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] Govt. to expand in-person classes for younger students this year
Younger students and disabled children will get more in-person instruction this year, the Ministry of Education said Tuesday, to fill their academic and social needs exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Announcing its work plan and goal for this year, the ministry said it will continue to ensure a safe learning environment at school despite the threat of the virus, and aim to bring more children back to school. "The ministry will prioritize to have preschoolers, lower graders of eleme
Social AffairsJan. 26, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Justice Party head resigns over sexual harassment
The head of a minor progressive opposition party was removed from his post on Monday over sexual harassment, marking the first time the leader of a political party in South Korea has stepped down due to sexual misconduct. The Justice Party -- which has been a strong advocate on gender equality issues -- has pledged to deal with this issue according to the principle of zero tolerance. On Monday Bae Bok-joo, head of the Justice Party’s gender human rights division, officially disclosed le
PoliticsJan. 25, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Chief of progressive minor party steps down over sexual harassment of party lawmaker
Kim Jong-cheol, the chief of the progressive minor Justice Party, stepped down Monday over what the party called "obvious sexual harassment" of a female lawmaker of the same party. It is the first time that the head of an established political party has resigned due to sexual misconduct. The unprecedented case is expected to deal a crushing blow to the party which has championed gender equality on top of the rights of social minorities. "I came here to announce very humiliating,
PoliticsJan. 25, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Opposition lays siege to new justice minister nominee
Opposition lawmakers were geared up to use Monday’s confirmation hearing for Justice Minister nominee Park Beom-kye to their fullest advantage by bashing him over numerous issues, including his failure to declare some of his assets. The opposition’s offensive in the series of hearings for ministerial nominees since last week has mainly focused on Park, who himself rose to confirmation hearing stardom in 2014. As a first-time lawmaker at the time, Park raised allegations that the aut
PoliticsJan. 24, 2021
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[Newsmaker] 3 missing as fishing boat capsizes near Geoje Island
GEOJE -- Search operations were under way off the southern island of Geoje after three crew members of a capsized fishing boat went missing on Saturday, authorities said. The 339-ton vessel capsized at around 4 p.m. in waters 1.11 kilometers southeast of the island, located some 400 km south of Seoul, with 10 crew members aboard -- nine South Koreans and one Indonesian -- according to the Coast Guard. Seven of them, including the Indonesian, have been rescued, but search operations were still
Social AffairsJan. 24, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Rocker Jeon In-kwon faces police investigation over neighbor dispute
Korean rock icon Jeon In-kwon is facing a police investigation over a dispute with his neighbor, multiple media reported Friday. Seoul’s Jongno Police Station called in the legendary rocker on Wednesday over property damage allegations, according to reports. Jeon allegedly threw a roof tile at his neighbor’s front door in September. The rocker had gotten into a dispute with his neighbor, claiming that the neighbor re-constructed their house to raise the height of the roof by one
Social AffairsJan. 22, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Japan privately concludes Tokyo Olympics should be cancelled due to coronavirus: The Times
TOKYO (Reuters) -- Japan's government has privately concluded the Tokyo Olympics will have to be cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, The Times reported, citing an unnamed senior member of the ruling coalition. The government's focus is now on securing the Games for Tokyo in the next available year, 2032, the newspaper said. Japan has been hit less severely by the pandemic than many other advanced economies, but a recent surge in cases has spurred it to close its borders to non-reside
World NewsJan. 22, 2021
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[Newsmaker] School violence halved, but cyberbullying rises in pandemic
School violence in South Korea nearly halved from a year earlier in 2020 but cyberbullying gained greater presence among students as the COVID-19 pandemic limited the number of in-school interactions, a government data showed Thursday. According to an online Ministry of Education survey of 3.57 million students between 4th grade and 11th grade conducted from September 2019 to October 2020, 0.9 percent of respondents said they experienced school violence, down 0.7 percentage points from the same
Social AffairsJan. 21, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Vice President Harris: A new chapter opens in US politics
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Kamala Harris broke the barrier that has kept men at the top ranks of American power for more than two centuries when she took the oath Wednesday to hold the nation’s second-highest office. Harris was sworn in as the first female US vice president -- and the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to hold the position -- in front of the US Capitol by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Later, she presided as Senate president
World NewsJan. 21, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Naver expands storytelling business with Wattpad M&A
Internet platform giant Naver announced its acquisition of web novel platform Wattpad on Wednesday, more than doubling the size of its social storytelling operations. Naver will acquire 100 percent of Wattpad shares for approximately $600 million in the first half of this year. Wattpad is an online platform that allows anyone to read and write stories. With over 90 million monthly users who spend a total of 23 billion minutes each month, Wattpad is the largest social storytelling platform in
CartoonJan. 20, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Ex-President Park tests negative for COVID-19 after being exposed to patient
Former President Park Geun-hye, now serving a 22-year prison term on corruption convictions, tested negative for COVID-19 on Wednesday after coming into contact with an infected person, the Ministry of Justice said. According to the ministry, Park came into close contact with a prison officer diagnosed later with COVID-19 while traveling by bus to a medical facility on Monday outside the Seoul Detention Center, where she has been imprisoned since March 2017. The prison officer tested positive
PoliticsJan. 20, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Moon in hot water over adoption comments
Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday was busy correcting President Moon Jae-in’s recent comments about adoption as civic groups and opposition lawmakers called for an official apology. On Monday, the president was hosting a New Year’s press conference when a reporter asked him what the government was doing to prevent child abuse, in light of the recent death of a 16-month-old toddler who allegedly suffered months of abuse at the hands of her adoptive parents. After unveiling a new set of gui
PoliticsJan. 19, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Biden to be inaugurated amid pandemic, worst political turmoil
WASHINGTON -- Joe Biden is set to be inaugurated as the next US president this week in probably a never-before-seen ceremony that will highlight the dangers from the worst pandemic and a political divide facing the United States. Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the US on Wednesday. As is customary, the inauguration ceremony will be held at around noon on the steps of the US Capitol, administered by the chief justice of the US Supreme Court. The ceremony, however, will be diffe
World NewsJan. 19, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Blow for Samsung as heir Lee sent back to prison for bribery
South Korea’s largest conglomerate, Samsung Group, is facing another watershed as chief Lee Jae-yong was once again taken into custody Monday after receiving a jail term for bribery and embezzlement. The departure of Lee from the helm of the group comes at a time when the IT giant is seeking to make progress on its long-pending management succession and to press forward amid the post-coronavirus economic recovery. “Lee should be held responsible for the suggested bribery and embez
IndustryJan. 18, 2021
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[Newsmaker] ‘My son is not a ghost,’ parent files petition
A parent of an autistic child filed a presidential petition Friday after having received numerous complaints by neighbors in their apartment building. According to the presidential office’s petition website, a petition titled “Please save our family of autistic children” was posted under the category of “child-rearing/education.” The petitioner noted that he lives with a 9-year-old son who has autism in an apartment in Seo-gu, Incheon. He said, “Some residen
Social AffairsJan. 18, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Second episode of ‘Youn’s Stay’ records over 10% viewership rating
The second episode of “Youn’s Stay” -- a spinoff from reality TV show “Youn’s Restaurant” -- marked a viewership rating of 10.2 percent, according to Nielsen Korea on Saturday. During the show that aired Friday night, the cast served traditional Korean drink makgeolli, as well as Korean foods they had learned to make in the previous episode, including bugak (seaweed chips), tteokgalbi (beef patties), jeon (savory pancakes) and vegan gungjung tteokbokki (roy
TelevisionJan. 17, 2021
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[Newsmaker] USFK issues 'shelter in place' directive amid COVID-19 outbreaks in barracks
United States Forces Korea (USFK) on Sunday issued a "shelter in place" directive, ordering part of its service members to remain at home after additional COVID-19 outbreaks were reported inside its barracks. According to USFK's Twitter account, the directive dated Saturday requires service members based at Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul and Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, to stay at home except for necessary activities. It said the directive will expire Tuesday. The
DefenseJan. 17, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Court acknowledges sexual harassment by late Seoul mayor
A local court acknowledged that former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, who was found dead in July in an apparent suicide, had sexually harassed his former secretary in a separate trial involving the victim and a former city employee. The Seoul Central District Court said the victim suffered considerable mental distress due to Park’s unwanted sexual advances while handing down a ruling in a case where another employee of the Seoul city government was accused of sexually assaulting the same vic
Social AffairsJan. 15, 2021
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[Newsmaker] N. Korea holds military parade, showcases new SLBM
North Korea held a military parade Thursday evening in central Pyongyang to celebrate the recently concluded party congress, showing off its state-of-the-art weapons, including a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), state media reported Friday. The parade held in Kim Il-sung square came after Pyongyang wrapped up its eight-day congress of the ruling Workers' Party on Tuesday, at which leader Kim Jong-un pledged to bolster the nuclear arsenal of the country. North Korea appears to aim a
North KoreaJan. 15, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Galaxy S21 comes with striking design change, most powerful processor
Samsung Galaxy S21, unveiled Thursday at midnight, boasts a new, striking design and is equipped with the most powerful processor yet. Plus, it comes with a lowered price tag. Samsung streamed the Galaxy S21 Unpacked show through various online channels to introduce its flagship smartphones for 2021 -- Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+ and Galaxy S21 Ultra -- one month earlier than previous years. The Ultra model supports the S Pen stylus for the first time. Samsung also introduced Galaxy Buds Pro
TechnologyJan. 15, 2021