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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Thousands rally in Seoul to call for Yoon's resignation
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Most teen sex offenders get away with slap on wrist
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FM champions multilateralism, stresses S. Korea's vision as 'global pivotal state'
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Man sentenced to 1 year, 8 months for stealing from elementary school classrooms
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Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is killed in Beirut strike, Israel's military says
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Suicide attempts spike among youth in Korea
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Same-sex couple denied insurance clearance despite landmark ruling
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Panmunjom tours for select Korean nationals may resume in October
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Senior N. K. intelligence officer, diplomats defect
A ranking official at North Korea’s military spy agency and two diplomats working outside the country have defected to the South, the government confirmed Monday, days after the joint arrival here of 13 workers from a North Korean restaurant in China. The colonel-level intelligence officer came to Seoul last year and gave a “detailed testimony” on the Reconnaissance General Bureau’s espionage operations against the South, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing an unnamed source with knowledge on th
North KoreaApril 11, 2016
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Analysts upbeat on CGV’s China business
Outlook for CJ CGV, South Korea’s multiplex giant, remains upbeat with a larger contribution from overseas units to offset a local slump, securities firms said Monday.The cinema chain’s consolidated first-quarter operating profit will come to 17.5 billion won ($15.3 million), up 21 percent from a year earlier while its sales will increase 14 percent year-on-year to 292.7 billion won, Hyundai Investment & Securities analyst Lim Min-kyu projected.He attributed the growth to its Chinese subsidiary
April 11, 2016
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GM Korea posts record net loss in 2015
GM Korea, the Korean unit of General Motors, posted a record net loss of 986.8 billion won ($861.2 million) in 2015, the worst business performance since its launch in 2002 here, according to industry sources Monday. The net loss is 2.8 times higher than that of 2014. GM Korea cars wait to be loaded for shipment to overseas market in Korea. (Yonhap)It also registered 594.4 billion won in operating loss on annual revenue of 11.94 trillion won last year, four times more than that of 2014.“The pull
MobilityApril 11, 2016
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U.S. man due to die because he is black
Duane Buck was convicted in 1997 of murdering his ex-girlfriend and a male friend. After a Texas jury determined that he was likely to pose a continuing danger to society, it sentenced him to death. How did the jury conclude that he posed a future threat (a finding that state law requires as a condition for imposing the death penalty)? Simple: Buck is black and, according to a psychologist who testified at the sentencing hearing, race is one of a number of “statistical factors” that can be used
ViewpointsApril 11, 2016
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[Andrew Sheng] Casting light from the shadows
In solving mysteries, the detective Sherlock Holmes used to say that “once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”We have been so used through our conventional training to look for keys under the light of the lamp at night that we often forget to look in the shadows.We live in an age when we base all decisions on what statisticians produce as “facts and numbers.” The trouble with statistics is that all measurements are subject to errors and o
ViewpointsApril 11, 2016
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[Ram Garikipati] Warnings on cigarette packs
As expected, South Korean tobacco-makers and retailers have expressed their opposition to the Health Ministry’s new antismoking policies, which require all firms to fix health warning illustrations on their cigarette products. However, the ministry is not being swayed by their arguments and has refused to stand down.The new measures, which will be implemented later this year, require health warnings consisting of text and images to be printed on the top 50 percent of the front panels of all ciga
ViewpointsApril 11, 2016
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[Stephen Mihm] Shocked by the Panama Papers?
The revelations about offshore accounts contained in the “Panama Papers” are sensational, but they are unlikely to put an end to these tax havens favored by the world’s rich and powerful.Rather, the disclosures are a reminder that these shelters have been around for close to a century, and have proved remarkably resilient even as they periodically aroused public outrage and calls for reform. In fact, an earlier scandal may have laid the foundation for the tax havens that are now under scrutiny.S
ViewpointsApril 11, 2016
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[Editorial] Undue pressure
In an unprecedented move, research heads of more than 30 domestic securities companies released a joint statement Thursday to condemn Hana Tour for attempting to block research that was critical of its performance.The collective action was prompted by an official of Hana Tour, the nation’s largest travel agency, who threatened to freeze out an analyst at Kyobo Securities for writing a negative report on the company.In his March 30 report, the Kyobo analyst offered a sell rating on Hana Tour, low
EditorialApril 11, 2016
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[Editorial] Abusive tycoons
Reports on chaebol scions and business owners accused of abusing their employees never cease, fueling anticorporate public sentiment and raising serious questions about the ethical standard of Korean business leaders.The latest case involves Chung Il-sun, president of Hyundai BNG Steel, an affiliate of Hyundai-Kia Motor Group that manufactures stainless steel products. He is one of the grandsons of the late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung.On Friday, a local media outlet reported that he had
EditorialApril 11, 2016
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[Rachel Marsden] Offshore banking perverts global capitalism
The largest data leak in history — 11.5 million documents, coined the “Panama Papers” — is providing a glimpse into the 1-percenters’ world of offshore banking. So far, data obtained from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that specializes in setting up offshore shell companies (more than 200,000 of them, allegedly), has been linked to heads of state, celebrities, business leaders and other wealthy individuals from all over the world — all hiding behind elaborate fronts.An anonymous source p
ViewpointsApril 11, 2016
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PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games announces ticket prices
Tickets to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games opening ceremony will cost 200,000 won ($174) to 1.5 million won. The organizing committee for the games announced Monday ticket prices for the opening and closing ceremonies and individual games. Closing ceremony tickets are priced from 220,000 won to 950,000 won. The opening and closing ceremonies are the third and fifth, respectively, most anticipated events among Koreans, according to a survey of 1,741 Koreans on popularity of the upcoming
Olympic GamesApril 11, 2016
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College chiefs explore future of innovation
More than 120 university leaders from around the world gathered for an annual forum in Seoul on Monday to promote better mutual cooperation on research and to look for new innovative roles of educational institutions in new-generation industries.Hosted by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, the 2016 International Presidential Forum on Global Research Universities kicked off with about 120 presidents and vice presidents of 65 research universities from 36 countries, including thre
Social AffairsApril 11, 2016
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Korea withdraws nomination of Confucian academies for UNESCO list
The Cultural Heritage Administration announced Monday it has withdrawn the nomination of Korean Confucian academies, or seowon, for the UNESCO Cultural Heritage list. The decision was made when the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), an independent international advisory body that offers technical and on-site evaluation for cultural heritage sites around the world applying for the UNESCO Cultural Heritage designation, deferred its decision to present evaluation reports on the
CultureApril 11, 2016
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Court suspends BIFF's new advisory committee members from coming into force
A local court on Monday ordered the executive committee of Asia's largest film festival to suspend appointments of its new advisory committee members amid its deepening feud with the sponsoring city.The Busan District Court approved the injunction filed by the Busan Metropolitan Government against the executive committee of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), seeking suspension of 68 new members of the advisory committee from coming into force.The new members were appointed by former e
Social AffairsApril 11, 2016
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Fewer married Korean women choosing to stay at home
Officer worker Kim Dong-min, 34, who tied the knot in January, had long dreamed of mornings with his wife. He imagined that she would wake him up with a cup of coffee, prepare breakfast and pack him a box of fruits for a snack. In reality, his wife wakes up, grabs juice from the refrigerator and rushes to the office while touching up her makeup on the subway.“I think it would be too boring to stay at home as a housewife,” his wife had said to him.Kim’s ideal morning is becoming less conventional
Social AffairsApril 11, 2016
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Speculation grows over China's role in mass defection
Following the en-masse defection last week of 13 North Koreans who reportedly worked at a state-run restaurant in China, speculation is growing over whether Beijing played any role in facilitating their perilous journey to South Korea.Given the traditional ties with its ally Pyongyang, Beijing could not have publicly or actively supported the defection, observers said, noting that they might have knowingly condoned the defectors' attempts to head to the South via a third country in Southeast Asi
Social AffairsApril 11, 2016
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Park: 'Descendants of the Sun' exemplary case of cultural enhancement
President Park Geun-hye on Monday praised "Descendants of the Sun," a popular South Korean soap opera, as an exemplary case of the positive effects of cultural content on the manufacturing industry.The drama -- which tells the story of a South Korean army captain sent on a U.N. peacekeeping mission to a distant fictional country -- has gained immense popularity not only in South Korea but China and other countries as well.Park said the KBS drama has been sold to about 30 countries and has been e
Social AffairsApril 11, 2016
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6 out of 10 will ‘actively vote’
Nearly 64 percent of Koreans said they will actively vote in Wednesday’s general election, a poll showed Monday. According to Real Meter, a poll conducted last week showed that the highest turnout for “active voters” was among those in their 30s at 72.3 percent. This was followed by those in their 40s and 20s at 70.3 and 65.1 percent, respectively. The figure was 59 and 54.7 percent respectively for those in their 50s and people aged 60 or above. YonhapThe overall ratio of people who said they w
PoliticsApril 11, 2016
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N. Korean workers in China defect to S. Korea via Thailand, Laos: source
A group of North Korean defectors who used to work at a restaurant in China entered South Korea last week via Thailand and Laos, a source familiar to North Korean affairs said Monday.Thirteen North Korean workers at an overseas restaurant defected to South Korea en masse last week amid toughened international sanctions on Pyongyang over its latest nuclear and missile tests.The source said that the North Koreans who worked at a restaurant in the Chinese eastern port city of Ningbo flew into Bangk
North KoreaApril 11, 2016
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[Election 2016] Parties lack pragmatic plans for welfare
Four years ago, when South Korea last voted in a new parliament, the political platforms were dominated by welfare policies amid growing inequality and social polarization.But the mood on the campaign trail for the general election appeared to be different this time: The rival parties either scaled back the scope of their welfare pledges or glossed over how they would fund the initiatives. Many of the policies also resemble one another, making them less of a factor for voters in casting their su
PoliticsApril 11, 2016