Most Popular
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10-man S. Korea lose to Indonesia to miss out on Paris Olympic football qualification
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Hybe-Ador feud should have limited effect on Hybe's overall performance: analysts
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Second Gimpo civil servant found dead, after apologizing for not finishing work
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DP leader says he will meet Yoon without conditions
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First-ever meeting of president, opposition chief set to finally happen
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NewJeans' singles, Japanese debut to proceed as planned, despite Hybe-Ador feud
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Experts raise concerns about Japan putting pressure on Naver over Line
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Samsung mobile chief, Google device head meet in Seoul
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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Ship linked to NK arms shipments to Russia is moored in China: State Dept.
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Teenager arrested for necrophilia
A male teenager was arrested Wednesday for sexually violating the corpse of a woman who had fallen from an apartment following an apparent suicide. The 16-year-old high-school student told police that he wanted to see “what would happen.” The incident happened in an apartment complex in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province on Monday.According to police, he found the 68-year-old woman dead in a ga
Social AffairsJuly 20, 2011
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Informal markets help N. Korea survive: expert
North Korea has been able to survive unaffected by Arab Spring-style political unrest due to its tolerance for "inconsistencies" like informal markets within a communist state, a top North Korean expert said Tuesday."What makes North Korea still viable and function? We can see all kinds of gaps in this system and one of them is informal markets," Stephen W. Linton, chairman of the Eugene Bell Foun
North KoreaJuly 20, 2011
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Highest suicide rate in the developed world
Alarm bells are ringing loudly over the rapidly growing number of suicides among aged Koreans.Figures from Statistics Korea show the number of suicides per 100,000 people aged 65 or over increased 5.38 times from 14.3 in 1990 to 77 in 2009. In comparison, the figures for age groups of 15-34 years and 35-64 years rose by 2.49 times and 3.41 times to 23.2 and 35.9, respectively, over the same period
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2011
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Lonely life, solitary death
Calls mounting for better safety net for aged people living aloneA 65-year-old woman surnamed Park was found dead in an apartment where she had lived alone in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, on a freezing day in February. Just two hours earlier, police had discovered a 55-year-old man, who had also been living in solitude, lying dead in a neighboring apartment.Police officers, who visited their
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2011
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Military adopts new rules against barracks abuse
The military has introduced new rules to block the physical and verbal abuses that are allegedly rampant inside barracks, officials said Tuesday.The measures came in the wake of a deadly shooting spree by a marine in his barracks early this month. Under the rules adopted by the Defense Ministry, enlisted soldiers, excluding squad or team leaders, may no longer order or instruct fellow soldiers, an
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2011
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Seoul moving to approve flour aid to North Korea
South Korea does not ban civic groups from sending flour and other humanitarian supplies to North Korea, an official here said Tuesday, hinting at a new policy direction on aid, which has been banned since the North’s November naval attack. Seoul has been cautious about sending flour to Pyongyang due to its possible use as military provisions. The purported approval indicates South Korea’s softeni
North KoreaJuly 19, 2011
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North Korea fakes news photo again
North Korea has been accused of doctoring a news photo to exaggerate damage from recent rains.The image showing pedestrians wading through thigh-high water on a Pyongyang street was released by North Korea’s state run Korea Central News Agency to the Associated Press, as part of their recently-signed licensing deal. The left photo provided by North Korea’s state-run KCNA is believed to have been
North KoreaJuly 19, 2011
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Park says will run in her constituency next year
Park Geun-hye, a leading presidential hopeful of the ruling Grand National Party, said Tuesday that she will run in the general election next year in her constituency in Dalseong in the southeastern city of Daegu. “I made a promise to voters (that I will not abandon my constituency) and I intend to keep that,” she told a group of reporters in the city. She was visiting a sports stadium where an in
PoliticsJuly 19, 2011
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DP outlines demands for changes to Korea-U.S. free trade accord
The main opposition Democratic Party on Tuesday outlined 10 areas for renegotiation of the free trade agreement with the United States, ratcheting up its opposition to ratification of the pact. “We demand the government redo the negotiation and restore a balance of interests, which was tilted in favor of the U.S. in last year’s renegotiation,” Rep. Kim Jin-pyo, floor leader of the DP, said. The pa
PoliticsJuly 19, 2011
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Lee champions national unity, PyeongChang’s development
President Lee Myung-bak stressed that PyeongChang should be developed into a tourist attraction after the 2018 Winter Olympic Games during his luncheon meeting Tuesday with the five representatives of the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the nation’s election watchdog and the Cabinet. “We (Koreans) were less united in our first and second bids, but we were really uni
PoliticsJuly 19, 2011
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Seoul may ban Japan lawmakers’ trip
Foreign minister warns Tokyo to end Korean Air boycott over DokdoJapan has more to lose than gain from its recent boycott against South Korea’s main airline, as such a move is far from enough to undermine South Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo islets or Korean Air’s business, the Foreign Ministry here said Tuesday. Last week, Japanese foreign minister instructed officials to refrain from using Korea
Foreign AffairsJuly 19, 2011
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Kindergarten costs surge
Private kindergarten costs surged by an average of 32.6 percent over the last five years, exceeding the average private university tuition rise of 19.4 percent.According to Statistics Korea on Tuesday, the rate of increase for private kindergarten fees is almost double the country’s combined inflation rate of 18.2 percent between 2006 and 2011, and is higher than the average rate increase of publi
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2011
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Nation’s first nudist forest to open at end of this month
The nation’s first nudist forest spa will be opening late this month in South Jeolla Province, allowing “free spirits” a chance to walk among nature in their birthday suits.Woodland, a forest spa offering various cypress related treatments, will open its newest venue, Vivi Ecotopia, on July 30. The idea of a nudist forest drew much media attention after the announcement to open the venue nearly a
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2011
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Market experts roll up their sleeves to help elderly people start businesses
Kim Sang-hun, a noted business consultant, recently advised on the opening of “Silver Day,” a caf run by the silver generation of those over 65 years old.Kim lent a hand in working out the details, from selection of location to analyzing business feasibility. His firm, Start Business, consulted on interior and exterior designs, facility management, menu and purchase of ingredients as well as staff
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2011
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Fitness fanatics may have caused mall shaking
Jumping in a fitness center is believed to have caused the shaking of the 39-story shopping mall in Seoul that had forced the evacuation of hundreds of tenants earlier this month, experts said Tuesday.The upper floor of TechnoMart, which houses hundreds of electronics retailers and commercial offices, rocked up and down for about 10 minutes on July 6 for no apparent reason. Authorities evacuated t
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2011
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Heat wave kills two people
Temperatures soar past 30°C as across the countryTwo people died due to sweltering heat that swept the country after a three-week-rain front subsided on Sunday afternoon. Both were women in their 80s in South Chungcheong Province.According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a 84-year-old woman died of heat stroke while working in a field on Monday. Another 89-year-old woman f
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2011
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NPS to diversify overseas investment
The national pension fund will invest more overseas to guarantee a profitable yet secure source of interest for subscribers, the National Pension Service said Tuesday. Having focused on overseas bonds since its overseas investment kicked off in 2001, the NPS headquarters said it would diversify its investment portfolio. The public corporation owns several pieces of overseas real estate including t
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2011
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National pension embraces unemployed
Choi Sun-hee, a 56-year-old housewife, recently bought the national pension policy, although she was not obliged to. She will be paying around 140,000 won a year for the next 10 years and will start receiving around 250,000 won every month from then. “It is a bank savings program with the highest interest rate, you can say,” she said.Choi admitted that she wasn’t too keen to join the pension progr
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2011
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International Pension Conference enhances NPS global status
Korea hosted the International Pension Conference to discuss issues surrounding the world’s most influential investment funds from July 11-13. The forum drew 37 heads of pension services worldwide who manage a total of 3,620 trillion won ($3.4 trillion) worth of assets.Representatives from powerhouses including Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, Canada’s Canada Pension Plan Investment and
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2011
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Man steals wife’s car to pay debt
A man in Gwangju was charged with stealing his wife’s car from their apartment parking lot, the police said Tuesday. The man identified by his surname Oh was in deep debt and decided to put his wife’s car up as collateral for a 12 million won ($11,000) loan. Oh’s wife noticed a week later that her car -- worth 35 million won --was missing. Once she reported the missing automobile, police spotted h
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2011