Most Popular
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[KH Explains] Why Korea's so tough on short selling
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[Weekender] Geeks have never been so chic in Korea
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[News Focus] Mystery deepens after hundreds of cat deaths in S. Korea
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NewJeans members submit petitions over court injunction in Hybe-Ador conflict
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‘Kim desperately wanted to denuclearize,’ Moon writes in memoirs
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Actors involved in past controversies return first via streaming service originals
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S. Korea's exports of instant noodles surpass $100m for 1st time in April: data
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Korea set to finalize medical school expansion plans
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N. Korea slams US subcritical nuclear test, vows measures to bolster nuclear deterrence
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Seoul City to open 'hotel' on river bridge
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[Newsmaker] Cable car approval touches off dispute
The government’s decision to allow the construction of a second cable car route on Mount Seoraksan last week drew mixed reactions over the weekend, with civic groups blasting authorities for ignoring its potential environmental impact and local residents calling it a business opportunity.The Environment Ministry’s national park committee on Friday agreed to allow Yangyang County Office of Gangwon Province to construct a 3.5-kilometer cable car on Mount Seoraksan, one of the country’s best-preser
Aug. 30, 2015
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South Korea still has top OECD suicide rate
South Korea’s suicide rate remained highest among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, while its health status was among the lowest, a recent OECD data showed.According to the OECD Health Statistics 2015, an average of 29.1 people per 100,000 committed suicide in 2012, about 2 1/2 times the OECD average of 11.9, based on data compiled for 25 of 34 OECD members in the same year. Data from 2012 on Austria, Canada, France, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Slovak Repub
Social AffairsAug. 30, 2015
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Cross-border tensions fade
Cross-border tensions further abated over the weekend as North Korea accepted the South’s offer to hold bilateral Red Cross talks on Sept. 7 to arrange the reunions of separated families, with each military seen readjusting their readiness posture to a precrisis level.The DMZ train traveling along the border areas comes to a halt at Daemari Station in Cheolwon, Gangwon Province, on Sunday. Its operations had been stopped for some time due to cross-border tensions. (Yonhap)On Saturday, a day afte
North KoreaAug. 30, 2015
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Police nab 100 illegal marriage brokers
More than 100 international marriage brokers have been caught illegally offering matchmaking services, the police said Sunday. Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency booked 111 brokers belonging to 72 international matchmaking agencies without detention for violating the Marriage Brokers Business Management Act.The brokers were accused of receiving an average of 15 million won ($12,700) from Korean men in return for arranging marriages with underage girls, offering a list of foreign women from which t
Social AffairsAug. 30, 2015
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Assembly's regular session to kick off Tuesday
The National Assembly’s 100-day regular session is set to begin Tuesday with the two major parties seeking to gain an advantage ahead of next year’s elections.The ruling and main opposition parties are expected to clash over bills being pushed by the Park Geun-hye administration to reform the nation’s labor, education and finance sectors.Two rounds of parliamentary inspections are also set to kick off in the second week of September and the first week of October to assess Park’s state agendas an
NationalAug. 30, 2015
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The irony of plagiarized ‘self-introductions’
“I’m a talented individual who is very diligent.”“From a very young age, I was very interested in cars. I wish to become a car engineer.”Bluntly praising one’s qualities and telling life experiences that do little to stress one’s abilities or academic prowess are only some of the pitfalls students can fall into while writing self-introductory essays, South Korean education firms that offer lessons on composing essays say.They offer a service that a growing number of students are turning to in th
Social AffairsAug. 30, 2015
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Both Koreas' militaries return to peacetime mode
Militaries on both sides of the Korean border have relaxed their defense postures to peacetime levels following a landmark deal that defused tensions between the sides, military officials said Sunday. South and North Korea raised their militaries' alert levels after tension flared up over a land mine explosion and ensuing artillery exchange earlier this month. On Tuesday, the two sides struck a breakthrough agreement to end the hostilities and expand cross-border ties. "The highest alert leve
North KoreaAug. 30, 2015
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S. Korea urges Japan to take action over sex slave issue
South Korea urged Japan on Sunday to take concrete steps to resolve the issue of Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers during World War II. Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il made the call in a statement marking four years since the Constitutional Court deemed the government's lack of action over the dispute unconstitutional. "As we stressed in the Aug. 15 Liberation Day address, the Japanese government must show a more enthusiastic attitude to swiftly res
InternationalAug. 30, 2015
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Photographer captures captivating Singapore
A veteran Korean photographer has organized an exhibition that puts Singapore’s attractions in the limelight and exposes hidden layers of its ethnically diverse culture. “Five Days in Singapore” at Seoul Auction Gangnam from Aug. 26-Sept. 1 presents 40 photographs by Kim Jung-man, 61, who visited Singapore earlier this year to publish the tourism guidebook “Splendid Singapore.” During his five-day trip, Kim took 14,000 photographs of the city’s vibrant landscapes and landmarks. The “Five Days in
Foreign AffairsAug. 30, 2015
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N. Korea's Kim marks death anniversary of Unification Church founder
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a message of condolence to the family members of Unification Church founder Moon Sun-myung on the third anniversary of his death, state media reported Sunday. "On the occasion of the third anniversary of (the) death of Mr. Moon Sun Myung, former president of the World Peace Federation, I express profound sorrow to President Han Hak Ja and bereaved family members," Kim said in the message, according to an English dispatch by the North's Korean Central New
North KoreaAug. 30, 2015
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Regular parliamentary session to open this week
The National Assembly is set to kick off its regular session this week as the rival parties push to achieve their political agenda ahead of next year's general elections. The 100-day session will begin Tuesday, just a few days into the second half of President Park Geun-hye's single, five-year term. The ruling Saenuri Party has vowed to pass a set of bills aimed at reforming the labor market and increasing jobs to help President Park Geun-hye's reform drive centered on the labor, public, finan
PoliticsAug. 30, 2015
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S. Korea's suicide rate ranks first among OECD members
South Korea has the highest suicide rate among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and its people were less confident about their health, a report showed Sunday. An average of 29.1 people per 100,000 in South Korea took their own lives in 2012, far surpassing the OECD average of 12, according to the OECD Health Data 2015. Hungary followed with 19.4 and Japan came next with 18.7, it said. The suicide rate in Asia's fourth-largest economy has sharply incr
Social AffairsAug. 30, 2015
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N. Korea agrees to hold Red Cross talks on Sept. 7
North Korea has accepted the South Korean Red Cross' offer to hold working-level talks on Sept. 7 to discuss the issues of reunions for families separated by the Korean War, the Unification Ministry here said Saturday. On Friday, the Korean Red Cross proposed that the two sides meet at its "House of Peace" in the village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Koreas. The ministry said it received a letter from the North through a contact channel in Panmunjom around 1 p.m
North KoreaAug. 30, 2015
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Pay gap between regulars, tempos widens this year
The wage gap between regular and temporary workers in South Korea widened in 2015 from a year earlier due mainly to the country's economic slowdown, government data showed Sunday. The inflation-adjusted monthly wage of non-regular workers hired by companies with a work force of five or more averaged 1.28 million won ($1,087) in the first half of this year, up 0.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by Statistics Korea and the labor ministry. In comparison, the monthly pay of re
Social AffairsAug. 30, 2015
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Seoul to fund N. Korean scholars' studies in Germany
Seoul plans to provide funding for North Korean forestry specialists to study in Germany, a U.S. news report said Saturday, in its latest effort to restore deforested mountains in the North. Under the plan, South Korea will help around 30 North Korean experts study in Germany by providing US$70,000, according to the Voice of America (VOA), which cited the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The specialists will visit Germany in four batches between September and Nov
Social AffairsAug. 29, 2015
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Number of foreign visitors returns to level before MERS
The number of foreign visitors arriving in South Korea returned to the level before the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), data showed Saturday, casting a brighter outlook for the local tourism industry. South Korea‘s justice ministry said the number of daily foreign visitors came to 40,078 on Tuesday, and has stayed above the 30,000 mark since mid-May. The figure dropped to as low as 12,325 on June 25 as the outbreak of the disease kept foreigners away. The number of dail
PoliticsAug. 29, 2015
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Reduced sentence for defendant in Cheong Wa Dae bomb threat
An appeals court on Friday reduced the sentence for the son of a former aide to the parliamentary speaker indicted over threatening to bomb Cheong Wa Dae.The Seoul High Court sentenced the 22-year-old, surnamed Kang, the son of a former aide to National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa, to six months in prison for calling the presidential office in January to say he was going to bomb the office.He had received an eight-month jail term in a lower court for posting threatening tweets on Twitter, a po
PoliticsAug. 28, 2015
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S. Korea, U.S. flaunt combined artillery power in
South Korea and the United States performed a joint war simulation on Friday involving live-fire bombings and flights of combat jets in the latest show of joint force against North Korea.The allies mobilized the biggest-ever number of troops, artillery pieces and military vehicles for this year's Integrated Firepower Exercise 2015, marking the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule in 1945. Under the scenarios of a local attack and all-out aggression by North Korea, th
DefenseAug. 28, 2015
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Environment ministry OKs controversial cable car on Mount Seorak
The Ministry of Environment on Friday gave its approval for a cable car to be set up on a popular mountain range near South Korea's eastern coast, a plan that has been criticized for its potential harm to the regional environment. The construction plan calls for a 3.5-kilometer long cable car system to be built at the southern region of Mount Seorak in Yangyang County, about 215 kilometers east of Seoul, setting up a means of convenient transportation all the way up to the peak of the Osaek area
Aug. 28, 2015
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Seoul proposes Sept. 7 talks for family reunions
South Korea’s Red Cross on Friday proposed to hold working-level talks with its North Korean counterpart on Sept. 7 to arrange a fresh round of reunions for families displaced by the Korean War following a recent cross-border agreement, the Unification Ministry said. The Red Cross suggested through a border telephone channel for the two sides to meet at the House of Peace in the southern part of the truce village of Panmunjeom. “In the message, we offered to meet at Panmunjeom in line with the h
NationalAug. 28, 2015