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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Park requests U.K., French support for N. Korea policy
President-elect Park Geun-hye on Monday called for cooperation from Britain and France to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear programs and build trust with Seoul and the international community. She met with ambassadors from the two European and nine Southeast Asian nations in her office in downtown Seoul. “It is very difficult now for a nation to develop without working together with the international community as its responsible member. I hope to see North Korea choose that path and ch
Jan. 14, 2013
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Ministry aims to boost employment rate to 70%
The Ministry of Employment and Labor said on Monday it would draft a road map for boosting the country’s employment rate to 70 percent, from the current 60 percent, in five years in its policy report to President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition committee. Promoting job sharing, offering jobs for youths, women and the elderly, and improving the quality of workers’ lives will be included in the ministry’s drive for job creation.The two sides also discussed ways to increase cooperation among relat
Jan. 14, 2013
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Envoys spark Olympic spirit among youth
Foreign envoys in Seoul braved the winter chill on Monday to take part in a kickoff ceremony for an international sports camp designed to hone the Olympic spirit among youths from developing countries.For two intensive weeks until Jan. 16, 166 young people from 40 countries are living together, eating together and training together in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, home to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, in what is dubbed the “Dream Program.” The program is geared toward young people who might ot
Jan. 13, 2013
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Domestic matters to have bigger impact in Israel’s Jan. 22 elections
Israelis head to the polls on Jan. 22, but Israeli Ambassador to Korea Tuvia Israeli cast his vote at his country’s chancery on Thursday.“Many important countries held elections in recent months. Now Israelis are having theirs,” Israeli said during an intimate discussion session held at the Israeli Embassy with a handful of reporters and Israeli diplomats.Israelis living outside the country are not permitted to cast ballots in elections, but seamen and diplomats and their families and other offi
Jan. 13, 2013
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Europe’s ambassador talks up EU-Korea ties
European Union Ambassador to Korea Tomasz Kozlowski said that the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement which went into force in July 2011 gives Korean companies comparative advantages to enter into the European market compared to Japan and other countries without an FTA with Europe.Kozlowski made the comments during a breakfast CEO Academy organized by the Korea Importers Association at the Palace Hotel Seoul on Thursday.The FTA is Europe’s first with an Asian nation.The 27 member states of the EU do n
Jan. 13, 2013
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Why Paraguay is called happiest place on Earth
Money cannot buy you happiness. That is what is sometimes said, and a recent Gallup poll suggests the happiest people on Earth are not in Luxembourg ― the wealthiest country in the world, according to World Bank estimates ― but in mostly rural, mostly poor Paraguay.Paraguayan Ambassador to Korea Ceferino Valdez said it is because of a quintessentially Paraguayan sentiment described colloquially as “tranquilo pa,” which is a combination of the Spanish word for tranquility and the Guarani “pa.”Val
Jan. 13, 2013
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S. Korean diplomat in Saudi Arabia dies in accident
The death of a South Korean diplomat in Saudi Arabia last week has been confirmed to be a result of a car accident, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday, quoting a Saudi police report.The South Korean consular official, only identified by his surname Kim, was found dead inside his car, which had tumbled down an embankment near a motorway in the Saudi Arabian capital city of Riyadh on Jan. 2."Local police concluded that the consular official's death was caused by the accident," a foreign ministry
Jan. 11, 2013
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Foreign minister to tour Africa, Mideast
Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan will visit Rwanda and Morocco, new non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, as Korea is pushing for new international sanctions against North Korea over its Dec. 12 launch of a long-range rocket.Kim is beginning a four-nation tour on Saturday which also includes Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. In Africa, Kim plans to meet with his counterparts to discuss “issues of common interest and ways to promote cooperation on the international stag
Jan. 11, 2013
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U.S. to urge Korea, Japan to mend ties
WASHINGTON (AP) ― A high-level U.S. delegation will urge key allies Japan and South Korea to mend strained ties that have hurt security cooperation. It will also likely remind the new government in Tokyo that any disavowal of its apology for the use of sex slaves in World War II would make matters worse.Senior officials from the State Department, Pentagon and White House will travel to Seoul and Tokyo next week after recent elections in both countries. The two Northeast Asian democracies have fa
Jan. 11, 2013
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3 countries to talk N.K., regional issues
Senior diplomats from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are set to hold bilateral meetings next week to coordinate responses to North Korea’s missile test and discuss future cooperation between their new foreign policy teams. Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, will visit Korea Tuesday to meet Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun. He will visit Japan two days later.Shinsuke Sugiyama, Japan’s envoy to the six-party talks on North Korean nuclear prog
Jan. 10, 2013
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Park to meet with special Chinese envoy for talks on bilateral relations, N. Korea
South Korea's incoming President Park Geun-hye was to meet with a special Chinese envoy Thursday as Seoul has been struggling to convince Beijing to get tough on North Korea over its long-range rocket launch last month.The issue of North Korea is likely to come up, even at least briefly, in Park's talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun, though the meeting is expected to be largely a courtesy call where both sides pledge close cooperation after she takes office next month.Zhang arr
Jan. 10, 2013
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Online ad on WSJ points out ’error’ in Apple and Google website
Online advertisements titled “Error in Apple?” and “Error in Google?” were posted on the Wall Street Journal’s website on Thursday. Located on the right side of the page, the advertisement asks the above questions with a red “click” button on the bottom. Clicking the button leads the viewers to a map of Korea and Japan with “East Sea” marked in between the two countries with a phrase saying, “For the last years, the body of water between Korea and Japan has been called the East Sea.” The adverti
Jan. 9, 2013
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‘Public diplomacy helps ease ‘Korea discount,’ regional tension’
When Kathleen Stephens came to Seoul in 2008 as U.S. ambassador, she started blogging about the host country in the local language and under her Korean name. She loved its traditional food and biking around the country. In one summer, she even went down to Jeju Island to pick abalones and octopuses along with female divers there.After three years, she had become one of the most beloved Americans here. Her approachability, professional enthusiasm and command of the local language have made many K
Jan. 8, 2013
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ASEAN, Korea foster youth networking
ASEAN-Korea Center chairman Chung Hae-moon hosted diplomats and young people representing Southeast Asia in a dinner reception that capped off a day-long cultural program for young people, Thursday.About 75 young people from Korea and Southeast Asian countries participated in a day full of cultural activities that aimed at boosting people-to-people exchanges in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, home to Korea’s traditional culture and historical sites.The day of cultural exchange was organized by ASEAN-K
Jan. 6, 2013
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Envoys cap 2012 with ambassadorial meet up
Ringing in the New Year requires champagne and fireworks for most people in the United States and in Korea, rather than staying up past midnight, it often means waking up before dawn and hiking to the top of a mountain to greet the New Year’s rising sun.For foreign envoys in Korea, however, it could mean something entirely unexpected.For some foreign envoys here, it is the time of year to head back to the home office and convene with their ambassadorial colleagues in an annual Foreign Ministry c
Jan. 6, 2013
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Slovakia, Korea mark close 20-year relationship
President Lee Myung-bak and Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic exchanged congratulatory messages in celebrating the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Lee remarked positively on the steady development of ties over the past 20 years and expressed gratitude for Slovak support for Seoul’s election as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, which begins this year, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade press release. The two countries established diplomatic relations
Jan. 6, 2013
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EU envoy welcomes executive program
European Union Ambassador to Korea Tomasz Kozlowski welcomed new entrants of a program to enhance business ties between Europe and Korea during a reception at Yonsei University’s Sangnam Institute of Management, Friday.The program, dubbed the “Executive Training Programme” (ETP) was designed for executives from small- and medium-sized companies who want to develop exports and investment in Japan and Korea. ETP in Korea is in its 7th edition this year with some 15 executives to study Korean langu
Jan. 6, 2013
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Envoys promote peace in international beauty pageant
Foreign envoys participated in the promotion of world peace in the World Miss University beauty pageant at Sheraton Grande Walkerhill Hotel, Seoul, on Dec. 11.Ambassadors from Paraguay, Poland and Slovakia participated with one foreign envoy, Uruguayan Ambassador to Korea Alba Florio Legnani participating as an official pageant judge.The World Miss University beauty pageant is an international event created by the United Nations General Assembly in 1986 to both celebrate and promote the U.N.’s “
Jan. 6, 2013
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FM says relations with Japan a 'big challenge' for S. Korea
South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said Friday he remained cautious about the prospects of improving the strained ties with Japan, describing relations with Tokyo as a "big challenge" for Seoul this year. Kim made the remarks at a meeting with former diplomats hosted by the Korean Council on Foreign Relations, hours before he meets with a special envoy sent by Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to President-elect Park Geun-hye. "I would like to emphasize that we should develop a futu
Jan. 4, 2013
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Chinese arson suspect heads home
A Chinese arson suspect who was released from a Seoul prison after the court decided not to extradite him to Japan, left for home Friday, according to multiple Seoul sources.The South Korean court on Thursday rejected Japan's request to hand over Liu Qiang, 38, to be prosecuted for an alleged arson attack in 2011 at a controversial World War II shrine in Tokyo, saying that the crime he had committed was politically motivated.Liu departed for Shanghai, China on a 8:55 a.m. flight through Incheon
Jan. 4, 2013