Most Popular
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Yoon's approval rating plunges to all-time low
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S. Korea votes in favor of Palestinian bid for UN membership
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Russia's denial of entry of S. Korean national unrelated to bilateral ties: Seoul official
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Bae Doo-na shares portraying Korean identity in Hollywood's 'Rebel Moon'
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[From the Scene] Monks, Buddhists hail return of remains of Buddhas
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Medical schools granted enrollment quota flexibility for next year
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Yoon offers first one-on-one meeting with opposition leader next week
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France rejects opening Paris flight routes to T'way Air, deals blow to Korean Air merger
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Iran fires air defense batteries in provinces as sound of explosions heard near Isfahan
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Chinese man behind drug scam targeting teens nabbed in Cambodia
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Women key to development
Participants stress women’s empowerment, gender equalityBUSAN ― Abolishing gender inequality is one of the dominant issues and possibly the key in increasing aid effectiveness, according to experts in Busan on Wednesday. At the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, dignitaries, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, argued for the increased need to focus on the women’s empowerment in order for efficient economic development.Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan said in her keynot
Nov. 30, 2011
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Civil society urged to work together with other players
BUSAN ― The chief of a group of civil society organizations urged its members to work with governments and the private sector to forge better global development cooperation.“Success is possible only if we work together and be inclusive of people and their civil society organizations in development,” said Antonio Tujan, Jr., co-chair of Better Aid Platform, which brings together CSOs that engage in development cooperation, in his speech at the opening ceremony of the Fourth High Level Forum on Ai
Nov. 30, 2011
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One month on the job: Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon has surprised many with his unconventional steps a month into his new job. He has broken with the strict and bureaucratic image of a mayor and gotten more personal and closer to ordinary citizens. Park invited a 39-year-old housewife with three kids to be the first one-day citizen mayor on Wednesday. Sitting on “the chair for citizens” in the mayor’s office, she received daily briefings on city affairs and spent the morning and afternoon with Park’s schedule. Experts sa
Nov. 30, 2011
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Former female prosecutor found to have peddled influence
A former female prosecutor was found to have used her influence to unfairly help a private-practice lawyer win his case in return for a luxury sedan and a designer handbag, Busan Prosecutors said Wednesday. (Yonhap News)The 36-year-old prosecutor, who resigned from office in a city near Seoul earlie
Nov. 30, 2011
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Drunk drivers to face heavier punishments
Police said Wednesday that punishments for drunk driving will be increased beginning next month, as part of efforts to curb traffic accidents.The move comes after the government in June revised laws to punish drunk drivers, imposing different fines or jail terms depending on the offenders blood-alco
Nov. 30, 2011
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Seven out of 10 teens get cursing habit from elementary years: poll
Seven out of 10 teens who commonly use swear words picked up the habit in elementary school, and many of them curse to make themselves appear cool and as an expression of affinity toward their peers, a survey showed Wednesday. According to the survey conducted in September jointly by the state-run N
Nov. 30, 2011
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World forum on aid opens in Busan
BUSAN ― The world’s largest forum on aid officially opened in Busan on Tuesday with 3,000 participants from governments, parliaments, international organizations and civic groups.Delegates participating in the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, or HLF-4, assessed the progress made since the 2005 Paris Declaration.“We should never stop in our efforts to explore effective aid. And ultimately we need to find ways to turn aid effectiveness into real development. This is exactly what the B
Nov. 29, 2011
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New twist in dispute over probe rules
GNP head backs police in investigative powers row with prosecutionThe long drawn-out conflict between police and prosecutors over investigative powers took a new twist Tuesday after the prosecutor-turned-chief of the ruling party sided with police, opposing a government plan to give prosecutors greater supervisory power in investigations.Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, chairman of the Grand National Party, expressed concerns to President Lee Myung-bak during their meeting Monday that the plan would give pro
Nov. 29, 2011
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IFAD urges more investment in Third World agriculture
Global leaders are being urged to increase investment in agriculture in developing countries at the high-level aid forum in Busan this week by a UN agency. According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development, 75 percent of the world’s poorest people ― a total of 1.4 billion― live in rural areas, depending on agriculture for their livelihoods. “About two billion people live and work on the world’s 500 million smallholder farms. Most survive on less than $2 a day,” IFAD Vice President
Nov. 29, 2011
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Africa needs global support to stand on its own: Blair
African governments need to be given greater ability to support development in the region, especially in tough economic times where every dollar counts, said Tony Blair in Busan on Tuesday.Speaking at the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, the former British prime minister said assistance needs to help poor countries stand on their own rather than depend on the wealthy. At a panel discussion titled “Taking Charge Not Taking Charity: How Africa Can Lead Its Development,” Blair stressed th
Nov. 29, 2011
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Busan forum addresses development agenda
Gender issues to be discussed in Wednesday’s special session with ClintonBUSAN ― Delegates actively participated in thematic sessions and side events on the first day of the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan on Tuesday. One of the major talks addressed how aid ownership and accountability should be made a political priority to ensure partner government executives take full responsibility in implementation of national development strategies.“We should lift this issue to the po
Nov. 29, 2011
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Officials get tough on assault on police
President Lee calls incident threat to democracy, rule of lawThe government and the ruling party vowed stern enforcement of the law on illegal protests on Monday, denouncing the protesters who assaulted a ranking police officer during a rally against the U.S. Free Trade Agreement on Saturday.President Lee Myung-bak called the incident against a uniformed police officer “a threat to democracy” in a meeting with senior secretaries, presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha said.The chief of Seoul’s Jo
Nov. 28, 2011
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Ownership vital for development aid
The following article was contributed by Park Dae-won, president of the Korea International Cooperation Agency. ― Ed.In 2005, aid donors and recipient countries gathered in Paris for the Second High Level Forum on aid effectiveness. They endorsed the Paris Declaration, grounded in five implementation principles: ownership, alignment, harmonization, management for results, and mutual accountability. These principles were designed to make aid delivery more effective. Aid stakeholders then sought
Nov. 28, 2011
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Forum a turning point in development cooperation
The following article was contributed by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kim Sung-hwan. ― Ed.Microsoft founder Bill Gates commended Korea’s transformation from a recipient of aid to a donor as a model case of development cooperation at the G20 Cannes Summit. He further complimented Korea’s pledge to double the volume of its ODA by 2015 amid financial difficulties sweeping the globe. His comment symbolizes the status of Korea and the respect it has gained in the global development cooperat
Nov. 28, 2011
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College students make mobile app for kids’ multicultural education
Korea University students have released a mobile application for multicultural education for children, the school said Monday.A student group named “Dawoolim,” which means harmony among a variety of people, made the application introducing the Japanese holiday Setsubun, a day before the start of spring on the Japanese lunar calendar.“We made the application so that children can learn about other cultures easily with smartphones. I hope they will feel closer to different cultures and be rid of pr
Nov. 28, 2011
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Oriental doctors slam acupuncturist ruling
Oriental medical doctors have blasted the Constitutional Court’s decision to acknowledge the moxibustion practice of legally unauthorized acupuncturist Kim Nam-su.They have vowed to protest the ruling and urged the government to stop non-accredited Oriental doctors from practicing. Their protest came as the Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled that the prosecution’s indictment of Gudang, the pen name of Kim Nam-su, for illegal practice of Oriental medicine unconstitutional.The 96-year-old acup
Nov. 28, 2011
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Public-sector temps to get job security
About 97,000 public-sector non-regulars to be offered ‘indefinite contract’About 97,000 non-regular workers in the public sector will be given greater job security next year, under a plan unveiled Monday by the ruling Grand National Party and the Labor Ministry. The 110-billion-won plan, part of a bigger program to support the ballooning number of non-regulars, envisages government agencies and state-run institutions promoting some of their non-regular employees to “indefinite contract” staff. I
Nov. 28, 2011
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New global partnership for development aid
Donor and recipient countries are expected to establish a new global partnership for effective development cooperation at the world’s largest aid effectiveness forum in Busan on Tuesday, a draft showed.Ministerial-level government officials from both donor and recipient countries, civic groups and private-sector officials from 160 countries will gather in Busan on Tuesday to discuss how to make development aid work better.“We will form a new, inclusive Global Partnership for Effective Developmen
Nov. 28, 2011
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More expats start up business in Seoul City
More foreign entrepreneurs are starting new businesses in Seoul with the help of the Seoul Global Center’s entrepreneurship program. SGC has helped at least 36 foreign entrepreneurs start new businesses, including restaurants, education services, business consulting and an auto parts retailer, since it started the Business Start-up School in 2009. So far, 326 people have taken part in the program. “I was having trouble with establishing a company in Seoul because I didn’t do the foreign investor
Nov. 28, 2011
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High-level officials to gather in Busan for aid effectiveness
Ministerial-level government officials from both donor and recipient countries, civic groups and private-sector officials from 160 countries will gather in Busan on Tuesday to discuss how to make development aid work better, organizers said.About 2,500 delegates for the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, or HLF-4, will assess how much progress has been made in improving the effectiveness of aid, share global experiences in delivering the best results and set a new agenda for developme
Nov. 28, 2011