Most Popular
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[Exclusive] Korean adoptee sisters meet for the first time in 39 years
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Signs point to N. Korean troops in Russia-Ukraine combat zone
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Yoon calls for measures to protect Koreans amid escalating Iran-Israel conflicts
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Rose's 'Apt.' redefines K-pop's global appeal
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Civil servant’s death linked to workplace bullying
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Two years on, thousands mourn Itaewon tragedy, calling for accountability
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[Weekender] Walk around Korea to really get to know the country
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N. Korea slams Seoul-Washington joint air exercise
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[Herald Interview] K-pop’s 'best years are ahead of us': Spotify’s general manager for Asia Pacific
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[Herald Interview] Love for K-drama, food defines 'Secret Ingredient'
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[Newsmaker] August critical month for Samsung and its leader
Expectations are high that Samsung Electronics, which for months deliberated on a new, $17 billion US investment plan, may finally be ready to make an official announcement in August. According to industry sources on Friday, Samsung is accelerating the internal process for concluding its plan to construct a new chip fabrication line for foundry in the US. Some news reports said Thursday that the City of Austin in Texas, where the South Korean firm already has a chip plant up and running, is
TechnologyJuly 23, 2021
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[Newsmaker] US looks forward to 'reliable, predictable, constructive' way forward with N. Korea: Sherman
The United States looks forward to a "reliable, predictable and constructive" way forward with North Korea, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Friday, redoubling calls for Pyongyang to respond to Washington's overtures for dialogue. Sherman made the remarks after talks with First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun in Seoul, amid uncertainty over the resumption of nuclear diplomacy following Pyongyang's rejection of dialogue last month. "We are looking forward to a rel
Foreign AffairsJuly 23, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Buddhist monks fined for breaching social distancing guidelines
Buddhist monks are facing criticism after seven of them were caught having a private gathering in violation of local social distancing guidelines. According to the local government of Haenam in South Jeolla Province, there was a report of several Buddhist monks having a meal together with alcoholic drinks on Monday evening, when the region’s social distancing guidelines prohibiting private gatherings of more than four people had come into effect. A photograph showed eight people sitting
Social AffairsJuly 22, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Gyeonggi governor pledges to distribute universal basic income if elected president
Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, the front-running presidential contender for the ruling Democratic Party, made a campaign pledge Thursday to distribute universal basic income of up to 2 million won ($1,736) per year to all citizens. "Within the (five-year) term of the next administration, (I) will provide 2 million won in basic income to each young person every year and 1 million won each to the rest of the citizens" Lee said in a press conference at the National Assembly in Seo
PoliticsJuly 22, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Yoon battered over 120-hour work week comment and more
Members of the ruling Democratic Party continued to slam former prosecutor general and presidential contender Yoon Seok-youl on Wednesday for saying that people should be allowed to work 120 hours in a week if they need to. As Yoon criticized the 52-hour work week system as a failed policy in a recent newspaper interview, he said he met people in start-ups who said there should be exemptions to the work hour rule as game developers often need to work 120 hours for a couple of weeks and then hav
PoliticsJuly 21, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Over 65% of S. Koreans support Moon's decision not to visit Japan: survey
The majority of South Koreans support President Moon Jae-in's decision not to visit Japan for the opening of the Tokyo Olympics and summit talks, a poll showed Tuesday. In the R&Search survey of 1,095 people aged 18 and older, 65.5 percent of the respondents were in favor of Moon's decision, while 26.7 percent were against it. Cheong Wa Dae announced Monday that the president decided not to visit Tokyo as the two neighboring countries failed to achieve sufficient progress in consultations
PoliticsJuly 21, 2021
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[Newsmaker] The worst of heat yet to come
With heat wave warnings issued nationwide Tuesday, Korea is likely to see temperatures near 40 degrees Celsius this week, and possibly a return of the record-breaking heat in 2018 due to a “heat dome” phenomenon, the chief of a nongovernmental weather agency said. “Korea saw the hottest day ever recorded on Aug. 1, 2018, when temperatures hit 39.6 degrees in Seoul and 41 degrees in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province. These were official observatory records, and automatic weather stat
Social AffairsJuly 20, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Fingerless Korean goes missing after climbing all 14 Himalayan peaks
A fingerless South Korean mountaineer went missing after achieving the record-breaking feat of climbing all of the world's 14 highest peaks in the Himalayas, officials here said Monday. "I received a call that Kim Hong-bin went missing on his way down from the peak," Lee In-jeong, president of the Union of Asian Alpine Associations (UAAA), said. "I heard that climbers there tried to rescue him, but failed." Kim reached the summit of the 8,047-meter-high Broad Peak, located
Social AffairsJuly 20, 2021
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[Newsmaker] ‘Fingerless’ Kim Hong-bin, 1st disabled person to climb world’s 14 highest peaks
South Korean mountaineer Kim Hong-bin has become the first disabled person to successfully climb the 14 highest mountain peaks in the world -- without the use of his fingers. According to local alpine club Gwangju Alpine Federation on Monday, Kim conquered the summit of Broad Peak, the third peak of Pakistan’s Karakoram Range located in the northeastern part of Kashmir, on Sunday. This is an unprecedented accomplishment by Kim, making him the first disabled person and the world’s
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Justice ministry seeks to grant legal status to animals to enhance their welfare
The Ministry of Justice on Monday gave advance notice of a revision to the civil law that would grant animals legal status as individuals with lives that deserve to be protected. The ministry said it has added the new clause, "animals are not objects," to article 82 of the Civil Code. Under the existing law, animals are identified as "an object that takes up space" and are not separated from inanimate things, so animal abusers have been punished only for damaging property i
Social AffairsJuly 19, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Outbreak forces anti-piracy unit to return home from African coast
South Korea’s anti-piracy Cheonghae Unit is returning home this week after 68 seamen tested positive for the coronavirus aboard a warship off the coast of Africa, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday. Two-thirds of the 301-strong crew are still awaiting test results. This is the first time the military has cut short an overseas mission because of a pandemic. None of the seamen had received any COVID-19 vaccinations because the March vaccination campaign began a month after their dep
DefenseJuly 18, 2021
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[Newsmaker] ‘COVID relief to 80% of households is too much’
Former legislator and opposition presidential contender Yoo Seong-min criticized the ongoing political argument over whether to hand out another round of COVID-19 relief grants to all Koreans or to only those in the lower 80 percent of the income brackets. Based on the national health insurance premiums, the monthly income of a four-person household in the lower 80 percent income bracket is 9.75 million won at the upper bound, which is 117 million won in annual income (before tax), Yoo wrote on
PoliticsJuly 16, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Buddha's Birthday, Christmas to be excluded from alternative holidays
The alternative holiday bill passed by the National Assembly last month will be newly applied only to national holidays, the government said Friday. Public holidays, like Buddha's Birthday and Christmas, will be excluded from alternative holidays, the Ministry of Personnel Management said. The Assembly approved legislation on June 29 to increase alternative statutory holidays by designating a substitute holiday for all public holidays that fall on weekends. But the bill delegates the actual de
PoliticsJuly 16, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Overseas anti-piracy unit suffers COVID outbreak
President Moon Jae-in on Thursday instructed the military to dispatch medical staff and supplies to forces abroad with members who have tested positive for the coronavirus and to take stronger steps to avoid infections in overseas missions. Moon asked the military to bring home the patients if necessary. Six service members aboard the anti-piracy Cheonghae Unit operating off the coast of Africa have tested positive for the coronavirus, the military said. None of the 301-strong crew aboard th
DefenseJuly 15, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Support rating for ex-top prosecutor Yoon dips below 30% for 1st time in 4 months: poll
The support rating for former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, the front-running presidential contender, dived below the 30 percent level for the first time in four months over a series of allegations raised against his wife and mother-in-law, the latest poll on major hopefuls showed Thursday. The fall diminished Yoon's opinion poll lead over runner-up Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung to within the poll's margin of error of 2.2 percentage points. According to the poll by Realmeter, the support ra
PoliticsJuly 15, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Yoon jittery over falling poll ratings
A weekly presidential preference poll that showed higher support ratings for former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl compared with other surveys was stopped this week, prompting Yoon to blame political pressure from other candidates and their supporters. PNR Research, the pollster that had conducted the survey every week since April, said its clients told it last week that they would no longer commission it for the poll. Yoon said in a statement on Tuesday that the PNR poll was stopped becaus
PoliticsJuly 14, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Air Force legal affairs chief booked for investigation over death of Air Force sexual abuse victim
The Air Force's chief legal affairs officer has been booked for investigation over allegations he failed to properly oversee an initial probe into sexual abuse of a female noncommissioned officer that led to the victim taking her own life, the defense ministry said Wednesday. Brig. Gen. Jeon Ik-soo was booked on charges of dereliction of duty on Tuesday, and his status has been switched to that of a suspect, 42 days after the defense ministry launched an investigation into why the noncommission
DefenseJuly 14, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Govt. plan on 'Lee Kun-hee museum' draws debate on location, purpose
The government's plan to build a museum dedicated to late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee's massive art collection has stirred a debate among art circles as well as local governments that were vying to attract the facility. Last week, the culture ministry unveiled a plan to build the museum by 2026 or 2027 at two potential locations in central Seoul -- in Jongno and Yongsan wards. The announcement came roughly two months after Lee's family announced the donation of around 23,000 art pieces, includ
Arts & DesignJuly 14, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Yoon unlikely to join opposition party soon
Ex-chief prosecutor and presidential contender Yoon Seok-youl appears more focused on bringing together centrists than joining the main opposition People Power Party, while former chief state auditor Choe Jae-hyeong is likely to join the party as another presidential hopeful, according to figures in close contact with the two men. Political critic Chin Jung-kwon said he met with Yoon last week and it seemed like the former prosecutor general “intends to stay outside the PPP for a while.&r
PoliticsJuly 13, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Both employers and hard-line labor groups disgruntled with new minimum wage
The Minimum Wage Commission's decision on Monday to raise next year's minimum hourly wage 5.1 percent to 9,160 won ($7.98) drew heavy criticism from employers' and hard-line labor groups. Officials at the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), the more moderate of South Korea's two major umbrella labor unions, said Tuesday they will accept the state commission's minimum wage decision. But the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), an umbrella union known for its militant labor movemen
Social AffairsJuly 13, 2021