Most Popular
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Court refuses injunction on medical school expansion
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Why Korean crime stories typically feature nameless, faceless perpetrators
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Debate on 'no-seniors zones' heats up
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Is NewJeans headed for a long 'break'?
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S. Korea, Cambodia forge strategic partnership
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Police raid popera singer Kim Ho-joong's house over hit-and-run suspicions
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[KH Explains] Hyundai-backed Motional’s struggles deepen as Tesla eyes August robotaxi debut
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Trump may like to 'solve' N. Korean nuclear problem if reelected: ex-official
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New Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office chief vows full-fledged probe into first lady
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[Graphic News] UK tops global chart for child alcohol use
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Death toll in Danube sunken tour boat accident rises to 11
One by one, the Danube River is giving up its dead.Divers and rescue crews slowly are recovering the bodies of a growing number of people killed when a sightseeing boat and a long river cruise ship collided in Hungary's capital. Some victims have been found at the river's bottom still on the boat, which capsized and sank after the collision. Others were located as far as 132 kilometers (82 miles) downstream. The Hableany (Mermaid) carried 35 people at the time of last Wednesday's accident i
June 5, 2019
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Cruise ship boss laments sunken tour boat mishap
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- The head of the company whose ship collided last week with a sightseeing boat carrying South Korean tourists on the Danube River in Budapest has expressed his "personal and sincere condolences" to those affected by the "tragic incident." Torstein Hagen, chairman of Swiss-based Viking River Cruises, said the company is cooperating fully with the investigation, which is being carried out by Hungarian police. &
June 4, 2019
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[Photo News] Seoul Care opens
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon participates in a ceremony to celebrate the launch of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s care and welfare brand Seoul Care at Seoul Metropolitan Seonam Hospital on Tuesday. The hospital was established in 2011 to enhance public medical services in the southwestern part of Seoul. It is the first of 12 Seoul-run hospitals to change its signboard to reflect the Seoul Care brand.
June 4, 2019
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Two more victims of Hungary tourist boat disaster found
BUDAPEST (AFP) -- Hungarian police confirmed Monday the discovery of two more victims of a sightseeing boat's collision with a river cruise ship in Budapest last week raising the toll to nine tourists killed.Only seven of the 35 people on board have survived so far, leaving 19 still missing with the prospect of finding any more passengers alive seen as very slim.The Mermaid boat carrying mainly South Korean tourists overturned and sank last Wednesday seconds after colliding with the Viking Sigyn
June 4, 2019
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[News Focus] No pension at 65? Will payouts be delayed as Korea’s population ages?
SEJONG -- It has been 31 years since South Korea introduced the national pension, and 20 years since it became a universal program in April 1999.The number of policyholders for government-administered annuity products offered by the National Pension Service now comes to more than 22 million. Among those policyholders, subscribers paying into the state pension via their workplaces in the form of mandatory deductions accounted for the dominant proportion, or 62.3 percent. Their numbers totale
June 4, 2019
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Conservative, liberal pundits battle it out in YouTube debate
Rhyu Si-min and Hong Jun-pyo on Monday took to social media to debate social and political issues, confirming the deep divide in the views of the liberal and conservative blocs on most issues. A video of the debate, uploaded on Rhyu’s and Hong’s platforms late Monday, has been viewed nearly 1 million times. Rhyu, who served as environment minister under the late President Roh Moo-hyun, is currently the chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation. Hong is a former presidential candi
June 4, 2019
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[Newsmaker] Tower crane workers stage all-out strike, halt construction nationwide
Tower crane workers affiliated with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions took over some 2,500 tower cranes at construction sites nationwide in an all-out strike, calling for a ban on small tower cranes and a wage hike, the unions said Tuesday.Labor unions say small tower cranes are more vulnerable to accidents, whereas the Construction Association of Korea argues otherwise on the grounds that the driverless equipment can be controlled by a technician
June 4, 2019
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Disposable cup use at cafes and restaurants drops by 72% since July 2018: ministry
Disposable cups used for dine-in orders at cafes and fast-food restaurants dropped by 72 percent following the introduction of a government-led agreement to cut down on single-use products last year, the Ministry of Environment said Tuesday.According to the Ministry of Environment survey of 21 coffeehouse and fast-food brands, disposable cups discarded at stores declined from 206 tons in July last year to 58 tons in April this year.The surveyed franchise chains – including Starbucks, The C
June 4, 2019
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[Feature] Basic income experiments gain momentum
In May, Ahn Hyo-bin, a young professional living in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, received 250,000 won ($212) from the provincial government because he was 24 years old. Nothing else was required for him to claim the benefit. Ahn is one of the first recipients of the “Youth Basic Income” -- 1 million won given to every 24-year-old citizen of Gyeonggi Province over the course of a year. “It is not a lot of money, but it helps me feel more stable emotionally,” Ahn said, add
June 4, 2019
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Schizophrenic man causes traffic accident, killing three
Three people were killed in a traffic accident caused by a mentally-ill man who drove in the wrong direction on an expressway Tuesday, police said.The accident took place on the Dangjin-Daejeon Expressway located south of Seoul at 7:34 a.m., when the 40-year-old light truck driver, surnamed Park, drove in the wrong direction and collided with a sedan. Park and his 3-year-old son and the 29-year-old driver of the sedan, surnamed Choi, were immediately rushed to a hospital where they were pr
June 4, 2019
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[Newsmaker] Former vice justice minister referred to trial on bribery charges
Former Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-eui was indicted and referred to trial Tuesday on charges of receiving bribes and sexual favors worth 170 million won ($143,700) from a construction contractor.A special team of prosecutors, winding up months of a probe into Kim's suspected sexual assault a decade ago, announced the indictment of the 63-year-old who briefly held the No. 2 post at the Ministry of Justice in 2013.Kim is accused of receiving bribes and sexual favors worth 130 million won between
June 4, 2019
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Internet cafe murderer gets 30-year prison term
A man was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Tuesday for killing a part-time worker at an internet cafe in Seoul in October last year.On Oct. 14, Kim Seong-soo, 30, mercilessly stabbed the part timer, surnamed Shin, about 80 times at the internet cafe in western Seoul when he asked Shin to clean his table. Kim insisted later that he had committed the homicide as Shin had been rude to him. The 20-year-old victim was taken to a hospital where he died of excessive blood loss, as arteries in his nec
June 4, 2019
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[Newsmaker] Ex-speed skating coach to stand trial for alleged sexual assaults
A former national speed skating coach will stand trial on charges of sexually assaulting South Korean Olympic short track champion Shim Suk-hee for about three years, prosecutors have said.Prosecutors indicted Cho Jae-beom on Monday on charges of sexually assaulting and molesting the 22-year-old Shim around 30 times beginning in 2014, when she was a high school student.His sexual assaults continued until December 2017, around two months before the opening of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in Fe
June 4, 2019
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Body identified as S. Korean victim of Hungary boat sinking, death toll rises to 8
One of the two bodies retrieved from the Danube River was confirmed to be a South Korean missing in last week's deadly sinking of a sightseeing boat in Hungary, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday.That raised the death toll in the May 29 sinking to eight with 18 others still unaccounted for. Work is under way to identify another body retrieved from underwater later that day, according to South Korea's quick response team dispatched to Budapest. The identified victim, who was discovered Monday
June 3, 2019
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[Graphic News] Proportion of female workers on rise in Korea
The proportion of female workers at South Korea’s 600 leading firms has increased in the past five years, according to a local think tank. The Korea Economic Research Institute analyzed the top 600 listed companies in the nonfinancial sector and found that the proportion of female employees out of their overall workforce increased from 23 percent in 2014 to 23.8 percent in 2018. Educational service companies as well as wholesale and retail businesses hired more female workers in the pas
June 3, 2019
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Prosecutors raid music-streaming firm Melon for alleged swindling of royalties
Korea’s biggest music-streaming firm Melon is being investigated on suspicions of swindling billions of won in music royalties, Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office said Monday.According to officials, its cyber investigation unit raided Kakao M’s headquarters, which housed the music-streaming company’s former operator Loen Entertainment, located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on May 27.Melon is suspected of setting up a paper company for diverting some 5 billion won ($4.23 m
June 3, 2019
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[Newsmaker] Seniors behind wheel prompt safety concerns
In light of a recent series of fatal car accidents involving elderly drivers, calls are growing to revamp policies and issue conditional licenses for seniors. Last month, two died and 11 were injured after a 75-year-old man drove into a crowd celebrating Buddha’s Birthday at the temple Tongdosa in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province.According to police, the driver, surnamed Kim, testified he had accidently stepped on the accelerator pedal, sparking concerns about elderly drivers on the road
June 3, 2019
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Health Ministry assigns W1.3b for developing robotic health care
The Ministry of Health and Welfare has secured 1.3 billion won ($1.1 million) for developing care robots for the elderly and disabled, the ministry said Monday.The ministry-affiliated National Rehabilitation Center held a care robot symposium Monday in the Gangbuk district of Seoul, ahead of the launch of the care robot research and development project. The multiphase project will commence this year in anticipation of the growing aging population and increases in demand for elderly care, ac
June 3, 2019
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Ban Ki-moon to visit China this week to discuss fine dust problem
Former UN chief Ban Ki-moon, now serving as chairman of the National Council on Climate and Air Quality, plans to visit China this week for discussions on how to reduce fine dust air pollution, the council said Monday.Ban and ranking officials from South Korea's environment-related agencies will be in Hangzhou, eastern China, on Tuesday and Wednesday for a meeting with China's environment minister and other officials, it said.The South Korean officials were invited by China's Minister of Ecology
June 3, 2019
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Gyeonggi Province going all-out to prevent ASF entry
Gyeonggi Province, some of whose towns border North Korea, is endeavoring to guard against the possible influx of African swine fever as the animal epidemic recently broke out in the North. Last week, the North reported the outbreak of the disease at a farm in its northern Jagang Province bordering China to the World Organization for Animal Health. "We've beefed up monitoring of three border towns -- Gimpo, Paju and Yeoncheon," a provincial official said Monday. Chances are low t
June 3, 2019