The Korea Herald

Park to visit U.S. on first overseas trip as president

South Korean President Park Geun-hye will visit the United States on her first overseas trip as president, and the two countries are working on details to set up the trip for early May, the presidential spokesman said Tuesday.When Park will make her first overseas trip as South Korea's president and whether the destination will be the U.S. has been a focus of media attention amid speculation that she may visit China first ahead of Washington.Park "plans to visit the United States at the invitati

March 12, 2013

[Newsmaker] After Fukushima, Japan struggles to rebuild

The scene is a memory that will be etched into the minds of people worldwide for a generation. But for those who were there, it will take a generation more to recover.The world watched the catastrophe unfold as a 9.0-magnitude earthquake sent tsunamis up to 45 meters high toward Japan on March 11, 2011, drowning coastal towns and crippling the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. The natural disaster left some 16,000 dead, 2,700 missing and 315,00

March 11, 2013

[Newsmaker] After Fukushima, Japan struggles to rebuild

Stress emerges as major health issue in Fukushima

MINAMI-SOMA, Japan (AP) ― Japan’s radiation nightmare has turned the lively home that truck driver Takahiro Ishitani once shared with his wife and three sons into a cluttered bachelor pad. A coffee mug full of cigarette butts, a towel and other odds and ends sit on a low table in the apartment’s small living room. He offers a visitor a takeout box lunch, his main source of sustenance these days. Laundry hangs inside so it won’t absorb the radiation that remains in the ground, two years after an

March 10, 2013

Stress emerges as major health issue in Fukushima

Venezuela sets first post-Chavez election for April 14

CARACAS — Venezuela called Saturday a snap election to succeed Hugo Chavez on April 14, setting the stage for a tough campaign between the late leader‘s political heir and the opposition in this divided oil-rich nation.　The national electoral council set the date one day after Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s handpicked successor, was sworn in as acting president in a ceremony largely boycotted by the opposition, which slammed it as unconstitutional.　Shortly after the date was set, the main opposition c

March 10, 2013

[Newsmaker] Chavez leaves uncertain legacy

He may have been a divisive figure, but late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has always been clear about how he wants to be remembered: a revolutionary standing up to the cruel and imperial United States and its cronies.As if to confirm this self-styled image, he told the Associated Press in 2007 that he admired the movie “Gladiator,” in which a lone fighter confronts an empire.Charismatic and populist, he took on Venezuela’s elite while retaining the propensity for impromptu marathon speeches

March 6, 2013

[Newsmaker] Chavez leaves uncertain legacy

Ghana celebrates 56th Independence Day anniversary

The following article was contributed by the Ghanaian Embassy on the 56th Independence Day anniversary. ― Ed.The minister of information launched the 56th independence anniversary celebration on Feb. 15, with a program of activities leading to the commemoration of the anniversary on March 6. Ghana, formally known as the Gold Coast, gained independence on March 6, 1957. The first nine years saw rapid development in all sectors of the economy and increased participation of Ghana’s leaders in globa

March 5, 2013

Ghana celebrates 56th Independence Day anniversary

Illegal dump tarnishes ‘green’ image of Sochi Winter Olympics

SOCHI, Russia (AFP) ― Away from the construction bustle of Sochi’s Olympic Park, where Russia will host the Winter Olympics next February, residents of a small community north of central Sochi have seen only the filthy side of preparations.Uch-Dere, a village about 40 kilometers up the Black Sea coast from the Olympic Park, is Sochi’s only waste site. And despite years of promises to close it as part of the Sochi Olympics environmental program, locals fight a nightly war with illegal dump trucks

March 3, 2013

Pivot to Asia could be hurt by US budget cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Stiff budget cuts that take effect Friday because of a political standoff over America's burgeoning debt could crimp U.S. military activity in the Asia-Pacific, just as Washington seeks to reassure friends and allies of its staying power in the region.The impact is unlikely to be sudden or stark. There won't be a dramatic withdrawal of U.S. forces from bases in South Korea and Japan. But it could mean fewer military exercises and operations by ships and aircraft in the region,

March 1, 2013

White House backs gay marriage in Supreme Court filing

WASHINGTON, (AFP) -- US President Barack Obama threw his weight behind gay marriage on Thursday when his administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court opposing California's bid to ban same-sex unions.The court is to examine the issue at the end of March, when it will study the constitutionality of California's "Proposition 8," a measure approved by referendum in 2008 which outlawed gay marriage in the state.Obama's Department of Justice filed a brief to the court in support of moves to hav

March 1, 2013

Korea's emigration falls to record low in 2012

The number of South Korean nationals who left their home country for the purpose of permanent residence in foreign nations fell to a record low last year, government data showed Friday.A total of 538 people applied for emigration in 2012, compared with 753 a year ago, according to the data by the foreign ministry.South Korean emigrants have been on a steady decline since 1977 due mainly to the country's economic development. The number of South Koreans departing to live in foreign nations peaked

March 1, 2013

3 dead in Swiss workplace shooting

A longtime employee opened fire at a wood-processing company in central Switzerland on Wednesday, leaving three people dead, including the assailant, in the country's second multiple-fatality shooting in two months, police said.Seven other people were wounded, six of them seriously, in the shooting at the premises of the company Kronospan, in the small town of Menznau, Lucerne criminal police chief Daniel Bussmann told reporters.The incident occurred as the Swiss parliament prepares to consider

Feb. 27, 2013

Oil, oil products lead economy; Kuwait steps up diversification

Kuwait has a wealthy, relatively open economy, with its gross domestic product standing at $165.9 billion, real growth rate at 6.3 percent, and per capita GDP at $43,800 in 2012. It has crude oil reserves of about 102 billion barrels ― about 14.8 percent of the world’s oil reserves. As Kuwait is one of the world’s largest oil producers, oil and oil-related products naturally would dominate its economy, taking up more than half of its GDP. Kuwait produces 3.1 million barrels of oil per day. Still

Feb. 27, 2013

Oil, oil products lead economy; Kuwait steps up diversification

Italian traditions provide buffers to economic crisis

VICENZA, Italy (AP) ― Self-made Italians like Amedeo Tartarini never expected to need help. Tartarini’s goldsmith business thrived for decades in Italy’s postwar boom. He was one of legions of small businessmen who made Italy an industrial power. With a house, money in the bank and a teeming workshop, the affable artisan never questioned his financial security ― until it was too late. As Italy’s financial crisis deepened, Tartarini ignored signs his business was failing, but persevered in the be

Feb. 26, 2013

Italian traditions provide buffers to economic crisis

Land-scarce Singapore looks underground

SINGAPORE (AP) ― Already one of the most densely populated countries in the world, tiny land scarce Singapore is projecting its population to swell by a third over the next two decades. To accommodate the influx, its planners envisage expanding upward, outward and downward. The population target of 6.9 million people, an increase of 1.3 million from the present, is contentious in a country where rapid immigration has already strained services such as public transport and contributed to surging h

Feb. 26, 2013

Korean students in Japan praise N.K. launch

The news that Korean students in Japan visited North Korea and praised the successful launch of a long-range rocket sparked fierce debate in Japan.According to a Japanese newspaper, students from Joseon schools -- schools in Japan funded by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, a pro-North Korean organization -- took part in a performance celebrating Lunar New Year’s Day in Pyongyang. On the stage, there was a stuffed doll that represented the North’s rocket. In the second part o

Feb. 19, 2013

Korean students in Japan praise N.K. launch

How Europe’s beef was cut with horse

Investigators appear to have finally unraveled one of the tangled threads of mislabeling in Europe’s food supply system that led to horse labeled as beef ending up in nearly 4.5 million food products.The first loose thread was exposed by Ireland’s Food Standards agency, which said that burgers in several supermarket chains contained horse. The agency alerted U.K. regulators, which in turn ordered companies to test beef products for horse. This exposed more mislabeled products, this time made by

Feb. 17, 2013

Pope to bid Catholics farewell in St Peter's on Feb. 27

VATICAN CITY (AFP) -- Pope Benedict XVI will bid his followers farewell in a final audience in St Peter's Square on Feb. 27, the day before he officially steps down, a Vatican spokesman said on Tuesday."The last general audience will be held in the square since a lot of people will come," Federico Lombardi said at a press briefing.Lombardi also said the pope's traditional Ash Wednesday mass on Feb. 13 would be his last major religious ceremony as pope together with other prelates.The mass, which

Feb. 12, 2013

Mali urges world to join fight against extremists

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Mali urged the international community to stand by its side to drive out Islamist extremists from its territory as the United Nations, African Union and other global players met in Brussels on Tuesday."The threat concerns all civilized countries," Mali's Foreign Minister Tieman Coulibaly said as he arrived for talks to anchor long-term peace and stability once the military offensive against Islamist rebel forces is over."The entire world must gather around us to chase the jihadi

Feb. 5, 2013

Trial of gang rape suspects opens

NEW DELHI (UPI) – Five men charged in the gang rape and death of a woman went on trial Tuesday in a fast-track Indian court where they could be sentenced to death.A sixth suspect in the reported New Delhi gang rape case will be tried separately as he has been declared a juvenile. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of three years at a reform institution.The trial of the five a New Delhi court is being conducted behind closed doors and its proceedings cannot be made public, NDTV television

Feb. 5, 2013

China frigate locked radar on Japan navy: minister

TOKYO (AFP) – A Chinese military frigate locked its weapon-targeting radar on a Japanese navy vessel on at least one occasion, Japan's defense minister said Tuesday, in an apparent upping of the stakes in a bitter territorial row."On Jan. 30, something like fire-control radar was directed at a Japan Self-Defense Maritime escort ship in the East China Sea. The defense ministry today confirmed radar for targeting was used," Itsunori Onodera told reporters in Tokyo.Onodera said a Japanese military

Feb. 5, 2013