The Korea Herald

Korea expands job opportunities for high school graduates

The government should set a quota for the recruitment of high school graduates when hiring new employees, President Lee Myung-bak said Friday. Presiding over a meeting on his “fair society” campaign, he strongly challenged the deep-rooted workplace practice of favoring employees by school diploma ra

Politics Sept. 3, 2011

Ahn may run for Seoul mayor

Ahn Cheol-soo, a venture entrepreneur-turned-professor revered by many young Koreans, said Friday that he was considering running for Seoul mayor as an independent candidate in next month’s by-elections. Ahn Cheol-soo“I have not yet made up my mind,” Ahn told reporters in Seoul, denying a news

Politics Sept. 2, 2011

China replaces deputy envoy on North Korea: source

China has replaced its deputy negotiator to the stalled six-party talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs, a diplomatic source in Seoul said Thursday. Yang Houlan, who has held the post since February 2009, was recently appointed as China’s ambassador to Nepal in a “regular” reshuffle

North Korea Sept. 1, 2011

Rival parties agree to handle FTA with U.S. in same pace with U.S. Congress

Rival parties agreed Thursday to begin the ratification process for the long-pending free trade agreement with the United States in the same pace with the U.S. Congress, officials said.The last-minute compromise averted a feared clash between the rival parties. Opposition lawmakers had hinted at the

Politics Sept. 1, 2011

Government ordered to pay for cleanup around U.S. base

A Seoul court has ordered the South Korean government to compensate the Seoul city government for environmental damage caused by an oil leak from a U.S. military camp here, the city said Thursday.The Seoul Central District Court handed down the ruling in favor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, w

Defense Sept. 1, 2011

S. Korea to call for boycott of tours to N. Korean mountain resort

South Korea will ask the United States, China and Japan to prevent their citizens from visiting a troubled mountain resort in North Korea, a Seoul official said Tuesday.The move comes as the isolated communist country is seeking to attract foreign tourists to Mount Kumgang as part of its attempts to

North Korea Aug. 30, 2011

Court says Seoul‘s inaction over former ‘comfort women’ unconstitutional

A top South Korean court said Tuesday that it is unconstitutional for the government to make no tangible effort to settle disputes with Japan over its refusal to compensate Korean women mobilized as sex slaves during its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.The Constitutional Court ruled in

Social Affairs Aug. 30, 2011

Profiles of minister designates

Yu Woo-ikUnification MinisterYu Woo-ik, 61, former ambassador to China, mapped out several of President Lee Myung-bak’s major policies. He was the first chief of staff under the Lee administration in 2008. Yu is said to have designed the grand canal plan, which later became the controversial four-ri

Politics Aug. 30, 2011

Seoul calls for Tokyo to ‘look squarely at its past’

South Korea on Tuesday urged Japan’s new government to “look squarely at its past,” setting a brusque tone following reinforced Japanese moves to lay claim to the South’s easternmost islets of Dokdo. Japan’s parliament approved former finance minister Yoshihiko Noda as the new prime minister earlier

Foreign Affairs Aug. 30, 2011

Language program bridges Korea, the world

TaLK volunteer teachers from English-speaking countries help rural kids learn languageYEONGI, South Chungcheong Province ― Benjamin Stevens, 24, first came to Korea with his mother for a seminar nine years ago. Fascinated by Korea, he wanted to come back, and realized his dream thanks to the TaLK (T

Social Affairs Aug. 29, 2011

Language program bridges Korea, the world

Wheelchair-bound young researcher’s passionate life

Shin battles muscular atrophy to study computer scienceIn cyberspace, young researcher Shin Hyung-jin feels as though he is Detective Conan, the Japanese manga character who solves criminal cases with brilliant ideas. Though the wheelchair-bound 28-year-old is too disabled to move a finger and is sm

Social Affairs Aug. 26, 2011

Wheelchair-bound young researcher’s passionate life

Russia seeks N.K. guarantee on gas pipe

Envoy: First economic multilateral deal with Pyongyang could benefit allNorth Korea’s reclusive leader Kim Jong-il is visiting Russia this week for the first time since 2002 hoping to score political, economic and diplomatic support for several key projects. On the Russian front, the conditions were

Foreign Affairs Aug. 23, 2011

Inflation fuels convenience store boom

More singles, young couples are drawn to easy access, small-quantity itemsA modestly sized convenience store in a southern Seoul neighborhood seems unusually packed for a late weekday night. What’s more unusual is the composition of the crowd. Instead of drunken men who used to dominate the store fo

Social Affairs Aug. 22, 2011

Seoul, Moscow set talks to promote nuclear cooperation

South Korea and Russia will hold the annual meeting of their joint nuclear cooperation committee this week to discuss ways to further increase their cooperation and strengthen their safety measures against nuclear accidents, the Seoul government said Monday.The meeting will be held in Seoul for two

Social Affairs Aug. 22, 2011

U.S. cautious on N.K. war dead offer

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The United States responded cautiously Friday to North Korea’s announcement it would discuss operations to locate U.S. dead from the 1950-53 Korean War, saying only that the issue was important.North Korea said it had accepted a U.S. proposal to talk about resuming searches for re

North Korea Aug. 21, 2011

Articles by Chun Sung-woo