Most Popular
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No plan to let doctors with foreign licenses practice here anytime soon: PM
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Yoon rebuffs opposition's call for special probe into wife
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Ador CEO's dismissal to be decided on last day of May
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[Graphic News] Beer the most favored alcoholic drink by Koreans
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Science Ministry expresses regret over Japan’s pressure on Naver
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Haeundae Beach to become sand art museum in late May
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Suzy, Park Bo-gum star in AI fantasy romance ‘Wonderland’
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Medical professors set to take day off amid protracted walkouts by junior doctors
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Hostilities get out of hand as YouTuber murders another outside courthouse
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Police officer jumps barefoot into drainage tunnel to save man
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Songpa, an epitome of green city
Seoul’s Songpa District boasts ample cultural heritage, verdant landscapes and salubrious neighborhoods with a slew of parks and lakeside trails providing its residents with a quick getaway from it all. One of the world’s most livable communities recognized by the United Nations, the eastern district spearheads Seoul’s efforts to cope with climate change, pollution and other urban challenges. The municipality runs three solar power plants, raising the supply of renewable energy and helping the u
Feb. 28, 2013
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Seoul, N.Y. events to mark March 1 Movement
Koreans in Seoul and New York are set to hold various events Friday to mark the March 1 Independence Movement.March 1 is a national holiday in Korea which commemorates the independence movement against the Japanese colonial occupation in 1919. The nationwide uprising is one of the most significant protests against Japan’s colonization of Korea, which ended in 1945 at the end of World War II.Seodaemun Prison History Hall will host a “3.1 experience program,” incorporating the core ideology of the
Feb. 28, 2013
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Probe finds rampant labor law violations by E-Mart
The Ministry of Employment and Labor said Thursday that it has found a number of labor law violations at E-Mart and will take disciplinary measures if the company refuses to correct its unfair practices.“We found a number of cases of E-Mart violating the law by raiding the company’s headquarters and 24 branches twice and questioning officials,” an official said.Through a intensive inspection since mid-February, the ministry discovered that E-Mart has been illegally using nearly 2,000 employees o
Feb. 28, 2013
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Woman arrested for false emergency call
A Busan woman was taken into custody after she made a false emergency call, police said Thursday.Officials at the Gyeonggi Uiwang Police Station said they had detained a 42-year-old woman surnamed Kim for calling the 112 Crime Report Center for a non-emergency situation. The officials added that the case had been transferred to the Busan police.According to the police, Kim dialed the Busan emergency center around midnight Tuesday and yelled “Help!” before hanging up the phone. Busan police said
Feb. 28, 2013
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‘Korea’s elderly welfare spending 2nd lowest among OECD nations’
The poverty rate of South Korea’s elderly population was the highest among advanced countries, but the country’s spending for their welfare was one of the lowest in 2011, a report showed Wednesday.According to the report from the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, South Korea was ranked the second lowest among all members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of its spending for the welfare of elders.From 2006 to 2008, South Korea’s government spending
Feb. 27, 2013
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Survey finds 15 percent of Korean students overweight
About 15 percent of the country’s primary and secondary school students are overweight, due mainly to bad dietary habits and a lack of exercise, a survey showed Wednesday.According to the survey conducted by the education ministry of 87,000 students of the country’s 758 elementary, middle and high schools, 14.7 percent were classified as obese, up by 0.4 parentage point from a year earlier.The ratio of the obese students has been on a constant rise from 11.2 percent in 2008 to 13.2 percent in 20
Feb. 27, 2013
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Row over teachers’ union tests Park’s labor policy
A simmering dispute between the government and a progressive teachers’ union over its membership rules poses a major challenge to President Park Geun-hye, who has made healing social divides a top policy goal. The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union has defied the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s order to revise its bylaws, which illegally recognize fired educational workers as members. The ministry warned last week that unless the union complies, it will be deprived of legal status as
Feb. 27, 2013
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Why leadership education matters
Liberal arts and leadership education are crucial in today’s rapidly changing world, said the president of Claremont McKenna College, a prestigious liberal arts college in Claremont, California, noted for its leadership development programs.“Liberal arts is teaching you life-time skills,” said Pamela Brooks Gann, the president of CMC, during an interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul. “It’s teaching you critical thinking. Most of the hard problems that have to be solved today are interdisciplin
Feb. 27, 2013
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ACRC strives to boost transparency, civil rights
Five years after its inception, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission has become the nation’s most satisfactory public agency thanks to its strenuous efforts to improve services and find solutions to citizens’ complaints.The ACRC was established in 2008 by combining three state organizations ― the Ombudsman of Korea, the Independent Commission against Corruption and the Administrative Appeals Commission.It has continued to innovate its services anchored in its “field-oriented” approach
Feb. 27, 2013
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ACRC awards contributors to civil rights
The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission on Wednesday declared Feb. 27 the national civil rights day, and awarded medals and commendations to individuals for contributing to anti-corruption and civil rights issues.Feb. 27 is the date on which King Taejong of the Joseon era ordered the Sinmungo to be installed. The Sinmungo was a drum set up outside the king’s palace that could be sounded to bring the authorities’ attention to complaints about state affairs or personal grievances.At the ce
Feb. 27, 2013
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Coolant leaks at nuclear power plant but no injury reported
GYEONGJU, South Korea (Yonhap News) -- A small amount of coolant leaked from a nuclear power plant under repair earlier this week but there were no reports of injuries, the plant's operator said Tuesday.Eleven workers were hurriedly evacuated after the leak was reported at the Wolseong nuclear power plant near the southeastern provincial city of Gyeongju shortly after noon on Sunday, the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power said.Laboratory tests later found only negligible amounts of radioactiv
Feb. 26, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Gallery Seomi under tax evasion probe
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Tuesday it has launched an investigation into Gallery Seomi, one of the most prominent art galleries in Korea, and its director Hong Song-won on suspicion of evading billions of won in taxes. Much attention is being paid to the case as it could cause a ripple effect up to some of the chaebol families who have long been in close relations with the gallery and Hong. The gallery is suspected of avoiding taxes by omitting some of its profits from i
Feb. 26, 2013
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Divorce rate still high among multicultural families: report
Nearly four out of 10 multicultural marriages break down within the first five years, a report suggested on Tuesday. According to Korean Women’s Development Institute, some 37.8 percent of the international couples studied divorced or separated within five years. However, the divorce rate last year was a drop from 53.1 percent within years in 2009, the institute said. About one-third of married couples ended their marriages because their spouses ran away and another 30 percent because of irrecon
Feb. 26, 2013
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7 face trial for negligence after Samsung plant gas leak
HWASEONG (Yonhap News) ― A total of seven people, including three officials of Samsung Electronics Co.’s chip plant, have been indicted on charges of professional negligence that led to last month’s fatal hydrofluoric acid gas leak, police said Tuesday.Up to 10 liters of diluted hydrofluoric acid, a colorless acute poison that can damage the lungs and bones and even affect the nervous system, leaked from one of the valves at the main semiconductor factory of the world’s largest memory chip maker
Feb. 26, 2013
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Fine sought for 2 prosecutors for leaking suspect's photo
Prosecutors said Tuesday they have sought fines and asked for summary judgments against two of their own on charges of copying and circulating a digital photo of a female suspect who had sex with a trainee prosecutor during questioning.The scandal centers around allegations that a trainee prosecutor engaged in sexual acts with a suspect charged with theft during questioning at his office last year. A photo of the 42-year-old suspect later spread through the Internet and the woman asked police to
Feb. 26, 2013
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Man charged with breaking into girlfriend’s house for valuables
A 23-year-old man who allegedly broke into his girlfriend’s house and stole the contents of a strongbox was caught, police said on Tuesday.The man planned to steal the safe with his friend after seeing the vault in December when he visited the girlfriend’s apartment in Iksan in North Jeolla Province. After checking that no family members were in the house, the suspect and his 29-year-old friend climbed up the gas pipe to the apartment on the third floor and robbed the safe. The two fled to a mou
Feb. 26, 2013
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Dozing off a major cause of road accidents: study
Dozing off while driving was a major cause of traffic accidents over the last five years, a report from Korea Transportation Safety Authority showed. The authority conducted a telephone poll on 1,000 people in August to examine the level of public road safety awareness. Of the respondents, 22.5 percent said they had been in accidents or near misses while driving due to lack of concentration or not keeping their eyes on the road. Among them, 36.7 percent of the people who had a car accident said
Feb. 26, 2013
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Rights watchdog calls for tougher rules on layoffs
The human rights watchdog said Monday it has advised the parliament and the labor ministry to revise labor laws to tighten standards for layoffs in light of workers’ suffering caused by dismissals and the subsequent social disturbances.In its recommendation recently presented to the National Assembly speaker and the Ministry of Labor and Employment, the National Human Rights Commission called for clarifying rules on layoff conditions to prevent employers from firing their workers discretionally,
Feb. 25, 2013
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Top court rules in favor of Microsoft over tie-in sales
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling that Microsoft was not liable to pay damages to a Korean firm for its tie-in sales.Digito.com, a Korean software company that mainly provides an instant messenger service, filed a lawsuit in 2007 against Microsoft and its Korean branch for abusing its market dominance and bundling its MSN Messenger, an online messenger program, with its computer operating system Windows.The Korean firm requested 10 billion won ($9.2 million) in damages. “Ev
Feb. 25, 2013
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Park Si-hoo requests his case be transferred to Gangnam police
Actor Park Si-hoo, who was accused of raping a woman earlier this month, formally requested on Monday that his case be transferred to Gangnam Police Station. He had postponed his summons for police questioning on Sunday.“After observing the progress of Park Si-hoo’s case, our law firm has come to realize that the investigative process has considerable flaws,” Purme, a law firm representing Park, said in an official statement.The law firm claimed that the actor’s reputation has bee tarnished by d
Feb. 25, 2013