President Park Geun-hye on Saturday congratulated South Korea's unprecedented archery gold medal sweep at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.Ku Bon-chan claimed the gold medal in the men's individual event on Friday, giving South Korea gold medals in all four events - both the individual and team events for men and women.As dominant as South Korea has been in Olympic archery -- with the all-time leading 23 gold medals -- it has never won four gold medals at a single Olympics in the discipline."Ku overc

Politics Aug. 13, 2016

South Korean Olympic golfer An Byeong-hun rued poor ball-striking in his up-and-down second round at the Rio de Janeiro Games Friday.An said it was particularly disappointing because he hit the ball a lot better just the day before."I struggled with my shots on the front nine, and I didn't give myself a lot of birdie opportunities," An said. "I needed to make some putts to build some momentum, but it didn't happen."An shot one-over 72 on Friday, after opening his Olympics with a 68 at the par-71

Olympic Games Aug. 13, 2016

Two South Koreans failed to win a gold medal on the final day of judo competition at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Friday.In the men's +100kg, Kim Sung-min lost to Roy Meyer of the Netherlands in the round of 16, while Kim Min-jeong fell to Idalys Ortiz of Cuba in the women's +78kg quarterfinals. She later advanced to the bronze medal match through repechage,but lost to Yu Song of China.South Korea closed out its disappointing judo campaign without a gold medal, but with two silvers and one bro

Olympic Games Aug. 13, 2016

The commander of the U.S. Army Pacific visited South Korea earlier this week, a trip that included a visit to the U.S. Army unit set to operate the THAAD missile defense system to be deployed by the Asian ally, a military official said Saturday.Gen. Robert Brown's two-day trip to South Korea which started on Tuesday was part of his swing through the region that also included a stop in Japan, according to a military official who asked not to be named. It was Brown's first trip to South Korea sinc

Foreign Affairs Aug. 13, 2016

South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan will race alongside the defending Olympic champion in the 400m freestyle heat at the Rio de Janeiro Games on Saturday.Park has been assigned the third lane in the sixth heat, with Sun Yang of China, the 2012 gold medalist, in the fourth lane.Park is going for his third consecutive Olympic medal the 400m free. He was the champion in 2008 and won the silver behind Sun four years later.Swimming in the fifth lane will be Connor Jaeger of the United States.Sun has t

Olympic Games Aug. 5, 2016

South Korea's main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea on Friday finalized three candidates for the leadership election slated for later this month, with Rep. Song Young-gil dropping from the contest.While four contenders earlier vowed to join the election, the party held a preliminary election on Friday to shortlist the candidates into three in accordance with its policies.The three chosen are Reps. Choo Mi-ae, Lee Jong-kul and Kim Sang-gon, who is a party personnel official. Choo and Kim are cons

Politics Aug. 5, 2016

South Korea is making efforts to maintain its strong alliance with the United States no matter who becomes president in the upcoming election there, a senior foreign ministry official said Friday."It is important to keep good ties both with Democratic and Republican parties to advance South Korea-U.S. relations going forward," Kim Hyoung-zhin, a deputy foreign minister, said during a forum held in Seoul. "Whoever becomes president, we will push to further improve the strategic alliance between S

Diplomatic Circuit Aug. 5, 2016

The government's disciplinary body on Tuesday recommended the toughest penalty on public servants for an ex-education ministry official over controversial comments.The Central Disciplinary Committee of the Ministry of Personnel Management decided to depose Na Hyang-wook, who was relieved of his duties as the head of the ministry's policy planning bureau last week. On July 9, vernacular daily Kyunghyang Shinmun quoted Na as calling the Korean people "dogs and pigs" during his dinner with the pape

Social Affairs July 19, 2016

Authorities are seeking to freeze the assets of a senior prosecutor arrested on charges of taking bribes from a major online game maker.An ad hoc team investigating the case on Tuesday filed for a court order to freeze some 14 billion won ($12.3 million) worth of assets of Jin Kyung-joon. The 49-year-old was put behind bars Sunday on charges of accepting bribes from Nexon Co. and using them for shady stock transactions.The move comes a day after both Justice Minister Kim Hyun-woong and Prosecuto

Social Affairs July 19, 2016