Most Popular
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Torrential rainfall forces 1,500 to evacuate, causes widespread damage to homes, roads
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[KH Explains] Can smart chargers ease tensions over EV fires?
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1 in 5 households to have breadwinner over 80 in 30 years
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[Online Predators] Online reviews of sex tourism in Southeast Asia proliferate
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Assembly to review disputed appointment of national soccer team coach
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New Fifty Fifty off to strong start
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Arrival of fall calls for more outdoor festivals
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Evicted guest burns down inn; 3 killed
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[Herald Interview] US election may unleash growth for Korea: Laffer
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[Herald Review] 'Culinary Class Wars': fresh, creative survival show minus the drama
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Envoys express pride in first Latin American pope
“God is an Argentine, and so is the Pope,” read the headlines of one Buenos Aires newspaper. With the elevation of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the Roman Catholic Church’s first pontiff from Latin America, the pride etched on the faces and sown in the words of not only Argentines everywhere, but of Latin Americans everywhere was palpable.Among South American envoys in Korea, that positive reaction to news of the new pope slipped out from under the usual diplomatic verbiage.“I feel proud and
March 17, 2013
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Czech Embassy marks opening of Brno Conservatory in Seoul
The Czech Republic marked the expansion of cultural relations with Korea by opening a new music conservatory in southern Seoul on Wednesday. The Czech Embassy in Korea marked expanding cultural ties in the field of music during an opening ceremony for the Korean branch of the country’s Brno Conservatory in the Yeoksam-dong neighborhood of Seoul. “We are a cultural country and it is important that we establish the first branch of the Brno Conservatory in Korea. It will be an important tool for ex
March 17, 2013
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U.S. envoy lauds free trade on trip to Busan
United States Ambassador to Korea Sung Kim lauded the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement during a visit to the southern port city of Busan on Thursday and Friday to mark the first anniversary of the trade pact that continues to divide politics here.The Korea-U.S. FTA went into effect on March 15 last year, reducing or removing trade barriers between the two countries.A considerable debate still rages between proponents of the agreement and its detractors, but one report by the Ministry of Strategy
March 17, 2013
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Ireland celebrates St. Patrick’s by honoring its veterans
The Irish Embassy celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day, the nation’s official National Day, with a reception at the Regency Room of the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Thursday. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated annually on March 17. One focus in this year’s National Day celebration was a state visit by Irish Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar, who met with Park Sung-choon, the minister for patriots and veterans affairs, to discuss the coming inclusion of a group of Irish veterans of the Korean
March 17, 2013
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ASEAN-Korea Center sends trade mission to Thailand
Southeast Asia and Korea promoted the local home furnishings sector by dispatching a trade mission to Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday and Thursday.Organized in cooperation with Thailand’s Department of International Trade Promotion and the ASEAN-Korea Center, the two-day trade mission aimed to strengthen trade and business networks between Korea and Thailand.The trade trip included representatives from major Korean furniture companies, hoping to drum up business opportunities by conducting market r
March 17, 2013
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Canada gives a taste of future craft beer imports
The Canadian Embassy may soon provide your palate a welcome respite from the customary Korean quaffs of Cass, OB and Hite.Canada’s foreign ministry is leveraging its diplomatic muscle behind something truly worthwhile: bringing quality beers to Korea. Lovers of Canadian beer, and curious local and expatriate palates thirsting for something beyond the local grog, got a taste of what could soon be available at local bars at a beer and cider tasting event at the Palace Hotel in southern Seoul, Wedn
March 17, 2013
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Japan PM hopes to meet China, S. Korea heads to ease ties
TOKYO (AFP) -- Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday he hoped to meet the Chinese and South Korean leaders soon to improve relations strained by separate territorial rows.But his ruling party also pledged the same day to push for changes to Japan's pacifist constitution -- a move likely to stir unease in both the countries, which were among victims of Tokyo's 20th century militarism."I am in the same generation as the two new leaders," Abe told an annual convention of his Liberal Democra
March 17, 2013
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Korea revs up campaign to join Arctic Council
South Korea will hold an international conference early next week to discuss policy issues for environment-friendly development of the Arctic, an official said Friday, as part of its latest push to join the Arctic Council. The Monday conference will bring together South Korean Second Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul; ambassadors from Sweden, Denmark and Norway; and experts, including David Hik, a professor at the University of Alberta, the foreign ministry official said. Entitled “Arctic Resear
March 15, 2013
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Korea, China fault Japan on sex slavery at U.N.
GENEVA (AFP) ― South Korea and China on Thursday told the U.N.’s top human rights forum that Japan must face up to its World War II-era sexual enslavement of women from across occupied Asia, but Tokyo insisted it had already taken responsibility.“Japan must accept legal responsibility and take appropriate measures,” South Korea’s ambassador Choi Seok-young told the U.N. Human Rights Council.Chinese counterpart Liu Zhenmin also challenged Tokyo on the issue.“China urges Japan to apologize for the
March 15, 2013
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John Kerry to visit Seoul next month
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to South Korea next month as part of his Northeast Asia tour, his department announced Thursday.It will mark his first trip to the region since he took office in February. Following the G-8 meetings in London from April 10-11, Kerry plans to visit South Korea, Japan and China, according to department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland."The secretary will meet with counterparts and discuss the full range of bilateral, multilateral and regional issues as we
March 15, 2013
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Atomic energy sticking point for Park, Obama
Differences between Korea and the U.S. over a decades-old nuclear energy pact are casting a shadow over the first talks between Presidents Park Geun-hye and Barack Obama scheduled for early May.Park plans to visit Washington in her first trip as president which is expected to focus on their joint response to a North Korea-fueled security crisis. The two leaders will also discuss how to share costs for 28,500 U.S. troops stationed here, the transfer of wartime operational control slated for 2015
March 14, 2013
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Norway provides $8 million for GGGI’s work in Ethiopia
Norway signed an agreement with the Global Green Growth Institute on Thursday to provide $8 million to support environmentally friendly development in Ethiopia. Under the deal, the GGGI will lead research and help with policy planning in the African country. Norway is a founding member and donor partner of the GGGI, which was set up by the Korean government in 2010 and became an international organization in October. The Seoul-based institute envisages a “think and act tank” that brings together
March 14, 2013
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[Graphic News] Process begins for choosing next pope
Cardinals entered the conclave to choose the successor to Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Tuesday evening.The 115 voting cardinals, who are forbidden from contact with the outside world during the conclave, must arrive at a two-thirds majority to select the next pope. While the conclave has no set time limit, earlier reports had speculated that the process would be finished before the end of the month, in time for Easter.Observers have been unable to identify any clear favorite despite speculatio
March 12, 2013
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Top diplomats of Korea, U.S. likely to hold talks this month
Top diplomats of South Korea and the United States are expected to hold their first bilateral talks as early as this month, a senior Seoul official said Tuesday, as North Korea ramps up tensions with its increasingly menacing language.Ahead of a planned summit set for early May between President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama, officials from the allies are in the midst of arranging a schedule and agenda for talks between Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and U.S. Secretary of State Jo
March 12, 2013
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Korea eyes East Asia public diplomacy
South Korea seeks to enhance public diplomacy efforts with China and Japan this year to help defuse regional tensions and find long-term solutions to territorial and historical issues, a Seoul envoy told The Korea Herald.The three countries agreed to launch a trilateral public diplomacy forum during a summit in Beijing last May. The plan proposed by former President Lee Myung-bak has made little progress amid rising political tensions among the three neighbors. “We are seeking to hold the public
March 11, 2013
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Holocaust memorial museum opens in Busan
A multicultural couple living in Busan opened a cultural center and museum focused on Israel and the Jewish people for the first time in Busan on March 4.Jay and Keum Kronish opened The Busan Israel House, an Israeli-Jewish culture center and Holocaust memorial museum, with help from the Israeli Embassy in Korea and the personal encouragement of Israeli Ambassador to Korea Tuvia Israeli. The Busan Israel House focuses on the Holocaust in which some six million Jews were killed during World War 2
March 10, 2013
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Bulgarian envoy pitches for investment at seminar
The Bulgarian Embassy’s commercial office here, partnering with a slew of groups including The Financial Times and the European Union, organized a two-day seminar on investing in Bulgaria at the Lotte Hotel, Wednesday and Thursday.Bulgarian Ambassador to Korea Petar Andonov and Borislav Stefanov, executive director of Invest Bulgaria Agency, delivered keynote speeches on the opening day.“Bulgaria has made substantial progress in creating a favorable investment climate,” organizers said in a pres
March 10, 2013
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Franco-German friendship celebrates ‘digital peace’
Information technology and globalization have certainly caused problems ― the loss of privacy like never before, cyber crime, even terrorism come to mind.But the centripetal force of globalization and information technology might also offer a potential for cross-cultural and international collaboration. They could create the possibility for peace.The French and German Embassies in Korea are celebrating IT’s potential for peace with an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Franco-G
March 10, 2013
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Literary group marks 30th meet-up, hosts three writers
The Seoul Literary Society, a group of Korean literature enthusiasts organized by the Swedish Embassy in Korea, celebrated its 30th session with three of Korea’s literary luminaries: Kim Yeon-su, Kim In-sook and Pyun Hye-young.“There is this great treasure in this country called ‘Korean literature’ and, because of the inability of many of us to read what is written firsthand, there was a need for a mechanism to make Korean literature more readily available to the foreign community,” said Swedish
March 10, 2013
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Korea, Denmark team up for Arctic oil El Dorado
Receding Arctic ice has opened up a speculative oil El Dorado that has got the world’s eight Arctic Council nations ― Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States ― scrambling over conflicting territorial claims in a 21st century land run.That has pulled Korea and Denmark together in an unlikely partnership to develop oil, natural gas and mineral resources in the Arctic in their so-called “global green growth alliance,” the first economic partnership of its ki
March 10, 2013