Most Popular
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Seoul transit pass for travelers to be available starting July
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Controversy rekindled over when to name criminals, suspects
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[Weekender] Pet food makers bet big on ‘recession-free’ pet food market
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N. Korea says to deploy new multiple rocket launcher starting this year
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[Drama Tour] Romantic trip to ‘Queen of Tears’ filming spots
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Battery makers ramp up efforts to diversify graphite supply chain
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‘Monk’ DJ spreading Buddhism goes global
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Hybe-Ador CEO conflict gets messier
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Buddha's birthday lantern parade to light up Seoul
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[LLG] Unseen inheritance: Trauma of transnational adoption 'trickles down' to adoptees' children
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Professor to students: Buy my books or fail
A Korean literature professor at Yonsei University came under fire for demanding students buy his books or fail his class. Ma Kwang-soo, a renowned advocate of sexual liberation and author of several lewd novels, directed students attending his “Literature and Sexuality” class to buy his two books and attach the receipts to their mid-term reports. Those who did not comply would be denied a grade, the professor was quoted as saying by students. The assignment triggered widespread criticism from t
March 25, 2013
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[Graphic News] Seoul’s working seniors outnumber youth
People aged over 55 outnumbered those between 15 and 29 years of age in the working population in Seoul last year, reflecting the aging society and growing youth jobless, the metropolitan government said on Monday.This demographic reversal among the employed is the first since employment statistics began in 1989. The number of working Seoul citizens aged over 55 reached 956,000 in 2012, a 54.4 percent increase from 619,000 in 2002.During the same period, the corresponding number of workers betwe
March 25, 2013
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Police probe online dogfight betting ring
Police began an investigation Monday into Korea’s first online dogfight betting operation that caused an outcry among citizens and animal rights activists.An animal rights activist posted about the site on an Internet portal last Wednesday, calling for an online petition to punish the website’s operators.As of Monday more than 800 people have signed the petition. The National Police Agency received 60 internet petitions for an investigation.The activist said in the internet post with a video cli
March 25, 2013
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Burglar caught again 2 days after release from jail
A man was taken into custody for attempted vehicle burglary just two days after he was released from prison.“I was too hungry and did not have anywhere else to go,” the suspect was reported to have said.According to the Ulsan Nambu Police Station, the 27-year-old had lost both of his parents at an early age and had also recently lost his grandmother, with whom he had been living. The police said he had 10,000 won when he was released. With the money, he bought cigarettes and a piece of bread aft
March 25, 2013
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Radio host Kim Mi-hwa quits in plagiarism scandal
Comedian-turned-radio host Kim Mi-hwa said Monday she would resign after being accused of plagiarism.Kim has been the target of public debate over the past few days after a local daily reported Saturday that she had plagiarized major portions of her master's thesis in 2011 from various authors.She has been working as the host of a news program on the CBS FM radio channel since November 2011."I will step down as the host of the news program on Monday," Kim wrote on her Twitter account. "I think t
March 25, 2013
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Former spy chief banned from overseas travel: sources
South Korea’s former government intelligence chief Won Sei-hoon has been barred from leaving the country pending investigation into allegations that he had interfered in domestic politics while in office, government sources said Saturday.Won, who served as the National Intelligence Service chief under the previous government of President Lee Myung-bak, has been sued by several labor and civic groups for interfering in domestic politics by trying to manipulate public opinions ahead of last year’s
March 24, 2013
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Seoul to tackle scams targeting N.K. defectors
The government is cracking down on a growing number of brokers and scammers who exploit North Korean defectors staying here.The North Korean Refugees Foundation under the Unification Ministry has recently received 41 complaints and petitions from defectors in the month since February, the ministry said Sunday.The ministry of has requested police to investigate the six most serious cases, including one in which a broker coercively tried to collect money from North Korean defectors or cajoled them
March 24, 2013
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Public servants to exceed 1 million
The number of public servants is expected to surpass 1 million this year as the government seeks to increase police and public security staff. The Ministry of Security and Public Administration announced a revised bill Saturday that raises the upper limit to the number of public servants hired by central administrative offices, by 200,000 to 293,982.The planned increase excludes those working at the National Assembly, the Board of Audit and Inspection, courts, the prosecution, schools and educat
March 24, 2013
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Former spy chief banned from overseas travel: sources
SEOUL -- South Korea's former government intelligence chief Won Sei-hoon has been barred from leaving the country pending investigation into allegations that he had interfered in domestic politics while in office, government sources said Saturday.Won, who served as the National Intelligence Service (NIS) chief under the previous government of President Lee Myung-bak, has been sued by several labor and civic groups for interfering in domestic politics by trying to manipulate public opinions ahead
March 24, 2013
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Police checking illegal drug use in sex bribery scandal
Police investigating the possible sex bribery scandal invloving high ranking officials now suspect illegal substances may have been used by those who frequented the villa where the events took place, sources said Saturday. The scandal has forced Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-eui to step down Thursday, with speculations abounding that other public figures may be implicated, including high ranking police officers. Kim, who claimed his innocence, may have visited the villa located in Wonju 132 k
March 23, 2013
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Mixed acid leaked from LG Siltron plant in Gumi
Mixed acid has leaked from the LG Siltron plant in Gumi, raising concerns that the agents may have polluted the nearby area, local government authorities said Saturday. The leak of hydrofluoric, nitric and acetic acids that took place late Friday marks the second time this month that the wafer company reported such an incident. The first incident took place on March 2. Investigators at the industrial city located 261 kilometers southeast of Seoul said that event occurred when a pipe used t
March 23, 2013
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Gas leaks at SK hynix's plant, no injuries reported
A small amount of chlorine gas leaked from a SK hynix Inc. semiconductor plant in central South Korea Friday but no one was injured, fire officials and the company said.The world's No. 2 memory chip maker, however, did not report the leak to authorities immediately, fire officials said.According to fire officials and SK hynix, 0.17 grams chlorine gas leaked from one of the SK hynix factories in Cheongju, about 137 kilometers south of Seoul, around 10:10 a.m.Fire officials said they became aware
March 22, 2013
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Fire breaks out at POSCO's steel mill
A furnace at POSCO's steel mill in southeastern South Korea caught fire after an apparent explosion on Friday and firefighters were trying to extinguish it, fire officials said.There were no immediate reports of injuries in the fire that broke out around 8:10 p.m. at the Finex furnace at the mill in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, about 370 kilometers southeast of Seoul, they said.A local police officer said an explosion at the furnace appeared to have caused the fire.Fire officials said the
March 22, 2013
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Police consider expanding probe into sex scandal
Police said Friday they are considering widening their investigation into other high-ranking officials possibly implicated in a burgeoning sex-for-favors scandal that rocked the nation and forced a vice justice minister to resign.“We can investigate other figures if they are considered relevant to the crime. … We secured testimonies of two or three women who claim to be victims,” a police official was quoted as telling Yonhap News.On Thursday, Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-ui resigned amid his a
March 22, 2013
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Harvard’s first female president visits Ewha
Harvard University president Drew Gilpin Faust visited Ewha Womans University Friday to give a lecture under the theme “Educate Women; Change the World.”“A country’s competitiveness depends on how well it educates its women,” the Ivy League school leader emphasized. She pointed out that women were still underrepresented in fields such as business and politics, and encouraged students to expand their role in Korea as future female leaders. At the event, Faust was named Distinguished Honorary Ewha
March 22, 2013
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Rights activist admits sexual remarks
A renowned human rights activist was found to have sexually harassed a young woman, sending shockwaves through local social networks. Goh Eun-tae, professor of Chungbu University and a member of Amnesty International’s executive committee, allegedly sent the woman several inappropriate texts through mobile messenger “Kakao Talk,” according to the victim’s Twitter posts. The 27-year-old woman claimed that Goh had sent sexual messages including “Send me nude parts of your body” and “I want to kiss
March 22, 2013
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Singer pushes to build New Jersey memorial dedicated to former sex slaves
South Korea's famous rock-ballad singer Kim Jang-hoon said Friday he hopes to build a memorial in New Jersey for Asian women forced by Japanese soldiers into sexual slavery during World War II, in cooperation with activists in other Asian countries with such victims."While planning a performance tour of U.S. cities this year, the idea of building a memorial like the Holocaust memorial came to mind," Kim told Yonhap News Agency by phone.Kim said he wants to make the new facility in New Jersey, U.
March 22, 2013
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Court rules Park Chung-hee’s 1970s emergency decrees unconstitutional
The Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that former President Park Chung-hee’s draconian decrees in the 1970s were unconstitutional and infringed the basic rights of citizens. In a unanimous decision, the court said that Presidential Emergency Decrees No. 1, No. 2 and No. 9 issued in 1974 and 1975 were “not in accord with basics principles of democracy.”Park, the father of President Park Geun-hye, ruled the nation from 1961 to 1979 before he was assassinated. The court said the first and seco
March 21, 2013
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Cyber attack hits U.S.-based N.K. rights group
WASHINGTON (AFP) ― A U.S.-based group monitoring human rights in North Korea said Wednesday it was hit by a cyber attack that disabled its website for several hours.The incident at the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea occurred at the same time as a major attack targeting South Korean TV broadcasters and banks.Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the group, said he learned early Wednesday about the attack, which changed the welcome page to identify the site as “Hitman
March 21, 2013
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Professor faces charges of influence peddling
Prosecutors have sought an arrest warrant for political science professor Hahm Sung-deuk on charges of influence peddling. The Korea University professor, who is well known for his studies on the presidency, is suspected of taking nearly 78.6 million won ($70,389) from an advertisement agency chief executive, identified by his surname Yoon, in 2008 and 2009.He asked Hahm to lobby a senior Fair Trade Commission official to help him maintain an ad contract with a major Internet shopping mall witho
March 21, 2013