Most Popular
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Ex-presidential official’s leaked phone call rattles conservative bloc
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Man escapes DUI charges by downing bottle of soju while pulled over
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Pay debate plagues foreign nanny pilot
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K-pop star lip-syncing controversy flares up again
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35% of S. Koreans view unification 'unnecessary'
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Pianist Lim Yunchan double winner at Gramophone Awards
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[Reporter’s Notebook] Was Netflix film opening BIFF really a bad thing?
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Slew of top K-pop stars ready to return from military
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N. Korean leader's sister derides Seoul's Hyunmoo-5 missile as 'useless'
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S. Korea, US clinch 2026-30 defense cost-sharing deal in pre-election push
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Korean film 'Veteran' tops 10 mln in attendance
The domestic action film “Veteran” exceeded 10 million in attendance Saturday, the 25th day of its run, the film‘s distributor CJ Entertainment said. The 10 million mark is considered a huge success for average budget films in the local film market. According to data from the Korean Film Council, only 14 films have reached the milestone so far with 10 of them Korean. Earlier in the month, “Assassination” became the first Korean film this year to hit the mark. The latest move set a new record in
FilmAug. 29, 2015
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Calm on Wall Street: A turbulent week ends on a placid note
Well, that was exciting.Days after China threw the biggest scare into Wall Street in years, U.S. stocks have come surging back and ended the week Friday on a placid note that suggested the worst may be over for now.Even so, investors are buckling their seat belts for more turbulence ahead.The Dow Jones industrial average fell a scant 11.76 points Friday, or 0.1 percent, to 16,643.01, capping a week that saw stomach-churning losses and gains of around 600 points per day. The Standard & Poor‘s 500
Aug. 29, 2015
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Seoul shares forecast to rally next week
South Korean stocks are expected to move higher next week as jitters over China's growth abate and anticipation for a delay in the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate hike builds up, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 3.3 percent this week to close at 1,937.67 on Friday, snapping a five-week losing streak.The main index got off on a weak note earlier this week, dropping 2.47 percent on Monday on persistent concerns over the world's second-largest econ
Aug. 29, 2015
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Reduced sentence for defendant in Cheong Wa Dae bomb threat
An appeals court on Friday reduced the sentence for the son of a former aide to the parliamentary speaker indicted over threatening to bomb Cheong Wa Dae.The Seoul High Court sentenced the 22-year-old, surnamed Kang, the son of a former aide to National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa, to six months in prison for calling the presidential office in January to say he was going to bomb the office.He had received an eight-month jail term in a lower court for posting threatening tweets on Twitter, a po
PoliticsAug. 28, 2015
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S. Korea, U.S. flaunt combined artillery power in
South Korea and the United States performed a joint war simulation on Friday involving live-fire bombings and flights of combat jets in the latest show of joint force against North Korea.The allies mobilized the biggest-ever number of troops, artillery pieces and military vehicles for this year's Integrated Firepower Exercise 2015, marking the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule in 1945. Under the scenarios of a local attack and all-out aggression by North Korea, th
DefenseAug. 28, 2015
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Son Heung-min joins Tottenham Hotspur in Premier League
Son Heung-min has signed with Tottenham Hotspur, the English Premier League club announced Friday, making him the 13th South Korean to play in the competition.Tottenham snatched the 23-year-old wing forward from Germany-based Bayer Leverkusen and signed him through 2020. The financial terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed, though the transfer fee is reportedly around 30 million euros (US$33.8 million).Tottenham added that the deal is subject to work permit and international clearance,
SoccerAug. 28, 2015
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Lotte chairman buys 1.3 pct stake in confectionery unit
Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin bought a 1.3 percent stake in Lotte Confectionery Co. from a construction unit after the market closing on Friday in a bid to help resolve the group's complex cross-shareholding structure, the retail giant said. Shin bought 19,000 shares from Lotte Construction Co. to raise his stake to 6.7 percent in the confectionery company, a deal estimated at 35.8 billion won (US$30.5 million), Lotte Group said. "(Shin) purchased shares in Lotte Confectionery to resolve pa
IndustryAug. 28, 2015
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Environment ministry OKs controversial cable car on Mount Seorak
The Ministry of Environment on Friday gave its approval for a cable car to be set up on a popular mountain range near South Korea's eastern coast, a plan that has been criticized for its potential harm to the regional environment. The construction plan calls for a 3.5-kilometer long cable car system to be built at the southern region of Mount Seorak in Yangyang County, about 215 kilometers east of Seoul, setting up a means of convenient transportation all the way up to the peak of the Osaek area
Aug. 28, 2015
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Merck Korea chief highlights close ties with local partners
Michael Grund, the head of chemical firm Merck Korea, said that maintaining strong partnerships with Korean firms was key to running a successful business here. “We need reliable partners and we strongly believe in the power of partnership,” said the Merck Korea chief in a speech at the Half-Year Economy Outlook Conference 2015 hosted by the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Daegu on Thursday.The meeting, attended by top executives of German firms operating in Korea and German go
TechnologyAug. 28, 2015
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CrucialTec supplies fingerprint modules for Huawei phone
Huawei’s Honor 7 smartphone featuring CrucialTec’s fingerprint module. (Huawei)South Korea’s biometric technology firm CrucialTec said Friday it has supplied its fingerprint modules for Chinese smartphone powerhouse Huawei’s Honor 7i.Unlike other fingerprint modules fitted in the home button of smartphones, the Korean firm’s products are installed on the left side of the Honor 7i, aimed at enhancing the user experience.“The side fingerprint scanner allow users to easily scan their fingerprint wh
TechnologyAug. 28, 2015
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[Weekender] Fintech, smart payments pick up pace
Few may have anticipated the tremendous impacts of smartphones and mobile applications on conventional businesses from taxi operators to brick-and-mortar retailers when the market began adopting smartphones in earnest less than a decade ago.Now few can dismiss the striking tech development under which previously dominant business sectors, including financial services, are going through disruptive changes caused mainly by the versatile telecommunications devices.The mobile payment market, in part
TechnologyAug. 28, 2015
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Hyundai Motor to hire 36,000 in 3 years
Hyundai Motor Group on Thursday announced that it will hire about 36,000 young people over the next three years and support an additional 12,000 people’s start-ups. The plans come after the company proclaimed a three-year 81 trillion won ($68.9 billion) investment plan early this year along with the adoption of the wage peak system early this month to make way for youth employment. According to the plan announced Thursday, 41 companies under the group will hire a total of 35,700 people by 2018,
IndustryAug. 28, 2015
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Lotte seeks shopping malls in India
Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin (second from left) poses with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (center) in New Delhi on Thursday. Lotte GroupLotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin on Thursday requested Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s support in Lotte’s culture-shopping complex development in the New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai regions. “Thanks to the Modi government’s economic stimulus policies, India is seeing rapid economic growth every year,” chairman Shin was quoted as telling Modi in
IndustryAug. 28, 2015
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Gyeongju radioactive waste treatment facility
Gyeongju radioactive waste treatment facility -- Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn (fourth from left) and other high-ranking government officials mark the completion of the construction of the Gyeongju Radioactive Waste Treatment Facility in North Gyeongsang Province on Friday. Finalized after three decades of discussion and debates, Korea’s first facility of its kind is expected to treat a total of 800,000 drums of low- to mid-level radioactive waste, such as gloves, parts and work uniforms used i
Aug. 28, 2015
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[Editorial] Labor reform talks
It is welcome that the tripartite committee has resumed its negotiations for labor market reform, which had been in hiatus since April. The Federation of Korean Trade Union’s decision to return to the table paved the way for the resumption of the talks. Heads of the three parties — Labor Minister Lee Ki-won, FKTU leader Kim Dong-man and Bahk Byong-won, president of the Korea Employers Federation — met with the head of the tripartite panel, Kim Dae-hwan, Thursday. On the surface, the meeting see
EditorialAug. 28, 2015
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[Editorial] Renewal of opposition?
The word “south-south conflict” describes the different — often opposite — positions South Koreans take on North Korea, be of its leader, its security threat or how to achieve reunification. The conflict escalates when there is a major crisis — like the North’s torpedo attack on the South’s Cheonan corvette in 2010. Some South Koreans still dispute the Seoul government’s finding that the naval ship and 46 of its crew sank after a torpedo attack from a North Korean submarine. Sometimes oppositi
EditorialAug. 28, 2015
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Seoul proposes Sept. 7 talks for family reunions
South Korea’s Red Cross on Friday proposed to hold working-level talks with its North Korean counterpart on Sept. 7 to arrange a fresh round of reunions for families displaced by the Korean War following a recent cross-border agreement, the Unification Ministry said. The Red Cross suggested through a border telephone channel for the two sides to meet at the House of Peace in the southern part of the truce village of Panmunjeom. “In the message, we offered to meet at Panmunjeom in line with the h
NationalAug. 28, 2015
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[Weekender] Who will take on currency redenomination?
In the early 2000s, Korean tourists to Turkey saw a foreign exchange rate of 1 million won to about 1.3 billion lira.When it comes to South Korea’s economic scale, its won-denominated gross domestic product is estimated at about 1.6 quadrillion won last year, or 1,600,000,000,000,000 won. Its outstanding household debt, fully written out in the local currency, is 1,100,000,000,000,000 won.Inbound tourists can sometimes get confused by the multiple-unit conversions such as thousands of dollars to
Aug. 28, 2015
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[Weekender] Korean currency evolves over millennium
Hwan-denominated notes, issued in 1953. (Bank of Korea)King Sejong, whose portrait is printed on South Korea’s 10,000 won banknote, was a key figure of the 15th century in the Joseon era (1392-1910). Other historical figures on the three other denominated bills (50,000 won, 5,000 won and 1,000 won) and the 100 won coin lived during the 16th century. While the figures lived in the Joseon era’s earlier half, during which historians say currency usage was rare, their counterparts in the latter half
Aug. 28, 2015
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President Park's approval rating reaches near 50%
President Park Geun-hye’s approval rating has skyrocketed to reach nearly 50 percent, hoisted by the dramatic inter-Korean agreement earlier in the week that tamed cross-border tensions, a poll showed Friday.Gallup Korea said a survey of 1,004 adults conducted Aug. 25-27 showed that 49 percent of them supported Park, compared to 44 percent that didn’t, marking this year’s highest approval rating. Her job ratings this year had hovered around 30 percent. Those in their 40s and 50s showed the highe
NationalAug. 28, 2015