Most Popular
-
1
Hybe-Ador feud should have limited effect on Hybe's overall performance: analysts
-
2
First-ever meeting of president, opposition chief set to finally happen
-
3
Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
-
4
NewJeans' singles, Japanese debut to proceed as planned, despite Hybe-Ador feud
-
5
Experts raise concerns about Japan putting pressure on Naver over Line
-
6
Samsung mobile chief, Google device head meet in Seoul
-
7
South Korea to launch space security center under spy agency
-
8
More med professors to take day off each week while govt. urges them to stay
-
9
Hybe refutes Ador CEO Min's denial of breach of trust
-
10
S. Korea, Japan could consider simplified entry agreement: Seoul official
-
Two colleges ordered to close
Myungshin, Sungwha break education law, fail to correct wrongdoingsTwo universities in South Jeolla Province will be closed for corruption after failing to follow government demands to reform, the Education Ministry said Monday. The ministry said that Myungshin University in Suncheon and Sungwha College in Gangjin will be shut down in December because they violated the law on higher education by committing “serious corruption and irregularities” such as embezzlement and creating fake documents.T
Social AffairsNov. 7, 2011
-
DP for left-wing unity, against new party
Leading figures of the main opposition Democratic Party on Monday once again called for consolidation of the liberal bloc, while stepping up pressure on professor Ahn Cheol-soo to join them and abandon the potential creation of a new political party.“The DP welcomes the integration plan suggested by Innovation and Integration, which basically agreed with our plan to bring liberal groups as one,” said the party chairman Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu in the party’s Supreme Council meeting on Monday.“Through t
PoliticsNov. 7, 2011
-
U.S. lobbying firm drafted Lee’s speeches
The Korean Embassy in Washington was found to have commissioned a U.S. lobbying firm named West Wing Writers to draft President Lee Myung-bak’s speeches during his visit to Washington last month.According to data disclosed under a U.S. law, the embassy paid about $46,500 (51.8 million won) to the firm to write Lee’s speeches to the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, during the welcoming ceremony at the White House, the state dinner and a luncheon hosted by the U.S. State Department.The
PoliticsNov. 7, 2011
-
GNP chairman puts off reform plans
Hong faces backlash from members demanding radical changes to ruling partyThe ruling Grand National Party chairman Rep. Hong Joon-pyo on Monday delayed talks for party reform until after the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement’s ratification.“Efforts to renew the party have now just begun,” said Hong in the party’s Supreme Council meeting.“Once the imminent FTA talks reach a conclusion, we will hold further in-depth discussion to collect a variety of opinions and then confirm our final guidelines.”T
PoliticsNov. 7, 2011
-
S. Korea, Japan to stage biennial joint naval drill
South Korea and Japan will hold a biennial joint naval exercise this weekend to promote military exchanges and friendship, the Navy here said Monday.The Navy and Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force will hold their seventh annual Search and Rescue Exercise, or SAREX, this Saturday and Sunday. The exercise will be held off the east coast of Busan, some 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The first SAREX was held in 1999.“The exercise is designed to develop the joint response between the Navy and th
DefenseNov. 7, 2011
-
GNP primed to vote on FTA Thursday
The ruling Grand National Party on Monday renewed its resolve to vote on the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement with the key parliamentary plenary session scheduled for Thursday after weeks of political wrangling over the ratification bill.“The Korea-U.S. FTA is a matter of national interest and of paramount importance; we can no longer tolerate the opposition’s approach (to the FTA) out of partisan interests,” GNP spokesman Kim Ki-hyun said in a briefing after the party’s supreme council meeting M
PoliticsNov. 7, 2011
-
GNP lawmaker under probe for illegal overseas electioneering
Prosecutors are investigating allegations that Rep. Choi Kyung-hee of the ruling Grand National Party asked Koreans living in the U.S. to vote for GNP candidates in the general elections scheduled for April 11. It is against the law to urge voters to support a party in an election ahead of the official campaign period.The investigators have e-mailed those who attended a meeting of Koreans in Los Angeles in June to find out exactly what Choi said there. “We are still waiting for replies from them
Social AffairsNov. 7, 2011
-
Seoul to help foreign wives visit families
The capital will pay for nearly 60 low-income multicultural families to visit the Philippines or Vietnam for family reunions.Seoul Metropolitan Government says it will provide round trip tickets to 213 people from 59 families with wives from either Vietnam or the Philippines. They will leave Tuesday.Also funding the seven-day trip will be Korea Airports Corp., which will provide expenses for the families who receive government support for basic necessities.“I’ve always wanted to visit home, but
Social AffairsNov. 7, 2011
-
N.K. soldier shoots defector arriving on Chinese soil: witness
A North Korean defector was recently shot dead by the North's border guards on Chinese soil shortly after crossing a border river, a civic activist here claimed Monday, suggesting that the Pyongyang regime has toughened its crackdown on defectors."I witnessed on Oct. 22 a North Korean man shot to de
North KoreaNov. 7, 2011
-
FTA wrangling heats up outside Assembly
The main opposition Democratic Party stepped up its public campaign against the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement over the weekend, as the ruling Grand National Party mulled pushing a final vote at a plenary session Wednesday. “The top priority for us is to inform the general public of what this deal is truly about,” said Rep. Lee Yong-sub, the DP spokesperson. The DP and other liberal parties claim that the deal is biased in favor of the U.S. About 2,000 protesters held a candle-lit vigil in cent
PoliticsNov. 6, 2011
-
Unification minister to ‘actively consider’ giving aid to N.K.
NEW YORK (Yonhap News) ― South Korea will “actively consider” providing humanitarian aid to North Korea through United Nations agencies, Seoul’s top policymaker on Pyongyang said here Friday.Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik visited U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and they discussed the need to help out the impoverished communist regime.Afterward, Yu said Ban expressed concerns about malnutrition among North Korean infants and children and the secretary-general told him that helping North Korea
North KoreaNov. 6, 2011
-
‘21 N. Koreans cross sea border into South’
A group of 21 North Koreans was found drifting aboard a boat off South Korea’s west coast earlier last week, officials said Saturday, the latest in a string of defections by North Koreans.The five-ton wooden boat carrying the North Korean family members, including children, was spotted by sailors on a South Korean Navy vessel in the Yellow Sea on Sunday, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.The boat was drifting in waters some 38 kilometers south of the tense western maritime b
North KoreaNov. 6, 2011
-
Lee arrives home after Russia, France trip
President Lee Myung-bak returned home Saturday from a trip to Russia and France that included talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on a gas pipeline project and a G20 summit aimed at tackling the eurozone debt problems.In a two-day visit to Russia’s second-largest city of Saint Petersburg, Lee and Medvedev agreed to work closely together on the massive project to build a gas pipeline linking the two countries via North Korea.Lee then attended this year’s G20 summit in the southern French
PoliticsNov. 6, 2011
-
First Korean-American ambassador to Seoul ‘honored’ to get role
WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― As the first Korean-born U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Sung Kim on Friday insisted that the nations’ alliance is not a “zero-sum” game and dismissed concerns that he may face a conflict between American interests and great expectations among people in his motherland.He said it’s the utmost honor for him to assume the post, not a burden, although it is a “huge challenge.”“I know that there is huge expectation among the Korean public, and that’s fine. I am completely c
Foreign AffairsNov. 6, 2011
-
Controversy over ‘polifessors’ reemerges
Proponents value expertise, while opponents note negligence of teaching and researchLast month’s Seoul mayoral by-election has reignited the long-standing controversy over whether it is desirable for professors to engage in politics. As they exerted sizable influence on the high-profile election using their popularity among relatively young voters, professors have straddled the thin line between politicians and scholars.Seoul National University professor Ahn Cheol-soo has been at the center of
PoliticsNov. 6, 2011
-
Carcinogens found at 247 fuel storages
Soil around 247 fuel storage facilities nationwide, including gas stations, was found to contain excessive levels of carcinogenic materials, the Ministry of Environment said Sunday. The authorities examined the soil near 7,347 petroleum and natural gas production sites and petrol stations and other areas with underground or above-ground storage tanks. It found 247 places, or 3.4 percent of the facilities, containing TPH and BTEX above government guidelines. TPH, or total petroleum hydrocarbon an
Social AffairsNov. 6, 2011
-
U.S. air force cutting civilian jobs in Korea
The U.S. air force is cutting hundreds of civilian jobs in South Korea and other parts of the Pacific region, a report showed Sunday.The Stars and Stripes, a U.S. military newspaper, said the air force was cutting 858 civilian jobs in the Pacific as part of its major restructuring.On Wednesday, the air force had announced that it was eliminating 9,000 civilian jobs and another 4,500 in the future in cost-cutting efforts. The paper noted that the U.S. military has been scrambling to rein in spend
DefenseNov. 6, 2011
-
Seoul to conduct radioactivity tests on asphalt-paved roads
The Seoul city government said Saturday it will conduct radioactivity tests on all asphalt roads paved in 2000 after higher-than-standard levels of radioactivity were detected on a pavement in a northern part of the city.Up to 10 times the average radioactivity levels were detected on a road in Wolgye-dong in northern Seoul, though the state-run Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety said the levels, which were measured at up to 1,400 nanosivert per hour, were not hazardous to human health.After hour
Social AffairsNov. 6, 2011
-
Carmakers violate working hour rules
Korea’s auto workers, represented by some of the country’s most powerful labor unions, are putting in hours beyond legal limits, the Labor Ministry said Sunday. The ministry’s on-the-spot checks found that all five carmakers operating in Korea, including the largest Hyundai Motor, had their employees work in excess of the 12 hours of weekly overtime that the law permits. Their working hours per week averaged 55, about 14 hours longer than the country’s industry average. The five carmakers are Hy
Social AffairsNov. 6, 2011
-
Vietnam leader seeks better Korean partnership
Sang notes vibrant economic ties, hopes for continued exchange of development experienceVietnamese President Truong Tan Sang said he will discuss ways to strengthen strategic cooperation with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak during his visit to Seoul Nov. 8-10.In an e-mail interview with The Korea Herald ahead of his trip to Korea, the Vietnamese leader emphasized that the two countries should expand cooperation in all areas to keep their relations flourishing as part of the partnership esta
Foreign AffairsNov. 6, 2011