Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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Man puts 105m won in Salvation Army donation kettle
An anonymous man left a check for 105.7 million won ($97,900) in a Salvation Army collection kettle, the Salvation Army Korea Territory said Monday.According to the Salvation Army, a man in his late 50s or early 60s placed an envelope containing the check and a short letter in the collection kettle in central Seoul on Sunday requesting the money to be used for the elderly.“I send a small seed to the Salvation Army’s noble and holy forest out of respect for my parents wishes,” he said in the lett
Dec. 10, 2012
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Seoul sees sixth-coldest day for early Dec.
By Kim Young-wonThe temperature in the capital Seoul on Monday was minus 7.1 degrees Celsius, the sixth-lowest temperature in early December since the nation’s weather agency started meteorological observations in 1907 in Seoul.The lowest average temperature was recorded in 1944 with minus 10.4 degrees Celsius, followed by minus 8.8 in 1910, minus 8.5 in 1956, minus 8.3 in 1926, and minus 7.2 in 1937.The temperature in the city dipped to a low of minus 11.8 degrees Celsius. As a cold front swept
Dec. 10, 2012
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More women prioritize income in choosing partner
The proportion of Korean women who consider income in choosing their prospective husbands has increased 8 percent over the past 10 years, while fewer and fewer women give preference to profession and educational background, a matchmaking firm said Monday.Seoul-based Sunwoo released the results of a survey of 900 single working women that indicated a shift in their concerns from social position to economic stability. The company divided them into three groups for arranging dates with three differ
Dec. 10, 2012
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Number of hagwon in Seoul in decline
The number of private educational institutes in Korea is on the decline as a prolonged economic slowdown and the government’s drive to enhance school learning affect the vibrant private education market, data showed Monday.According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the number of registered hagwon, mostly located in the Gangnam district in southern Seoul, stood at 13,208 as of December, down from 13,352 a year earlier. The tally was more than 13,500 in 2009.There are 1,070 private l
Dec. 10, 2012
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Alternative school helps young N.K. refugees adapt
More than 23,000 North Koreans have resettled in South Korea since the Korean War ended in 1953. But many young refugees still find it hard to adjust to the differences due in part to the lack of a proper education.The number of teen refugees exceeded 1,600 last year, up from 421 in 2005. But the dropout rate among them stands at nearly 5 percent, more than twice the overall rate, according to a report from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.“The problem is most dropout students c
Dec. 10, 2012
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The constant promise and problems of legal education
The promise and problems attending legal education are old. In 450 B.C., the Roman commoners, the “plebes,” forced the elite patricians to make the laws publically available for the first time, posting them on 12 bronze tables so everyone could learn and assert their rights. According to the greatest Roman republican lawyer, Marcus Tullius Cicero, they were written in an easy metrical form so that children were taught to sing the Twelve Tables, the “carmen necessarium,” as part of their basic ed
Dec. 10, 2012
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SKorea‘s porn fight ’like shoveling in a blizzard‘
Moon Tae-Hwa stares at his computer, dizzy and nauseous from the hours of porn he‘s viewed online while his wife and children slept. He feels no shame only a righteous sense of mission.``I feel like I’m cleaning up dirty things,‘’ the devout Christian and family counselor said.Moon is among the most successful members of the ``Nuri Cops‘’ (roughly ``net cops‘’), a squad of nearly 800 volunteers who help government censors by patrolling the Internet for pornography in their spare time.Unlike mos
Dec. 10, 2012
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U.S. army deserters nabbed for making, selling synthetic drugs
Four runaway American soldiers have been arrested on suspicion of producing and selling a new type of synthetic drug, South Korean police officers said Monday.The suspects, including a 23-year-old private from the U.S. army, only known by his initial K, are accused of smuggling synthetic marijuana via international air mail, officers said. They then allegedly produced a new type of narcotics called “Spice,” and sold the drugs to locals, foreigners, and other American soldiers in the foreigners‘
Dec. 10, 2012
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Seoul subway workers threaten to strike Tuesday
Final negotiations between a Seoul subway operator and unionized subway workers were to continue Monday to resolve a dispute and avoid a planned strike, both sides said.A subway strike by the 8,118-member union of Seoul Metro, a public corporation that runs Seoul subway lines one through four, is scheduled from Tuesday if the two parties cannot reach an agreement at the bargaining table.The service, however, will largely not be affected by the strike, as Seoul Metro said it plans to pull in some
Dec. 10, 2012
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Seoul expected to issue power shortage alert
South Korea‘s state-run electricity supplier warned of a possible power shortage Monday due to a surge in consumption caused by low temperatures.The Korea Power Exchange said the country’s electricity reserve was expected to drop to 680,000 kilowatts for two hours from 10 a.m. and again at 5 p.m.“A ‘red’ alert is expected to be issued as the electricity reserve level is expected to dip to 680,000 kilowatts,” it said in a press release.“As the power supply is expected to face serious conditions,
Dec. 10, 2012
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24 Chinese sailors arrested for violence on S. Korean officers
(Yonhap) -- South Korean maritime police said Sunday they have arrested 24 Chinese sailors who violently resisted the authority's crackdown on their illegal fishing in the Yellow Sea. The latest clash took place in waters near the western port city of Incheon on Nov. 27, when Chinese sailors aboard three vessels fought against Korean maritime police officers, hurling fishing gears and wielding steel pipes at them, Incheon Coast Guard officials said. Four officers sustained minor injuries i
Dec. 9, 2012
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Ministry discloses list of habitual tax delinquents
The Ministry of Public Administration and Security unveiled the names of the worst tax delinquents Sunday with former Hansol Group vice chairman Cho Dong-man and GS Engineering and Construction topping the lists of individuals and corporations, respectively. The disclosure is part of the government’s efforts to tighten its reins on high-income tax dodgers and address growing concerns of the budget balance. The list includes 7,546 individuals and 3,983 corporations that owe at least 30 million wo
Dec. 9, 2012
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Mandatory dog registration to start in Seoul next year
All dogs three months or older in Seoul should carry registered labels on microchips, pendants or tags that can identify them when lost beginning next year, the city government said Sunday.Otherwise their owners will be fined 1 million won ($924) under a new regulation aimed to better protect pets.Dog owners can choose from three types for the registration: electronic microchips which are embedded under dogs’ skin, electronic pendants that have microchips in them, and tags on which the owners’ n
Dec. 9, 2012
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Police to have more leeway in probing U.S. soldiers
The Korean police are permitted to conduct preliminary investigations into U.S. Army officers and soldiers who are caught red-handed in criminal cases before they hand them over to the U.S. military police, the National Police Agency said Sunday. The police will also have the right to investigate all types of crimes committed by the U.S. servicemen under detention.Previously the U.S. military was only required to give “sympathetic consideration” when Korea requested a transfer even before indict
Dec. 9, 2012
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Kettle heralds season of giving and sharing
On the shopping streets of Myeong-dong, it is hard to miss the sound of a bell rung by a man clad in a military-style black coat and hat.Standing beside a tripod with a bright red kettle hanging from it, and facing a line of trees and buildings glistening with Christmas lights, the man continues to ring the bell to attract attention.The sound, the handbell, the kettle and the man are all too familiar to hundreds of Korean passersby at this time of the year, when the cold begins to bite.They have
Dec. 7, 2012
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Salvation Army keeps red kettle on
The red collection kettles so familiar in Korea at this time of year each have a red shield inscribed with “Gusegun,” Salvation Army in Korean.The Salvation Army, a charity organization, was founded by William Booth who preached in slum areas in London in 1865 to the poor and labor workers who were excluded from churches at the time. First called the Christian Mission, the charity organization was given its current name in 1878. The SA did not only evangelize to the marginalized such as thieves,
Dec. 7, 2012
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Commander hopes to see a Korean become general
Park Man-hee, Korea’s territorial commander and commissioner of the Salvation Army, has dedicated his life to serving those in need since the late 1960s when he first attended an Army church.With less than a year left to his retirement and the expiration of his three-year command post, Park’s remaining wishes are to see a younger commander carry on the Korean Army’s long-term plan under God, and one day see a Korean voted general of the Salvation Army, which is based in London and administers an
Dec. 7, 2012
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Rate of drinking ‘poktanju’ highest among those in 20s
Almost one-third of Koreans aged 15 and above have drunk “poktanju” ― a mixture of spirits and beer ― this year, with nearly half of those in their 20s having done so.According to the survey conducted by the Korean Food Drug Agency 626 of 2,066 respondents, or 30.3 percent, said they had more than one glass of the Korean boilermaker. The rate of people drinking poktanju was highest among those in their 20s, with 49.2 percent, followed by people in their 30s and 40s with 34.9 percent and 32 perce
Dec. 7, 2012
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Senior prosecutor indicted on bribery charges
Kim Kwang-jun, a senior prosecutor in Seoul, was indicted Friday on bribery and influence-peddling charges in the largest-ever corruption case involving an incumbent prosecutor. The 51-year-old official of Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office is accused of receiving money and entertainment worth over 1 billion won ($922,934) from several people, including a fugitive con artist, in return for favors, a special prosecutor investigating the case said. Kim has been under arrest since mid-November. “We’re
Dec. 7, 2012
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Wife-killer doctor gets 20-yr sentence in retrial
A medical doctor was sentenced to 20 years in prison in a retrial on Friday for murdering his pregnant wife.The 32-year-old doctor surnamed Baek initially received the same jail sentence by a district court and an appeals court for strangling his nine-month pregnant wife to death during an early-morning quarrel early last year.The Supreme Court, however, overturned an appeals court's conviction and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court for reconsideration, citing a lack of objective evidenc
Dec. 7, 2012