Most Popular
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Seoul, Tokyo reboot joint maritime resource talks after 40-year freeze
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Host of Miss Korea apologizes for 'inappropriate question' about deepfake
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Korea to face another massive shortfall in tax revenue
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Who's lying? Hybe vs. Min conflict continues to intensify
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[Contribution] Turkmenistan celebrates the 33rd anniversary of its Independence
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[Photo news] Faker Mercedes
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SK hynix outpaces Samsung, Micron with more powerful AI chips
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Power of nostalgia brings K-pop legends back together
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North Korea unveiling uranium enrichment site a US election-conscious move: NIS
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Seoul should engage Kim Jong-un’s elites for change, ex-North Korean diplomat says
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Park Tae-hwan postpones meeting with national Olympic body over Rio ban
South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan on Wednesday postponed a meeting with the national Olympic body over his Summer Games ban.An official with the Korean Olympic Committee said Park's camp asked to put off the meeting indefinitely. The official didn't disclose any specific reason from the swimmer and only said Park's side would get back to the KOC later to reschedule the talks.Park and his representatives were scheduled to meet with the KOC's Secretary-General Cho Young-ho at 10 a.m. Wednesday at
Olympic GamesMay 25, 2016
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World War II's endgame was also a beginning for Samuel Beckett
“A Country Road, A Tree: A Novel” By Jo Baker Knopf (304 pages, $26.95) When war came to Europe in 1939, Samuel Beckett was a published but largely unknown and unread Irish writer working in the long shadow of James Joyce, for whom he’d served as a literary secretary in Paris while the great man was writing “Finnegans Wake.” By war’s end six years later, Beckett was well on his way to becoming the markedly different writer who would shortly unveil “Waiting for Godot” and who is now justly rememb
BooksMay 25, 2016
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‘The Gene’ captures scientific method in all its fumbling glory
“The Gene: An Intimate History” By Siddhartha Mukherjee Scribner (592 pages, $30) “Like Pythagoras’s triangle, like the cave paintings at Lascaux, like the Pyramids in Giza, like the image of a fragile blue planet seen from outer space, the double helix of DNA is an iconic image, etched permanently into human history and memory,” Siddhartha Mukherjee writes in “The Gene: An Intimate History,” a fascinating and often sobering history of how humans came to understand the roles of genes in making
BooksMay 25, 2016
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Lara Feigel’s book tours Germany in the wake of WWII defeat
“The Bitter Taste of Victory: Life, Love, and Art in the Ruins of the Reich” By Lara Feigel Bloomsbury (443 pages, $32) It wasn’t just grunts and generals who crossed into Germany at the end of the Second World War. Along with Allied forces, a who’s who of writers, journalists, poets and filmmakers came to observe, report and reconstruct a shattered world. What they saw shocked and bewildered them. Major cities -- Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne -- had been heavily bombed. The plight of ordina
BooksMay 25, 2016
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Seoul mayor says Ban should respect U.N. recommendation on political activities
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon on Wednesday said it is inappropriate for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to run in the next presidential race after stepping down from his current post, as speculation is growing about Ban's possible entry into the country's politics."It is appropriate to follow the U.N. recommendation since the country gave birth to a U.N. chief," Park said during an interview with YTN Radio, referring to an understanding that asks former secretary-generals not to take an
PoliticsMay 25, 2016
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Kona I releases biometric fingerprint smart card
Korean FinTech firm Kona I Co. Ltd. said Wednesday that it has rolled out a biometric smart card that features an embedded fingerprint sensor.The new model can identify the user's fingerprint and can be used to allow access to buildings or for other ID card uses in the security sector, the company said. A new biometric smart card by Kona I (Kona I)For instance, a biometric credit card can become active for only 15 to 20 seconds when a card holder taps a finger on a sensor, company officials said
TechnologyMay 25, 2016
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Steel industry hastens restructuring drive to benefit from new law
Korea's steel industry is expediting restructuring, hoping to complete a market review within months to decide whether to seek state help, industry sources said Wednesday.According to the sources, the Korea Iron & Steel Association has picked Boston Consulting Group to write up a report, detailing areas and products of overcapacity. They said the report is due out in about two months.The restructuring drive has won over support from both the government and private companies as the local industry
IndustryMay 25, 2016
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Parliamentary speaker backs controversial hearings bill
South Korea's parliamentary speaker Chung Ui-hwa on Wednesday expressed support for a new bill that allows the National Assembly to open hearings more often, adding the government's protest against the move conflicts with the principle of democracy.Chung made the remark during his last meeting with reporters.He is set to step down after serving for two years as the 20th National Assembly will kick off Monday.The speaker, who in recent months has locked horns with the presidential office and some
PoliticsMay 25, 2016
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Corporate concern rising on incoming parliament
Corporate executives now seem as jittery as government officials about a controversial bill that will allow lawmakers to hold hearings more frequently.The revision to the National Assembly Act, which was passed by the outgoing parliament last week, gives parliamentary committees the right to hold hearings on all “pending” issues. Existing law stipulates that the hearings can be held if necessary for the deliberation of important matters and parliamentary audit or investigation.Speculation has be
May 25, 2016
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[Herald Interview] Former Samsung engineer develops translation solution to break down language barrier
Living in a world without language barriers is not a far-fetched idea at all thanks to technological advancement, according to a big data expert in linguistic analysis. “It would be fair to say that translation technology for written language is now fully mature, and translation solutions for written language -- not for spoken language though -- are widely deployed in both the public and private sectors,” said Lea Jong-ho, chief technology officer of Seoul-headquartered translation and interpret
TechnologyMay 25, 2016
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Park leaves for Ethiopia on first leg of four-nation tour
President Park Geun-hye left for Ethiopia on Wednesday on a 12-day, four-nation tour to Africa and France that is expected to boost bilateral ties.The trip, which also takes Park to Uganda and Kenya, comes as South Korean companies are pushing to expand business opportunities in these foreign markets that could give a much-needed boost to Asia's fourth-largest economy. (Yonhap)Africa has emerged as a continent of opportunity in recent years, though South Korea has yet to make significant foray i
PoliticsMay 25, 2016
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Exports to China continue to slide in near record-long streak
Korea's exports to China in April marked a 10th month of sliding downwards, the longest skidding streak since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, trade figures showed Wednesday.The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said exports to China last month came to $9.63 billion, an 18.4 percent fall on-year, continuing the downward path that began in July last year.The longest shrinking streak to date was 11 months, from October 2008 to August 2009. There was also a notable 10-month slide i
May 25, 2016
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Key officials from N. Korea, Cuba hold meeting for better ties
Key ruling party members of North Korea and Cuba have held talks to discuss ways to further develop their friendly ties, Pyongyang's state media said Wednesday.The talks were held in Cuba on Monday between the North Korean delegation led by Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) central committee, and members of the Communist Party of Cuba led by Salvador Antonio Valdes Mesa, vice president of the Council of State of Cuba, according to the Korean Central News Agency (K
North KoreaMay 25, 2016
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Ratio of short-term debt to foreign reserves hits over 11-year low in Q1
The ratio of Korea's short-term foreign debt to its foreign reserves fell to the lowest level in over 11 years in the first quarter on the back of a fall in borrowing by local banks and a fall in foreign investment in local bonds, data showed Wednesday.The country's short-term external debt, with a maturity of one year or less, totaled $103 billion as of the end of March, decreasing $4.3 billion from three months earlier, according to the data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). The end-March figure acc
May 25, 2016
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Top 30 biz groups reduce executives by nearly 500 in one year
Korea's top 30 business groups reduced the number of their executives by about 500 over the past year due mainly to downsizing and business restructuring moves, data showed Wednesday.The total number of senior executives at the 30 largest conglomerates was 9,632 as of May 16, down 484, or 4.8 percent, from a year ago, according to the data compiled by corporate researcher CEO Score.Leading conglomerate Samsung Group shed the largest number of executives at 374 in the process of selling its defen
IndustryMay 25, 2016
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Banks worry over reserve requirements as shipbuilding industry tumbles
The imminent overhaul of the shipbuilding industry is shaking up local banks, which will have to raise their reserves once the loans to companies are reclassified as risky, financial officials said Wednesday.The majority of the loans to the troubled shipbuilders -- Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries -- are categorized as "normal" in risk ratings, a far cry from the firms' abysmal financial standings. Local banks' exposure to the three
May 25, 2016
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Court receivership looms larger over STX Offshore & Shipbuilding
Creditors of STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. are moving to put the midsize local shipyard under court receivership this month, ending their yearslong financial aid, amid ongoing efforts to revamp the ailing industries, such as shipping and shipbuilding, industry sources said Wednesday.According to the sources, the creditors, led by the state-run Korea Development Bank, will discuss later in the day whether to extend a lifeline to the financially troubled shipbuilder. But the sources said the cre
IndustryMay 25, 2016
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Korean shares open higher on Wall Street gains
Korean stocks started higher Wednesday, following overnight gains on Wall Street.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 15.99 points, or 0.83 percent, to 1,953.67 in the first 15 minutes of trading. (Yonhap)Top market cap Samsung Electronics gained 0.24 percent, and industry leader Hyundai Motor was up 0.37 percent. The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. also rose 1.34 percent.In New York on Tuesday (local time), the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 213.12 points, or 1
May 25, 2016
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Korean-Americans have most unfavorable views of Trump: survey
Korean-Americans have the most unfavorable view of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump among Asian-American voters in the U.S., a survey showed Tuesday.About 80 percent of Korean-Americans had negative views of Trump, followed by Japanese-Americans with 76 percent and Filipino-Americans with 62 percent, according to the survey of 1,212 Asian-American voters released by Asian Americans Advancing Justice.In total, 61 percent of the respondents had unfavorable views of Trump while only 1
InternationalMay 25, 2016
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Prospects for global nonproliferation not optimistic due to N.Korea: CFR
Prospects for progress in global nonproliferation efforts are not bright due to North Korea's continued pursuit of its nuclear program, the U.S. think tank Council on Foreign Relations said Tuesday.In a report on global cooperation, the CFR said that global nonproliferation efforts received a boost from the Iranian nuclear deal last year, but suffered a setback from the North's nuclear program."North Korea continued to threaten the international nonproliferation regime and global peace and stabi
North KoreaMay 25, 2016