Most Popular
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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KT launches new mobile plans for foreign residents
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Park names deputy NIS chiefs, bolsters anti-N.K. operations
President Park Geun-hye on Friday named three deputy chiefs for the National Intelligence Service as the spy agency recalibrated its role in dealing with North Korea and security threats amid heightened tension on the peninsula. Han Ki-beom, a visiting professor of North Korean studies at Korea University, was appointed first deputy chief responsible for all affairs related to North Korea and overseas.Suh Cheon-ho, a former president of the Korean National Police University, was named second de
April 12, 2013
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Park apologizes for trouble over personnel nominee selections
President Park Geun-hye apologized to her rival political party on Friday for "causing concern" over a series of resignations by her nominees for senior government posts, a spokesman said.The president made the apology during a dinner meeting with leaders of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, DUP spokesman Jung Sung-ho said in a press briefing.The meeting was the first between the president and the DUP leadership since her inauguration on
April 12, 2013
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Parties to launch formal talks on constitutional revision
The nation's ruling and main opposition parties agreed Friday to form a special parliamentary committee to formally discuss the issue of amending the Constitution, a pledge that both sides made ahead of last year's presidential election, party officials said.The agreement, which came during a meeting between the top leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP), marks the first time the two sides have agreed to form such a committee.The issue of revisi
April 12, 2013
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Park names deputy chiefs of National Intelligence Service
President Park Geun-hye named all three deputy chiefs at South Korea's main intelligence agency on Friday, tapping a North Korea expert to take charge of affairs concerning the communist country, the presidential office said.Han Ki-beom, a visiting professor of North Korean studies at Seoul's Korea University, was named first deputy chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), while Suh Cheon-ho, a former senior police official and former president of the Korean National Police University,
April 12, 2013
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Park assures foreign investors South Korea safe for business
President Park Geun-hye assured foreign investors here Thursday that South Korea will remain a safe and stable place for business in a meeting held amidst growing concerns over North Korea’s threats of a war.“The Republic of Korea is a country that accomplished the miracle of the Han River by the people who have exerted their best abilities while remaining undeterred throughout risks, which in the eyes of other countries, could have been more than on several occasions, startling,” said Park in a
April 11, 2013
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Prison term confirmed for ex-President Lee’s confidant
The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed a three-year-and-six-month prison term for Shin Jae-min, who was a vice culture minister under the Lee Myung-bak administration, for bribery.Shin was convicted of receiving kickbacks worth about 117 million won ($103,700) from Lee Kuk-chul, the chairman of SLS Group, in exchange for peddling his influence so that the mid-sized group could avoid undergoing a debt workout program, between 2008 and 2009.The top court also upheld the lower court’s order that S
April 11, 2013
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Korea to deploy K-11 assault rifles in June
South Korea will issue K-11 assault rifles to frontline troops in June after fixing defects that had caused the rifle to explode in a previous test, military officials said Thursday.The dual-barrel, air-burst weapons, which were jointly developed by S&T Daewoo and the Agency for Defense Development, were first distributed to South Korean troops in May 2010. But the defense ministry halted their use due to high defection rates. After the rifle exploded in a field test in October 2011, the Defense
April 11, 2013
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Number of N. Korean defectors falls 10%
The number of North Koreans defecting to South Korea shrank nearly 10 percent in the first three months of 2013 from a year earlier, government data showed Thursday. A total of 320 North Koreans defected from their home country and settled in the South during the January-March period, compared with 355 defectors in the same period last year, according to the data by the Ministry of Unification.“The inflow of North Korean defectors tends to shrink during winter seasons, but the Q1 figure is even
April 11, 2013
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Official by-election campaign kicks off
The official campaign for the April 24 by-elections kicked off Thursday, with much of the public and media attention focused on the three parliamentary seats up for grabs.The elections are the first to be held under President Park Geun-hye, who took office on Feb. 25, and could serve as a litmus test of public support for the new government. The president’s approval ratings have been on the wane amid public criticism over a series of unsuccessful nominations for senior government posts.Initial p
April 11, 2013
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Constitutional Court chief nominee wins parliamentary nod
South Korea's central bank on Thursday revised down its economic growth forecast for this year to 2.6 percent from its earlier estimate of 2.8 percent amid the global slowdown.The Bank of Korea (BOK)'s revised numbers are higher than the government's recent growth estimate of 2.3 percent for this year.The government of President Park Geun-hye sharply cut its 2013 growth projection from an earlier 3 percent in March, vowing to implement strong stimulus measures including creation of an extra budg
April 11, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Chung, outspoken advocate of nuke armament
Rep. Chung Mong-joon of the ruling Saenuri Party is once again causing a stir over nuclear armament, saying Seoul should keep open the option of withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to better deal with North Korea.“Facing an extraordinary threat to national security, South Korea may exercise the right to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as stipulated in article 10 of the treaty,” Chung said at Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference in Washington on Tues
April 10, 2013
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Politicians should keep hands off TV stations: regulator nominee
Politicians should not interfere in the appointment or dismissal of presidents of major television networks, the nominee for the nation’s broadcasting regulator said Wednesday.Lee Kyeong-jae, a four-term lawmaker and close aide to President Park Geun-hye, was nominated to lead the Korea Communications Commission late last month.“I think it would be improper for politicians to tell broadcasting stations to do this or that over their internal matters,” Lee said during a parliamentary confirmation
April 10, 2013
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Park widens approach to parliament
President Park Geun-hye is trying to patch things up with the two main political parties, timing her approach with heightened calls for teamwork against security threats from North Korea and ahead of the parliament’s review of her major bills.After hosting an undisclosed dinner with the leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party on Tuesday, Park invited National Assembly speakers for a luncheon on Wednesday. The president will then break bread with the main opposition Democratic United Party on Friday.
April 10, 2013
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Foreigners neither blase nor scared by N.K. bluster
Whether watching the cavalcade of North Korean provocations unfold on a flat screen TV in New York City or iPad in London, those not living in Seoul find themselves scratching their head at the juxtaposition between goose-stepping soldiers in Pyongyang and Gangnam-style teeny boppers in the South.In fact, Gangnam Style singer Psy even has a sold out concert planned for the coming weekend. Not nearly as alarmed as their friends and relatives in the United States and Europe, nor as blase as South
April 10, 2013
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Lawmakers to vote on Constitutional Court chief nomination
Lawmakers decided Wednesday to put the nomination of the Constitutional Court chief to a full National Assembly vote, paving the way for the nominee's appointment to the job.The decision came at a meeting of a special parliamentary confirmation hearing committee following a series of hearings for the nominee Park Han-cheol on Monday and Tuesday.The former public prosecutor, who currently serves as a Constitutional Court justice, was grilled over his past rulings, which opposition lawmakers claim
April 10, 2013
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Ahn Cheol-soo not planning on joining opposition party
Former software mogul and presidential contender Ahn Cheol-soo, who is running for a parliamentary seat in this month's by-elections, said Wednesday he has no plans to join the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) despite reports that he is considering the move."I've never talked about joining a political party, and am not considering it at the moment," Ahn said on a local radio program."Reports that I've left open the possibility of joining (the DUP) are really going too far."With the
April 10, 2013
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Court denies bail for ex-president Lee's brother
A Seoul court on Wednesday denied bail for an elder brother of former President Lee Myung-bak, who was convicted of bribery charges.A local court sentenced Lee Sang-deuk, 78, to two years in prison and fined him 750 million won ($654,165) in January for receiving kickbacks worth the same amount from a local company and two troubled savings banks from 2007 to 2011.Citing his poor health, the former six-term lawmaker who was considered to be one of the most powerful figures of the Lee presidency,
April 10, 2013
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S. Korean local governments' fiscal independence ratio lowest in 2013
The fiscal independence ratio of South Korean local governments dropped to its lowest level this year since 1991 as tax revenues fell and subsidies from the central government increased, data showed on Tuesday.According to the data compiled by the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, the fiscal independence ratio for 244 local autonomous governments stood at 51.1 percent for 2013, compared with the 52.3 percent posted last year.The 2013 figure also marks the lowest since 1991 when Sou
April 9, 2013
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Constitutional Court chief nominee grilled over alleged ethical lapses
Lawmakers on Tuesday stepped up their attacks on President Park Geun-hye's nominee for Constitutional Court chief as they tried to determine whether he is ethically fit for the job.Park Han-cheol, who was tapped by the president last month to head the top court, faced a barrage of questions from lawmakers over whether the large legal fees he received at a law firm in 2010 were justified.Park, a former public prosecutor, is known to have earned a total of 245 million won (US$215,000) during the f
April 9, 2013
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President Park mourns Thatcher’s death
President Park Geun-hye mourned the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, lauding the “Iron Lady” as a great leader who led Britain to prosperity, her spokesman said Tuesday.Thatcher, who was prime minister from 1979 to 1990, died of a stroke Monday at age 87.“It is sorrowful that the British people lost a great leader,”Park was quoted as saying by presidential spokesman Yoon Chang-jung. “Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher revived the British economy and led Britain to a
April 9, 2013