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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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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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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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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KT launches new mobile plans for foreign residents
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Seoul stages anti-piracy exercise
South Korea on Tuesday staged a joint anti-piracy exercise in the waters off the southeastern city of Masan, involving its latest replacement forces for its 300-strong contingent in Somali waters.The naval exercise, also involving coast guards and a vessel from a private shipping company, was jointl
Nov. 29, 2011
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Precondition makes resumption of 6-party talks difficult: Blix
Hans Blix, former director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the U.S. and South Korea’s precondition for North Korea to halt uranium enrichment could make it more difficult to start six-party negotiations.Blix visited Korea as a member of an eminent persons’ group, or EPG, to provide advice to President Lee Myung-bak for when South Korea hosts the Nuclear Security Summit in March, next year. The group members held their first meeting in Seoul on Tuesday“The status of North
Nov. 29, 2011
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S. Korea to auction off baby food for N. Korean children
South Korea has taken steps to auction off some baby food originally intended for North Korean children, an official said Tuesday.The move comes nearly two months after South Korea dropped a plan to send 5 billion won ($4.3 million) worth of aid to North Korean flood victims, citing no response from the North as the reason for the change of plan.South Korea had insisted it would deliver baby food, biscuits and instant noodles to the North instead of cement and equipment requested by the North.So
Nov. 29, 2011
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Pyongyang's construction drive said to kill hundreds of college students
North Korean college students have reportedly died in a spate of accidents at construction sites amid intense efforts by Pyongyang to prepare for a milestone political event next year, a source familiar with the issue said Tuesday.The alleged accidents sparked rumors that an estimated 200 college st
Nov. 29, 2011
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‘U.S. experts on Korea to visit Pyongyang this week’
About five or six U.S. experts on Korean affairs are scheduled to visit Pyongyang sometime this week, a diplomatic source here said Sunday.“Experts and scholars who study issues on the Korean Peninsula have been invited by the North Korean foreign ministry and may visit the North this week,” the source said. “The purpose of their trip isn’t known, and I am trying to find out more about their trip and also the intentions of North Korea.”The U.S. delegation will reportedly include Joel Wit, a rese
Nov. 27, 2011
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N.K. leader faces challenges in power succession, Yu says
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il faces challenges in handing over power to his youngest son, Seoul’s top official in charge of relations with Pyongyang said.Kim named Jong-un vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party and a four-star general last year in the clearest sign yet of his intentions to make his son the country’s next leader.The 69-year-old leader is believed to have accelerated the succession plan since he suffered a stroke in 2008.The plan, if realiz
Nov. 27, 2011
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Firms in N. Korea face uncertainties
South Korean manufacturing companies operating in North Korea outside Gaeseong still face an uncertain future, despite the South’s hints at a softening stance toward Pyongyang, sources said.The government has appeared to be loosening its “May 24 measures,” which banned all exchanges and cooperation with the North after the sinking of the Cheonan, since Yu Woo-ik took the helm of the Unification Ministry in September.Yu has allowed South Korean firms at Gaeseong Industrial Complex to continue pro
Nov. 27, 2011
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N. Korea bolsters coastal patrol to deter defection: sources
North Korea's navy has bolstered its coastal patrol to deter its nationals from defecting to South Korea via the sea, South Korean sources said Sunday."North Korean patrol boats have ratcheted up their monitoring in waters off Tungsangot, Haeju and Kangryong," one source said, referring to areas all
Nov. 27, 2011
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Official leaves for rare trip to monitor food aid in N.K.
A South Korean official and four civilians left for North Korea on Friday on a rare mission to ensure that recent aid from Seoul had reached its intended beneficiaries, an official said.The trip comes a day after North Korea threatened to turn South Korea‘s presidential office into “a sea of fire” in anger over Seoul’s massive military maneuvers near the tense sea border.The show of force near Yeonpyeong Island was timed to mark the first anniversary of the North‘s shelling of the South Korean b
Nov. 25, 2011
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U.N. envoy pledges efforts to locate ‘abducted’ family in N. Korea
The United Nations’ envoy on North Korean human rights Friday promised to work toward the return of a Korean family believed to be held in the communist country, saying the case highlights the urgency of resolving abductions by the North.Thousands of South Koreans, including lawmakers and human rights activists, have mounted calls at home and abroad for the return of Shin Sook-ja and her two daughters, who were reportedly being held at a prison camp in North Korea, at least until recently.Shin’s
Nov. 25, 2011
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North Korea threatens to turn Cheong Wa Dae into sea of fire
North Korea on Thursday threatened to turn the South’s presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae into a “sea of fire” in a statement by its military denouncing Wednesday’s military exercise on Yeonpyeongdo and Baengnyeongdo.South Korea carried out the exercise on the border islands on the first anniversary of the North’s artillery attack on Yeongpyeongdo that killed two marines and two civilians.The belligerent rhetoric is some of the strongest in recent months. It is the first time for it to issue s
Nov. 24, 2011
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N. Korean defectors in China vulnerable to human trafficking
Female North Korean defectors in China are susceptible to human trafficking carried out by Chinese and ethnic Koreans, a recent survey showed Thursday.More than half of about 120 North Korean women surveyed by South Korean activists in China said they experienced trafficking in China, according to F
Nov. 24, 2011
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N. Korea adopts law on preventing damage from earthquakes and volcanoes
North Korea has adopted a new law on preventing damage from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the country’s official news agency said.“The law stipulates principles concerning observation and forecast of natural disasters, prevention of damages and rescue activities,” the Korean Central News Agency reported Wednesday, without giving details.The development comes after experts have warned that North Korea’s Mount Baekdu, which borders China, may still have an active core, citing topographical s
Nov. 24, 2011
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N. Korea condemns Seoul's railroading of KORUS FTA
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Wednesday condemned South Korea's parliament for ramming through a free trade agreement with the United States, saying that the move invited strong backlash from the public and opposition parties.South Korea's ruling-party controlled parliament on Tuesday ra
Nov. 24, 2011
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N.K. sees jump in number of mobile phone users
Spread of information through phones may not immediately lead to big change: expertsThe number of North Korean mobile phone users has jumped in recent years, with the figure projected to top 1 million by year’s end, an noteworthy phenomenon in the tightly controlled state.In the last three months, there has been an increase of around 140,000 cellular phone registrations, according to a recent report by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, the sole wireless carrier in the communist country.The figure, which
Nov. 23, 2011
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Seoul to set up unification fund
The South Korean government said it will establish a “unification fund” under the current inter-Korean cooperation fund to prepare for reunification with North Korea in the future.The Unification Ministry said the fund will be run separately from the inter-Korean cooperation fund so that it can be used for a stable integration of the two Korean regions and social security. The unification fund will be raised through government funds, private sources, money left over from the inter-Korean coopera
Nov. 23, 2011
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Number of N.K. mobile phone users jump in recent years
Spread of information through phones may not immediately lead to big change: expertsThe number of North Korean mobile phone users has jumped in recent years, with the figure projected to top the 1-million mark by year’s end, an unusual phenomenon in the tightly controlled state.In the last three months, there has been an increase of around 140,000 cellular phone registrations, according to a recent report by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, the sole wireless carrier in the communist country.The figure,
Nov. 23, 2011
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North Korean media spreads rumors on war with South, U.S.
Scaremongering about an imminent war with North Korea is quickly spreading among residents in the communist state, as the media in Pyongyang have increasingly distorted facts about Seoul’s military drills in recent weeks, sources said.The Korean Central Television, which controls both radio and TV broadcasting, said through its radio station on Monday that South Korea and the U.S. were “getting ready to stage a new nuclear war against North Korea by organizing the Extended Deterrence Policy Comm
Nov. 23, 2011
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Yu urges China to send N.K. defectors to S. Korea
BEIJING (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s top official in charge of relations with North Korea on Tuesday asked China to quickly send North Korean defectors to South Korea.Tens of thousands of North Korean defectors are believed to be hiding in China, hoping to travel to Thailand or other Southeast Asian countries before resettling in South Korea.Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik sought cooperation from Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to ensure that “North Korean defectors can quickly come to Sout
Nov. 22, 2011
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Ex-soldier investigated for spying
A former South Korean Army soldier is being investigated for suspicions of espionage.According to the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency on Tuesday, the former sergeant first class was arrested on suspicion of passing military secrets to North Korea.Police suspect that the soldier, Kim, 34, whose full name was undisclosed to the media, crossed through Shenyang, northeastern China, into the North and handed over information gathered during and after his military service.The police report found tha
Nov. 22, 2011