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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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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Samsung mobile chief, Google device head meet in Seoul
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Ship linked to NK arms shipments to Russia is moored in China: State Dept.
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[Editorial] Vetting campaign pledges
A quarrel has flared up between the government and political parties over the latter’s welfare-related campaign promises.On Monday, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance announced it had launched a task force to study the feasibility of the welfare proposals presented by the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party.The schemes floated by the two parties included quadrupling the salaries of conscripted soldiers to about 400,000 won, free child care services for kids und
Feb. 22, 2012
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[Editorial] Mayor’s son’s MRI
The solitary campaign of Rep. Kang Yong-seok against Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon with allegations of impropriety in having his son exempted from military conscription seems to be paying off. Park has agreed to open his son’s spinal image to the public.Rep. Kang has volunteered a “sniper’s role” against leading liberal figures, including Seoul Education Superintendent Kwak No-hyun and Mayor Park. The sons of both Park and Kwak were disqualified from active duty because of their physical conditions.
Feb. 21, 2012
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[Editorial] Truth, half-truth and lies
Intelligent Koreans find it increasingly difficult to tell the whole truth from half-truths and outright lies these days. “Facts” about people are disseminated through the media and the social networking service channels, but their respective audiences should exercise great discretion to decide whether the information is true or not.Most dangerous are half-truths which make people believe the whole information is true when it is partly false. This can be compared to a recently circulated nude pi
Feb. 21, 2012
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[Editorial] Foreign tourist extortion
A surge of foreign tourists, most conspicuously from China and Japan, is an encouraging thing in otherwise generally bleak economic environment these days. As the Chinese government allowed overseas tourism for residents of cities first and then gradually eased travel restrictions, Korea emerged as one of the most popular destinations because of its geographical and cultural proximity. Travelling in Korea, the Chinese witness political and economic advancement of Koreans and visualize the future
Feb. 20, 2012
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[Editorial] End of a saga
“Hana” means one in Korean, but the Hana Financial Group will operate with two separate banks for five years after its takeover of Korea Exchange Bank. As the new owners reached a deal with the KEB union last week, new KEB CEO Yun Yong-ro reported to his office Monday, a week after he was appointed by the HFG. The gist of the deal made on the day before the scheduled start of a strike by the union is that KEB, keeping its present name, will have “independent management” until the end of 2016 wit
Feb. 20, 2012
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[Editorial] Amb. Han’s transfer
As it does each year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade holds a conference of its diplomatic mission chiefs in Seoul this week, at which it briefs them on this year’s foreign policy goals and gives them new assignments. Conspicuously missing from the conference will be Han Duck-soo, ambassador to the United States. Hardly a day had passed since his arrival last week before he said he was resigning. He did not offer any explanation. His seemingly abrupt decision sent many scratching their
Feb. 19, 2012
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[Editorial] Disgraced to the end
Rep. Park Hee-tae, speaker of the National Assembly, subjected himself to a prosecutor’s inquiry into a vote-buying allegation Sunday. Though his case may have no direct link to the 18th National Assembly’s underperformance during the last four years, it certainly has added to its self-inflicted humiliation. The floor in the main hall of the National Assembly has often become the scene of a brawl, as lawmakers attempting to railroad a bill try to break through the defenses of their rivals. Injur
Feb. 19, 2012
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[Editorial] Change in lending rules
Banks had often demanded people line up more than one guarantor if they wanted to borrow money until “joint and several liability” for individuals was abolished in 2008. But lenders still ask the self-employed and corporations that other parties be presented to hold each of them liable to the full amount of the relevant obligation.This loan practice, however, is set to be scrapped in May. The Financial Services Commission has recently decided to ban joint and several liability ― a practice often
Feb. 17, 2012
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[Editorial] Match-fixing scandals
In July last year, prosecutors indicted 37 football players on charges of fixing matches in the nation’s top professional football league. The associations of other sports should have learned a lesson from the scandal, but they did not. Now they are paying the price.Allegations have been made that professional baseball players were involved in match fixing. Prosecutors, who are looking into the cases, have reportedly obtained testimony confirming the scandal. The teams whose players are suspecte
Feb. 17, 2012
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[Editorial] A wise decision
Japanese authorities have decided not to allow a right-wing organization to erect stone monuments of “Takeshima” in front of the Korean Embassy in Tokyo and its consulate general in Osaka, Yonhap News and SBS TV reported, quoting official sources in Seoul. The reports revealed that Japanese officials intimated their Korean counterparts about the decision which is inadequate to be officially announced.A Japanese group called “the Society of Citizens Recognizing No Privileges of Foreigners in Japa
Feb. 16, 2012
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[Editorial] China’s thrust
With his approval rating rising to over 50 percent this week, U.S. President Barack Obama told visiting Chinese top leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping that Washington welcomes China’s “peaceful rise” but cautioned him about friction over trade and human rights issues as the economic and military rivalry grows between the two countries.While the Chinese vice president was seeking to boost his international standing with his four-day visit to the United States, it offered U.S. leaders to size up the man
Feb. 16, 2012
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[Editorial] Restarting a charade?
The United States is set to hold talks with North Korea in Beijing next Thursday, the third of their kind aimed at restarting the stalled six-nation negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. As a U.S. State Department spokeswoman put it, the talks are “a continuation of the meetings” that the United States has been holding with an evasive, cunning North Korea to see if it is prepared to fulfill its past commitments to denuclearization. Given the remarks, the United States does not a
Feb. 15, 2012
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[Editorial] Airport promise again
Political parties have no qualms about making untenable pledges ahead of the April 11 general elections if they are believed to endear them to the electorate. A case in point is a promise to build a new airport in the southeast, which is shaping up to be one of the fiercest battle grounds.The proposal to build a new airport in the area, originally a campaign promise of President Lee Myung-bak, was scrapped when a feasibility study concluded last year that it would incur heavy losses if its const
Feb. 15, 2012
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[Editorial] Good and bad judges
Korea has about 1,000 judges sitting in the district, appellate and the supreme courts. They were given their robes after passing the state-run judiciary examination and two years of training. Each year, those who earn higher scores in various tests during the training course are appointed as judges and the rest go to the prosecution or directly go into legal practice.Judges are supposed to make rulings in accordance with the law and their conscience. People have believed judges have clearer con
Feb. 14, 2012
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[Editorial] Nomination wars
Up until a few weeks ago, leaders of parties talked about some kind of “bottom-up” process in nominating candidates for the upcoming National Assembly elections. Both Park Geun-hye of what is now the Saenuri Party and Han Myeong-sook of the Democratic United Party mentioned “open primaries” at each district to find fresh personalities who have the respect of constituents and present positive images of their parties.But what we now see at the headquarters of these parties are members of respectiv
Feb. 14, 2012
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[Editorial] Blue House-party split
The ties between the president and the Saenuri Party, which was formerly the ruling Grand National Party, are coming to a dead end. The situation worsened as President Lee Myung-bak’s chief secretary for liaison with the party resigned for his role in a political payoff scandal that happened three years ago involving the party’s former chairman.The Blue House is looking for a seasoned politician to replace Kim Hyo-jae who is leaving the presidential staff after eight months in office, but whoeve
Feb. 13, 2012
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[Editorial] Credit card fees
There are more than 1.5 million small business establishments, mostly eateries, with annual sales of less than 200 million won ($180,000). They pay 1.8 percent fees to credit card companies. Since late last year, owners of these places have moved collectively through their associations to get the rates lowered, threatening to temporarily close their businesses nationwide in protest. They were encouraged to do this after credit card firms were pressured into lowering rates for department stores a
Feb. 13, 2012
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[Editorial] Fanning moral hazard
Last week, a parliamentary standing committee approved a special bill that, if enacted, would shake the foundation of the nation’s financial system. Its members must be held accountable for the bill, which embodied populism at its apex. The bill is aimed at permitting depositors to recoup 55 percent of the money they held in excess of 50 million in their accounts with savings banks at the time when the savings banks were declared insolvent last year. It is also aimed at permitting investors to r
Feb. 12, 2012
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[Editorial] Decisions in jeopardy
A statute is made invalid when six or more of the nine justices of the Constitutional Court decide that it is unconstitutional. But does it still have to require approval from six or more justices to invalidate a law when one justice post remains vacant? This is not a hypothetical question. It is an actual question that was raised last Thursday when the National Assembly rejected a nominee by the main opposition Democratic United Party for the justice post that had remained unfilled since July 8
Feb. 12, 2012
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[Editorial] Speed up the probe
The president has constitutional protection against criminal action. The speaker of the National Assembly has no such device. Still, prosecutors are required to take utmost caution before initiating a criminal inquiry into a case involving the speaker, the head of one of the three separate branches of government.In this regard, the prosecutors’ office did well when it decided to wait until Rep. Park Hee-tae resigned from his office of speaker of the National Assembly. Now that he has tendered hi
Feb. 10, 2012