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] Trainee doctors at all levels on strike during pandemic; medical association proposes talks
Trainee doctors across all levels have begun an indefinite strike amid the COVID-19 pandemic, protesting the government's medical workforce reform plan, while their interest group proposed a meeting with political leaders. The Korean Intern and Resident Association said Sunday that the first- and second-year residents became the last group of trainee doctors to join the protest earlier in the day. Since Friday, interns and third- and fourth-year residents walked out of hospitals. They are opp
Social AffairsAug. 23, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Former aide to ex-president claims NK leader in coma
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is in a coma, and his decision to delegate some of his power to his aides is proof, a former aide to the late President Kim Dae-jung claimed Friday. Jang Sung-min, who served Kim Dae-jung as a political affairs secretary and as head of the state affairs monitoring office, insisted that Kim Jong-un is comatose but his sister Kim Yo-jong is not his successor despite the power restructuring. On Friday, Seoul’s spy agency briefed lawmakers in a cl
North KoreaAug. 21, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Church says it is being suppressed with forcible testing
The conservative pastor of a Seoul-based church that became a key source of mass infections of the novel coronavirus has alleged that the government manipulated virus-related data to blame his church for a second wave of the virus outbreak. Jun Kwang-hoon, who leads the 4,000-member Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul and is a vocal critic of President Moon Jae-in, criticized the government for forcibly conducting diagnostic tests and enforcing isolation on them in a full-page advertisement that ran
Social AffairsAug. 20, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Runaway COVID-19 patient caught at Seoul cafe
A COVID-19 patient who ran away from a hospital was apprehended in the early hours of Wednesday. The man, in his 50s, was confirmed to have the coronavirus after attending a service at the Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul. He was apprehended at about 1:15 a.m. at a coffee shop in Sinchon, Seoul, after running away from the hospital in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, 25 hours earlier. It has been reported that there were about 40 people at the coffee shop when the man was taken into custody. His mot
Social AffairsAug. 19, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Pastor Jun under fire for improper mask-wearing on way to hospital
Public anger toward Jun Kwang-hoon, the conservative pastor at the center of a sprawling COVID-19 outbreak, intensified Tuesday when he was seen improperly wearing a face mask even as he was taken to a hospital for treatment after testing positive for the coronavirus. In photos taken and revealed Monday, Jun is seen wearing a mask on his chin, with his mouth and nose uncovered, as he talks on his phone while walking toward the vehicle that would take him to the Seoul Medical Center for treatm
Social AffairsAug. 18, 2020
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[Newsmaker] No free treatment for incoming foreigners with COVID-19 who violate rules
Foreigners who test positive for the new coronavirus upon entering South Korea will have to pay for their own treatment if they violate the country’s disease prevention guidelines. The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that should foreigners who are diagnosed during quarantine or isolation violate the disease control guidelines, they will have to pay all their own medical fees. The new measure we
Social AffairsAug. 17, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Doctors protest medical reform plans with nationwide strike
Thousands of doctors on Friday staged a nationwide walkout as talks with the government over medical reform plans fell through. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 24.7 percent of 33,836 medical clinics, hospitals and institutions announced Thursday that they would be closed on Friday. The ministry said the actual closure rate for Friday could be higher considering the ongoing vacation season. Under the lead of the Korea Medical Association, which represents 130,000 doctors, medi
Social AffairsAug. 14, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Kian84 revises controversial webtoon, apologizes
Popular webtoon, or digital comic, writer Kian84 apologized and revised his latest work “Bokhakwang,” as controversy over the latest episode posted Tuesday sparked online protests. “Bokhakwang,” which means king of returning to school, is the most popular work by Kian84 that is uploaded at around 11 p.m. on Tuesdays on web portal Naver. “I am very sorry for causing concern with inappropriate depictions in my work,” Kian84 wrote on his webtoon page on Thursd
CultureAug. 13, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Seoul City asks groups to cancel rallies on Liberation Day
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said on Wednesday that it has requested 14 organizations to cancel their plans for mass rallies on Aug. 15 Liberation Day in a bid to keep COVID-19 from spreading. Seoul City said that should the organizations go ahead with their rallies, it will use all means including an order that prohibits rallies to prevent the coronavirus from spreading. “Various organizations are planning to hold mass gatherings downtown. ... We have officially requested them yes
Social AffairsAug. 12, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Beirut explosion raises questions on Busan safety
The Port of Busan, where some 1,240 tons of ammonium nitrate are stored, is drawing criticism from worried local residents as there is no unified command center to manage the explosive material -- the cause of a deadly explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. According to local sources, the entry, exit, storage and monitoring of the material in question are conducted separately, leaving a loophole in proper management. Currently, when ships carrying ammonium nitrate enter or leave the port, the Busan P
IndustryAug. 11, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Military police recommend airman be charged with AWOL in 'emperor-like military service' case
Military police wrapped up an investigation into allegations that an enlisted airman enjoyed preferential treatment due to his father's influence, recommending that the military prosecution charge him with going absent without leave, officials said Monday. The probe began in June after an online petition at the presidential office website claimed that the conscript enjoyed a variety of privileges, including having a noncommissioned officer do errands for him, thanks to his father's position as
DefenseAug. 10, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Ghanaian TV personality speaks up against racism in Korea, sparks controversy
Ghanaian television personality Sam Okyere apologized after his social media posting lashing out at racism in Korea sparked controversy online. Earlier on Thursday, the 29-year-old had expressed outrage about a yearbook photo of local high school senior students parodying viral Ghanaian dancing pallbearers video. The photo showed five boys from Uijeongbu High School -- famous for their unconventional yet trend-reflecting graduation pictures -- with their faces painted brown. “Time and
TelevisionAug. 9, 2020
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[Newsmaker] North Korea battles severe flood damage
Days of torrential downpours have flooded hundreds of houses and vast rice fields in North Korea, with damage expected to grow further, dealing a blow to a regime already grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and a flailing economy under international sanctions. Nearly 730 homes and 600 hectares of rice fields have been flooded. Some 179 houses were destroyed in Taechong-ri, Unpha County, northwest of capital Pyongyang, after a water levee broke due to the heavy rains, according to the No
North KoreaAug. 7, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Health minister asks doctors to cancel strike
South Korea’s top health official on Thursday urged doctors to cancel their walkouts, the first of which is planned for Friday, and asked for their cooperation with the government’s impending health reforms. In an address, Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo appealed for the action to be called off, in consideration of the coronavirus situation. “Disruption in health service in a time like this could imperil public health even further,” he warned. The walkou
Social AffairsAug. 6, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Another psychiatrist murdered by patient
Another psychiatrist has been murdered by his patient following two similar incidents over the past two years, police said Wednesday. Police said a doctor in his 50s died Wednesday morning after being stabbed with a knife by a patient at his psychiatric hospital in the southern port city of Busan at 9:25 a.m. The patient, identified only as a man in his 60s, was arrested on the scene after spraying flammable materials and hanging from the window of the hospital in a confrontation with the pol
Social AffairsAug. 5, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Civil law revision eyed to protect children from corporal punishment
The Ministry of Justice is pushing for amendment to the Civil Law to abolish parents’ right to physically discipline their children in a bid to better protect children from abusive parents. The plan is to delete the Article 915, which has been interpreted by some as giving legal grounds for corporal punishment. The clause itself does not say anything about the use of physical force as a means of discipline. “Through the revision, we expect to contribute to forming an en
Social AffairsAug. 4, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Kakao Games under fire for sexist translation ahead of IPO
Kakao Games is facing a boycott from users for sexist translations in its newly released game Guardian Tales, posing a hiccup to the company that stands on the doorstep of going public. The gaming unit of Korea’s leading messenger app operator Kakao on Sunday conducted an unscheduled update at 10 a.m. without a specific explanation, infuriating users as the entire server for Guardian Tales went down for eight minutes. In the English version of Guardian Tales, from which the Korean ver
IndustryAug. 3, 2020
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[Newsmaker] New Zealand ups pressure on Korea to cooperate in diplomat sexual assault case
New Zealand authorities have heightened pressure on South Korea to cooperate in its probe of a Korean diplomat who has been accused of sexual assault. Winston Peters, New Zealand’s deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister, urged the Korean government to cooperate by waiving the accused man’s diplomatic immunity and sending him to New Zealand to defend himself. “It’s over to the Korean government, and for them to allow him to waive the diplomatic immunity
Foreign AffairsAug. 2, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Shincheonji leader arrested on charges of obstructing anti-virus response
The leader of a minor religious sect at the center of the early coronavirus outbreak in South Korea was arrested early Saturday for allegedly obstructing the government's efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic. A local court in Suwon, south of Seoul, issued an arrest warrant for Lee Man-hee, the founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Lee, 89, is suspected of submitting false documents to health authorities on the number of participants at the sect's gath
Social AffairsAug. 1, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Arrest warrant hearing starts for Shincheonji leader
A local court has started reviewing whether to issue an arrest warrant for Lee Man-hee, the leader of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, over allegations that he and his religious sect obstructed the government’s efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. The Suwon District Court is expected to reach a decision later Friday or early Saturday. The court previously issued arrest warrants for Shincheonji’s three senior officials who are also accused of obstructing contact tracing efforts.
Social AffairsJuly 31, 2020