Most Popular
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Yoon warns North Korea against nuclear attack attempt
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81-year-old model awarded ‘best dressed’ in Miss Universe Korea
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Seoul mayor suggests shift in immigration policy
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NewJeans fans corner Hybe amid PR backlash, looming National Assembly audit
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'Smart pill'? ADHD treatment prescriptions spike this year
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[KH Explains] Korea pursues ‘fire-free’ batteries amid EV fears
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Israel targets Palestinian group in first strike on Beirut center
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[KH Explains] Is Hyundai-GM partnership win-win to beat Tesla, Chinese rivals?
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Man calls 119, found dead 1 week later because officials went to wrong place
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Court rules Itaewon tragedy was 'foreseeable'
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Seoul shares start lower on blue-chip loss
South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday due to losses in blue-chip shares as crude oil prices touched their lowest level in more than a decade because of pressure from oversupply. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 3.36 points, or 0.17 percent, to 1,978.83 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Market heavyweights lost ground across the board. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics lost 0.47 percent, and top automaker Hyundai Motor slipped 0.66 percent.Korea Aerospace Industries, S
Dec. 22, 2015
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Hyundai Sonata set to grab best-selling car title for 2nd year
Hyundai Motor Co.'s midsize sedan, the Sonata, is poised to win the best-selling Korean car title this year for the second consecutive year, industry data showed Tuesday.According to data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, domestic sales of the Sonata hit 95,760 units in the first 11 months of this year.Hyundai Motor's one-ton Porter truck and the Avante compact came in second and third, respectively, with 91,327 and 86,968 units sold during the cited period.With sales amountin
MobilityDec. 22, 2015
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Turbo returns after 15 years as trio, tops charts
The once hugely popular 1990s electropop duo Turbo has made its much-awaited return to the spotlight after 15 years -- only this time around, Turbo has returned as a trio.Kim Jung-nam and Kim Jong-kook, reuniting with past member Kim Jung-nam, have joined the ranks of g.o.d and Seo Taiji as ’90s music icons making a comeback to today’s K-pop scene, with the Turbo members dropping the 19-track comeback album “Again” on Monday. Members of the ’90s band Turbo pose during a press conference at the R
PerformanceDec. 22, 2015
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Mirae Asset likely to win Daewoo Securities bidding race: reports
A controlling 49 percent stake in Daewoo Securities Co. is up for sale. YonhapMirae Asset Securities Co. is the likely winner of the bid for Daewoo Securities Co., local reports said Monday, in a deal that could create a new leader in Korea’s brokerage industry. In the bid which closed Monday, Mirae Asset, part of the eponymous asset management-focused group, offered to pay about 2.4 trillion won ($2 billion), substantially higher than the amounts that its three competitors have penciled in, Yon
Dec. 21, 2015
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N. Korea, China sign accord on sports exchanges for next year
North Korea and China have signed an accord on sports exchanges for next year, a Chinese state-run media reported on Monday, in a sign that the allies push ahead with exchanges despite canceled concerts by an all-female North Korean band. The accord was signed between Son Kwang-ho, vice minister of North Korea‘s sports ministry, and Yang Shuan, deputy secretary of the General Administration of Sports of China, in Beijing on Sunday, according to the report by a newspaper published by the Chinese
North KoreaDec. 21, 2015
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[Profile] Lee Joon-sik, Education Ministry
Lee Joon-sik, a former professor at Seoul National University’s School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, was appointed to be the new education minister and deputy prime minister for social affairs. As an expert in mechanical engineering, he started teaching at his Alma mater, SNU, in 1985, and took various positions at the school including vice president of research, dean of research affairs and director of the micro thermal system research center.The 63-year-old educator and researcher is
PoliticsDec. 21, 2015
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[Profile] Kang Eun-hee, Gender Equality and Family Ministry
Rep. Kang Eun-hee of the ruling Saenuri Party, a former IT businesswoman, has been appointed as the new Gender Equality and Family Minister.A graduate of Kyungpook University’s physics education program, Kang worked as a school teacher before founding her IT venture Winitech in Daegu in 2000. Prior to winning a National Assembly seat in 2012 as a proportional representative, the 51-year-old served as the chairwoman of the Korea IT Business Women’s Association and deputy floor leader for the Saen
Social AffairsDec. 21, 2015
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[Profile] Sung Young-hoon, Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission
Sung Young-hoon, 55, a legal expert whose 30-year career has encompassed stints as a district prosecutor, special investigator and attorney, was named to chair the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.He started his career as a public prosecutor for Busan District Office in 1986, and also worked as chief prosecutor of the Gwangju District Office, deputy minister for legal affairs at the Ministry of Justice and chief prosecutor of the Criminal Trial and Civil Litigation Department. During
PoliticsDec. 21, 2015
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[Profile] Hong Yoon-sik, Interior Ministry
Hong Yoon-sik, a former vice minister at the Office for Government Policy Coordination, has been named interior minister.Hong, 59, is known as a veteran in state affairs, having served various key posts during his 30-year career in the prime minister’s office. Born in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, the nominee received his bachelor’s degree in law from Seoul National University and master’s degree in policy from the University of Michigan in the U.S. He passed the state civil service exam in 1985
PoliticsDec. 21, 2015
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Geographic advantage, low-cost rent drive port-based industrial park development
Located at the center of maritime transportation networks in Northeast Asia, South Korea’s port-oriented industrial parks offer a business-friendly environment and strong logistics networks for local and foreign firms. “Thanks to Korean ports that provide highly developed logistics services connected to Asia’s main ports in China and Japan, the companies operating at industrial parks in the hinterland areas of major ports can effectively transport their products to destinations to the neighbo
IndustryDec. 21, 2015
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Korean economy on course to avert deflation
The government’s economic policy directions for 2016 and the central bank’s inflation target for 2016-18, which were announced last week, have signaled a major shift in Korea’s macroeconomic management. Forecasting the country’s gross domestic product would grow by 3.1 percent in real terms next year, government policymakers said attention would be paid equally to the nominal growth rate, which they expected to reach 4.5 percent in 2016. Their remarks were interpreted as suggesting policy effort
Dec. 21, 2015
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[Newsmaker] With biotech, Samsung heir aims to emulate father’s chip success
Samsung Electronics vice chairman and heir apparent Lee Jae-yong is betting big on biotechnology, a move reminiscent of his father, chairman Lee Kun-hee’s entry into the chip business almost 40 years ago. In the 1970s, there was widespread skepticism about Samsung’s entry in the chip market that was dominated by U.S. and Japanese companies. But the company poured resources into ramping up quality chips at cheaper prices. Now the company is the No. 1 player in memory chips and the business unit
IndustryDec. 21, 2015
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Postnatal care center sued for TB infection in South Korea
Choi Young-doo, a father of two children, received an abrupt phone call from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in August. He was told that his second child, born in June, may have been exposed to tuberculosis while staying at a Seoul-based postpartum center for the first two weeks of his life. “It was just really absurd,” Choi told The Korea Herald. “I thought no one ever got TB in our country anymore.” Choi is one of 150 parents whose newborns were exposed to the virus by a n
Social AffairsDec. 21, 2015
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Ahn reveals new party plan
Former opposition presidential candidate Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo on Monday announced his plan to form a new party by early February and pledged to build a robust opposition bloc to eventually form the next administration. “I have so far failed to meet the people’s expectations to change politics and the nation,” said Ahn in a televised press conference. “I owe it to the people and my supporters. The only way to repay the debt is to achieve a change of government and practice new politics that transf
PoliticsDec. 21, 2015
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Korea to increase public sector part-time jobs
The South Korean government Monday mapped out a plan to expand its part-time work scheme in the public sector by 2018, which would increase the public workforce by more than 1 percent. Under the plan, it will offer government-backed part-time jobs for women in a bid to help them return to work after childbirth and boost the country’s low birthrate. The Ministry of Employment and Labor, along with relevant ministries, announced these and other plans in a meeting.Unlike part-time jobs generated by
Social AffairsDec. 21, 2015
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Multiple choice testing can ‘smother creativity’
On Nov. 12, over 600,000 Korean students took the college entrance exam, known here as the “Suneung” and widely referred to as “the most important test of their lives.” But Lee Won-key, the vice president of Seoul National University of Education, said the exam papers comprised of multiple-choice questions represents what is wrong with the English education in Korea. The multiple-choice questions restrict the students’ thinking to prearranged options, depriving them of a chance to think creative
Social AffairsDec. 21, 2015
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Korea limits tuition fee hikes
The Education Ministry on Sunday announced that it has capped college tuition hikes for next year at 1.7 percent, down from 2.4 percent this year.It marked the fourth straight fall of the maximum tuition increase rate. Ministry officials said the rate took into consideration recent inflation rates. The tuition increase cap is restricted by law to 1.5 times the average inflation rate of the previous three years. The average inflation rate for 2013-2015 marked 1.1 percent. The government is planni
Social AffairsDec. 21, 2015
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California schools to teach about Japan’s WWII sex slavery
Students who attend public high schools in California in the U.S. will learn about Japan’s sex slavery during World War II starting 2017, according to Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun and the California Department of Education. A public document released online by the CDE on Dec. 17 stipulated that “students can learn about the on-the-ground realities of fighting on the Pacific front by learning about ... the intense brutality of fighting due to racialized understandings that Japanese had toward A
Social AffairsDec. 21, 2015
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Saenuri lawmaker Yoo tapped as finance minister
President Park Geun-hye tapped Saenuri Party Rep. Yoo Il-ho to lead the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and double as deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs, in a Cabinet reshuffle that affected six high-level posts, Cheong Wa Dae said Monday.Park also named Lee Joon-sik, former vice president of Seoul National University, as the education minister and deputy prime minister in charge of social affairs.Yoo Il-ho, Lee Joon-sik (Yonhap)For the post of the interior minister, the presid
Foreign AffairsDec. 21, 2015