Most Popular
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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Golden chance to liquidate babies’ gold rings?
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Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride
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Russia sent more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to N. Korea in March: White House
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Seoul to more than double military drones by 2026 to counter NK threats
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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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Seoul alerts overseas missions to NK terror threats
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Over 60% of S. Koreans support W100m childbirth incentive: survey
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‘Inside Out 2’ adds four new emotions, explores teenage life
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Questions raised over fair promotion of RM, NewJeans
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[Newsmaker] 'Smart poles' to be installed at Han River parks amid safety concerns following college student's death
The Seoul city government said Wednesday it plans to install "smart poles" at riverside parks along the Han River to strengthen CCTV surveillance as safety concerns have grown in the wake of the death of a medical college student. Smart poles, also known as intelligent light poles, can perform their prime function of shining light along with other advanced functionality such as CCTV, public Wi-Fi and Internet of Things (IOT) sensors. Calls have risen in recent weeks for installing mo
Social AffairsMay 19, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Korea has no cases of COVID-19 vaccine-induced blood clot: KDCA
Korea has yet to confirm a case of rare blood clots in people who received AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said in Tuesday’s press briefing. Park Young-joon, the agency’s head of case management team, said in response to The Korea Herald’s question that none of the post-vaccine clotting cases identified so far were accompanied by low platelet levels. The specific kind of blood clots -- termed thrombosis with thrombocytope
Social AffairsMay 18, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Moon recalls 1980 Gwangju uprising, hopes for breakthrough in Myanmar
President Moon Jae-in commemorated the anniversary of a 1980 pro-democracy uprising in Gwangju on Tuesday with a call for finding the truth behind the bloody crackdown by soldiers and recovery of victims' honor. Thanks to "courageous" testimonies by some of those involved, "We are coming close to the truth of Gwangju," Moon wrote on his Facebook and Twitter accounts in commemoration of the May 18 Democratization Movement. In Gwangju, 329 kilometers south of Seoul, at that t
PoliticsMay 18, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Friend of medical student found dead in Han River speaks out
The case of a 21-year-old medical student found dead in the Han River on April 30, which has received much media interest, took a new turn on Monday as his friend spoke out through his lawyer for the first time. Sohn Jung-min went missing early on April 25 after drinking overnight with his friend at a riverside park in Banpo, Seoul, and was found dead in the river days later. As Sohn’s father desperately looked for his son, and after he told the press that he wanted to know how his son g
Social AffairsMay 17, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Poll respondents divided on whether to reform confirmation hearing system
South Koreans appear to be almost evenly divided on whether to remedy the current parliamentary confirmation hearings for minister nominees, a poll said Monday, as the ruling party and the presidential office are pushing to shift the focus of the system to their job performance ability. In the Realmeter poll of 500 adults nationwide conducted Friday, 47.9 percent agreed to the need to refurbish the present confirmation hearing system, while 45.5 percent expressed an opposite view. The remaining
PoliticsMay 17, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Paid ‘vaccination leave’ spreading among big firms
Major conglomerates in South Korea are introducing paid leave of 1-3 days for workers who get COVID-19 vaccine shots, following the government’s recommendation. CJ Group was the latest to announce it would introduce the system, allowing its employees to take two days off work -- the day of the vaccination and the day after. Those who suffer from side effects of the vaccine can take one more day off paid, without a doctor’s note, the company said. The vaccination leave is also g
IndustryMay 16, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Uncommitted voters outnumber respective supporters of two main parties: poll
Uncommitted voters without preference for a particular political party outnumbered respective supporters of the two biggest rival parties, a poll showed Sunday. According to the poll conducted by Gallup Korea on 1,000 people aged 18 or over from Tuesday through Thursday, 30 percent of the respondents said they do not support any party, up 1 percentage point from the previous week. Twenty-eight percent threw their support behind the ruling Democratic Party (DP), down 2 percentage points from
PoliticsMay 16, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Court rejects injunction on sales of Kim Il-sung memoir
The court said Friday that it had rejected an injunction request from NGOs to ban the sales and distribution of a memoir of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung. Kim Seung-kyun, who runs a company that used to trade with North Korea, republished the eight-volume memoirs, titled “With the Century,” last month for the first time in South Korea, and sales of the books once called by the Supreme Court “an item of expression that benefits the enemy” began. The set of book
Social AffairsMay 14, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Gyeonggi Gov. Lee beats former prosecutor general for 1st time in hypothetical presidential race: poll
Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung has overtaken Yoon Seok-youl, the former prosecutor general, for the first time in a hypothetical two-way presidential hopeful poll released Friday. In a survey conducted by Gallup Korea on 1,007 adults nationwide from Tuesday to Wednesday, 42 percent picked Gov. Lee, affiliated with the ruling Democratic Party (DP), as their favored candidate for the next presidential election slated for March 2022. Yoon, who has led the presidential hopefuls' race in various pol
PoliticsMay 14, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Seoul mulls drinking ban along Han River
Fried chicken and beer by the Han River could become a thing of the past as early as this summer as Seoul officials are weighing a ban on outdoor drinking within riverside parks. Park Yoo-mi, a disease control official at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said in a daily press briefing Wednesday that the city government is considering a ban on outdoor drinking at all of its 11 riverside parks, some of the most populous leisure areas found within the city for residents and tourists. “Rel
Social AffairsMay 13, 2021
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[Newsmaker] S. Korean lawmakers arrive in US for talks on vaccine cooperation
WASHINGTON -- Two lawmakers from South Korea's main opposition People Power Party arrived in the United States on Wednesday for talks on possible US assistance to help relieve South Korea's COVID-19 vaccine shortage. Rep. Park Jin stressed the need to quickly secure vaccines for his country, calling his trip a bipartisan effort. "There is a need to strengthen the South Korea-US alliance and enhance their relations in various areas including vaccine cooperation," he said. "We wil
PoliticsMay 13, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Ruling party presidential hopefuls rally supporters
With a year to go before the presidential election, three political heavyweights from the ruling bloc are rallying supporters, with each of their visions focusing on social welfare policies. Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung, former Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yon and former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, dubbed the ruling party’s Big Three, all launched their own think tanks and began working out their policies and messaging strategies. Front-runner Gov. Lee launched the Korea Growth an
PoliticsMay 12, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Seoul prosecution chief indicted over power abuse allegations
Lee Sung-yoon, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office, was indicted Wednesday over allegations that he exercised undue influence in 2019 to stop an inquiry into the allegedly illegal exit ban imposed on a former senior official. The decision by the Suwon District Prosecutors Office came two days after an indictment was recommended by an independent panel created to review the validity of an ongoing investigation into Lee. Lee is accused of abusing his power in June 2019 to bloc
PoliticsMay 12, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Seoul prosecution chief to be indicted
Lee Sung-yoon, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, was expected to be indicted for abuse of authority on Tuesday on the recommendation of a panel of experts. He is alleged to have stopped an inquiry into an illegal travel ban on an ex-vice justice minister. If indicted, Lee would be the first incumbent Seoul prosecution chief to stand accused in court. Out of the 13 panel members present -- including law professors, lawyers and those in religious service -- eight vot
Social AffairsMay 11, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Sri Lanka adds Korean language as college entrance exam subject
Sri Lanka has decided to adopt the Korean language as a subject for the country's college entrance exams, a South Korean embassy there said Tuesday. According to the embassy, the Sri Lankan government recently added Korean to the list of foreign languages taught in the Advanced Level curriculum, as part of efforts to expand Korean education at schools. Under the policy, students entering 12th and 13th grade can choose Korean as their foreign language subject starting in the second half of this
Foreign AffairsMay 11, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Moon’s approval ratings inch up to 36%
President Moon Jae-in’s approval ratings inched up to 36 percent in a weekly poll, while 60.3 percent disapproved of his presidential performance. In a survey of 2,015 adults nationwide conducted by Realmeter on May 3, 4, 6 and 7, approval ratings went up by 3 percentage points from the week before. Those who gave the president a thumbs-down slid 2.3 percentage points. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points and a confidence level of 95 percent. Compared to
Social AffairsMay 10, 2021
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[Newsmaker] S. Korea denounces bomb attack in Afghanistan
South Korea strongly denounces last week's bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 68 people and wounded over 160, mostly young schoolgirls, the foreign ministry said Monday. "Our government strongly denounces the attack that occurred near a school in the Afghan capital of Kabul on May 8. We also extend our deepest condolences to the victims and their bereaved families," ministry spokesperson Choi Young-sam said in a commentary. The car bombing came amid escalating tensions
Foreign AffairsMay 10, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Migrants’ voting rights in firing line
Amid growing anti-China sentiment in the nation, some South Koreans are calling for foreign permanent residents’ right to vote to be abolished because a majority of them are Chinese. On April 28, a petition was posted on the website of presidential Blue House with the title of “Foreigners’ voting rights (location election) are unconstitutional. It has to be abolished.” The writer of the post said, “(We) respect and don’t discriminate against foreigners.
Social AffairsMay 9, 2021
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[Newsmaker] China says rocket debris landed in Indian Ocean west of Maldives
BEIJING (Reuters) -- Remnants of China's biggestrocket landed in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, with the bulk ofits components destroyed upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, according to Chinese state media, ending days ofspeculation over where the debris would hit. The coordinates given by state media, citing the ChinaManned Space Engineering Office, put the point of impact in the ocean, west of the Maldives archipelago. Debris from the Long March 5B has had some people lookingwarily skywa
World NewsMay 9, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Chinese rocket debris falls into Indian Ocean
Debris from a Chinese space rocket fell into the Indian Ocean on Sunday, the science ministry said. Remnants of the Long March 5B rocket landed in waters southeast of India around 11:30 a.m., the ministry said, citing data from the US-based Combined Space Operations Center. The rocket was launched last week carrying a module of China's first permanent space station into orbit. But a large piece of debris plunged back in an uncontrolled reentry. (Yonhap)
DefenseMay 9, 2021