Most Popular
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[Exclusive] Korean adoptee sisters meet for the first time in 39 years
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Signs point to N. Korean troops in Russia-Ukraine combat zone
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Yoon calls for measures to protect Koreans amid escalating Iran-Israel conflicts
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Rose's 'Apt.' redefines K-pop's global appeal
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Civil servant’s death linked to workplace bullying
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Two years on, thousands mourn Itaewon tragedy, calling for accountability
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[Weekender] Walk around Korea to really get to know the country
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N. Korea slams Seoul-Washington joint air exercise
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[Herald Interview] Love for K-drama, food defines 'Secret Ingredient'
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[Herald Interview] K-pop’s 'best years are ahead of us': Spotify’s general manager for Asia Pacific
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[Newsmaker] Chief prosecutor’s outcry against loss of investigative rights draws mixed responses
Chief prosecutor Yoon Seok-youl’s outcry against the ruling party’s move to deprive the prosecution of investigative rights by creating a new crime agency drew mixed reactions Wednesday, with Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun saying he was acting like a politician. Following a yearlong brawl with former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae over investigative rights, the prosecutor general strongly criticized the plan to launch a new agency for “serious crimes,” modeled after Britain&
Social AffairsMarch 3, 2021
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S. Korea, US to hold defense cost-sharing talks in Washington this week
South Korea and the United States will hold a new round of talks in Washington later this week on the sharing of the cost for stationing the US Forces Korea (USFK), the foreign ministry said Wednesday, amid expectations the two sides are close to a deal. Seoul's top negotiator, Jeong Eun-bo, and his US counterpart, Donna Welton, will meet in the US capital Friday, the ministry said, amid speculation that the two sides are nearing a multiyear deal for the upkeep of 28,500 American troops in Kore
DefenseMarch 3, 2021
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FM Chung meets victim of Japan's wartime sexual slavery
Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong met with a victim of Japan's wartime sexual slavery Wednesday, as Seoul seeks to defuse persistent historical tensions with Tokyo amid Washington's calls for tighter trilateral cooperation with its key Asian allies. The meeting with Lee Yong-soo, Chung's first with a sexual slavery victim since taking office last month, came as the 92-year-old Lee has stepped up calls for the government to bring the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with no diploma
Foreign AffairsMarch 3, 2021
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Military begins administering COVID-19 vaccine to its members
The defense ministry on Wednesday began administering coronavirus vaccines to military personnel, with doctors and other health care workers becoming the first recipient group, officials said. The medical staff at the Korean Armed Forces Yangju Hospital in the city of Yangju, some 50 kilometers north of Seoul, received COVID-19 vaccine shots under the first round of the inoculation campaign in the military. They are among around 2,400 health care workers at 16 military hospitals across the nat
DefenseMarch 3, 2021
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Apartment prices in Seoul have kept rising despite 25 rounds of countermeasures by Moon govt. : civic group
Apartment prices in Seoul have continued to rise under the Moon Jae-in government, except for four months, despite a string of measures to stabilize the market, a civic group survey showed Wednesday. Such a policy failure has sharply widened the gap in the values of assets owned by homeowners and those who do not possess houses, according to the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ). It made public the results of an analysis of tracking data on the prices of 117,000 units in a total
Social AffairsMarch 3, 2021
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Sanctions not sole reason for humanitarian crisis in N. Korea: unification ministry
Unification Minister Lee In-young did not mean that global sanctions are the sole reason for causing a humanitarian crisis in North Korea when he recently stressed the need to review their efficacy, his spokesperson said Wednesday. In an interview with the Financial Times last week, Lee raised the need to see whether sanctions have just ended up causing hardships to North Korean people without achieving their intended purpose of forcing Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program. The rem
North KoreaMarch 3, 2021
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Govt. to intensify monitoring of coronavirus misinformation
The South Korean government will step up efforts to contain misleading information online about coronavirus vaccines, as the country began its mass inoculation program last week. According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on Wednesday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) will work together with internet portal sites and social media services to remove coronavirus falsehoods swiftly from their platforms. Un
Social AffairsMarch 3, 2021
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Seoul’s population falls below 10 million for first time in 32 years
Seoul’s population fell below 10 million for the first time in 32 years, as the number of foreign residents in the city sharply dropped amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The city government said Wednesday that its population as of late last year reached 9.91 million, down 99,895 people from the same period a year earlier. It is the first time in 32 years that the capital’s population sat below 10 million, since it breached that mark at 10.29 million in 1988. By the end of 2020, Seoul had
Social AffairsMarch 3, 2021
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2 patients die after AstraZeneca vaccine shots; study under way over potential connection
GOYANG/PYEONGTAEK -- Two patients at long-term care hospitals in Gyeonggi Province died Wednesday after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19, the first cases of deaths since the country began its nationwide vaccination program last week. A 50-something patient with multiple underlying diseases died at a hospital in Goyang, just outside of Seoul's northwestern border, after receiving the vaccine shot Tuesday morning, health officials said. The patient began to show symptoms of he
Social AffairsMarch 3, 2021
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S. Korea to create more jobs in pandemic-hit service sector
South Korea's finance minister said Wednesday the government will make efforts to create some 300,000 jobs by 2025 in the service sector that has borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki unveiled a road map on developing the service industry, under which the country will focus on helping the service segment do business in a non-contact and digitalized manner. "The country's service industry has lagged behind the manufacturing sector in terms of productivity a
Social AffairsMarch 3, 2021
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Defense chief, EU ambassador vow to boost security ties, defense exchanges
Defense Minister Suh Wook met with the European Union's ambassador to South Korea on Wednesday and discussed ways to boost security cooperation including in anti-piracy missions off the coast of Somalia, his office said. During the meeting in Seoul, Suh and Maria Castillo Fernandez exchanged their assessments of the security circumstances on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, and Fernandez vowed to do her best to help establish peace, according to the ministry. They also had consultations
DefenseMarch 3, 2021
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PM orders review of authorizing AstraZeneca vaccine for people aged 65 and over
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Wednesday instructed officials to review the authorization of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people aged 65 and over. "New research results have been disclosed, indicating the AstraZeneca vaccine is effective for older people as well," the prime minister said during a daily interagency meeting on the coronavirus response at the government complex in Seoul. "South Korea is withholding AstraZeneca vaccine shots for people aged 65 or older, but I ask
PoliticsMarch 3, 2021
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Two Marines, Army soldier test positive for COVID-19
Two Marines and an Army soldier have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Wednesday. A Marine officer in the southeastern city of Pohang was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 in a virus test conducted after a vacation in Seoul, according to the ministry. The other Marine tested positive prior to newly joining a unit in Gimpo, west of Seoul. In Sejong, some 120 kilometers south of the capital, a soldier was found infected after a virus case was reported at hi
Social AffairsMarch 3, 2021
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N. Korea lost forest area size of 330,000 soccer fields in two decades
North Korea lost forest area the size of 330,000 soccer pitches in nearly two decades, data showed Wednesday, further accelerating the country's deforestation problem. From 2001 to 2019, North Korea lost a total of 233,000 hectares of tree cover, according to data by Global Forest Watch, a global monitoring service. The country's deforestation area increased sharply in 2019, recording the highest figure during the period with 27,500 hectares of tree loss. The provinces of Ryanggang, Jagang an
North KoreaMarch 3, 2021
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New virus cases bounce back to over 400 as vaccinations gather pace
South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases bounced back to over 400 on Wednesday as the country's vaccination campaign picked up steam amid sporadic cluster infections. The country reported 444 more COVID-19 cases, including 426 local infections, raising the total caseload to 90,816, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The tally was a sharp increase from the 344 recorded previous day after health officials confirmed more than 90 cases among nearly 4,000 expatriates livi
Social AffairsMarch 3, 2021
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[Newsmaker] N. Korea to be supplied with 1.7m doses of coronavirus vaccines through COVAX
North Korea is expected to be supplied with around 1.7 million doses of vaccines against COVID-19 by May through a global vaccine distribution program. According to a vaccine allocation plan unveiled by the COVAX Facility, a total of 1.704 million doses of the AZ-Oxford vaccines manufactured by AstraZeneca will be provided to North Korea from February to May. The amount will be enough to inoculate around 852,000 people given that a person should be shot twice. The COVAX Facility earlier said
North KoreaMarch 3, 2021
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Satellite images show N. Korea built structure to conceal nuclear weapons site: CNN
Recent satellite images show that North Korea may haven taken steps to hide a facility that the US believes is used to store nuclear weapons, CNN reported Tuesday. The images, captured by a US space technology company, Maxar, on Feb. 11, show new structures at the North's Yongdoktong site to conceal entrances to two underground tunnels, the report said. "Yongdoktong has been previously identified by US intelligence as a suspected North Korean nuclear weapons storage facility and is still
North KoreaMarch 3, 2021
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US launches probe against Samsung products for possible patent violation
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Tuesday voted to launch an investigation into allegations that mobile communication devices from global firms, including South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., may have infringed on patents held by a US firm. According to a notice of investigation, a complaint was filed by Evolved Wireless LLC of Austin, Texas, on Feb. 2 that certain "LTE-compliant cellular communication devices" infringed on certain US patents. It said the scope of the
Foreign AffairsMarch 3, 2021
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US willing to talk with Iranians on 'unfreezing of funds' locked in S. Korea: Price
The United States would be willing to discuss with Iran the issue of unlocking its frozen funds in South Korea to achieve the overarching objective of a denuclearized Iran, a State Department spokesman said Tuesday. Ned Price said the US is insistent in achieving its goal, but not on how or where it will discuss the issue with Iran. "I would put that in the context of things we would want to discuss, in the context of prospective talks with the Iranians," the spokesman said when aske
Foreign AffairsMarch 3, 2021
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US must use maximum pressure to convince N. Korea it is safer without nukes: McMaster
The United States and its allies must maintain maximum pressure on North Korea to make the country realize that it is safer without nuclear weapons than it is with them, a former US national security adviser said Tuesday. H.R. McMaster also said the US must make it clear to the North that its goal is not to remove leader Kim Jong-un. "Multiple diplomatic efforts to ensure that the North Korean regime did not pose a grave threat to the world have resulted in failure and disappointment,&quo
North KoreaMarch 3, 2021