Most Popular
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Hybe-Ador feud should have limited effect on Hybe's overall performance: analysts
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Second Gimpo civil servant found dead, after apologizing for not finishing work
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First-ever meeting of president, opposition chief set to finally happen
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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NewJeans' singles, Japanese debut to proceed as planned, despite Hybe-Ador feud
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Experts raise concerns about Japan putting pressure on Naver over Line
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Samsung mobile chief, Google device head meet in Seoul
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South Korea to launch space security center under spy agency
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More med professors to take day off each week while govt. urges them to stay
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Hybe refutes Ador CEO Min's denial of breach of trust
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International schools becoming alternative to early study abroad
International schools in Korea are hitting the spotlight as a competitive alternative to early study abroad. The schools have lower limits on Korean student enrollment than foreign schools in Korea, but their high fees have led to criticism that they provide an elite education that ordinary people cannot afford.Parents are attracted by schools that offer the same international curriculum as provided overseas but do not require them to live apart from their children. Study abroad has declined in
Social AffairsNov. 9, 2011
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U.S. budget cuts could affect Seoul’s fighter buy
Lockheed Martin says will seek solutions to keep price of its jet affordableAs the U.S. government considers reducing its budget for its next-generation fighter jet program, concerns have been raised over Seoul’s planned purchase of new combat aircraft.As part of its deficit reduction plan, Washington seeks to curtail its defense budget by around $450 billion over the next decade. It reportedly plans to make savings by scaling down or delaying its project to secure new fighter jets, namely F-35
DefenseNov. 9, 2011
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NGO helps through English education, human rights campaigning
This is part one in a two-part series about how PSCORE helps North Korean defectors. Read next week’s Sharing page for a look into the lives of defectors in South Korea. Outside of the Korean Peninsula -- and often within it -- North Korea receives little attention aside from the provocative, sometimes deadly behavior of its government and military. Less thought of are the oppressed people within North Korea and their troubles often remain overlooked even if they make the dangerous journey out.
Nov. 9, 2011
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South’s groups blast ministry’s N.K. aid monitoring request
Aid groups have criticized the Unification Ministry’s request that they monitor how their aid is being distributed in North Korea, saying it hampers their humanitarian efforts.The ministry has asked the aid groups to gain consent from the North to monitor activities as part of its efforts to enhance “transparency” in the distribution process and prevent the aid being passed to the North’s military.The groups have submitted to the ministry photos or video clips that show their aid has reached the
PoliticsNov. 9, 2011
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Morning rush hour adjusted for college test
The morning rush hour and public transportation schedule will be adjusted Thursday for the annual state-run examination for college admission.The College Scholastic Ability Test, a key decider of college entrance, will take place throughout the nation on Thursday.Government offices and companies with over 50 employees advised their employees on Wednesday to come to work one hour late to alleviate traffic for students heading to test sites, government officials said.And more subways trains and bu
Social AffairsNov. 9, 2011
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SK chairman faces embezzlement charges
State prosecutors said on Wednesday they had found enough circumstantial evidence to accuse SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won of embezzling at least 99.2 billion won ($88.8 million) in company funds to make up for the losses from his investment in futures. The prosecution is looking into materials confiscated from its raid a day earlier on five SK affiliates ― SK C&C, SK Holdings, SK Gas Co., SK Telecom and SK E&S ― as a prelude to summoning of suspects including Chey and his younger brother Jae-wo
Social AffairsNov. 9, 2011
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Hong to visit Cheong Wa Dae for reform talks
The ruling Grand National Party’s chairman Rep. Hong Joon-pyo seeks to meet with President Lee Myung-bak to suggest reforms to Cheong Wa Dae.“I shall talk directly with the president to discuss measures to innovate the administration,” said Rep. Hong in the party’s key officials’ meeting on Wednesday.“If the government-ruling party consensus is a priority in achieving reforms, that is what I intend to focus on.”Hong also pledged to open ears to all reform plans suggested from within the party an
PoliticsNov. 9, 2011
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Park foregoes formalities
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon will forego the traditional inauguration ceremonies, opting to make his pledge online, city official said Wednesday.According to a Seoul Metropolitan Government source, Park will hold his inauguration in his office and broadcast it live for an hour next Wednesday.“The Seoul city hall homepage will be revamped to feature the inauguration in a live streaming broadcast,” said the city official, who declined to give his name.“The inauguration preparations are being made to
Social AffairsNov. 9, 2011
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College admission in N.K. as tough as in South
North Korean students undergo grueling preparations and tough competition to enter prestigious universities just like those in South Korea, according to North Korea experts and defectors.Around this time, students in the North have a hectic schedule in preparation for a set of college entrance exams, just as South Korean students do, they said.Children in the communist state enter four years of elementary school at around eight and then six years of middle-high school, after which they decide wh
North KoreaNov. 9, 2011
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N.K. preparing to impact S. Korean elections
Seoul intensifies watch on pro-North websites, voting of overseas residentsElated by former civic activist and lawyer Park Won-soon’s recent election as Seoul mayor, North Korea is gearing up its offensive to influence the upcoming high-profile elections in South Korea through IT technology and refined tactics, observers in Seoul say. The communist North Korea, which is technically still at war with the South, has for years tried to wield influence over the presidential and parliamentary electi
North KoreaNov. 9, 2011
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Breakthrough may be in sight on FTA impasse
DP faces calls from within to compromiseProspects brightened for an end to parliamentary deadlock over the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement Wednesday, after the main opposition Democratic Party faced growing calls from within the party to drop its demand for the deal’s renegotiation. About half of the DP’s 87 lawmakers were reported to be supporting a concession plan, which calls on party leaders to back off from their initial demand that a set of Investor-State Dispute settlement clauses be dele
PoliticsNov. 9, 2011
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Education minister says will unveil 5 percent tuition cut plan
SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- The government is consulting with an association of university presidents about ways to curb expensive tuition costs and will soon unveil a plan to cut fees by 5 percent on average next year, the education minister said Wednesday. South Korean universities are under public
PoliticsNov. 9, 2011
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Hanjin Heavy reaches tentative settlement of labor dispute over layoffs
BUSAN, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction hammered out a tentative agreement with its unionized workers on Wednesday to end an 11-month-long labor dispute sparked by the shipmaker's massive layoffs. The provisional deal calls for the shipmaker to reinstate within one year 94 f
Social AffairsNov. 9, 2011
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Father gets suspended term for beating daughter with bamboo stick, physical workouts
A Seoul appellate court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling and sentenced the father of a teenage girl to a suspended prison term for beating her with a bamboo stick and forcing her to do long physical workouts.The father, identified as Choi, 48, was indicted last year on charges of harsh treat
Social AffairsNov. 9, 2011
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Senior actor found dead in apparent suicide
A senior South Korean actor was found dead in his small rented room on Tuesday of an apparent suicide, police said.Kim Choo-ryun, a 64-year-old actor who had his heyday in the 1970s, was found hanging in his studio in Gimhae, 449 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the police said.He seemed to have kille
Social AffairsNov. 8, 2011
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Cheonggyecheon teems with hazardous bacteria
A popular stream running through downtown Seoul, which is visited by millions of people annually, has been severely polluted by bacteria, a report by the city government showed Tuesday.According to the report, submitted to Seoul council member Jang Hwan-jin of the Democratic Party, parts of the Cheonggyecheon stream contain as many as 53 times the legal limit of colon bacillus. The standard for the number of bacteria for a body of water suitable for swimming is 1,000 per 100 milliliters.The stud
Social AffairsNov. 8, 2011
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S. Korean diplomat in Japan returns home to prepare for elections
A senior South Korean diplomat in Japan has resigned only nine months after taking office, citing preparations to run for next year’s parliamentary elections, an official said Tuesday.Kim Seok-ki, the consul general in Osaka, recently submitted his resignation to the presidential office and returned home on Monday, the Foreign Ministry official said.Kim has reportedly cited his plan to run in the parliamentary elections scheduled next April.The move comes nine months after the former police chie
Foreign AffairsNov. 8, 2011
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Park shifts focus from growth to employment
A growing sense of deprivation among people in their 20-40s, which saw them vote en masse for a nonpartisan contender in the Oct. 26 Seoul mayoral by-election, has pushed the presidential front-runner of the conservative ruling party to shift focus on economic policy from growth to employment.“From now on, the employment rate should be the main indicator for economic policies,” said Rep. Park Geun-hye of the Grand National Party at a seminar on ways to build a “Korean-style” welfare model last w
PoliticsNov. 8, 2011
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Maximum penalty for match-fixing rises to W50m
The government on Tuesday toughened punishments for match fixing in local professionals sports, in light of a major match-rigging scandal that shook the nation’s top division football league earlier this year.During a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae, the government passed a bill on revising the national sports promotion law, which governs sales of Sports Toto, the only licensed sports lottery in South Korea.Under the change, players or coaches who receive or demand bribes in attempts to fi
Social AffairsNov. 8, 2011
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Foreign wife a voice for multicultural families
First Mongolian native employed by central government ministryJeong Su-rim is an exceptional housewife, mother and public servant who still finds time to pursue further education. The 36-year-old mother cares for her two sons, who are nine and 11-years-old, while working a nine-to-six job at the Ministry of Gender Equality & Family, in the Multicultural Family Division.At night Jeong also attends graduate school courses at Seoul Women’s University to get her master’s in social welfare.Jeong migh
Social AffairsNov. 8, 2011