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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Seoul should engage Kim Jong-un’s elites for change, ex-North Korean diplomat says
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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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110,000 sex purchasers’ personal data seized
The distributor of a smartphone application that helped rate and manage more than 110,000 buyers of sex was indicted Monday, according to prosecutors. The prosecution said that the man, surnamed Na and aged 30, helped 41 prostitution brokers manage their clients using the application “Green Light” between October 2015 and April 2016. The application held the personal information of more than 110,000 men. (123RF)The brokers had evaluated their clients by categorizing them into green, red and bl
Social AffairsMay 18, 2016
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Furtive dates lead to crime in Korea
A 31-year-old man surnamed Jung was arrested Wednesday for hitting and robbing a woman he met on an arranged date.South Gyeongsang Province’s Gimhae police said the man, who is unemployed, tricked a 25-year-old woman into thinking that he would pay for her escort services. (123RF)When they met at a motel in April, he assaulted the woman with a weapon and took 250,000 won ($210) in cash from her. Jung allegedly used a similar method in March to steal 200,000 won from another woman, aged 30, at a
Social AffairsMay 18, 2016
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Meth traffickers, clients arrested
Two Korean men were arrested Wednesday for trafficking methamphetamine. Surnamed Han and Kim, the men are accused of bringing in the drugs from Cambodia and selling them to 34 clients. (123RF)Han, 35, allegedly paid tourists to bring in the drugs to Incheon International Airport from where he transported it inside fruit boxes as express bus cargo to Kim, 41, on three occasions. Kim then carried the boxes to public bathrooms and taped the sacs to toilet covers for clients to collect.Kim told the
Social AffairsMay 18, 2016
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Efforts that culminated in Han's Booker win
While novelist Han Kang’s Man Booker International Prize will likely be a much-desired boost for Korean literature’s push into the international stage, there has been a prolonged, if niche, interest in Korean literature from global audiences long before her novel “The Vegetarian” came into the spotlight. In fact, Korean literature has enjoyed sporadic success overseas, which may have culminated in Han’s win. In Germany, for example, Jeong Yu-jeong’s “Seven Years of Darkness” ranked in the Top 1
BooksMay 18, 2016
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Public art fest brings culture to back alleys of Seoul
Pil-dong, a small district filled with apartments and printing shops on the northwestern edge of Mount Namsan, is offering a variety of arts and cultural events from Thursday to Saturday. The advertisement agency Hands BTL which is headquartered in Pil-dong, and residents of the historic neighborhood are holding a street arts festival for the first time in the backstreets of Pil-dong, behind the bustling Chungmuro Station in Jung-gu, Seoul. A street museum at a corner in an alley of Pil-dong (
PerformanceMay 18, 2016
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Court upholds jail term for steelmaker head over embezzlement, gambling
An appeals court handed down a 42-month jail term to the chief of a local steelmaker Wednesday for gambling abroad with millions of dollars he embezzled.The Seoul High Court also ordered Chang Sae-joo, chairman of Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., to forfeit some 1.4 billion won ($1.2 million).The business tycoon was indicted in May 2015 on charges of misappropriating more than 20 billion won from the company since 2003 and using part of it to gamble in Las Vegas.A lower court had sentenced him to 42 mont
Social AffairsMay 18, 2016
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China expresses support for direct talks between U.S., N. Korea
China on Wednesday expressed its support for direct talks between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, responding to remarks by U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that he is open to speaking with the leader of the reclusive country. "China supports direct negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea," China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, told Reuters in an interview that he
North KoreaMay 18, 2016
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Korean PM to visit Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn will make a five-day trip to Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia later this week to hold talks with counterparts on expanding mutual ties, his office said Wednesday.Hwang is scheduled to leave for Uzbekistan on Thursday to meet Uzbek President Islam Karimov, and discuss expanding exchanges in various industrial segments from energy, infrastructure to information communications.Korea and Uzbekistan will also promote further exchanges in the cultural and education sectors as w
PoliticsMay 18, 2016
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Kim Ki-min becomes first Korean ballerino to win top award
Kim Ki-min has become the first Korean ballerino to win the world’s most prestigious ballet award, organizers said Wednesday. The organizing committee of Benois de la Danse 2016 declared him the best dancer on Tuesday, local time, for his role as Solor in the Paris Opera Ballet’s “La Bayadere de Rudolf Noureev” staged in late 2015. Ballerino Kim Ki-min (Mariinsky Theater) The 24-year-old is currently the principal dancer with Russia’s Mariinsky Ballet. Previously, two other Korean ballerinos --
PerformanceMay 18, 2016
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Eight cities added to Big Bang’s China tour
Korean boy band Big Bang will restart its tour of China next month followings its concerts there that drew tens of thousands of people earlier this year, the group’s agency said Wednesday. In March, Big Bang met about 182,000 fans in “The 2016 BigBang MADE [V.I.P.] Tour” of eight Chinese cities. After China, the band started on a tour of four Japanese cities, which runs from April 22 to May 29. The boys will resume the China tour in June in view of the enthusiastic support of their Chinese fans,
PerformanceMay 18, 2016
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[Market Now] Dongbu Steel not for sale anymore
Dongbu Steel, the ailing steelmaking affiliate of South Korea’s Dongbu Group, said that its creditors have stopped their attempt to sell the steelmaker.“With creditors’ debt-to-equity swap plan and improved earnings of the company amid business conditions in the steel industry, M&A attempts have been stopped,” the company said in a regulatory filing. Dongbu Group headquarters in Seoul (Yonhap)Its main creditor Korea Development Bank has been struggling to find a suitor for the steelmaker due to
May 18, 2016
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[Editorial] Paris vs. IS
The head of the European Union police agency has raised the possibility that the jihadist Islamic State group could conduct attacks on the Euro 2016 soccer tournament in France this summer. He said the tournament was an “attractive target” for terrorists.The Europol warning reminds Europeans of the tragedy in Paris last November during a friendly soccer match between France and Germany.Starting from the opening match between France and Romania on June 10, the Euro 2016 finals will run through Ju
EditorialMay 18, 2016
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Mass market, Macau’s new target
MACAU -- Pinched by a prolonged economic slowdown as well as toughened regulations by authorities in mainland China, Macau, Asia’s largest gaming market, has been in a downward trend for the last two years. Its revenue dropped by 34 percent last year. The numbers of visitors -- both from mass and VIP market --declined, raising the concerns of all stakeholders in the region about its sustainability. G2E Asia participants look around the event venue inside the Venetian Hotel in Macau on May 17. (
IndustryMay 18, 2016
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[Editorial] Pension fund
The National Pension Service has announced it will diversify its investment portfolio by actively targeting overseas markets over the next five years, as part of its efforts to raise fund management profitability.Under its plan for the period 2017-21, the proportion of the state pension fund’s investments that are made in global stocks will rise to around 25 percent in 2021 from 13.7 percent in 2015. The overseas bond portfolio will also increase to 5 percent from 4.3 percent over the period.The
EditorialMay 18, 2016
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Hyundai Mobis appoints new CEO
Lim Young-deuk, executive vice president of Hyundai Motor’s international plant support division, has been appointed new chief executive of Hyundai Mobis, an auto parts affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, the company announced on Wednesday. Lim, 60, will take office on Thursday, replacing the incumbent CEO Chung Myung-chul, who has been transferred as an adviser of the auto parts maker. Hyundai Mobis’ new CEO Lim Young-deuk (Hyundai Mobis)The new head formerly served as chief of Hyundai Powertech
MobilityMay 18, 2016
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[Lee Joo-hee] Another round of malign politics
It hasn’t even begun, and people are already tired of it.The new 20th National Assembly begins at the end of this month, and does so on a very low note.The warning could not have been clearer from the voters in the latest election.The ruling Saenuri Party had its majority snatched away, while the main opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea was nearly locked out of its home base in the Jeolla provinces.Yet the fleeting truce among the parties’ battling factions during the campaign period quickly en
ViewpointsMay 18, 2016
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Samsung’s leukemia victim urges Banolim to end fight for its own survival
A former Samsung Electronics worker who contracted leukemia after working at the company’s chip plant, urged Banolim, an advocacy group that has led related compensations talks, to stop its politically-intended fight and take more care of cancer-stricken victims and their families. “About 150 people have applied to get compensations and some 110 of them have been compensated. We think the compensation process is nearing its end,” Kim Eun-kyung said Wednesday in her message posted on a Samsung we
TechnologyMay 18, 2016
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‘Landmark’ statues called into question
From the iconic Statue of Liberty in Manhattan to the 3-ton bronze sculpture Charging Bull in Wall Street, New York City is famous for its statues that have become popular landmarks. With hopes of constructing landmarks on par with those of New York, Seoul City kicked off a grand project last year. The city allocated about 700 million won ($590,000) to building unique landmarks in Seoul. In January 2015, a 10-meter-high, 5-ton sculpture of the monster featured in the movie “The Host” (2006) was
Social AffairsMay 18, 2016
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Foreign correspondents say Park should address national divide
The last time President Park Geun-hye visited the May 18 ceremony was in 2013, soon after her inauguration. Since then, she has not attended the event for various reasons, such as a meeting with Iranian vice president that had coincided Wednesday’s ceremony.The move has been widely seen as a gesture to avoid political conflict. Since its commemorative song “March for our Beloved” was made unofficial in 2009, the ceremony has been at the center of ideological debate.But from the perspective of fo
PoliticsMay 18, 2016
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Cautious hopes, skepticism for new N.K. foreign minister
The official appointment of Ri Yong-ho as North Korea’s new foreign minister has given rise to a blend of cautious hopes and skepticism over cross-border ties. Pyongyang on Monday informed the British government that it has appointed the former vice foreign minister as the successor of Ri Su-yong through a diplomatic letter to its embassy in London, according to the Associated Press. Ri, 60, is a career diplomat with extensive experience in negotiations with Seoul and Washington, having served a
North KoreaMay 18, 2016