Most Popular
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[Weekender] Geeks have never been so chic in Korea
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N. Korea says it test-fired tactical ballistic missile with new guidance technology
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NewJeans members submit petitions over court injunction in Hybe-Ador conflict
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[News Focus] Mystery deepens after hundreds of cat deaths in S. Korea
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S. Korea's exports of instant noodles surpass $100m for 1st time in April: data
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[Herald Interview] Byun Yo-han's 'unlikable' character is result of calculated acting
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US military commander in S. Korea during Gwangju uprising dies
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[Photo News] Seoul seeks 'best sleeper'
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US expert says N. Korea might ignore Trump if he returns to White House
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[KH Explains] Why Korea's so tough on short selling
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Unions to play soccer with North
GIMPO -- South Korea’s labor unions left for North Korea on Wednesday to participate in an inter-Korean friendly soccer match in Pyongyang, resuming after an eight-year hiatus to give a boost to cross-border exchanges in the private sector. A total of 162 workers from the nation’s biggest trade union umbrella groups – the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions -- flew to the communist country for the four-day event that will run through Saturday. This is
PoliticsOct. 28, 2015
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Blue House denies link to ‘secret textbook team’
The presidential office on Wednesday denied allegations by the opposition that it had operated a secret task force for the state-published history textbooks, stressing that the team’s operation was “completely legal.” On Sunday, members of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy alleged that the Education Ministry has been running a covert 21-member team -- reporting directly to Cheong Wa Dae -- to develop and promote history textbooks for secondary education. The NPAD members vi
PoliticsOct. 28, 2015
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Seoul tightens regulations on postnatal centers
South Korea’s health authorities on Wednesday announced a set of stricter safety measures to address sanitation and health concerns at the nation’s postnatal care centers. Worries about standards at the centers were raised after some 120 newborns were exposed to tuberculosis by a nurse at a Seoul-based facility about three months ago. Postpartum care centers in which newborns stay in a separate room with other babies, away from their mothers, and are looked after by nurses in shifts, are a popul
Social AffairsOct. 28, 2015
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Seoul calls for peaceful resolution of disputed sea
Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday urged for a peaceful resolution to escalating tensions between the U.S. and China over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.“South Korea has been strongly calling for restraint of any action that affects peace and stability in the region through various channels including global forums,” a senior official at the presidential office told reporters. “Disputes should be resolved in accordance with international norms.”The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Lass
Foreign AffairsOct. 28, 2015
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Expectations low for first Park-Abe summit
The leaders of South Korea and Japan will hold their first-ever bilateral summit Monday in Seoul, paving the way for improved ties that remained strained for years over historic and territorial disputes. (Yonhap)The summit will take place a day after trilateral talks among the two countries and China, Kim Kyoo-hyun, senior presidential secretary on foreign affairs said at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday. The leaders will have an in-depth talk on a wide range of issues including sex slaves, but they w
Foreign AffairsOct. 28, 2015
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Park to hold talks with Abe next week
President Park Geun-hye will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe next week, Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday, in the first bilateral summit between leaders of the two neighbors in more than three years.Park has so far shunned a bilateral meeting with Abe due to territorial and other historical disputes stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.Park is set to meet with Abe next Monday, Kim Kyou-hyun, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs, told reporters.
Foreign AffairsOct. 28, 2015
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New task force to undertake faltering KF-X project
South Korea plans to launch a new project team which will take charge of the faltering fighter jet development program before the end of this year, an official from the Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday."For the success of the KF-X project, which is invested with huge funds and spawned technology development controversy, the project team will be established under the wing of the head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration," the official said. The new team will be staffed wit
DefenseOct. 28, 2015
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Regional powers gather to discuss peace, cooperation
Senior government officials from South Korea, the United States and other regional powers gathered in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss ways to promote peace and cooperation in a region fraught with historical and territorial disputes.President Park Geun-hye launched the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative in 2013 with the aim of building regional peace by first cooperating on soft issues, such as nuclear safety, disaster management and the environment.The second government-level meeting
Foreign AffairsOct. 28, 2015
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Man gets suspended sentence over threat to blow up plane
A court Wednesday sentenced a 33-year-old man to one year in prison suspended for two years for threatening to blow up a plane a former South Korean first lady took to Pyongyang. Judge Kim Yun-seon of the Seoul Central District Court suspended the sentence for the man, surnamed Park, for two years, saying, "The accused committed the crime while engaging in activities related to North Korea's human rights situation, and he has not been punished except for being fined." He was accused of writing
Social AffairsOct. 28, 2015
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China to expand memorial hall honoring anti-Japanese Korean independence hero
China plans to double the size of a memorial hall honoring a revered Korean independence hero who assassinated a prominent Japanese colonial leader more than a century ago in China, the memorial hall's officials said Wednesday. Chinese railway authorities opened the memorial hall earlier last year honoring the Korean independence hero Ahn Jung-geun, who assassinated the Korean Peninsula's first Japanese governor-general, Hirobumi Ito, at a railway station in the northeastern Chinese city of Harb
Foreign AffairsOct. 28, 2015
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Japan scholars urge Abe to address 'comfort women' issue during summit
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should address the thorny issue of wartime sex slavery when he holds summit talks with President Park Geun-hye next week, Japanese scholars said Wednesday.South Korea has proposed the two leaders hold a separate bilateral meeting in Seoul next Monday following a trilateral summit with China.Park and Abe have yet to meet one-on-one as bilateral ties have frayed over various historical and territorial disputes. If they meet next week, a key focus of public attent
Foreign AffairsOct. 28, 2015
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Korea calls for peaceful resolution of disputes in South China Sea
A senior presidential official renewed South Korea's calls Wednesday for peaceful resolution of territorial disputes in the South China Sea."South Korea has been strongly calling for restraint of any action that affects peace and stability in the region," the official told reporters, adding that disputes should be resolved in accordance of international norms.South Korea has a strategic interest in the South China Sea as it is a key shipping route through which 30 percent of South Korea's export
PoliticsOct. 28, 2015
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KORUS FTA, TPP key part of Obama's rebalance to Asia: Russel
Concluding the free trade agreement with South Korea and negotiating the Trans Pacific Partnership were key economic parts of U.S. President Barack Obama's "rebalance" to Asia policy, a senior U.S. diplomat said Tuesday.Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel made the remark during an Atlantic Council discussion, saying that upon taking office, Obama recognized that the Asia-Pacific region was emerging as the driver of global economic growth and made the region a strategic priority.The rebala
Foreign AffairsOct. 28, 2015
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Ex-U.N. panel chief calls for renewed attention on N.K.
The former head of a U.N. investigative panel on North Korea's human rights issue called Tuesday for renewed international attention to the problem, saying looking away from the issue amounts to turning away from what the Nazis did in the 1930s.Michael Kirby, a retired Australian judge who headed the U.N. Commission of Inquiry that looked into the North's human rights violations, made the appeal during a seminar in Washington, saying the issue has been overshadowed by the Islamic State and other
North KoreaOct. 28, 2015
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S. Korea approves labor unions' football match in N. Korea
South Korea has approved its labor workers' visit to North Korea for an inter-Korean friendly footballcompetition in Pyongyang this month, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday.The labor unions of the two Koreas have agreed to hold the football event starting Wednesday to run until Saturday in the North Korean capital city, according to the South's Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.It will be the first friendly football match between labor workers fro
North KoreaOct. 27, 2015
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Overweight Koreans may live longer than those who are underweight
Although it is commonly believed that obesity is more of a health threat than being underweight, a recent South Korean study suggests otherwise. The research report, published by Korea University, found that underweight Koreans had a higher chance of developing fatal health conditions than those who are obese or overweight. The report was written after analyzing government data on medical records of some 1 million Koreans aged 30 or older, from 2002-2010. The report found that underweight Korean
Social AffairsOct. 27, 2015
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Park instructs officials to develop fighter jet as scheduled
President Park Geun-hye called on the embattled defense procurement agency to ensure that the project to develop South Korea's own fighter jets will succeed within the planned period, the top agency official said Tuesday.Chang Myoung-jin, the head of Defense Acquisition Program Administration, said Park gave the instruction after receiving his briefing on the 18 trillion-won ($15.9 billion) project to produce the fighter jets by 2025.Chang made the comment in a defense subcommittee session, acco
PoliticsOct. 27, 2015
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Foreign construction workforce increases
The proportion of foreigners working on construction sites is steadily increasing, with those in their 40s forming the largest group, government data showed Tuesday. According to the survey released by the Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association, the number of migrants who work on construction sites has risen at a fast pace, with the proportion doubling from 7 percent in 2010 to 15.5 percent last year. The government agency compiled the data based on the workers’ membership in its welfare sc
Social AffairsOct. 27, 2015
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Court puts brake on police attempts to block protests
A Seoul court ordered the police on Tuesday to withdraw its decision to ban a demonstration in memory of Sewol ferry tragedy in central Seoul, questioning the authenticity of a petition that was cited.The Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of a man, identified only by his surname Kim, who asked the court to lift the prohibition order by the police on holding a demonstration to pay tribute to the victims of the politically sensitive Sewol ferry disaster. Kim applied for a permit from the J
Social AffairsOct. 27, 2015
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Textbook spat threatens to take down minister
As President Park Geun-hye’s plan to revive state-authored history textbooks faces hurdles, the ruling Saenuri Party began pressuring Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea to take responsibility for the backlash.Saenuri leader Kim Moo-sung told reporters Tuesday that it was “understandable” that some were calling for Hwang’s dismissal. “I am saying that it is quite understandable that some people could raise such demands,” Kim said to questions whether he supported calls for Hwang’s resignation, with
Social AffairsOct. 27, 2015