The Korea Herald

Korea crippled by chronic corruption

Jul 12, 2011

President Lee in uphill battle to keep his ‘fair society’ campaign afloat A workplace inspector suspected of taking bribes from companies called on a police investigator and tried to bribe him with an envelope of cash only to be caught red-handed early this year. When police later raided the Seoul branch office of the Employment and Labor Ministry, where the inspector surnamed Park worked, they...
GNP chiefs to cancel tax cuts, reduce tuition

Jul 11, 2011

The ruling Grand National Party, led by newly elected chairman Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, has announced a reformative, “people-friendly” stance. In the party workshop at the National Assembly on Sunday, the Supreme Council and the policy committee agreed almost unanimously to slash university tuition fees and reinforce regulations over conglomerates. The plan also included overturning additional corpo...
Lee to name new top prosecutor, justice chief

Jul 11, 2011

President Lee Myung-bak, who returned from his African tour Monday, is expected to replace the justice minister, prosecutor-general and senior presidential secretary for civil affairs later this month. In protest over a bill which state prosecutors believe restricts their investigative rights, Prosecutor General Kim Joon-kyu offered to resign last week while Lee was in South Africa. Lee is like...
Cho pushes for easier overseas voting

Jul 11, 2011

Lawmaker proposes postal votes, transport for Korean voters in remote areas Pending bills must be passed to ensure the 7 million Korean citizens overseas can exercise their political rights, a ruling party lawmaker has said. “We don’t have much time left until this November when overseas Koreans are to begin registering as voters,” Rep. Cho Jin-hyeong of the Grand National Party said in a recen...
Minnesota politician sends himself fake bomb

Jul 11, 2011

An American politician who allegedly posted himself an imitation grenade has been accused of making false police report. Leroy Schaffer, a city councilman from Minnesota, told authorities that somebody had sent him a bomb. It turned out to be a ploy to buy sympathy from people. On July 1st, the accused had called police concerning a suspicious package he had received from Chicago. He told offic...
Georgian journalist says he spied for Russia

Jul 11, 2011

TBILISI (AP) -- The personal photographer to the Georgian president was shown on television Saturday confessing to supplying a colleague with secret information that was then sent to a Russian secret service. Irakli Gedenidze confessed to giving another photographer, Zurab Kurtsikidze of the European Pressphoto Agency, details of the president's itinerary, motorcade route and offices for unspeci...
Lee offers to aid Ethiopia development

Jul 10, 2011

President, first lady join volunteer work; thank nation for Korean War help President Lee Myung-bak continued volunteer work in Ethiopia on Sunday, working on construction sites for public restrooms and a village hall in a rural area, before his weeklong tour of Africa. Lee and First Lady Kim Yoon-ok helped repair wells and fences during their visit to a rural village, joined medics’ examinatio...
Lee sprays disinfectant at alleys, toilets as part of volunteer work in Ethiopia

Jul 10, 2011

ADDIS ABABA, July 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak sprayed disinfectant at alleys and toilets in Ethiopia on Saturday as he engaged in volunteer work at a poverty-stricken village in a symbolic gesture of returning the African nation's help during the Korean War. Lee's visit to Kebena Village, one of four major poverty areas in this Ethiopian capital, was one of a series of act...
Ruling party chief agrees to block more tax cuts for big companies

Jul 9, 2011

The head of South Korea's ruling party said Saturday that he agreed to ditch a plan to further cut taxes for big companies, as the conservative party looks to regain votes from the poor ahead of next year's elections. "It is inconsistent for the government to continue to cut taxes for big companies, which are said to put some 100 trillion won (US$94.6 billion) in banks and block the money from ...
Lee pledges active support for Ethiopia's economic development

Jul 9, 2011

ADDIS ABABA -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak agreed Friday to provide active support for Ethiopia's economic development, pledging to significantly boost relations with the African nation that helped save the South from North Korea's invasion 60 years ago. In summit talks with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Lee expressed gratitude for Ethiopia's participation in the 1950-53 Korean War, and ...
Lee arrives in Ethiopia for economic cooperation talks

Jul 8, 2011

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – South Korean President Lee Myung-bak arrived in Ethiopia on Friday for a three-day visit that includes economic cooperation talks with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and a series of activities paying tribute to Ethiopia's participation in the Korean War. Ethiopia is one of the 16 nations that sent combat troops as part of U.N. forces to help South Korea repel invading North ...
Lee, Congo leader talk energy, development

Jul 7, 2011

Leaders issue joint communique; Korean president to visit Ethiopia on Friday President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday arrived in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for summit talks with his Congolese counterpart Joseph Kabila, marking the first visit by a Korean president to the central African country. Lee made the trip in return for Kabila’s Seoul visit in March, last year....
Number of civil servants close to 1 million

Jul 7, 2011

The number of civil servants in South Korea has risen sharply to approach the 1 million mark, the home affairs ministry said Thursday. There were 987,754 central and local government officials as of last year's end, up 7.9 percent from 915,221 in 2005, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security said. The figure has since been on a steady rise to 940,397 in 2006, 963,132 in 2007, 968,836...
Korea’s passionate sports diplomacy outshines rivals

Jul 7, 2011

Tens of millions of Koreans across the world rejoiced as the International Olympic Committee announced PyeongChang as the host of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, a dramatic triumph of the country’s sports diplomacy preceded by two painful failures. Over the past 11 years, Koreans have turned the potato fields of the mountainous region into world-class ski resorts. Authorities have invested more t...
New GNP head says SME help shouldn’t punish large firms

Jul 6, 2011

The newly-elected chairperson of the ruling Grand National Party Rep. Hong Joon-pyo expressed concerns over the party’s recent outspoken comments on conglomerate policies. “The key point in backing small- and medium-sized businesses is to come up with active measures to help them, not to extort from large businesses,” Hong said in a radio interview on Wednesday. By this, he referred the party’s...