North Korea's military says it will launch ``special actions'' soon meant to wipe out conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's administration. The army statement carried by state media Monday said the actions will last 3 to 4 minutes and be carried out ``by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style.'' It gave no more details. North Korea has issued a steady stream of ...

Gyeonggi governor to compete in Saenuri presidential primary Kim Moon-soo, governor of Gyeonggi Province, on Sunday said he would run for the presidency, becoming the first official candidate for the December vote. “I am here to tell you about my decision to run for the 18th president of Korea,” Kim told a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul. The two-term governor said he will j...

May work together in bid to challenge Park Geun-hye in party primary The ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential nomination process is looking like a multi-horse race, with several underdogs striving for an upset win against frontrunner Park Geun-hye. While Park, the party’s chief since December, is to step back from frontline politics, her potential challengers are expected to take steps to positi...

This is the second article in a series introducing significant lawmakers-elect of the upcoming 19th National Assembly. ― Ed. The main opposition Democratic United Party was disappointed by the results of the recent parliamentary elections but succeeded in winning some key battles in the capital. One of the party’s electoral heroes is political rookie Shin Kyoung-min, who defeated Rep. Kwon Youn...

A quarter-century of historical events is reflected in the resume of Maj. Gen. Edward Cardon of the Second Infantry Division. The commanding general of the U.S. Forces Korea’s front line division was in Europe to see the fall of the Berlin Wall, at the Pentagon for 9/11 and in Iraq for the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This prompts the question of what will happen while he is stationed in K...

When Lee Jae-heon, an orthopedic surgeon and World Friends Korea volunteer, arrived in the northern town of Arusha, Tanzania three years ago, he was the only orthopedic specialist in the town. In the country with an average of one such specialist per 3.5-5 million people (equal to Seoul having just two or three orthopedic surgeons), the conditions were too poor even for basic surgery on broken a...

World Friends Korea an example of change from donation recipient to donor For 29-year-old Noh Hayejin, experience teaching in Tanzania has changed the course of her career as well as the quality of science education for the students she taught. “I used to teach children from affluent neighbors at an expensive cram school. Then I thought I could use my talent and skill for the underprivileged de...

A Korean War veteran may be the first ever to be both awarded the United States’ highest military honor and be made a saint. Father Emil Kapaun, who served in the Korean War as a U.S. Army Chaplain, has been posthumously nominated to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor and may be canonized for his services here, according to the Wichita Eagle, a daily based in Kansas, U.S., and other media. Kapaun ...