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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Rose's 'Apt.' redefines K-pop's global appeal
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Yoon calls for measures to protect Koreans amid escalating Iran-Israel conflicts
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Two years on, thousands mourn Itaewon tragedy, calling for accountability
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Civil servant’s death linked to workplace bullying
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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] Love for K-drama, food defines 'Secret Ingredient'
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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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[Newsmaker] Police chief vows thorough probe of Telegram sex abuse videos
Amid public fury over a sexual abuse ring operating on Telegram, South Korea’s police chief on Monday vowed a thorough investigation of the case, as well as any similar crimes connected with the encrypted messaging platform. “We will conduct a rigorous investigation by cooperating closely with law enforcement agencies overseas,” said Min Gap-ryong, commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, in a statement. “We are looking into the distribution of illeg
Social AffairsMarch 23, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Public anger grows over Telegram underage sexual abuse ring
Public anger has exploded over a recently busted Telegram sexual abuse ring, prompting millions to sign petitions for the disclosure of the full identities of the operators as well as their tens of thousands of clients. A petition filed with Cheong Wa Dae calling for the disclosure of the main suspect, arrested last week, quickly garnered a record number of signatures: 1.85 million as of 4 p.m. Sunday. A separate petition calling for the disclosure of some 260,000 users of Telegram chat roo
Social AffairsMarch 22, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Police expand probe into Telegram sex slave videos
Police nabbed a 20-something man for allegedly subjecting at least 74 people, including 16 minors, to sexual exploitation and assault and operating a pornography ring on Telegram, the police revealed Friday. The alleged crimes involved the messenger service Telegram, where videos of a sexual nature were posted in return for cryptocurrency payments. The suspect, currently known by the surname Cho and by the Telegram nickname “doctor,” is thought to be one of a large number of ind
Social AffairsMarch 20, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Protestant church groups hope to normalize activities starting April 6
Mainstream Protestant church groups -- the National Council of Churches in Korea and the United Christian Churches of Korea -- apologized to the public on Thursday for the COVID-19 clusters that formed at churches. The statement also said the organizations hoped to normalize group activities and worship services from April 6. The joint statement followed an increase in the number of novel coronavirus clusters in South Korea this week among those attending Protestant church services. As of Fr
CultureMarch 20, 2020
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[Newsmaker] S. Korea seeks to arrange 2 chartered flights to bring home citizens from virus-hit Italy
South Korea is seeking to arrange two chartered flights to bring home hundreds of its citizens from Italy, which has been hit hard by the new coronavirus, a senior foreign ministry official said Friday. Italy's COVID-19 death toll had topped 3,400 as of Thursday afternoon -- a tally higher than that of China where the novel virus first emerged in December. As of Friday afternoon, more than 570 people have expressed their wish to return to Korea. "We currently think that two flights are
Foreign AffairsMarch 20, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Women's pro basketball season canceled due to coronavirus
There will be no more women's pro basketball played in South Korea this spring in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The Women's Korean Basketball League decided on Friday to scrap the rest of the regular season, which had been on hold since March 10, and to also wipe out the playoffs. With all other major professional sports -- men's basketball, baseball, men's football and men's and women's volleyball -- having come to a halt due to COVID-19, the WKBL became the first league to cancel it
More SportsMarch 20, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Chung Euisun elected as chair of Hyundai Motor Group board
Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun has been elected the new chairperson of the group’s board of directors, in an apparent move to give the heir apparent more managerial power as he seeks to strengthen the future mobility vision. According to the company, it was decided for Chung to succeed his father, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo, in his chairmanship during a board of directors meeting held Thursday. The senior Chung has held the position for 21 year
MobilityMarch 19, 2020
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[Newsmaker] First-ever strong wind warning to be issued for Seoul
South Korea's weather agency on Thursday issued a strong wind advisory for the entire nation, calling for concerted preparedness for typhoon-class winds and forest fires throughout the day. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said wind gusts of up to 90 kilometers per hour, or 25 meters per second, will blow across the nation, due to the difference in air pressure between cold low pressure over North Korea and warm high pressure southeast of the peninsula. The KMA put the entire nat
PoliticsMarch 19, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Desperate crisis for shopkeepers
While industry sectors across the board in Korea are struggling to handle the economic impact of COVID-19, the nation’s 5.48 million self-employed and small business owners are among those suffering most. Oh Myong-seok, who has been running a 24-hour diner in Yongsan, Seoul, for seven years, is experiencing its worst-ever slump, as the store has seen its daily customer figures cut in half. “For night times from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m., revenue has been halved, for day times it has been
IndustryMarch 18, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Korean National Ballet fires dancer for breaking quarantine
The Korean National Ballet has fired a dancer for inappropriate behavior, the first such action since the troupe was founded in 1962. Na Dae-han, 28, corps de ballet dancer at the Korean National Ballet, was fired for traveling to Japan during home quarantine period. The national ballet company held a disciplinary committee meeting on Monday where the decision was made to fire Na. Other members of the state ballet company were suspended for conducting private lessons during the home quarant
PerformanceMarch 17, 2020
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[Newsmaker] River of Grace Community Church sprays saltwater into worshippers’ mouths
River of Grace Community Church in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, is alleged to have sprayed saltwater into the mouths of people attending church services on March 1 and 8, which may have contributed to the cluster infection of at least 46 people with the novel coronavirus. “It is very unfortunate. As we were reviewing the CCTV footage from River of Grace Community Church, we found that members of the congregation were sprayed saltwater into their mouths one-by-one because of misinformati
TechnologyMarch 16, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Coupang deliveryman found dead attempting late-night delivery
A deliveryman was found dead while working after midnight for Coupang. The exact cause of death is not known. According to the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union on Sunday, the 46-year-old contract worker, surnamed Kim, was found Thursday around 2 a.m. between the fourth and fifth floors of a residential building in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. The building had no elevator. “Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, deliveries of heavy daily necessities such as rice, drinking wa
IndustryMarch 16, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Defective CCTVs, lax discipline blamed for civilians' intrusion into Jeju naval base
Defective security cameras and lax discipline led to a Navy unit on the southern island of Jeju failing to detect civic activists intruding into its compound earlier this month, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday, promising to strongly reprimand the officers responsible. On March 7, four activists who have long opposed the construction of the naval base cut the barbed-wire fences surrounding the installation, and two of them entered the base and wandered around for about two hours before be
Social AffairsMarch 15, 2020
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[Newsmaker] 8 in 10 coronavirus cases in S. Korea linked to cluster infections
Eight in 10 coronavirus cases in South Korea have been linked to cluster infections, health authorities said Saturday, as the recent trend of spread shows a continued slowdown. Despite the slowdown in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the areas hit hardest by the virus outbreak here, authorities are grappling with the new clusters including a call center in southwestern Seoul and the administrative city of Sejong. Korea reported 107 new cases Saturday, bringing the number of infections to
Social AffairsMarch 14, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Korean punched in the face in NY for not wearing mask
A 23-year-old South Korean student was punched in the face for not wearing a face mask in New York, in what appears to be a hate crime against Asians amid virus fears, reports said Friday. According to the reports, the student was entering a building in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday morning when she was grabbed by the hair and punched in the face. The alleged attacker reportedly attends an institution located in the same building as the victim’s language school. The attacker assaulted th
Social AffairsMarch 13, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Tom Hanks announces positive test for coronavirus
LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson have both tested positive for coronavirus, the US actor said Wednesday. Hanks, 63, said he and Wilson came down with a fever while in Australia, where he is set to film a new movie about the life of Elvis Presley. "To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the coronavirus, and were found to be positive," he wrote in a statement posted to Instagram. Hanks is the first major Hollywood star to
World NewsMarch 12, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Coronavirus triggers ‘untact’ recruitment trend
Korean companies are turning to remote hiring processes to resume recruitment disrupted by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. According to industry sources, major companies are shifting recruitment procedures online, replacing face-to-face interviews with video interviews to keep applicants safe and to curb the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. The increasingly important trend of minimizing contact has been encompassed in the “untact” movement -- to “undo contact” where
IndustryMarch 11, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Digital mask-supply services kick off in S. Korea
Various South Korean providers launched digital services providing real-time information about the availability of face masks at designated stores on Wednesday as the country strives to solve a mask supply crunch amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. Ten mobile application and online service developers have started to offer information on mask stockpiles at state-designated retailers, according to the National Information Society Agency. An open application programming interface has been pub
Social AffairsMarch 11, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Basic income scheme of W51tr spurs controversy
With the novel coronavirus outbreak dealing a major blow to South Korea’s economy, a far-reaching welfare measure to give every citizen 1 million won ($839,00) is igniting a heated debate. Suggested as a temporary scheme, primarily designed to support citizens financially crippled by the rapid spread of COVID-19, politicians and liberal-leaning opinion leaders claim it could also stimulate the sluggish economy. There are mixed responses, with some questioning who the beneficiaries sho
EconomyMarch 10, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Shincheonji faces biggest crisis over coronavirus outbreak
The novel coronavirus was apparently brought into the country from Wuhan, China. But it was a branch of an enigmatic Christian sect in Daegu that provided it with a breeding ground at home. The Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which operates under a veil of secrecy, abruptly came to the center of attention after one of its congregants tested positive for the virus Feb. 18. The case of the 61-year-old woman, known as COVID-19 patient No. 31, was linked to many others among followers who attended
Social AffairsMarch 9, 2020