[Newsmaker] K-pop legend Seo Taiji to return

K-pop legend Seo Taiji will be making a comeback to the local music scene with a new album and a series of concerts after signing with concert organizer Show21, an affiliate of entertainment agency Wellmade Yedang.Seo is slated to release his ninth studio album this fall and team up with Wellmade Yedang to organize a nationwide concert tour, beginning with a performance in Seoul, the entertainment agency said Monday. Seo Taiji Company ― known for successfully launching large-scale music events i

PerformanceMay 20, 2014

[Newsmaker] Fear and cautious hope for Indian Muslims

AHMEDABAD, India (AFP) ― Millions of India’s Muslims fear Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi’s landslide election will fuel religious discrimination, intolerance and even bring bloodshed, but some are also prepared to give him a chance.The right-wing hardliner stormed to victory at the polls, throwing the left-leaning secular Congress from office and handing his Bharatiya Janata Party a powerful mandate for promised sweeping reforms.Critics warn the size of the victory will empower Modi, steeped in

World NewsMay 19, 2014

[Newsmaker] Resigned KBS exec sparks political firestorm

A recently resigned executive of KBS touched off a political firestorm over the weekend after revealing that Cheong Wa Dae has intervened in the state-run broadcaster’s coverage of the ferry disaster and other sensitive issues. Kim Si-gon, former chief of the network’s news bureau, said at an assembly of KBS reporters on Friday night that he had been under “constant pressure” over the content of news programs. Senior officials from the presidential office frequently gave him instructions by phon

PoliticsMay 18, 2014

[Newsmaker] Unexpected shakeup at NYT leaves questions

NEW YORK (AFP) ― The New York Times abruptly replaced its first female executive editor, Jill Abramson, on Wednesday and named managing editor Dean Baquet as the first African American in the top editorial post.Abramson’s departure was announced by the U.S. daily’s publisher Arthur Sulzberger, and the paper’s own report said: “The reasons for the switch were not immediately clear.”The sudden departure left many questions unanswered both inside and outside one of the nation’s most prestigious new

World NewsMay 15, 2014

[Newsmaker] Cult linked to ferry firm resists law

The Salvation Sect, a religious group believed to be led by the sunken Sewol’s de facto owner Yoo Byung-eon, came to the center of controversy on Wednesday as its members blocked entry to the facility where he is thought to be residing.Hundreds of members gathered at Geumsoowon, the headquarters of the sect in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, blocking outsiders from entering the site and claiming that the prosecution is suppressing their religious freedom. The move, however, was seen as an attempt to

Social AffairsMay 14, 2014

[Newsmaker] Rivals square off in Seoul mayoral race

The joys of taking the party primary in a landslide win are likely to be short-lived for Rep. Chung Mong-joon, who goes up against incumbent Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon in the June 4 local elections. On Monday, Chung won the ruling Saenuri Party’s Seoul mayoral primary, but the fallout from the Sewol ferry disaster stacks the odds against the seven-term lawmaker. The accident pushed the local elections on to the backburner, with both parties launching special committees to deal with the issue.  Ch

PoliticsMay 13, 2014

[Newsmaker] Rest up, Mr. Lee

Perhaps the market should have seen it coming that one day people of this country would see Samsung boss Lee Kun-hee in hospital and either bid him farewell or hope that he recovers.Thankfully, Samsung said the 73-year-old chairman is doing okay and is no longer on life support after an emergency procedure on his heart and arteries in the wee hours on Sunday.His health will be back to normal in 24 hours, by Tuesday, and Samsung is operating as usual, the group said. No need to panic.But Korea wa

TechnologyMay 12, 2014

[Newsmaker] Boko Haram ordeal keeps girl from school

BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) -- One of the teenagers who escaped from Islamic extremists who abducted more than 300 schoolgirls said Sunday the kidnapping was “too terrifying for words,” and she is scared to go back to school.  Science student Sarah Lawan, 19, told the Associated Press that more of the girls could have escaped but that they were frightened by their captors' threats to shoot them. Lawan spoke in the Hausa language in a phone interview from Chibok, her home and the site of the mass abduct

World NewsMay 11, 2014

[Newsmaker] Thailand’s first female leader ousted

BANGKOK (AFP) ― Ultimately undone by Thailand’s courts, Yingluck Shinawatra labored under claims she was a stooge for her exiled brother. Yet the kingdom’s first female prime minister also displayed unexpected resilience during a turbulent stay in office.Propelled to power in July 2011 by her family’s electoral base in the poor north and northeast, Yingluck was pilloried by foes as a political lightweight armed with little more than a winning smile and a hotline to her elder brother Thaksin Shin

World NewsMay 8, 2014

[Newsmaker] Medical aid comes late after diver's death

The government on Wednesday said it had allocated military medical staff to aid divers in the continued search for missing people in the sunken Sewol ferry. But criticisms are mounting over why the much-needed help came only after a civilian diver died during the mission. The 53-year-old diver, identified by his surname Lee, was found unconscious Tuesday morning only 11 minutes after entering the water. He died while being treated at a hospital in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province. Lee was working wi

Social AffairsMay 7, 2014

[Newsmaker] Ruling party nomination race turns ugly

Former Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik and “Park-sim” continue to muddy the waters for the ruling Saenuri Party, with less than a week until the party picks its Seoul mayoral candidate.The term “Park-sim,” which literally translates as “Park’s heart,” refers to President Park Geun-hye’s intentions or having her support.Kim’s tenure as prime minister was relatively uneventful and uncontroversial, which allowed him to hold the post for record-breaking two years and five months.His time as a potential

PoliticsMay 6, 2014

[Newsmaker] Citibank Korea union may strike

The labor-management dispute at Citibank Korea appears to be deepening.The union has now voted for a strike to protest the bank’s restructuring plans that would inevitably include layoffs. The walkout would mark the first in three years for local banks, since the union of Standard Chartered Bank Korea went on strike in 2011. It seems to be an indication that the situation has reached breaking point.The last strike at Citibank Korea was in 2004 when the U.S.-based citibank took over KorAm bank.Ci

May 1, 2014

[Newsmaker] Rescue firm blamed for favoritism, slow work

Undine Marine Industries Co., the company leading the search for the Sewol’s missing, is turning up more controversy than results. Undine has been leading the search for the Sewol’s missing, which now stands at 90, since April 17, the day after the ship sank off the coast of Jindo Island, South Jeolla Province. Undine, however, has not only taken the center role in the painfully slow search but also in the growing controversies stemming from the tragedy that has so far generated a confirmed deat

Social AffairsApril 30, 2014

[Newsmaker] Obama hits back at foreign policy critics

MANILA (AFP) -- U.S. President Barack Obama’s frustration is spilling over as he makes the most strident defense of his foreign policy yet, rebuking critics who say his diplomacy is haphazard, weak and blurs U.S. national security red lines. The U.S. president’s patience snapped several times during his tour of Asia which wrapped up in the Philippines Tuesday, when confronted by arguments that he has failed to put his stamp on a world increasingly flouting U.S. power. His four-nation trip was me

World NewsApril 29, 2014

[Newsmaker] Hwang Pyong-so new in N. Korean power circle

Over the last few weeks, a notable change was spotted within the core of the reclusive North Korean ruling elite: Hwang Pyong-so, formerly the first vice director of the ruling party’s organization guidance department, was elevated to the rank of four-star general and then to the rarefied, coveted rank of vice marshal. The decision was made Saturday by the powerful National Defense Commission and the Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission, the official Korean Central News Agency announced

North KoreaApril 28, 2014

[Newsmaker] Resignation attempts to stem Sewol fallout

Chung Hong-won, the nation’s second-in-command, made a bombshell announcement early Sunday that he would step down as Korea’s prime minister. He said he wanted to take responsibility for the recent sinking of the ferry Sewol that claimed over 180 lives, and that he did not want to burden President Park Geun-hye’s administration by clinging on to his post. Later in the day, Park said she would accept his resignation, but only after the ferry disaster has been brought under control.Observers are s

PoliticsApril 27, 2014

[Newsmaker] Volunteers share pain at Jindo

Jindo Island is being flooded with thousands of volunteers from across the country who have come to hold the hands, wipe the tears and share the pain of families still waiting for signs of their loved ones.From college students and parents to foreign residents, volunteers have set up kitchens, supply centers and clinics outside of Jindo Gymnasium, which is serving as a shelter for the families, and at Paengmok Port, where they are waiting for the bodies of the victims. Others have been washing d

Social AffairsApril 24, 2014

[Newsmaker] Scandalous owner family of Sewol

The Sewol sinking has opened up a long, shady scandal surrounding the ferry operator’s de facto owner, a 73-year-old mysterious businessman Yoo Byung-eon.In the 1980s, Yoo established Semo Marine Co. after securing the business rights to operate ferries on the Hangang River, thanks to his reportedly close ties with then-President Chun Doo-hwan. But the business went bankrupt in 1997 in the wake of a series of highly publicized scandals, including the mass suicide of 32 followers of a Christian c

IndustryApril 23, 2014

[Newsmaker] Thin line between G-men and Mafia

Government men and women ― affectionately called G-men in the past ― had once been looked upon with respect and often portrayed in movies as heroes and protagonists who take on bad guys such as gangsters and thieves to protect and serve the public.This no longer seems to be the case, as hostility grows and spreads toward the government following the devastating ferry accident that has so far claimed more than a hundred lives, mostly high school kids.The officials, especially including those work

Social AffairsApril 22, 2014

[Newsmaker] Key suspects revealed in deadly Sewol sinking

Behind the tragic ferry tale engulfing the country and its people in despair lies two key characters wanted as suspects for questioning over the sunken ship off the southwest coast.They are the owners of a company that owns Chonghaejin Marine Co., the owner and operator of the Sewol ferry, in which hundreds of passengers, mostly high school students, remain trapped and missing.They are brothers, surnamed Yoo, who have a combined 38.88 percent stake in I-One-I Holdings, a management consulting fi

Social AffairsApril 21, 2014