Most Popular
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Slew of top K-pop stars ready to return from military
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S. Korea, US clinch 2026-30 defense cost-sharing deal in pre-election push
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Military aircraft evacuating S. Koreans in Lebanon returns home
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Concerns raised over chronic labor shortage at state-run center for digital sex crime victims
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BTS-themed moon jar to be unveiled on Hangeul Day
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Market uncertain on Korea's October rate cut despite slowed inflation
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Samsung unveils 'personalized AI' for all devices
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1,430 minors investigated for drug offenses from 2018 to 2023: police
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[Robert Fouser] Why the US election looks so close
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[Editorial] Brace for trouble
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S. Korean exports to recover in H2: finance minister
South Korea's exports are expected to bounce back in the second half of this year, which could allow the nation's trade volume to top the $1 trillion mark for a fifth year in 2015, the top economic policymaker said Tuesday. Speaking at a meeting with foreign news correspondents in Seoul, Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said outbound shipments are on the mend after a poor showing in the first half. According to government data, exports fell 5.1 percent on-year to $268.7 billion in the January-
July 21, 2015
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Park‘s brother denies involvement in politics
The younger brother of President Park Geun-hye testified in court Tuesday on a case dealing with leaked presidential documents and denied any involvement in politics. The testimony came a few days after an arrest writ was issued to bring him to court, as he had refused to testify as a witness four times. Park Ji-man, the head of EG Corporation, is suspected of having received 17 leaked presidential documents from senior police officer Park Kwan-cheon and former presidential secretary Cho Eung
PoliticsJuly 21, 2015
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S. Korea rules out military intelligence pact with Japan
South Korea Tuesday ruled out the possibility of forging a military intelligence sharing agreement with Japan after a recent military exchange between the neighbors stoked speculations on the pact. Japan's chief of the intelligence bureau at the defense ministry, Tadashi Miyagawa, visited South Korea last week to hold an annual conference on military intelligence sharing with his South Korean counterpart. The visit stoked speculations that the neighbors may be restarting efforts to sign a Gene
InternationalJuly 21, 2015
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S. Korea raps Japan for laying claim to islets
South Korea denounced Japan Tuesday for again laying claim to its easternmost islets of Dokdo, saying the move undermines Seoul's efforts to improve their long-strained ties. Japan's defense ministry released its annual defense white paper earlier in the day with references to Dokdo and the Russian-controlled Kuril Islands as Japanese "sovereign territory." Dokdo, which lies closer to South Korea in the body of water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, has long been a source of tension bet
InternationalJuly 21, 2015
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N. Korea says it‘s not like Iran
North Korea said Tuesday it will continue to develop nuclear weapons, rejecting calls for the isolated communist nation to follow in Iran's footsteps. In a statement, the North's foreign ministry stressed that Pyongyang's situation is "quite different" from that of Tehran. Last week, Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany concluded a landmark deal to curb Tehran's nuclear activities, which paves the way for lifting heavy economic sanctions imposed on the c
North KoreaJuly 21, 2015
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MERS outbreak caused 40% decline in foreign visitors
The number of foreign visitors plummeted by over 40 percent last month due largely to the Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak, data showed Tuesday. According to the state-run Korea Tourism Organization, about 760,000 foreign tourists visited the country in June, down by 41 percent on-year. By nationality, the number Chinese dropped by 45 percent to some 310,000 and Japanese by 41.5 percent to about 100,000. China and Japan make up the largest share of visitors. About 30,000 Philippine and
Social AffairsJuly 21, 2015
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[Herald Interview] Only the beginning for Korea’s migrant workers’ labor movement
When South Korea’s highest court recently made a ruling that migrants working in Korea illegally could establish a labor union, Udaya Rai, a head of the nation’s first migrants’ labor union, broke into a wide smile. The historic ruling came on June 25, more than 10 years after the Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants’ Trade Union launched a battle against the Korean government to win legal status. “I was so delighted when I heard that the court finally legalized our union,” said Rai, head of the MTU
Social AffairsJuly 21, 2015
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Hanwha Q Cells to form JV with Indian firm for solar power plants
Hanwha Q Cells Co., the world's leading solar cell maker, said Tuesday it will form a joint venture to build large-scale solar power plants in India in a bid to expand its presence in the fast-emerging market. Hanwha Q Cells will join forces with ReNew Power Ventures Pvt., one of India's leading renewable power companies, to build two solar power plants with a total capacity of 148.8 megawatts in the central Indian state of Telangana. The joint venture will begin construction of the faciliti
IndustryJuly 21, 2015
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Spy agency gets presidential approval for legal monitoring: lawmaker
South Korea's top intelligence agency has been receiving approval from the president every four months to legally monitor foreigners who could be spies or terrorists, a ruling party lawmaker said Tuesday. The remarks came amid lingering controversy over hacking software programs the National Intelligence Service purchased from an Italian hacking firm in 2012. The NIS emphasized that it used the programs to strengthen its cyber warfare capabilities against North Korea and only against people li
PoliticsJuly 21, 2015
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Samsung heir visits provincial startup centers
Lee Jae-yong, the heir apparent of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, visited two startup support centers in the southeastern part of the country Tuesday, marking his first public appearance after last week's key shareholder vote on the merger of two group units. Lee visited the so-called innovation centers in Gumi, 261 kilometers southeast of Seoul, and Daegu, some 300 kilometers from the capital city. The two centers were opened in December and September last year, respectively.
IndustryJuly 21, 2015
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U.S. Women's Open champ enjoying near perfect season
Fresh off her first career LPGA major victory, South Korean golfer Chun In-gee said Tuesday she's enjoying a near perfect season for herself. At a press conference in Seoul ahead of a Korean LPGA Tour event, Chun, who captured the U.S. Women's Open earlier this month, said she's already accomplished four of the five goals she'd set before the start of the season. "I've won three times on the KLPGA Tour, matching my win total from last year, and I've won the match play tournament here, defended
GolfJuly 21, 2015
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Charity book drive to support students in Laos
Samdong International, a nonprofit organization working on sustainable projects in Southeast Asia, is organizing multiple events to help support the Xiengkhoung Samdong Friendship School in Saylmon Village, Laos. The school, built in 2011, has supported the education of hundreds of Laotian students from low-income backgrounds. Currently, the school has a library but no books. Three different events will be held to help collect books and raise money for the school.A book drive will be held until
Expat LivingJuly 21, 2015
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New regional FTA talks slated for next month in Myanmar
South Korea and 15 other countries will hold a fresh round of talks on a regional free trade agreement in Myanmar next month amid stepped-up efforts to wrap it up by year-end, officials here said Tuesday. The upcoming round of talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the ninth of its kind, will be held in Naypyidaw on Aug. 3-7, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The RCEP negotiations involve South Korea, Japan, China and all 10 member countries of the Ass
July 21, 2015
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Park's brother testifies in 'memogate' case
The younger brother of President Park Geun-hye volunteered to appear in court Tuesday to testify for in a case on leaked presidential documents, a few days after an arrest writ was issued to bring him to court. Park Ji-man, the head of EG Corporation, is suspected of having received 17 leaked presidential documents from senior police officer Park Kwan-cheon and former presidential secretary Cho Eung-cheon, who were indicted in January for leaking confidential information in violation of the Pre
PoliticsJuly 21, 2015
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Park vows to press ahead with reform of labor and public sectors
President Park Geun-hye called Tuesday for public support as she pledged to push ahead with efforts to reform South Korea's rigid labor market and other sectors. Park's latest appeal came amid little signs of progress in overhauling such issues as labor market duality -- the difference in pay and job security between regular and non-regular workers. Some companies shun recruitment and instead rely on non-regular workers that they can fire more easily as the economy remains sluggish, a developm
PoliticsJuly 21, 2015
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Stolen Buddhist painting returned from U.S.
South Korea has reclaimed a stolen 18th century Buddhist painting from a U.S. art collector, the cultural agency said Tuesday. The Cultural Heritage Administration said the work, presumed to be from about 1738, was donated by the American who had initially offered it at an auction in March. The agency reclaimed it last month after asking the collector to cancel its sale. The work, which is 65 centimeters wide and 97 centimeters long, is a portrait of a great Seon monk that used to be kept insi
CultureJuly 21, 2015
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Ex-FIFA VP sets sights on top position
Former FIFA Vice President Chung Mong-joon on Tuesday expressed his intent to run for the world's top football job. "I am thinking of running (for FIFA president)," Chung told Yonhap News Agency on the phone. "I will try to usher in a new era for FIFA." Chung served as FIFA's No. 2 man from 1994 to 2011. He has been a vocal critic of the world's football governing body since several officials were implicated in corruption scandals. Sepp Blatter, who was elected to his fifth mandate as FIFA ho
SoccerJuly 21, 2015
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Gov't plans to address low birthrate, aging population: official
South Korea will announce a new package of measures late this year to cope with the country's chronically low birthrate and aging population that threaten to sap long-term growth, a senior official said Tuesday. In a speech at an economic development seminar in Seoul, Vice Finance Minister Joo Hyung-hwan warned that Asia's fourth-largest economy is facing serious demographic challenges due to the problems. "There is a need to make fundamental changes in the economic system to tackle the proble
Social AffairsJuly 21, 2015
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S. Korea protests Japan's renewed claim to Dokdo
South Korea lodged a strong complaint with Japan on Tuesday over Tokyo's renewed territorial claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo in an annual defense white paper. The defense report, approved by the Cabinet earlier in the day, referred to Dokdo as Japanese "sovereign territory," along with the Kuril Islands controlled by Russia. It is the 11th straight year that Tokyo has laid claim to Dokdo in the annual paper. "The territorial issue over our sovereign territory of the Norther
InternationalJuly 21, 2015
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Investors pour money into short-term vehicles amid low rates
Investors have growingly shifted their money to short-term financial instruments, such as money market funds, in 2015 as interest rates have hit rock bottom, data showed Tuesday. Money market funds are short-term debt securities, such as Treasury bills and commercial papers. They are widely considered as safe as bank deposits yet provides a higher return. The net asset value of MMFs came to 38.23 trillion won ($33.1 billion) as of Thursday, surging 46.4 percent from the end of last year, acco
July 21, 2015