Most Popular
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Hyundai Motor eyes 80,000 jobs, W68tr investment at home by 2026
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Korea enters full election mode
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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Dialogue hopes fade as doctors pick hard-liner as new head
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Coupang pledges W3tr to expand Rocket Delivery nationwide by 2027
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[Election Battlefield] Political novice to face off star politician in ‘swing district’
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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[Herald Interview] Son Suk-ku chooses to be swayed by others in navigating life
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Seoul’s bus union prepares for strike
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[Newsmaker] Psy returns to limelight with ‘Gentleman’
“Kim Jong who?” was the line that kicked off the New York Daily News article that introduced the release of YouTube sensation Psy’s long-awaited follow-up song to global hit “Gangnam Style.” While the current political tension between the Koreas is making headlines around the globe, the buzz about Psy’s follow-up single “Gentleman” has begun to overshadow talk of missiles and war. Psy had kept people around the world on their toes for months with promises of a new song and a new dance routine to
April 14, 2013
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[Newsmaker] N.Korea bureau, command of cyber warfare
North Korea is bolstering its cyber warfare capabilities through its Reconnaissance General Bureau, Pyongyang’s premier intelligence body, with some north Korean defectors comparing its abilities to that of the U.S.’ Central Intelligence Agency. The Reconnaissance General Bureau, which is thought to have carried out the March 20 and March 26 hacking attacks on South Korean news and financial organizations, forms the core of the North’s cyber warfare and terrorism operations.Headed by Kim Yong-ch
North KoreaApril 11, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Chung, outspoken advocate of nuke armament
Rep. Chung Mong-joon of the ruling Saenuri Party is once again causing a stir over nuclear armament, saying Seoul should keep open the option of withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to better deal with North Korea.“Facing an extraordinary threat to national security, South Korea may exercise the right to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as stipulated in article 10 of the treaty,” Chung said at Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference in Washington on Tues
PoliticsApril 10, 2013
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[Newsmaker] SMEs in Gaeseong fall victim to tensions
Small and mid-sized South Korean companies running factories in the sole inter-Korean industrial complex in the North’s border city of Gaeseong are being hit hardest by the stoppage of their production lines in the industrial park.About 53,000 North Korean factory workers did not come to the complex Monday following the North’s announcement that it temporarily suspended Gaeseong’s operations. The move added pressure on SMEs doing business in the Gaeseong complex, together with a weeklong ban on
IndustryApril 9, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Park reaching her peak as she wins 2nd major
South Korea’s Park In-bee is building up momentum as an ace pro golfer. The 24-year-old finished with a 15-under-par 273 to beat runner-up compatriot Ryu So-yeon to win the Kraft Nabisco Championship by four strokes on Sunday. It was Park’s first major title of the season and also her second career major title in addition to her 2008 U.S. Women’s Open. The 24-year-old is also the second successive Korean to win the Kraft Nabisco after Yoo Sun-young last year. Park took home $300,000 for her win.
GolfApril 8, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Mega publishers merge to fight e-books
What do George Orwell’s “1984” and E.L. James’ “Fifty Shades of Grey” have in common? Starting later on in 2013, they’ll both be owned by the same company after a merger is completed between publishing heavyweights Penguin and Random House. The two have received unconditional approval from several regulatory commissions on competition in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with the latest coming from the European Union on Saturday. The merger does not “raise competition concerns, in par
CultureApril 7, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Park’s ‘pearl in sand’ loses her luster
President Park Geun-hye’s pick for minister of oceans and fisheries has become a new thorn in an ongoing nomination row after a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday revealed her lack of vision and knowledge of key issues.Both ruling and opposition lawmakers questioned nominee Yoon Jin-sook’s qualifications for the job. The main opposition Democratic United Party on Thursday called for her withdrawal.“(The minister of oceans and fisheries) is not a post that should be taken by someone with no philoso
PoliticsApril 4, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Gaeseong last remaining link
Founded under the agreement signed between South Korea’s Hyundai Asan Corp. and the North Korean government in 2000, the Gaeseong Industrial District is the largest inter-Korean economic project to date.More than 53,000 North Korean workers are employed by 123 South Korean companies that recorded a combined output of nearly $47 million in goods in 2012.In addition, provided that the industrial district is allowed to be developed fully according to the plans laid out by the two sides, it will gro
North KoreaApril 3, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Technocrat’s return a sign of reform?
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s appointment of Park Bong-ju as prime minister apparently reflects his resolve to kickstart the country’s long-overdue economic development. Park was once a symbol of economic reform, having spearheaded an ambitious yet unsuccessful project in 2002 to crank up industries and productivity along with three other specialists, Ro Do-chul, Kwak Pom-ki and Chon Sung-hun. The 74-year-old technocrat cultivated his expertise while studying at an engineering university, ma
North KoreaApril 2, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Blue House under fire for amateurish faux pas
Cheong Wa Dae committed an unprecedented diplomatic faux pas over the weekend by leaking the names of ambassadors-designate to five major posts only minutes after it requested an embargo from the press.It started with a vernacular daily’s report on Saturday that President Park Geun-hye designated Kwon Young-se, a pro-Park former lawmaker, to become ambassador to China.Immediately, presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing addressed a press briefing and listed off the names designated as ambassadors to
PoliticsApril 1, 2013
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[Newsmaker] FTC nominee Noh to face uphill confirmation
Korea Fair Trade Commission nominee Noh Dae-lae is expected to face a tough grilling at confirmation hearings as opposition lawmakers have questions over his positions on issues concerning conglomerates and weapons procurement.The former bureaucrat for the Ministry of Strategy and Finance has been known to be against further stringent rules on the equity structures of conglomerates.When the antitrust watchdog set out to introduce tougher measures on big businesses’ web of complex cross-sharehold
IndustryMarch 31, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Ex-leader’s confidant ends long reign
Kang Man-soo, who tendered his resignation as chairman of the state-owned KDB Financial Group on Thursday, was a close confidant of former President Lee Myung-bak.According to lawmakers from the ruling Saenuri Party, the economic policies of the Lee administration were based on the economic studies of Kang and his followers.He conducted a variety of controversal policies, including a currency devaluation against the U.S. dollar to boost exports, as the first finance minister of the Lee governmen
March 28, 2013
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[Newsmaker] MBC chief faces music after disputes
Is he a martyr for the previous administration’s broadcasting policy or a tyrant facing the music for his authoritarianism?Kim Jae-chul, who resigned on Wednesday after being voted out as chief of the state-subsidized broadcasting network MBC on Tuesday by the board of the broadcaster’s majority shareholder, Foundation for Broadcast Culture, had been at the center of controversy from the day he took charge at MBC in February 2010. Kim’s appointment was labeled “Lee Myung-bak cronyism” as he had
CultureMarch 27, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Scholar urges Tokyo to give up on Dokdo
Haruki Wada, a professor emeritus at Tokyo University, said in his new book that Japan should immediately renounce its claims of sovereignty over Dokdo.In his recently published book titled “How to Settle the Territorial Dispute in Northeast Asia,” the 75-year-old progressive scholar argued that Japan’s claim was immoral in light of Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-1945. “It is hard to find morality in Japan’s assertion that Korea’s control of Dokdo is an ‘illegal occupati
Foreign AffairsMarch 26, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Former spy chief accused of political intervention
Won Se-hoon, former right-hand man to then-President Lee Myung-bak, faces a prosecution investigation just days after he resigned Thursday as chief of the National Intelligence Service. The prosecution banned him from leaving the country on Saturday pending an investigation into allegations that he directed his agents to carry out what critics call smear campaigns against opposition politicians and progressive activists.Won reportedly had planned on taking up a research post at Stanford Universi
PoliticsMarch 25, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Defense chief faces another tough term
Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin faces another tough term with tasks ranging from deterring North Korea to preparing for major shifts in military structure and command system, and to boosting the morale of the armed forces. Cheong Wa Dae announced Friday that Kim would retain his post as controversy-laden Kim Byung-kwan withdrew his nomination for defense minister amid a series of allegations of misdeeds. Kim, 64, is the first defense chief to stay in office after a change of government. “While mai
DefenseMarch 24, 2013
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[Newsmaker] First prosecutor nominated to head top court
Constitutional Court presidential nominee Park Han-chul is set to become the first public prosecutor to head the top court in Korean history. The current justice at the Constitutional Court was nominated by President Park Geun-hye on Thursday. Park’s nomination comes more than a month after former justice Lee Dong-heub stepped down as the nominee amid a series of allegations of wrongdoing.Park is a lifelong public prosecutor who rose to some of the highest posts within the prosecutors’ office.Pa
PoliticsMarch 21, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Celebrity speaker accused of plagiarism
Celebrity instructor, cable TV host and education entrepreneur Kim Mi-kyung has become the latest in a string of public figures accused of plagiarism.The 48-year-old who hosts a talk show under her name at tvN is alleged to have copied at least four papers by others for the master’s degree she earned from Ewha Womans University in 2007.The university said that it was investigating the allegations that several paragraphs and footnotes in her paper are the same as other master’s degree theses publ
Social AffairsMarch 20, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Blind trust rule turns ‘thorny’ for Park
President Park Geun-hye has aptly compared regulatory and business hurdles plaguing smaller firms to a “thorn under the nail.” It turns out that she has her own obstacles right under her nose. On Monday, Park’s nominee to head the Small and Medium Business Administration, Hwang Chul-joo, withdrew, citing a rule that compels high-level officials to dispose of any personal assets related to their duties.Hwang, who is the CEO of a venture company called Jusung Engineering, was considered one of Par
PoliticsMarch 19, 2013
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[Newsmaker] FSS chief will let consumers request probes
Consumers will likely be entitled to call for the Financial Supervisory Service to conduct probes into financial firms such as commercial banks and insurance firms.Choi Soo-hyun, who took office as governor of the FSS on Monday, pledged to introduce consumer-initiated investigations in the financial market.The new chief regulator’s policy reflects his strong commitment to bolstering the protection of consumers, as the number of irregular business practices has continued to grow in the financial
March 18, 2013