a second airport on the country’s southern resort island of Jejudo to accommodate the soaring air traffic to the global tourism destination.The new one-runway airport is slated to open by 2025 with estimated construction costs of 4.1 trillion won ($3.54 billion). The airport will be located in Sinsan, on the eastern side of the island between the cities of Seogwipo and Seongsan, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Trans
Nov. 10, 2015