Most Popular
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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Debate rages over ‘overly fatty’ samgyeopsal
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[Weekender] Korean psyche untangled: Musok
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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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[Eye Interview] 'If you live to 100, you might as well be happy,' says 88-year-old bestselling essayist
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N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
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From fake prostitution ring to nonexistent robber, prank calls hamper police
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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Missing S. Korean traveler in Paris found safe after 2 weeks
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Defense chiefs of US, Australia, Japan decry NK-Russia military cooperation
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[Ferry Disaster] Claims, rumors add to chaos of ferry disaster
Unconfirmed claims by a civilian diver and false Internet rumors are holding back efforts to resolve the chaos that followed the Sewol’s sinking.National Police Agency said Friday it is investigating a claim that the government had stopped civilian divers from participating in the search operation. Earlier in the day, a civilian diver Hong Ga-hye said that government officials were stopping divers from entering the water. She said that contrary to the recent reports, cooperation between the gove
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] Ferry survivors suffering from extreme stress, anxiety
A majority of young survivors from the ferry disaster are suffering from severe stress and anxiety, which are likely to require months of treatment, hospitals officials said Friday. Of the 179 rescued passengers from the ferry Sewol, 76 survivors, mostly Danwon High School students, are getting treatment at Korea University Ansan Hospital in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. “We have conducted the stress level test on 55 survivors as of today, and most of them have shown severe stress,” Cha Sang-hun, th
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] 6-year-old who gave sister his lifejacket still missing
More stories of people who struggled to save others in Wednesday’s ferry tragedy emerged Friday. A 6-year-old boy surnamed Kwon had put his lifejacket on his 5-year-old sister as the ferry Sewol went down. “He told his sister that he would go and find their parents,” the boy’s aunt said.Kwon and his parents remain missing, and the sister is being looked after by her grandmother. She was discharged on Thursday from Hankuk Hospital in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province.Nam Yun-cheol, a 36-year-old teach
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] Prosecutors seek arrest warrant for ferry captain
Prosecutors say they've asked a court to issue an arrest warrant for the captain of the South Korean ferry that sank two days ago, leaving hundreds missing and feared dead. Prosecutors said Friday that they have also requested arrest warrants for two other crewmembers. The investigation into the ferry disaster has focused on the sharp turn it took just before it started listing and whether a quicker evacuation order by the captain could have saved lives. Investigators are also determining wheth
Latest NewsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] Divers spot bodies inside sunken ferry
Divers spotted bodies inside the sunken ferry Saturday as search efforts for hundreds missing continued for a fourth day. Thirty-two people have been confirmed dead in the disaster in waters off the nation’s southwestern coast and 270 are still missing. Most of them are children on a high school holiday trip.Dive teams who had spent two days vainly battling powerful currents and near zero visibility, finally penetrated the passenger decks of the 6,825-tonne Sewol."Civilian divers spotted three b
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] No singing, dancing or comedy on TV throughout weekend
Singing, dancing and comedy have disappeared from major TV channels since the Sewol ferry sank off the southern coast on Wednesday, and are likely to remain so throughout the weekend as the nation prays for more than 250 people still missing. KBS, MBC and SBS, the three major broadcasters, have all decided to cancel regular programs, running real-time news for most of Friday. They canceled most of their music and entertainment programs scheduled for the weekend. “This is no time to sing or laugh
TelevisionApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] Vice principal of Danwon High School found dead
The vice principal of Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, was found dead in an apparent suicide on Friday, two days after hundreds of his students died or went missing in a ferry disaster. The 52-year-old vice principal, surnamed Kang, apparently hanged himself close to a gymnasium in Jindo, South Jeolla Province, where a disaster information center was set up for the families of the victims.The police had been searching for Kang since other teachers told the police on Thursday that
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] Major disasters in Korea
The ferry tragedy has touched off a wave of shock and disappointment among the Korean public as it is not the first such large-scale accident. Several tragedies have occurred in a few decades, mostly by human error or negligence, claiming thousands of innocent lives.Feb. 17, 2014 -- A gymnasium roof at a resort collapses in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, killing 10 and injuring 128 others. More than 500 incoming college freshmen of Busan University of Foreign Studies were having a welcomin
Latest NewsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] 'We are fighting against the state'
JINDO, South Jeolla Province ― Night and day merged into each other on Jindo Island off the southwestern coast of the Korean Peninsula, as families of those still missing after Wednesday morning’s ferry sinking now wait for a miracle.The ferry, which left Incheon on Tuesday night with 476 passengers onboard ― including 325 Danwon High School students from Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, on their way to a school trip to the southern island of Jeju ― sank near Jindo Island.As of Saturday 5:20 p.m., 174
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] Gov’t criticized over ‘amateur’ response
As pessimism loomed over search-and-rescue operations for possible survivors on the Sewol on Friday, criticism mounted over the government’s response to the fatal incident.The families of the victims who lost their lives or went missing on the Sewol blasted the government for allegedly inflating the number of rescuers, and begged for more efforts to save the more than 200 people who are still unaccounted for. “On Thursday, we finally visited the scene but we saw fewer than 200 people working on
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] Families of ferry victims issue statement
The families of the victims who lost their lives or went missing on the Sewol issued a statement in Jindo on Friday, calling for stepped-up search and rescue efforts.The following is the full text of the statement: We would like to appeal with tears to rest of the public as we feel furious at the government’s behavior. We received the shocking news at 9 a.m. Wednesday and heard that everyone was rescued at noon. We came here to see the children, but the actual situation left us speechless. At 5:
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] 6-year-old who gave sister his lifejacket still missing
More stories of people who struggled to save others in Wednesday’s ferry tragedy emerged Friday. A 6-year-old boy surnamed Kwon put his lifejacket on his 5-year-old sister as the ferry Sewol went down. “He told his sister that he would go and find their parents,” the boy’s aunt said.Kwon and his parents remain missing, and the girl is being looked after by her grandmother. Nam Yun-cheol, a 36-year-old teacher of Danwon High School, died while trying to rescue his students from the vessel. As the
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] Erroneous list of survivors hurt hearts of families
(Yonhap)A student once listed as a survivor turned out on Friday to be one of the missing passengers, escalating the criticism over the government’s initial handling of the ferry disaster in waters off Korea’s southwestern coast.The father of Moon Ji-sung expressed his anger over the erroneous list of survivors during his phone call with President Park Geun-hye on Friday morning, Cheong Wa Dae said.The president obtained his mobile phone number when she visited the families of the victims in Jin
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] Diver blasts ‘lack of state effort’ in rescue operation
A civilian diver claimed Friday that the government is not providing sufficient equipment and boats needed for search-and-rescue operations of sunken ferry Sewol.Hong Ga-hye, who arrived late Thursday to participate in the operation, told the media the authorities are stopping the divers from entering the waters. She said that contrary to the recent reports, cooperation between the government and the volunteers have been nonexistent.“Other divers told me that the Coast Guard told them to ‘just k
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] ‘Time to pray for miracles’
JINDO, South Jeolla Province -- Emotions ran high at Paengmok harbor Friday morning, 48 hours after the ferry Sewol sank in the waters off Korea‘s southwestern coast. Over 1,000 parents and families, news crews, and emergency medical staff had waited at the port all night, foregoing sleep to hear word from the divers searching for survivors. Some 550 divers, including civilian divers, are in the area as part of the massive search-and-rescue effort underway.The usually quiet Paengmok harbor now r
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] ‘Third mate at the helm before ferry sank’
(Blommberg)Investigative authorities said Friday that the captain of the sunken ferry Sewol gave the wheel to a third mate before the vessel began sinking.Prosecutors and the police have been conducting an inquiry into the exact cause of the ship’s sinking. "We have confirmed that the captain of the Sewol left the wheel to a third mate before the ship began sinking," chief investigator Park Jae-eok said as he announced the interim results of the investigation at the West Regional Headquarters. "
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] Rescuers enter interior of sunken ferry
Rescuers entered the interior of the sunken ferry Sewol on Friday, the third day of their frantic search for survivors.Navy divers first secured a route for their fellow divers to enter the ship’s dining facility, where many of the victims were thought to have been trapped. They plan to begin their search of the dinning room at 3 p.m.Rescuers also succeeded in injecting air into the ship to help possible survivors breathe.Military personnel also installed buoys to keep the ship afloat, officials
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] P.M. Chung to stay in Mokpo to support rescue efforts
Prime Minister Chung Hong-won is to stay at a police facility in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, from Friday to ensure sufficient state support for the rescue operations at the scene of the ferry disaster and improve inter-agency coordination.The dispatch of a top government official came as the families of victims expressed their anger at what they called “insufficient” government assistance in rescuing nearly 300 people who died or went missing.A day earlier, President Park Geun-hye visited the
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] Four cranes arrive to pull up ferry
Four giant cranes arrived Friday in the scene to help pull up the sunken ferry in Jindo, South Jeolla Province, officials said. Three massive cranes were on standby at the scene until another crane arrived in the afternoon. The salvage operation to pull the ferry out of the waters will not be carried out without the consent of the families of the missing people, officials said. Any mishandling of the ship could lead to a loss of oxygen, which is critical for potential survivors, they added. The
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014
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[Ferry Disaster] Video footage shows the sinking process of Korean ferry
A video footage that shows the sinking process of the Sewol was released on Youtube on Thursday.The brief, 46-second video clip shows a cracked smartphone screen playing footage, apparently recorded by a trapped passenger, showing the circumstances onboard the sinking ferry.The footage reveals the tilted interior of the vessel and the voices of the passengers. One of the passengers, allegedly the recorder of the footage, asks another female passenger “what time is it now?” But before she checks
Social AffairsApril 18, 2014