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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K-pop craze boosts Korea’s public diplomacy
SANTIAGO/LIMA ― On a slow Wednesday afternoon, dozens of teenage girls straggled into a public park in Santiago, their T-shirts featuring TVXQ, JYJ, Super Junior and other Korean pop stars. Soon, music was turned up, and the group began to walk through the choreography. The practice goes on for about three hours, three days a week. The venue has also become a hot spot for youngsters to exchange the latest K-pop-related information and products. “We also carry out online campaigns to boost sales
Jan. 27, 2013
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Photo exhibition tells story of Israel’s beginnings
The Israeli Embassy brought the story of the founding of the State of Israel, and the powerful immigration story it entailed, to Korea for the first time in a photo exhibition at Korea Foundation Cultural Center Gallery through Feb. 7.It is a story that Israeli Ambassador to Korea Tuvia Israeli knows all too well. He emigrated to Israel with his parents from Romania as a 7-year-old child in 1962.“We stayed in a transition camp, like many first arrivals,” Israeli said during the opening reception
Jan. 27, 2013
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Korea, China, Japan meet to boost ASEAN cultural ties
Korea, Japan and China explored ways to enhance regional cooperation in trade, investment and people-to-people exchanges, especially in tourism, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Laos on Jan. 20. Secretary-General of the ASEAN-Korea Center Chung Hae-moon met with his counterparts Ma Mingqiang of the ASEAN-China Center and Yoshikuni Ohnishi of the ASEAN-Japan Center. The meeting marked the first such trilateral confab between the ASEAN centers of Japan
Jan. 27, 2013
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Australia Day highlights multiculturalism
The Australian Embassy in Korea lauded multiculturalism as an important value in Australian society in this year’s national day celebrations at The Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul on Thursday.The evening’s festivities included a fashion show with Korea-Australian designer Bae Yeo-jin’s winter line, worn by Australian model Jessica Gomes, who made headlines here in 2011 when performing in Korea’s “Dancing with the Stars.”“A focal point for this year’s celebration included the achievements of Korean-Au
Jan. 27, 2013
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Korea-ASEAN understanding promoted through storytelling
An international project started in 2010 to enhance mutual understanding between Korea and Southeast Asian countries has led to the creation of educational materials to promote the values of understanding, peace and human rights.Organizers from the Asia-Pacific Center of Education for International Understanding did this through the power of storytelling. “Telling tales from Southeast Asia and Korea” was launched this month.Teachers in East Asia can promote mutual understanding in English and ot
Jan. 27, 2013
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Envoy proposes Korea-Japan teamwork on nation branding
One of the first things Japanese Ambassador to Korea Bessho Koro noticed when he arrived in Korea about three months ago was the crowds routinely assembling outside his residence in the Seongbuk-dong neighborhood of Seoul ― gaggles of Japanese women aiming and clicking cameras.But, to his chagrin, they were not there to get a shot of him. They were snapping pictures of the house across the street of actor Bae Yong-jun of “Winter Sonata” fame, a TV drama that first aired in 2002.Bae is an example
Jan. 27, 2013
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Park to send policy consultation team to U.S.
South Korean President-elect Park eun-hye plans to send a high-level delegation to the United States or policy consultations with the American ally, her spokesman said Friday.Rep. Lee Hahn-koo, floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, ill visit the U.S. in the near future as head of a “policy consultation delegation” that includes three members of the transition team and government officials, spokesman Park Sun-kyoo said.The U.S. has welcomed the planned visit and the two sides are discussing d
Jan. 25, 2013
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Myanmar's pro-democracy leader to make 5-day visit to S. Korea
Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will make a five-day visit to South Korea next week that will include a meeting with President-elect Park Geun-hye, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday. Suu Kyi will arrive in Seoul on Monday and attend the opening ceremony of the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games to be hosted by the South Korean alpine town of PyeongChang, the ministry said in a statement. In South Korea, Suu Kyi will also receive the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights
Jan. 24, 2013
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Park, Canadian leader agree to push FTA
President-elect Park Geun-hye and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper agreed Thursday to push for a quick conclusion of a bilateral free trade agreement, a spokeswoman said.The agreement came when Harper called Park earlier in the day to congratulate her on her Dec. 19 election, Park’s spokeswoman Cho Yoon-sun said.“Prime Minister Harper said he hopes the two countries’ relations will develop further through a quick conclusion of a free trade agreement,” Cho told reporters during a press brie
Jan. 24, 2013
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Deepening relations between Korea and China
Korea and China celebrated the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations last year. As the Korean saying goes, a decade is enough to change even mountains and rivers. Accordingly, there have been enormous changes in Korea-China relations over the last two decades. Before the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992, the Chinese said that running water carves a gulley. Today, there is not a mere gulley between our two countries but large paths via air and sea. In 2011, 6.68 million Koreans an
Jan. 22, 2013
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Singapore offers full scholarship for East Asian students
The deadline of Feb. 19 for submitting applications to receive Singapore’s “Goh Keng Swee Scholarship” is fast approaching. The Goh Keng Swee Scholarship is designed to fully support four worthy students from East Asia through undergraduate school, including tuition and other mandatory fees, a stipend for living costs, round-trip airfare, housing and other expenses.The scholarships are awarded to students from 15 economies ― Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia,
Jan. 20, 2013
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Italian Embassy brings award-winning pianist to Seoul
The Italian Culture Institute will bring award-winning pianist Christian Leotta to perform a recital dedicated to the sonatas of Beethoven at Ilshin Hall in Hannam-dong, Seoul, on Feb. 4. Leotta is renowned for his vast repertoire, and has received numerous accolades for being the youngest pianist since the youthful Daniel Barenboim to both perform and record the entire corpus of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas.Leotta will perform Beethoven as part of an East Asia tour that includes stops in Osaka,
Jan. 20, 2013
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The life of an honorary consul
Iceland does not have an embassy in Korea, but it does have a diplomatic representative.Cho Hae-hyeong, chairman and CEO of Nara Holdings and former CEO of Ssangyong Corp., has been an important catalyst in the diplomatic relations between Korea and Iceland for years ― 25 years to be exact ― as the honorary consul-general of Iceland.Iceland does not pay him for the work he does. Cho was not born in Iceland and is not even a citizen of Iceland ― he is Korean. As honorary consul general, Cho prov
Jan. 20, 2013
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‘Tatra Tiger’ celebrates 20 years of independence
Slovakia celebrated 20 years as an independent nation and 20 years of diplomatic relations with Korea in a reception at Seoul Millennium Hilton Hotel on Monday.Slovakia achieved independence on Jan. 1, 1993.“We Slovaks struggled for centuries for national existence and statehood,” Slovak Ambassador to Korea Dusan Bella said in a moving speech before assembled guests, government officials and foreign diplomats. “Jan. 1, 1993, symbolizes the birth of a sovereign Slovakia and is a starting point of
Jan. 20, 2013
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Campaign for 'East Sea' is in full swing in U.S.
A group of Koreans living in the U.S. said Wednesday it is staging a full-scale campaign to discredit the name "Sea of Japan."The group prefers the name East Sea for the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, and wants that reflected in U.S. textbooks."Our final goal is to include 'the East Sea' in all textbooks used at elementary, junior high and high schools in 50 states by March 2017," said Peter Y. Kim, head of the Voice of Korean Americans (VoKA). "This civic movement will be a very
Jan. 17, 2013
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FM shortens trip to deal with ministry reorganization
Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan has decided to cancel his planned visit to India, the final leg of his ongoing five-nation trip to Africa and Asia, and will return home later this week in view of a decision that will force the ministry to lose its jurisdiction over trade, an official said Wednesday. The Tuesday decision by President-elect Park Geun-hye's transition team to hand over the ministry's trade division to the commerce ministry has sent shock waves through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Jan. 16, 2013
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Korea, U.S. to discuss ways to boost alliance
President-elect Park Geun-hye pledged Wednesday to upgrade the Korea-U.S. alliance to tackle North Korean threats and security uncertainties during a meeting with senior U.S. officials. The president-in-waiting met with Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and four other officials in her Seoul office. During the meeting, Campbell told her that he brought with him a “road map for Korea-U.S. relations” and wanted to have a productive discussion with
Jan. 16, 2013
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U.S. to begin global talks on trade in services
The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it will kick off multilateral talks on trade in the service sector that involve South Korea, the European Union and 18 other nations."The negotiations will begin in Geneva, Switzerland, with a group of 20 trading partners, who represent nearly two-thirds of global trade in services, with the objective of promoting international trade in services and supporting increased U.S. service exports and jobs," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a st
Jan. 16, 2013
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New Japanese envoy speaks on Korea ties
Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Koro Bessho on Tuesday expressed optimism that Korea and Japan should forge a future-oriented relationship under their new leaders despite simmering diplomatic disputes. “I think it is very important for the two leaders, Madame Park Geun-hye and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to try to iron out our relationship,” Bessho said at a lecture held in Seoul. “I am optimistic that we can try to look for a relationship with a stable future,” he added.Bessho also defended Tokyo’s
Jan. 15, 2013
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Park eyes faster security decision-making
Incoming leader Park Geun-hye plans to set up a new presidential body to serve as a nerve center for crisis management and diplomatic and defense policies in order to better cope with North Korean threats and the fast-changing security environment. Her aides said the national security bureau will be installed at Cheong Wa Dae and led by a Cabinet-level official, who will be not only the chief security adviser to the president but also the top channel for long-term strategy planning, inter-agency
Jan. 15, 2013