Most Popular
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‘Gimflation’ in S. Korea as dried seaweed prices grow on rising global demand
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S. Korea's gender pay gap worst in OECD
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Yoon to resume diplomatic activity via 3-way summit with Japan, China
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[Herald Interview] Korean adoptees embark on journeys to find roots
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[Bridge to Africa] Africa-Korea partnership: Why it matters for future
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South Korea unveils W26tr support program for chip industry
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S. Korea to hold rotating presidency of UN Security Council next month
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SM, YG Entertainment’s K-pop groups benefit from troubles at Hybe
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Embryo activist: Baby's lawsuit takes on S. Korea climate inaction
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Student nabbed for biking naked 'due to stress'
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Left-wing party sets up emergency committee to reform troubled party
The interim head of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) set up an emergency committee Wednesday to revive the left-wing opposition party as it reels from a primary fraud scandal."We will immediately embark on activities to reform the party,"Kang Ki-kab, chairman of the UPP's emergency committee said in a news conference. The five-month-old party also plans to name outside figures as members of the
May 16, 2012
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Hwang’s landslide a big boost for Park
Ruling party solidifies power base for Park GH ahead of presidential raceFormer floor leader and veteran lawmaker Hwang Woo-yea was elected on Tuesday to head the Saenuri Party, taking on the challenges of calming a factional rift and helping the party win the presidential election.In the ruling party’s national convention, Hwang grabbed an overwhelming 30,027 of the 35,184 valid ballots to become the top-rated Supreme Council member and party chair. The other four winners of the nine-horse race
May 15, 2012
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Umbrella union calls off allegiance to UPP
The leader of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions said on Tuesday it is impossible for the group to continue to support the scandal-ridden Unified Progressive Party.The umbrella trade union group is the largest supporter for the leftist minority party. “We have allied together in every election, but it is impossible for us to support the UPP in its current shape,” KCTU chairman Kim Young-hoon said in a radio interview.The labor group plans to finalize its stance at its central committee meet
May 15, 2012
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Lee supports Myanmar reform
President praises Nobel peace laureate’s fight for democracy, reformYANGON ― President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday met Myanmar’s iconic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the country’s old capital of Yangon to show appreciation for her decades-old fight for democracy and human rights.He also visited the tomb of her father Gen. Aung San to pay his respect to the country’s independence hero, assassinated by his political foes in July 1947, six months before the country was liberated from Britain.T
May 15, 2012
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Suu Kyi key driver of Myanmar’s democracy
YANGON ― Myanmar’s iconic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is the key driver of the country’s political reform.Suu Kyi entered parliament after her National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory in the April 1 by-elections.The opposition party secured 43 of the 44 seats it contested in the landmark polls to carve out a presence in the country’s 664-member bicameral legislature still dominated by military figures.The electoral win added momentum to ongoing political and economic re
May 15, 2012
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Myanmar gave up nuclear programs: president
Myanmarese President Thein Sein said Monday the country had given up its plan to develop nuclear programs in cooperation with Russia in the mid-2000s.He told visiting Korean President Lee Myung-bak that Russia offered to build two 10 megawatt nuclear reactors for civilian, not military, use.But the country’s military junta did not push the project due to its inability to manage it, he was quoted as saying by Lee’s security aide Kim Tae-hyo. In 2007, Russia’s atomic energy agency and Myanmar sign
May 15, 2012
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Lee meets Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
Lee touts Noble peace laureate’s fight for democracy, reform YANGON -- President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday met Myanmar’s iconic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the country’s old capital of Yangon to show appreciation for her decades-long fight for democracy and ask for her support in strengthening bilateral ties.As a leader of a vibrant democracy which also suffered from decades of military rule, Lee stressed that South Korea will join the international community to support Myanmar’s effort
May 15, 2012
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N. Korea stops sending out GPS jamming signals against S. Korea: source
North Korea appears to have stopped jamming satellite signals in an apparent attempt to disrupt air and maritime traffic navigation systems in parts of South Korea, a high-ranking government source in Seoul said Tuesday. The North has been blamed for global positioning system (GPS) disruptions that affected hundreds of commercial flights and ships in and out of South Korea since April 28, al
May 15, 2012
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Myanmar gave up nuclear programs, president says
Myanmarese President Thein Sein said Monday the country had given up its plan to develop nuclear programs in cooperation with Russia in the mid-2000s.He told visiting Korean President Lee Myung-bak that Russia offered to build two 10 megawatt nuclear reactors for civilian, not military, use.But the country’s military junta did not pushed the project due to its inability to manage it, he was quoted
May 15, 2012
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Singer Kim Jang-hoon admits not voting for Lee
Singer Kim Jang-hoon stated on MBC’s talk show “Come to Play” on Monday that he did not vote for President Lee Myung-bak despite performing for the president’s inauguration ceremony.“I performed because it was the inauguration ceremony of Korea, not because it was President Lee’s inauguration,” he said on the popular show hosted by Yoo Jae-suk and Kim Won-Hee. “In fact, I voted for someone else.”Kim participated in candlelight vigils protesting against U.S. beef imports in May after the inaugura
May 15, 2012
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Lee makes historic trip to Myanmar
Scheduled to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on TuesdayNAYPYIDAW -- President Lee Myung-bak arrived in Myanmar on Monday in a historic visit that showed Seoul’s commitment to enhancing ties with the resource-rich, rapidly reforming country.It was the first time a South Korean head of state had visited Myanmar since 1983, when a bombing by North Korean agents in Yangon killed 17 Seoul officials accompanying then-President Chun Doo-hwan.Lee landed in the administrative capital of Naypyidaw
May 14, 2012
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UPP to launch emergency leadership
Party feud persists as mainstream faction remains defiantThe Unified Progressive Party on Monday decided to establish an emergency leadership and call for the resignations of contentious proportional lawmakers-elect in a vote boycotted by hard-line mainstreamers. The emergency panel will be headed by Rep. Kang Ki-kab, according to the reform measures that passed in an overnight ballot conducted online to avoid further violence.Of the 912 registered central committee members, 545 participated in
May 14, 2012
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S. Korea, China to cooperate on N.K. GPS jamming
Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing fail to agree joint statement on N.K. BEIJING -- President Lee Myung-bak and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao agreed to cooperate on devising measures to address North Korea’s jamming of satellite traffic navigation signals during their talks here on Monday. The leaders exchanged their views on the safety of passenger flight operations in South Korea, China and Japan, said Kim Tae-hyo, senior presidential secretary for national security.In recent weeks, hundreds of aircraf
May 14, 2012
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Saenuri runners push to cut presidential power
Constitutional change has resurfaced as an election issue as the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential hopefuls called for the division of state power and revisions to the presidential term.Lee Jae-oh, former special affairs minister and close aide to President Lee Myung-bak, took the initiative last week as he announced his intent to join the party’s nomination contest.“The current single-term, monopolistic presidency is the root cause of most corruption scandals involving close presidential aide
May 14, 2012
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South Korea seeks closer ties with Myanmar
Experts say Seoul needs to beef up its human rights diplomacy on top of economic relationsNAYPYIDAW ― South Korea is stepping up to make inroads into Myanmar as the Southeast Asian country’s fledgling reforms widen access to its huge natural resources, market potential and geopolitical position.President Lee Myung-bak arrived in Naypyidaw on Monday, becoming the first Korean leader to land in the country since 1983 when a North Korean terrorist bombing killed 17 Seoul officials accompanying then
May 14, 2012
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S. Korean president makes landmark visit to Myanmar
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak made a landmark visit to Myanmar on Monday for summit talks with President Thein Sein as the former pariah nation emerges from international isolation with sweeping democratic reforms. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak (Yonhap News)Lee is the first South Korean president to visit Myanmar, previously known as Burma, in 29 years since North Korea's 1983 deadly
May 14, 2012
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Violence mars UPP meeting
Scandal-ridden progressive party faces leadership vacuumThe future of the scandal-ridden Unified Progressive Party was further in doubt over the weekend as the party faced a leadership vacuum upon violent disruptions of its central committee meeting.Immediately before the start of the central committee meeting on Saturday afternoon, all of the party’s co-chairs ― Lee Jung-hee, Cho Joon-ho, Sim Sang-jung and Rhyu Si-min ― expressed their intent to resign from their posts, in an apparent attempt t
May 13, 2012
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South Korea, China, Japan agree to start official FTA talks
BEIJING ― The leaders of South Korea, China and Japan agreed to start official negotiations on a trilateral free trade pact within this year during their annual meeting in Beijing on Sunday, stepping up efforts to deepen economic cooperation.To this end, they agreed to begin the necessary domestic procedures and working-level consultations soon, Seoul officials said.President Lee Myung-bak, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda discussed their cooperation in busin
May 13, 2012
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Minister calls for changes in unification policy
Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik on Friday called for fresh measures to steer the unification between two Koreas despite strained cross-border ties following a failed rocket launch. He stressed that the South should shift its focus on bilateral exchanges, cooperation and talks to policies that can be pursued constantly and independently irrespective of swings in inter-Korean relations. “Under the current policies, we have to keep treading water if North Korea does not respond,” Yu told journalists
May 13, 2012
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Progressive party on verge of collapse
Umbrella labor group threatens to withdraw support over vote-rigging scandalAbout five months after the grand coalition of Korea’s key progressive forces, the Unified Progressive Party appears on the verge of collapse over the factional struggle prompted by vote-rigging allegations.The party now faces the danger of losing one of its biggest associates, as the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions warned they will revoke their support unless the UPP manages drastic reform. The progressive union als
May 13, 2012