Most Popular
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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KT launches new mobile plans for foreign residents
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[Graphic News] Gender equality budget up 68%
The government plans to spend 22.4 trillion won ($21.1 billion) on gender-related policies next year, up 68 percent from this year, as it steps up efforts to improve women’s status, welfare and safety.
Oct. 21, 2013
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Alleged corruption taints Miss Korea contest
A fresh bribery scandal is tarnishing the image of Miss Korea, the nation’s top beauty pageant.“Sisa Magazine 2580,” an MBC investigative journalism program, reported Sunday that a mother of one participant in last year’s contest offered money to an employee of The Hankook Ilbo, the daily that hosts the event, to put her daughter at an advantage.The program also showed that contestants offered judges expensive gifts such as pearl rings and other bribes prior to the event.“One of the senior staff
Oct. 21, 2013
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Teachers’ union threatens legal fight
A progressive teachers’ group vowed Monday to escalate its fight against the government’s move to deprive it of its status as a legal trade union. The Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union is planning to file a petition to the U.N. Human Rights Council and International Labor Organization to press the government to reverse its decision to deregister the union, KTU spokesman Ha Byeong-soo said in a press conference on Monday.The union will also file suits against the decision at local cour
Oct. 21, 2013
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Ministry orders revision of new history textbooks
The Ministry of Education announced Monday that it had ordered the publishers of all eight recently approved history textbooks to make changes amid disputes over allegedly slanted views on the country’s modern history.Revision and supplementation were ordered for 829 parts, including their descriptions regarding Japan’s forced sexual enslavement of Korean women, the ministry said. The announcement came after the month-long analysis of the textbooks approved on Aug. 30 by the National Institute o
Oct. 21, 2013
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Park calls for stringent law enforcement
President Park Geun-hye said Monday police should be at the forefront of efforts to firm up law and order and promote a “law-abiding culture” in South Korean society, calling for stringent law enforcement against illegality.Park made the remark during a Police Day ceremony, stressing that ensuring safety and order was the main priority and responsibility of the police.“I ask you to do your best to help a more mature civic consciousness and a law-abiding culture take firm root by dealing sternly
Oct. 21, 2013
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Labor Ministry to probe Samsung over labor practices
The Labor Ministry plans to look into allegations that Samsung Group instructed its subsidiaries to foil any attempt by their workers to organize labor unions, a ministry source said Monday.The move comes after an opposition lawmaker unveiled the conglomerate’s 2012 document on labor-management affairs strategy.The document carries an instruction that companies should lead employees to disorganize a trade union if one is established, according to Rep. Sim Sang-jung of the minor opposition United
Oct. 21, 2013
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Education ministry advises revision of history textbooks
The education ministry said Monday that it has recommended publishers of all eight government-approved Korean history textbooks revise hundreds of factual errors and imbalanced descriptions they were found to contain.The ministry has reviewed the textbooks endorsed for use at high schools around the country from the 2014 school year after one of them, published by Kyohak Publishing Co., sparked the ire of opposition lawmakers, liberal historians and civic activists for containing a conservative
Oct. 21, 2013
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FSS to launch probe into Shinhan over account monitoring
The Financial Supervisory Service said Monday that it will launch a special probe into Shinhan Bank following claims by opposition lawmakers that the bank looked into their accounts without their consent.Shinhan would inevitably face sanctions by the financial regulator should it find evidence that the bank probed lawmakers’ backgrounds via their accounts.This marks the third investigation against Shinhan by the FSS. The bank would likely suffer tougher penalties this time such as operational su
Oct. 21, 2013
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Gender a big factor in next year’s budget
The government will boost next year’s spending on gender-responsive policies by 68 percent as part of its efforts to promote public awareness of gender equality and boost women’s status and economic participation, officials said Monday.According to a budget draft submitted by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance to the parliament, the government plans to spend 22.4 trillion won on a range of policies related to gender equality, a 68 percent increase from 13.3 trillion won set aside this year.The
Oct. 21, 2013
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Teachers’ union on brink of losing legal status
South Korea’s biggest teachers’ group is facing the loss of its rights of 14 years as a fully authorized labor union, after it voted against the government’s order to strip membership from dismissed teachers.The labor ministry has given the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, or KTU, an ultimatum that it will deregister the union, thus making it unlawful, unless it amends its constitution by Oct. 23 to ban dismissed and retired teachers from being members.The progressive union, however,
Oct. 20, 2013
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[Photo News] Protect Dokdo
Oct. 20, 2013
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TOPIK takers on the rise
The number of foreigners and ethnic Koreans abroad taking the state-run Korean proficiency test are on the rise, the test organizer said Sunday.A record number of 67,595 people have applied for the Test of Proficiency in Korean, or TOPIK, that took place at 178 sites on Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Institute for International Education, which administers the test. The NIIED said about 58,000 people took the test in April.By country, China accounted for the majority of applicant
Oct. 20, 2013
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[Graphic News] Number of college entrants to decline
Due to the decline in the overall number of school goers, the number of those choosing to pursue a university education is also expected to reduce radically. If the fixed quota for newly enrolled students at colleges remains at its 2013 level, it is expected to exceed the number of high school graduates from 2018.
Oct. 20, 2013
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Seoul to host international energy conference in November
Seoul City will host an international energy conference on Nov. 13 as part of efforts to discuss the city’s responsibility for climate change and energy conservation, city officials said Sunday. Themed “Energy Transition towards a Sustainable City ― Challenges and Opportunities for Seoul,” the event will hold three sessions to discuss strategies for energy change, financing tools for policies and share case studies with 10 experts from around the world. Keynote speeches will be delivered by Amor
Oct. 20, 2013
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Silk Road cities to expand partnership
The southwestern port city of Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, will host a forum of mayors from global cities located along the Silk Road this week to promote cooperation in economy, culture, tourism and the environment. About 300 people including mayors from 70 cities in 30 countries, representatives of international bodies and civil society experts will participate in the Silk Road Mayors Forum from Monday to Thursday.The Silk Road is a series of ancient land and sea trade routes that crisscrosse
Oct. 20, 2013
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DNA testing to identify bodies from Lao plane crash
DNA testing will be conducted to identify of some of the 39 bodies that were recovered after a Lao Airlines plane crashed into the Mekong River last week, officials said Sunday.The French-made ATR-72 jet crashed in bad weather Wednesday, killing all 49 passengers and crewmembers on board, including three South Korean businessmen. Rescue workers have so far pulled 39 bodies from the water, including one in Sunday morning.Some of the bodies, however, were unidentifiable due to decay and damage inc
Oct. 20, 2013
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Seoul, San Francisco promise to tighten bilateral relations
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and his San Francisco counterpart Edwin M. Lee on Monday will sign a memorandum of understanding to enhance bilateral cooperation, officials said. This is the second agreement between the two municipal governments following the joint declaration of a sister-city affiliation in 1976. On the occasion, the mayors will share experiences and policy cases in culture and tourism, city development, electronic government and technology, sustainable policies and sharing economy,
Oct. 20, 2013
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S. Koreans' overseas travel surges this year
The number of South Korea's overseas tourists topped 11 million in the first nine months of the year, data showed Sunday.Some 11.25 million South Korean residents traveled overseas in the January-September period, up 9.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute.The think tank explained that a growing leisure boom among locals has contributed to the rapid increase in overseas departures.The number of South Koreans traveling overseas re
Oct. 20, 2013
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NIS employee nabbed for allegedly smuggling new type of synthetic drug
A South Korean official of the state intelligence agency has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling a new type of synthetic drug via international air mail, the prosecution said Friday.According to the Suwon Provincial Police Agency, the prosecutors booked the suspect without physical detention on Oct. 11 for allegedly violating country’s law of drug control.Under South Korean law, it is illegal to possess, use, import, export or sell drugs except for those in charge of the synthetic drugs.The
Oct. 18, 2013
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Three NIS agents quizzed over election meddling using Twitter
State prosecutors said Friday they have questioned three agents of the state intelligence agency on suspicion of posting political comments on Twitter ahead of the last presidential election.The questioning is part of the prosecution's ongoing probe into a high-profile election meddling scandal allegedly involving the National Intelligence Service (NIS), they said.The spy agency has been probed over allegation that it launched an online smear campaign to sway public opinion in favor of President
Oct. 18, 2013