“Gangnam Style” seems to finally be getting noticed in Japan. Last week the Japanese Internet news outlet RBB Today revealed that Psy’s music video had ranked No. 1 as the most-clicked video on YouTube Japan.Ever since it was first uploaded onto YouTube in July, Psy’s ubiquitous viral hit and the horse-dancing craze seemed to be spreading everywhere, except in Japan. Although K-pop music tends to attract a large number of Japanese fans, these fans had not been jumping on the bandwagon of Gangnam

한국어판 Dec. 28, 2012

The number of cancer patients in Korea reached 1 million last year while their survival rates rose from a decade ago, a report showed on Thursday.According to a joint survey by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Cancer Center, Korea had a total of 960,654 patients and survivors ― diagnosed with cancer between 1999 and 2010 ― last year.About 200,000 new cancer cases were found in 2010 alone, up 4 percent from a year earlier, the report add.The statistics showed that both five-yea

한국어판 Dec. 28, 2012

Starship Entertainment announced that Sistar19, a subunit of the sexy K-pop girl group Sistar, will be making a comeback in January. Sistar19, consisting of members Hyo-rin and Bo-ra, first debuted in 2011 with the release of the single “Ma Boy.” However, the subunit has not been active since then, rather participating as members of the four-member group Sistar, releasing their album “So Cool” in August of the same year and clinching the top spot on the Billboard K-pop Top 100 charts for the fir

한국어판 Dec. 28, 2012

Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho will sign up as a candidate for director-general of the World Trade Organization, the ministry said Friday."The government has decided that Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho will run for WTO director-general to be elected by late May next year. His candidacy will be registered through the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the U.N. Secretariat and International Organizations in Geneva,"  the ministry said in a statement.Incumbent WTO director-general Pascal Lamy’s

Dec. 28, 2012

South Korea spends much less on public welfare than most other advanced countries compared to its gross domestic product (GDP), but the growth rate of its social expenditure far outpaces them, a report showed Wednesday.According to the report by the state-run Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, the ratio of South Korea's welfare spending to its GDP stood at 9.4 percent in 2009, the second lowest among 30 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The

Social Affairs Dec. 26, 2012

North Korea on Tuesday blasted a recent report by the U.S. National Intelligence Council (NIC) that cited growing concerns surrounding Pyongyang's nuclear proliferation.In an article carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea claimed allegations and concerns raised by the NIC were nothing more than sophistry and lies.It said Washington is using a nonexistent threat to justify the deployment of its own nuclear arsenal and its so-called nuclear umbrella policy.The NIC,

North Korea Dec. 25, 2012

South Korean rapper Psy, who has galloped to superstardom with his trade mark horse-riding dance, has been chosen as the eighth most intriguing figure on the planet this year, according to an internet survey by the U.S. cable news channel CNN.The music video of Psy's "Gangnam Style" became the most-viewed YouTube clip last week, topping 1 billion hits.CNN selected the 35-year-old Park and 19 other people who captured the world's attention in 2012 and conducted an online poll of the candidates. A

People Dec. 25, 2012

Thousands of Christians from the world over packed Manger Square in Bethlehem Monday to celebrate the birth of Jesus in the ancient West Bank town where he was born.For their Palestinian hosts, this holiday season was an especially joyous one, with the hardships of the Israeli occupation that so often clouded previous Christmas Eve celebrations eased by the United Nations' recent recognition of an independent state of Palestine.Festivities led up to the Midnight Mass at St. Catherine's Church, n

World News Dec. 25, 2012

Iran's top defense official formally denied any missile cooperation with North Korea, a news report said Monday."Recent claims made by certain countries about missile cooperation between Iran and North Korea are merely speculations,"Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi was quoted as saying.China's Xinhua news agency picked up his comments as reported by a local TV station.There have been media reports that Iranian defense officials recently visited North Korea for bilateral missile cooperation.

North Korea Dec. 25, 2012