Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn announced Tuesday that South Korea would officially reinstate government-issued history textbooks for secondary education from 2017, saying that the current system had failed after four years of implementation. [번역] 화요일, 황교안 총리는 현행 제도가 시행 4년 만에 실패했다며 2017년부터 중등 국정 역사 교과서를 공식적으로 재도입하겠다고 발표했다. [/번역] “It is realistically impossible to author a correct history textboo...

The gap in historical awareness between Korea and Japan was too wide for the leaders of the two countries to plug in one summit. This sums up the first one-on-one on Nov. 2 between President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. [번역] 한일 간의 역사 인식 차이는 양국 정상이 한번의 정상회담으로 메우기에는 너무 넓었다. 이는 11월 2일에 열린 박근혜 대통령과 아베 신조 일본 총리의 첫 1대1 회담을 요약한다. [/번역] The Seoul summit was the first of its k...

On the surface, the gathering of the leaders of South Korea, China and Japan in Seoul seemed to have achieved their primary goal -- restoring the three-way cooperation that had stalled dues to historical territorial disputes for more than three years. [번역] 표면상 서울에서 열린 한.중.일 정상회의는 역사. 영토 분쟁으로 3년 넘게 중단된 3국 협력 복원이라는 주요 목표를 이룬 것 같아 보였다. [/번역] President Park Geun-hye declared after hosting talks w...

South Korea, Japan and China agreed to accelerate their negotiations for a “comprehensive, high-level and mutually beneficial” trilateral free trade pact during a meeting of their country`s leaders in Seoul on Sunday. If the three-way FTA is concluded, it is expected to boost their volume of trade as the three Asian giants are major economic partners. [번역] 한국, 일본, 중국은 일요일 서울에서 열린 3국 정상회담에서 "포괄적...

A flurry of summits are taking place in Seoul, starting with a meeting between President Park Geun-hye and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday. This was followed by a trilateral summit -- the first in more than three years -- of Park, Li and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday and the first ever summit between Park and Abe will take place on Monday. [번역] 일요일 박근혜 대통령, 리커창 중국 총리의 정상회의를 ...

South Korea and China on Saturday agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation on their shared vision of building logistics, trade and infrastructure networks that connect Asia, Europe and Africa. Citing similarities between Seoul’s “Eurasia Initiative” and Beijing’s “Belt and Road Initiative,” the two sides said they would collaborate in a wide range of fields including policy formulation, infrast...

U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen sailed within 12 nautical miles of at least one of the artificial islands in the South China Sea claimed by China on Tuesday, bringing to stark reality the growing tensions between the U.S. and China. [번역] 화요일, 미국의 미사일 구축함 USS 라센함이 중국이 영유권을 주장하는 남중국해 인공섬의 12해리 내 수역으로 진입해 미.중 긴장을 고조시켰다. [/번역] For some two hours, the USS Lassen sailed close to the 12 nau...

Korea, China and Japan will resume their long-stalled trilateral summit this weekend, starting to make joint efforts to normalize their frayed relations. President Park Geun-hye has invited Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the summit, slated for Nov. 1 in Seoul. Each leader will also have bilateral meetings with the other two before or after the summit. [번역] ...

As expected, President Park Geun-hye used her annual budget proposal address at the National Assembly to put pressure on the opposition to give in to her administration’s push to replace Korean history textbooks for middle and high school students with state-authored ones. [번역] 예상대로 박근혜 대통령은 국회에서의 예산안 시정연설을 야당이 중.고등학교 역사 교과서를 국정 교과서로 대체하려는 정부의 계획에 굴복하도록 압박하는데 사용했다. [/번역] She said the current ...

Whether Japan’s Self-Defense Forces may be allowed on the Korean Peninsula in the event of a military clash here has become a hot point of contention between Seoul and Tokyo since Japan passed new security laws that allow its Self-Defense Forces to engage in collective self-defense and fight in conflicts overseas. [번역] 일본이 자위대의 집단적 자위권 행사, 해외 파병을 가능케 하는 새 안보법을 통과시킨 후 일본 자위대가 유사시 한반도에 진입할 수 있느냐의...

The third-quarter economic growth data released by the Bank of Korea last Friday had both good news and bad news. The good news is that Korea`s economic growth hit a five-year high in the July-September period. Korea saw its gross domestic product expand 1.2 percent on quarter, the fastest pace since the second quarter of 2010, when GDP grew 1.7 percent. [번역] 지난 금요일 한국은행이 발표한 3분기 경제성장 통계에는 좋은 소...

The world economy is experiencing deflation due to falling prices of raw materials and a slowdown in growth. According to Global Finance magazine Wednesday, the inflation rate measured by the consumer price index in major countries fell below zero or remained at the same level in September compared to the same period last year. [번역] 세계 경제가 원자재 가격 하락과 경제성장 둔화로 인해 디플레이션을 겪고 있다. 수요일 글로벌파이넨스지에 따르면,...

President Park Geun-hye is to meet with the chairmen and floor leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party and main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy today. [번역] 오늘 박근혜 대통령과 여야 대표. 원내대표들이 회동한다. [/번역] The meeting at Cheong WaDae was proposed by Park to discuss her trip to the United States last week and ask for cooperation from the party leaders in addressing urgent national tasks. [번역] ...

President Park Geun-hye’s visit to the U.S. last week was chiefly designed to dispel concerns that the Park administration is siding closer with China. The visit, which was rescheduled following the Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in Korea earlier this year, took place after Park attended a military parade in Beijing marking Victory Day on Sept. 3, and so it was seen as vital to Korea’s...

Last week, Italian lawmakers set a great example of political reform, surprising many watchers of Italian politics around the world. In what is described as a “Copernican revolution,” Italy’s Senate passed a bill aimed at depriving it of most of its political power. [번역] 지난 주 이탈리아 국회의원들이 전세계를 놀라게 하며 놀라운 정치 개혁의 훌륭한 모범을 보였다. ‘코페르니쿠스 개혁’이라 불리는 이 개혁에서 이탈리아 상원은 상원의 정치적 권한을 대부분 빼앗는 법안을 통과시켰다. [/번역] ...