Most Popular
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10-man S. Korea lose to Indonesia to miss out on Paris Olympic football qualification
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Hybe-Ador feud should have limited effect on Hybe's overall performance: analysts
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Second Gimpo civil servant found dead, after apologizing for not finishing work
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DP leader says he will meet Yoon without conditions
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First-ever meeting of president, opposition chief set to finally happen
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NewJeans' singles, Japanese debut to proceed as planned, despite Hybe-Ador feud
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Experts raise concerns about Japan putting pressure on Naver over Line
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Samsung mobile chief, Google device head meet in Seoul
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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Ship linked to NK arms shipments to Russia is moored in China: State Dept.
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Concerns rise over leak...of chemicals in Sangju
Environment authorities conducted overnight operations during the weekend to plug and clean up chemical leaks at a factory where 200 tons of hydrochloric acid escaped.An evacuation order for 760 residents within a radius of 1.5 kilometers was removed as of Sunday morning after it was issued on Saturday upon the report of the accident. Hydrochloric acid leaked out of a factory in Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province, 280 kilometers south of Seoul. The toxic chemical is an aqueous solution of hydroge
Jan. 13, 2013
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One third of foreign manual workers overstay: Justice Ministry
More than one third of foreign manual workers staying in South Korea under a work permit system overstay their visas, the Justice Ministry said Sunday. Statistics by the ministry showed that 15,804 foreigner workers, or 37.3 percent of the 42,379 whose E-9 non-professional work visa expired in the first 10 months of 2012, failed to get out of the country. South Korea introduced a work permit system in 2004 in which laborers from 15 countries are allowed to work here for up to three years wi
Jan. 13, 2013
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Hundreds of residents evacuated due to hydrochloric acid leak
Hundreds of residents around a polysilicon plant here were evacuated to safety after hydrochloric acid was found to have been leaked, police said Saturday.The leak occurred at around 11 a.m. from a 200-ton tank of the Woongjin Polysilicon plant located in this city, some 270 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to police.Police said that when the accident happened, some workers were staying inside the plant, but no injuries have been reported.It is yet to be known how much acid leaked from t
Jan. 12, 2013
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Lee’s long-time aide gets 15 months in jail for bribery
A long-time aide to President Lee Myung-bak was sentenced to 15 months in prison for accepting bribes from the chairman of a now-suspended savings bank in return for influence peddling, court officials said Friday. Kim Hee-jung, who worked as a presidential secretary for personal affairs, was indicted last August on charges of receiving 180 million won ($170,502) in kickbacks from Solomon Savings Bank Chairman Lim Suk on three occasions from August 2011 to January 2012 in exchange for helping th
Jan. 11, 2013
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Presidential office positively considers vetoing taxi law
The office of President Lee Myung-bak is positively considering vetoing a recently passed law on providing state subsidies to the taxi industry, an official said Friday, amid criticism the measure is a populist bill that would cost the nation too much.The ruling and opposition parties passed the taxi bill through parliament last week. It calls for including taxis in the category of mass transportation, along with buses, subways and trains, a designation that makes the industry eligible for gover
Jan. 11, 2013
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Transition team considers shortening working hours
The presidential transition team will consider shortening working hours by stretching the weekly limit across all seven days of the week, not five, an official said Friday.Working hours in South Korea are notoriously long, despite a legal limit of eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. A government report published last September showed that the country's average weekly working hours ranked the highest among the member states of the rich nations' club -- the Organization for Economic Coopera
Jan. 11, 2013
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U.S. soldier indicted for massive drug smuggling
A U.S. soldier has been indicted Thursday on charges of smuggling a massive amount of marijuana into the country, South Korean prosecutors said Thursday.The 23-year-old corporal from the U.S. Air Force base in Osan, identified only by his initial M, is accused of smuggling 944 grams of marijuana with coffee beans via international air mail in September, prosecutors said.That quantity is enough for approximately 1,800 doses, they added.The prosecutors said they have indicted the soldier after the
Jan. 10, 2013
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Three-year term sought for Lee’s brother
The prosecution on Thursday demanded a three-year jail term and 750 million ($707,464) in forfeiture against President Lee Myung-bak’s elder brother Lee Sang-deuk for bribery.Last July, Lee, 78, was indicted and detained on charges that he received some 600 million won from a local savings bank from 2007 through 2011. The bank was at risk of suspension by the state regulator due to capital shortages. His charges also included receiving 150 million won from a local firm, which the prosecution sus
Jan. 10, 2013
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Judge’s request stirs legal debate on ‘voluntary sex work’
A district court judge on Thursday requested the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of a law punishing voluntary sex workers. “Sexual contact between adults, unless it involves coercion or extortion, should be left for the parties to decide in view of their right to self-determination,” Judge Oh Won-chan of Seoul Northern District Court argued in the request. “The current law does not reflect a change in social views that the state should not interfere in such matters.” Subject
Jan. 10, 2013
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Korea’s public spending on family benefits lowest in OECD
Korea’s public spending on family benefits in 2009 amounted to 1.01 percent of its gross domestic product, the lowest among 34 OECD countries according to OECD Family Database. The statistics cover financial support for families and children in cash, service and tax benefits. The average for OECD members stood at 2.61 percent.Korea recorded 0.04 percent in cash benefits, 0.77 percent in service benefits and 0.20 percent in tax benefits. The OECD average for each criterion was 1.41 percent, 0.94
Jan. 10, 2013
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More than 100 students involved in admission fraud at foreign schools
The education office in Gyeonggi Province announced Thursday that it has found that more than 100 unqualified students were admitted to foreigner schools. The announcement came following the regional education office’s on-site-inspection in December of nine foreigner secondary schools in the region, as part of the government’s ongoing investigation into a massive admission fraud case involving several international schools here.According to the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, all of tho
Jan. 10, 2013
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Prosecutors demand death penalty for child rapist
Prosecutors demanded capital punishment Thursday for a man accused of kidnapping and raping a 7-year-old girl in the latest child sex crime to spark public outrage. The 23-year-old suspect surnamed Ko was arrested for allegedly abducting the victim while she was sleeping at her home in Naju, South Jeolla Province, and raping her under a bridge near her house. The accused is also believed to have attempted to kill the victim by choking her. The Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office said that the s
Jan. 10, 2013
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Harvard professor Ham to teach at Seoul Nat’l Univ.
Ham Don-hee, professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at Harvard University, will teach at Seoul National University.The personnel committee of Seoul National University’s College of Engineering officially announced its decision to recruit the Harvard professor on Thursday. Once the decision is approved at the university level, Ham will begin teaching at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in March.School officials said that Ham would retain his post at Harvard,
Jan. 10, 2013
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Seoul to strengthen suicide monitoring on Han River bridges
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Thursday it will set up a system for detecting suicide attempts on Seoul‘s major bridges over the Han River, one of the most used places for people wanting to take their own lives, and swiftly rescuing them as part of efforts to curb the nation’s suicide rate, the highest in the world.Under the envisioned plan, intelligence closed-circuit TVs detect movements suspicious of suicide attempts via its sensing function, which prompts officials to set up an emerg
Jan. 10, 2013
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Elderly woman found one month after death
An elderly woman who lived alone was found dead in her apartment a month after she died.An official from Daegu District Court found the 64-year-old woman’s body while visiting her house to conduct a property auction procedure on Wednesday. The woman, identified by her surname Kim, had reportedly suffered from economic difficulties and recently had her apartment auctioned off.Although she expressed her wish to donate her body for medical research in an apparent suicide note, the corpse was too se
Jan. 10, 2013
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Seoul hospital completes heart transplant for first time in country
A Seoul hospital has successfully conducted a heart transplant operation, marking the first-ever transplant of an artificial heart in the country, hospital officials said Thursday.The operation took place in August when a 75-year-old patient suffering from congestive heart failure received a left ventricular assist device (VAD), according to the officials at Samsung Medical Center.A VAD is a mechanical circulatory device typically used for patients suffering from congestive heart failure. The le
Jan. 10, 2013
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Seoul to install signs in four languages
All signs on roads, streets, subway stations and online maps will be marked in four languages and in a more readable format by 2016, Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Wednesday. The plan is aimed at making the city more convenient to an increasing number of foreign residents and tourists. Complex signs received the second most complaints from foreign tourists in its 2011 survey on their experiences traveling in Seoul. The city will install more than 144,000 new signs in four languages: Kor
Jan. 9, 2013
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Nearly 100 doctors caught misusing propofol, other drugs
Nearly 100 doctors have been caught for misusing narcotics and psychotropic drugs such as propofol, police said Wednesday.Police have uncovered 98 medical workers ― mostly doctors ― and eight hospitals in a two-month nationwide crackdown on illegal use of drugs by hospitals.The crackdown, conducted jointly with the health authorities, came after a local obstetrician was arrested in August on charges of injecting his girlfriend with an anesthetic that caused her death and then abandoning her body
Jan. 9, 2013
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Jeju: A great place for study and socializing for students
I have been coming to Korea for six years and moved here as a resident 18 months ago. Since arriving here, I have been heartened by the warmth of the people, their willingness to assist, and the value they place on education. Moving to Jeju to open Branksome Hall Asia was a significant shift, one I am glad I made. I am enjoying the amazing experiences at our new school, our life on the remarkable campus, the stunning scenery and the environment that is Jeju. I am aware that Jeju Island is referr
Jan. 9, 2013
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‘Student exchange program grooms future leaders’
In 1951, church leaders in Michigan invited 75 West German teenagers to live with local families and attend schools for a year. Youth For Understanding, a global student exchange program, began its operation with that trans-Atlantic project aimed at bridging the two World War II foes. Its network has expanded to 65 countries to become the operator of one of the world’s largest international educational exchange programs. It has benefited nearly 250,000 students so far, with some 4,000 students c
Jan. 9, 2013