Most Popular
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Signs point to N. Korean troops in Russia-Ukraine combat zone
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Rose's 'Apt.' redefines K-pop's global appeal
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Two years on, thousands mourn Itaewon tragedy, calling for accountability
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[Herald Interview] Love for K-drama, food defines 'Secret Ingredient'
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Hanwha, HD Hyundai vie for Poland’s $2.7b submarine program
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103 autumn foliage paths in Seoul
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First lady’s controversies to top agenda at meeting of party leaders
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Seoul aims to halve current suicide rate by 2030
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When two worlds collab: K-pop flexes power with global stars
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4 in 10 young South Koreans take up 'irregular' jobs: data
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Moon taps judicial training institute chief as new head of state watchdog
President Moon Jae-in designated a judge as the new head of a state watchdog Thursday.Choe Jae-hyeong was tapped as the head of the Board of Audit and Inspection, according to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.The 61-year-old served as a judge at the Seoul High Court before he was appointed the head of the Judicial Research and Training Institute earlier this year. (Yonhap)Choe, if appointed, will replace Hwang Chang-hyeon, who stepped down at the end of his four-year term that expired at th
Dec. 7, 2017
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Moon calls for increased cooperation with Turkey
South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for efforts to further improve his country's ties with Turkey while meeting with the visiting prime minister of the Eurasian country at his office Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday.Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim arrived in Seoul on Tuesday on a two-day visit that included talks with his South Korean counterpart Lee Nak-yon. The visit also marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries."The relationship betw
Dec. 6, 2017
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Opposition lawmakers boycott parliamentary committee meeting to protest budget's passage
Members of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party boycotted a parliamentary committee meeting Wednesday in protest at the ruling party-led passage of next year's government spending plan, which the opposition party claims is a populist budget.The budget of 428.8 trillion won ($394.4 billion) passed through the National Assembly in a 160-15 vote during a late-night session early Wednesday as the ruling Democratic Party and the minor opposition People's Party joined forces to approve it while the
Dec. 6, 2017
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Parliament passes 2018 government budget proposal
The National Assembly passed next year‘s government budget proposal of 428.8 trillion won ($394.5 billion) Wednesday, amid objections from the main opposition party which had demanded the reduction of new public service jobs to be created.Main opposition party lawmakers protest the Assembly's unilateral passage of the revision of the corporate tax law on Wednesday. (Yonhap)In the plenary session, 160 of the 178 Assembly members voted in favor of the budget bill, with 15 lawmakers against and 3 a
Dec. 6, 2017
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President Moon calls for enhanced ties with Pacific island nations
South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for efforts to expand his country's cooperation with Pacific island countries Tuesday to jointly tackle climate change and other various global issues. He had a brief meeting with foreign ministers from 13 Pacific island countries, including Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Nauru and Vanuatu, at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.The top diplomats are on a visit here for the third South Korea-Pacific Islands Forum foreign ministers' dialogue. South Korean Pr
Dec. 5, 2017
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National Assembly to resume session to vote on budget bill
The National Assembly was to resume a plenary session Tuesday night to vote on next year's government budget amid unclear prospects of its passage following the main opposition party's rejection of an earlier compromise deal.The ruling Democratic Party sent a mobile phone text message notifying its lawmakers that the plenary session will reopen at 9 p.m. The session was adjourned earlier in the day as the main opposition Liberty Korea Party was not in attendance.Prospects for the budget's passag
Dec. 5, 2017
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Korean president named 'global rethinker' of 2017
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has been named a global rethinker by Foreign Policy, a US magazine, which cited his "forceful push for peace," the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.Moon was among dozens of global figures who, according to the prestigious magazine, "together found amazing ways not just to rethink our strange new world but also to reshape it."The list included politicians such as French President Emmanuel Macron, entrepreneurs, filmmakers, comedians and political p
Dec. 5, 2017
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Rival parties reach agreement over next year's budget
The ruling and opposition parties reached a breakthrough deal Monday in negotiations over the government's budget for next year after hammering out a compromise on a number of key sticking points, such as how many public service jobs should be created.The floor leaders of the ruling Democratic Party, the main opposition Liberty Korea Party and People's Party announced the agreement, two days after the parties missed the legal deadline for budget's passage over key contentious issues in the 429 t
Dec. 4, 2017
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Moon urges swift parliamentary approval of budget plan for economic recovery
President Moon Jae-in called on the parliament to quickly approve the bill on next year's government spending Monday, calling it a prerequisite to maintaining the recent economic recovery momentum."It is very deplorable that next year's budget bill did not get processed before its legal deadline expired," the president said while meeting with his top aide at his office Cheong Wa Dae.The remarks came two days after the opposition-led National Assembly missed the Saturday deadline to vote on the b
Dec. 4, 2017
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Ex-aide to Moon appears for questioning over bribery suspicions
A former senior secretary to President Moon Jae-in flatly rejected bribery suspicions against him Monday as he appeared at a local prosecutors' office for questioning for the second time in less than two weeks."This has nothing to do with me and I know nothing about this," Jun Byung-hun, former senior presidential secretary for political affairs, told reporters after arriving at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office for questioning.Jun is accused of forcing Lotte Homeshopping, a local h
Dec. 4, 2017
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Prosecutors to question top aide to ex-President Lee over election-meddling allegations
Prosecutors will call in a former top aide to former President Lee Myung-bak for questioning on Tuesday over allegations that the military's cyberwarfare command attempted to interfere with the 2012 presidential election, officials said.Kim Tae-hyo, a Sungkyunkwan University professor who served as a senior secretary to Lee, is suspected of involvement with the cybercommand's operations to write Internet comments to sway public opinion in favor of then ruling party candidate Park Geun-hye.Park u
Dec. 4, 2017
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Rival parties hold last-minute talks on govt. budget
Top ranking officials from the ruling and two major opposition parties held talks Monday in last-minute efforts to narrow their apparently wide gap over government spending next year.The meeting between the floor leaders of the three political parties came after the opposition-led parliament missed the legal deadline to pass the government budget bill, which fell on Saturday.National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun has extended the budget session to Monday for now. Whether a plenary session will
Dec. 4, 2017
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Parties struggle to move budget bill after deadline
The deadline for parliamentary approval of the budget bill has passed, but rival parties’ top negotiators on Sunday failed to narrow gaps over next year’s spending plan, as they continued to clash over the government’s scheme to employ more public workers. Legislative members of the Special Committee on Budget met with officials from the Ministry of Finance and Strategy to discuss the government’s 429 trillion won ($395 billion) budget for 2018. Attending the meeting were lawmakers from the ru
Dec. 3, 2017
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Parliament OKs bill allowing chemical castration on attempted rapists
The National Assembly passed an amendment on Friday that would allow chemical castration as punishment for people found guilty of attempted rape, expanding the scope of a law punishing sex offenders.The bill also stipulates that sex offenders whose acts lead to injury or the death of minors are added to the list of those subject to chemical castration.Under the amendment, chemical castration does not apply to people who film parts of people's bodies using a hidden camera. The government had prop
Dec. 1, 2017
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Moon, Trump agree to bring NK to dialogue table through sanctions, pressure
President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump agreed to continue strong pressure and sanctions against North Korea to bring the regime back to negotiations as they held their second phone talks in two days after Pyongyang's latest long-range missile test, Cheong Wa Dae said.President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump. Yonhap"The two leaders agreed on the need to maintain their basic stance of putting strong sanctions and pressure on the North until North Korea voluntarily gives up
Dec. 1, 2017
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Parties agree to delay submission of budget bill by one day
Rival parties agreed Thursday to delay submitting the government's 2018 spending plan for a parliamentary vote by a day, amid a deadlock in their negotiations over several sticking points, including proposed outlays for job creation.Under the agreement among National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun and the floor leaders of the three major parties, the bill has to be automatically submitted to a parliamentary plenary session by Saturday noon.In accordance with the law governing legislative proced
Nov. 30, 2017
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New KOICA chief takes office, vows to improve S. Korea's development assistance
The new chief of the Korea International Cooperation Agency, the government agency for international development assistance, took office Thursday, vowing to step up the effectiveness of South Korea's aid to developing countries. Lee Mi-kyung, a former five-term lawmaker affiliated with the ruling Democratic Party, was sworn in as the president of KOICA."Regrettably, Korea's official development assistance architecture remains fragmented, characterized by duplications, weak linkages between progr
Nov. 30, 2017
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Ruling party chief says China's 'stick' needed to rein in N. Korea
The leader of South Korea's ruling Democratic Party on Thursday urged China to use its "stick" to rein in an increasingly provocative North Korea in the wake of Pyongyang's latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.Choo Mi-ae made the remarks during a luncheon with South Korean residents in Beijing shortly after she landed in the Chinese capital for a four-day visit to attend an international political forum and for talks with top Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping.Her
Nov. 30, 2017
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Former NIS chief under probe for allegedly misappropriating NIS funds
Prosecutors said Wednesday they are looking into a fresh allegation that a former director of the state intelligence agency misappropriated a huge sum of the agency's money for overseas intelligence operations for private purposes.Won Sei-hoon, who led the National Intelligence Service (NIS) from 2009-2013 during the reign of conservative President Lee Myung-bak, is currently behind bars for running an online smear campaign against left-leaning politicians in the runup to the 2012 presidential e
Nov. 29, 2017
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Prosecutors seek warrant to arrest former deputy spy chief
Prosecutors on Wednesday sought an arrest warrant for a former deputy head of the nation's intelligence agency who was allegedly involved in the agency's illegal surveillance of public servants and civilians under the former Park Geun-hye administration.Choi Yun-su, former second deputy director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), was specifically charged with violating the law governing the NIS, prosecutors said. Choi is suspected of abusing his power, directing his subordinate Choo Mye
Nov. 29, 2017