Most Popular
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Who's lying? Hybe vs. Min conflict continues to intensify
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Seoul should engage Kim Jong-un’s elites for change, ex-North Korean diplomat says
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Most teen sex offenders get away with slap on wrist
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Ex-Trump official calls for S. Korea to raise defense spending to 3 or 3.5% of GDP
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Man sentenced to 1 year, 8 months for stealing from elementary school classrooms
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Same-sex couple denied insurance clearance despite landmark ruling
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FM champions multilateralism, stresses S. Korea's vision as 'global pivotal state'
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Panmunjom tours for select Korean nationals may resume in October
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Young Poong says no better offer for Korea Zinc
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Korea's first global webtoon festival lights up Seongsu-dong
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Korea, East Timor to build ties through friendship week
South Korea and East Timor will hold a "friendship week" in the Southeast Asian nation next week to build closer ties between their people, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.The 2016 Korea and Timor-Leste Friendship Week will be held in the capital Dili from Monday through Saturday featuring a Korean film screening and a joint concert, the ministry said in a press release.Under the program, the film "Ode to My Father," which tells the story of South Korea's economic development in the 20th centur
Foreign AffairsMay 2, 2016
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Kuwait's prime minister to visit Korea this week
Kuwait's Prime Minister Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah will visit Seoul this week for talks with high-level South Korean government officials and business leaders to bolster bilateral economic cooperation, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.Jaber will arrive here on Sunday for a four-day visit on the invitation of South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn. Korea is the fourth leg of his five-nation trip to Asia that includes Bangladesh, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Japan.During his stay here, he is scheduled to
Foreign AffairsMay 2, 2016
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KOSPI down ahead of key data release
Korean share prices closed lower Monday as investors sat on the sidelines ahead of the release of key economic indicators later this week. The Korean won rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 16 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,978.15. Trade volume stood at 324.38 million shares worth 3.84 trillion won ($3.77 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 616 to 200. KOSPI share prices are displayed at the Korea Exchange. (Yonhap)Analysts said investors were w
May 2, 2016
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Oxy Reckitt Benckiser CEO offers formal apology for sterilizer victims
The chief of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser on Monday formerly apologized and promised compensation for the victims of a toxic humidifier sterilizer amid a full-fledged prosecution probe into the Korean unit of the British firm and local consumers' move to boycott its products.The humidifier disinfectant case, one of the worst scandals involving consumer products using chemicals, came to light after four pregnant women died of lung problems for unknown reason in 2011. A government-led investigation confi
Social AffairsMay 2, 2016
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Auto sales fall in April on slumping global demand
Four of South Korea’s automakers posted declines in their April sales, mostly on weaker demand from overseas markets, the carmakers said Monday. The combined sales of Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, GM Korea, Renault Samsung Motors and Ssangyong Motor fell 7.2 percent to stand at 740,036 units in April.Hyundai vehicles are lined up at Ulsan Port, waiting for shipment. (Yonhap)Domestic sales grew 4.2 percent on-year to 139,617 units, while exports dropped 9.5 percent to 600,419 units, the data showed.
IndustryMay 2, 2016
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[Cass R. Sunstein] The mistake that most traders make
Do investors suffer from behavioral biases? New research demonstrates that they do: They think that a crash is far more likely than it actually is. After you read the newspaper, you might well overreact to bad news about the market — and lose money as a result.The best explanation is that investors suffer from what behavioral scientists call the “availability heuristic,” which distorts people’s decisions in many domains. In their pathbreaking work on human behavior, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahne
ViewpointsMay 2, 2016
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GM Korea to recall Aveo subcompacts for headlamp flaws
GM Korea, the local unit of U.S. automaker General Motors, will recall 3,987 units of its Aveo subcompact for problems with their headlights, the Transport Ministry said Monday.Headlamps for Aveos produced between Aug.10, 2015, and Dec.19, 2015, were found to be tilted at a higher angle than what local car safety regulations allow. GM Korea‘s AveoFree repair services will be available starting Tuesday at GM Korea service centers throughout the country.The ministry also said Nissan Korea will rec
IndustryMay 2, 2016
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PM hopes more people participate in social contribution activities
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Monday praised dozens of celebrities for their donations, expressing hope that more people will participate in social contribution activities."I ask that the act of social contribution will become more established in our lives so that it becomes our society's seeds of hope," Hwang said.The premier made the remarks during a luncheon with 12 actors and singers, including actress Jan Na-ra and singer Sean, at his official residence in central Seoul.Jang, who is popul
Social AffairsMay 2, 2016
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Korea‘s exports drop 11.2 percent on-year in April
Korea’s exports continued to shrink from a year earlier last month on less working days, the government said Sunday.Exports reached $41 billion in April, down 11.2 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. A view of Busan Port. (Yonhap)The rate marks an acceleration from an 8.2 percent on-year cut in March. April also marks the 16th consecutive month of an on-year drop.The decline was mostly attributed to a drop in the number of working days
May 2, 2016
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[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Bank of Japan finds it can’t win
Pity the Bank of Japan. Disappointed by the central bank’s decision at Thursday’s policy meeting to delay further stimulus measures, markets pushed the yen higher, making exports less competitive, and drove share prices lower, which damped animal spirits. This makes the prospects for a recovery of Japanese growth even dimmer. Yet these reactions are similar to those of a few weeks ago, when the central bank surprised markets with its activism, taking policy rates into nominal negative territory.
ViewpointsMay 2, 2016
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[Jeffrey D. Sachs] Shift to clean energy calls for new politics
The diplomats have done their job, concluding the Paris climate agreement in December. And political leaders gathered last week at the United Nations to sign the new accord. But implementation is surely the tough part. Governments need a new approach to an issue that is highly complex, long term, and global in scale.At its core, the climate challenge is an energy challenge. About 80 percent of the world’s primary energy comes from carbon-based sources: coal, oil, and gas. When burned, they emit
ViewpointsMay 2, 2016
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[Jean Pisani-Ferry] Don’t do stupid economic stuff
On Aug. 30, 2013, the United States was about to launch air strikes on Syria, where more than a thousand civilians had died in a sarin gas attack perpetrated by the army of President Bashar al-Assad. But a few hours before the strikes were to commence, U.S. President Barack Obama canceled them, surprising America’s allies. Instead, U.S. diplomats engineered a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whereby Russia would take responsibility for removing chemical weapons from Syria. The Syrian
ViewpointsMay 2, 2016
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[Mark Buchanan] Why we fear spiders more than climate change
People tend to fear spiders and snakes more than they do electrical sockets or fireworks, even though the latter present a far greater danger. This might help explain why humans have such a hard time seeing the threat of climate change. Evolutionary psychologists argue that much of human behavior can be understood only by studying our ancient ancestors. Through 99 percent of human history, they lived in small groups of hunter-gatherers, with brains evolved to handle specific tasks, such as recog
ViewpointsMay 2, 2016
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Korea, Iran to bolster ties in science and ICT
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said Monday that it would strengthen its ties with the Iranian counterparts in science and information and communications technology. Science Minister Choi Yang-hee and Mohammad Farhadi, the Iranian minister of Science Research and Technology met in Tehran on the day to sign a partnership deal to run joint research and development projects in science and technology.Choi Yang-hee, minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning. (Yonhap)The latest par
TechnologyMay 2, 2016
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Korea, Iran eye bigger trader in hallyu, health, welfare, IT
TEHRAN -- Despite the past diplomatic distance between Iran and South Korea, many Iranians consider themselves quite familiar with Korean culture, at least through what they see in popular TV dramas such as “Daejanggeum” and “Jumong.”The Islamic republic has been an undervalued market for Korean wave, or hallyu, and the South Korean government hopes to change it, even as it further expands ties to new growth sectors such as health, welfare and information technology. Participants try their hand
PoliticsMay 2, 2016
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Ministry’s survey on law schools fails to find nepotism
The Education Ministry has been conducting a nationwide survey on law schools since last year to find clues of “rampant nepotism” – which critics claim happens -- during the admission process. The ministry announced the results on Monday, but indicated they were able to only find mild cases that cannot be directly linked to any irregularities.The ministry said it found a total of 24 cases in which law school applicants revealed the occupations or social positions of their parents, to allegedly t
Social AffairsMay 2, 2016
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[Reporter’s column] Before thanking Sister Marianne
Last week, a number of South Korean newspapers published articles featuring the visit of Sister Marianne Stoger, an Austrian nun who spent more than 40 years caring for Korean patients with Hansen’s disease in the nation’s remote island of Sorokdo from the 1960s to the mid-2000s.She had left Sorokdo and returned to Austria back in 2005 in secret, just leaving a hand-written letter to the staff and her patients. Featuring her first visit to the island in 10 years, many papers here described Stoge
Social AffairsMay 2, 2016
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People’s Party lawmaker-elect summoned over alleged bribery
Prosecutors called in an opposition lawmaker-elect for questioning on Monday on suspicion that he received illegal political funds ahead of last month’s parliamentary election. Park Joon-young of the People’s Party, who served as governor of South Jeolla Province, denied the charges before entering the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office in southwestern Seoul. “I did not receive the money. There must be a misunderstanding,” the 69-year-old told reporters at the scene. “It is a shame that
Social AffairsMay 2, 2016
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Victims say Oxy firm's apology too late
Household goods manufacturer Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, which is blamed for over 103 deaths arising from the use of toxic humidifier disinfectant, apologized Monday and vowed to establish an independent panel to compensate the victims. But the press conference was suspended briefly as victims and their families who attended erupted in anger, saying the apology came too late.The official press conference by the company, formally renamed Reckitt Benckiser Korea, was held five years after the first dea
Social AffairsMay 2, 2016
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Ahn’s remark on Education Ministry sparks controversy
Debate ensued Monday over comments made by opposition party leader Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, who reportedly said that the government should “get rid of” the Education Ministry during a closed-door party meeting.Ahn immediately rebutted that his words were taken out of context and said it was meant to emphasize the need to overhaul the nation’s education policy centered on college admission and minimize government intervention.In the meeting with his aides and party staff, the People’s Party cochairman
PoliticsMay 2, 2016