The Korea Herald

Assembly session focuses on science belt

Opposition urges Lee government to keep election pledgeLegislators on Monday continued to uphold their regional interests over the location of the envisioned multi-trillion-won science-business belt and pounded the government with questions on the safety of nuclear power plants.Opposition lawmakers called on the Lee Myung-bak administration to stick to the president’s campaign pledge to locate the

Politics April 11, 2011

Assembly session focuses on science belt

Photos of N. Korea nuke facility raise concerns in Seoul

North Korea appeared to be speeding up its construction of a light-water reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, raising eyebrows in Seoul as fears rise over radioactive materials from Japan’s tsunami-stricken nuclear power plant.Satellite photos taken last month and broadcast by KBS-TV showed a new round structure being built in Yongbyon and foundation work underway next to it. A high-ranking So

North Korea April 8, 2011

Politicians debate split-up of science belt

Panel starts reviewing where to locate multi-trillion-won facilitiesLawmakers engaged in a heated dispute over a proposal to divide up an envisioned multi-trillion-won science-business belt into two or three different regions as a panel assigned with selecting the location held its first meeting Thursday. The Lee Myung-bak administration last year sought to set up the science-business belt in Sout

Politics April 7, 2011

Politicians debate split-up of science belt

Plan to lower telecom rates to be announced in May: KCC chief

A plan to lower telecommunication-related rates will be announced in May that can help stem hikes in consumer prices, the head of the country's communications regulator said Wednesday.Choi See-joong, chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, told reporters that the taskforce made up of the finance ministry and other related agencies are in the process of formulating a master plan.The taskfo

Industry April 6, 2011

‘Artificial rain mulled to ...block Japan radioactivity’

The nation’s weather agency considered creating an artificial rainstorm above the Taebaek Mountains along the eastern coast to block the inflow of radioactive materials from Japan’s crippled nuclear plant, an opposition legislator said Wednesday.Rep. Shin Hak-yong of the Democratic Party said he was told that the Korea Meteorological Agency attempted the rainmaking despite the possibility of causi

Politics April 6, 2011

Radioactive water leak into sea stops at Fukushima

(Yonhap News)Radioactive water leak into sea stops at FukushimaTOKYO (AFP) - A leak of highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant was stopped Wednesday, the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) announced."Workers confirmed at 5:38 am (2038 GMT) that the water running off out of a pit had stopped," the embattled operator said in a statement.TE

Politics April 6, 2011

President Lee pledges to share river development experience with Malaysia

President Lee Myung-bak said Tuesday that his government will share its experience of dredging and developing the country’s four main rivers with Malaysia ahead of summit talks with visiting Prime Minister Mohamed Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak later in the day.“The Malaysian prime minister said he wished to take a look at the four rivers being developed,” Lee said during an Arbor Day event in Yeoju, G

Politics April 5, 2011

President Lee pledges to share river development experience with Malaysia

Lee’s office puts brakes on legal compliance bill

Cheong Wa Dae said Monday it will take some time before giving the green light to a new bill requiring listed companies to hire legal experts.The National Assembly last month passed a revised commercial bill that requires all listed businesses to employ lawyers or law professors of more than five years’ experience to monitor for potential legal problems in addition to the counsels they already hav

Politics April 4, 2011

Lee replaces NIS deputy chiefs

President Lee Myung-bak has decided to replace two of the three deputy chiefs of the National Intelligence Service two months after the nation’s main spy agency’s failed attempt to steal information from a visiting Indonesian delegation caused diplomatic humiliation. Lee named Jeon Jae-man, diplomatic minister at the South Korean Embassy in Beijing, as the first deputy chief of the NIS, and Lee Jo

Politics April 4, 2011

N.K. tightens IT gadget control to block outside info

North Korea is taking steps to toughen control of IT gadgets such as computers and mobile phones to block outside information out of fears that the democratization movements in the Middle East and northern Africa could arouse its people.Pyongyang has ordered institutions and households to report on how many computers and even portable data storage devices such as USBs and MP3 players they own earl

Politics April 1, 2011

Lee apologizes for canceled airport plan

President vows to complete military reform, reinforce Dokdo sovereigntyPresident Lee Myung-bak on Friday apologized for failing to keep his election pledge to build a new international airport in the southeastern part of the country and said that the high-speed KTX train network would help reduce inconvenience for people traveling abroad.“I am sorry that (the government) failed to keep the pledge

Politics April 1, 2011

Lee apologizes for canceled airport plan

SNU head hassled over school reform plan

The president of South Korea’s leading university was trapped in his office almost overnight on Friday when a group of staff and students staged a protest outside his door to demand a role in the school’s process of gaining independence from state control.Some 400 staff and students at Seoul National University sat in the hallway outside President Oh Yeon-cheon’s office for almost 12 hours until 3

Social Affairs April 1, 2011

Rights watchdog opposes U.S.-style plea bargaining

South Korea’s human rights watchdog said Friday it is against the government’s move to adopt a U.S.-style plea bargain system.The proposed system would allow prosecutors to either drop an indictment or give a lenient sentence to a suspect in return for his admission of wrongdoing and testimony.The decision by the National Human Rights Commission came after the Justice Ministry in December asked th

Social Affairs April 1, 2011

Park counters Lee’s decision on airport

Lee to speak on broken election pledge FridayRep. Park Geun-hye, currently the ruling Grand National Party’s strongest presidential hopeful, on Thursday expressed regret over the government’s decision to chuck President Lee Myung-bak’s election pledge to build an airport in the southeastern part of the country, adding that Korea should keep pushing for it.The GNP’s factional leader and Lee’s polit

Politics April 1, 2011

Politicians decry canceled airport plan

Ministry ditches Lee’s election pledge, citing economic viabilityThe government’s decision to ditch a plan to build a new international airport in the southeastern part of the country drew angry backlash from legislators Wednesday ahead of the by-election next month as well as the general and presidential elections next year.The airport was one of President Lee Myung-bak’s election campaign pledge

Politics March 30, 2011

Articles by 김소현