Most Popular
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'Super Rich in Korea' will leave viewers appreciating Korea more: producers
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Probe of first lady on Dior bag allegations set to begin
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Top prosecutor pledges 'speedy, strict' probe into first lady's luxury bag allegations
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Indonesia’s KF-21 fighter jet deal cut back -- what’s next?
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[KH Explains] Can tech firms' AI alliances take on Nvidia?
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Korean battery makers heave sigh of relief over 2-year IRA reprieve
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Police seek arrest warrant for med student who killed girlfriend
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Over 80,000 millionaires, 20 billionaires in Seoul: report
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Local filmmakers criticize ‘The Roundup: Punishment’ monopoly of screens
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Will China's self-sufficient dream in HBM come true?
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[Editorial] Focus on the goal
Tensions between the US and North Korea and between South and North Korea are heightening simultaneously. The US and the North swiftly entered a tense mode as Pyongyang condemned Washington’s stance in its North Korea policy, of which the White House is said to have completed its review. Inter-Korean ties were further strained as the North threatened the South with corresponding action for the recent release of anti-North Korean leaflets by a group of North Korean defectors. It is hard
May 5, 2021
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[Editorial] Excessive burden
The heirs of the late Samsung Group chief Lee Kun-hee on Friday paid 2 trillion won ($1.79 billion) toward their 12 trillion won-plus inheritance tax bill. The remaining amount, which exceeds the 10.6 trillion won collected in inheritance taxes throughout the country from 2017 to 2019, will be paid in installments over the next five years. Lee, who died in October, left an estate that was estimated to be worth more than 26 trillion won, including about 19 trillion won in stocks in key companies
May 4, 2021
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[Editorial] Vaccine drought
The disease control authorities asked front-line agencies Friday to temporarily stop reserving initial shots of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, currently limited to those aged 75 and above. The authorities asked them to refrain from booking initial Pfizer shots so that seniors could get their second doses without a hitch, citing a possible temporary imbalance of supply and demand. South Korea is running short of Pfizer vaccine. It has so far brought in about 2.11 million doses, enough to inoc
May 3, 2021
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[Editorial] Due consideration
The heirs of late Samsung Group chief Lee Kun-hee announced Wednesday they would pay more than 12 trillion won ($10.8 billion) in inheritance tax, the largest in the country’s history. The amount is about three times as large as the total inheritance taxes collected in South Korea last year. Lee, who died in October, is survived by his wife, only son, Jae-yong, and two daughters. He left assets estimated to top 26 trillion won, including around 19 trillion won in stocks in key companies a
April 30, 2021
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[Editorial] Uneven playing field
The acquisition of real estate by foreign nationals in South Korea has surged, fueling an already overheated property market. Some of those properties have been purchased through financial misconduct, intensifying concerns about the inflow of foreign capital. The government needs to regulate real estate acquisitions by foreign nationals. According to the Korea Real Estate Board, the number of transactions by foreigners in residential buildings -- apartments, detached houses, multiplex housing
April 29, 2021
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[Editorial] Ballooning debt
A report released by a state-run research institute last week rings the alarm about the mounting debts of South Korea’s public corporations. Debt owed by nonfinancial public companies accounted for 23.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product in 2017, the highest but for Norway among the comparable 33 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to the paper from the Korea Development Institute. The figure far exceeds the OECD average of 12.
April 28, 2021
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[Editorial] Brace for contingency
The government said Saturday that it has signed a deal with Pfizer to import additional coronavirus vaccine doses for 20 million people from the US pharmaceutical giant. With the latest deal, South Korea has secured enough Pfizer vaccine for 33 million people, including the doses it secured in December last year and February this year. The deal will also raise the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses the country has so far secured to an amount enough to inoculate 99 million people. This is
April 27, 2021
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[Editorial] On firm ground
It is uneasy to see both the judiciary and administration of South Korea as inconsistent in handling sensitive cases with Japan. A panel of judges at the Seoul Central District Court last week dismissed a suit filed by South Korean victims of wartime sexual slavery against the Japanese government. In January, another judge of the same court ordered Tokyo to make reparations of 100 million won ($89,500) to each of a separate group of victims who had brought a similar case. Foreign Minister Chun
April 26, 2021
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[Editorial] Threat to freedom of speech
An amendment bill on press arbitration proposed by Choe Kang-wook and two other lawmakers of the Open Democratic Party and nine lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea was referred to a National Assembly committee on Monday. They say it was drawn up to remedy the damage caused by fake news, but it seriously threatens freedom of speech, one of the most important roots of democracy. Its point is to change the Press Arbitration Commission into the Press Commission and place it under the
April 23, 2021
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[Editorial] Job losses
The country recorded the first net increase in employment in 13 months last month, in what government officials described as the latest sign that the labor market is improving after a yearlong slump mainly caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The number of employed people reached 26.92 million in March, an increase of 314,000 from a year earlier, according to data released by Statistics Korea last week. Buoyed by the figures, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, who concurrently serves as deputy prime
April 22, 2021
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[Editorial] Put alliance at center
The first US-Japan summit of the Joe Biden administration, as expected, dealt with the need for a united front against China as its top priority. The leaders of both countries focused on putting pressure on China in many areas, including technology. They also reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea. The two leaders agreed on the importance of trilateral cooperation among the US, South Korea and Japan in security and prosperity. Japan got closer to the US
April 21, 2021
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[Editorial] No fundamental shift
President Moon Jae-in reshuffled his Cabinet and senior secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae on Friday. Clearly, he intended to give fresh impetus to his leadership amid the fallout from his party’s crushing defeat in key mayoral by-elections early this month. With slightly more than a year to go before his five-year tenure ends, Moon’s approval rating continues to fall as many people are increasingly disappointed and disillusioned with what they see as his substandard performance. His supp
April 20, 2021
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[Editorial] Democracy setbacks
The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan caucus of the US House of Representatives, hosted a hearing Thursday on South Korea’s law that criminalizes the dispersal of propaganda leaflets to North Korea. Witnesses raised concerns that the law may limit the freedom of speech of South Koreans and others working to promote human rights. They criticized not only the law but also human rights and democracy in South Korea. Gordon Chang, an expert on North Korea, said that the Sout
April 19, 2021
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[Editorial] Due concerns
President Moon Jae-in came forward Wednesday to add weight to Seoul’s response to a controversial decision made by Tokyo a day earlier to discharge contaminated wastewater from a crippled nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. While meeting with Japan’s new ambassador here, Koichi Aiboshi, to receive his credentials, Moon said there is great concern among South Koreans, as the two nations are geographically close to each other and have shared waters. He asked the envoy to conve
April 16, 2021
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[Editorial] Embrace Oh policies
The principal concern about the municipal administration under Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon of the main opposition party is the clash between his policies and those of the central government. Particularly striking are real estate issues, which were the biggest point of contention in the April 7 Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections. Regarding housing supply plans, the two sides take different approaches. The government focuses on public rental housing, while Oh seeks to activate private redevelopmen
April 15, 2021
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[Editorial] No more ambiguity
South Korean officials have repeatedly said Seoul has not been officially invited by Washington to join the US-led Quad group also involving Australia, India and Japan. The line was repeated once again Sunday when the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae denied a report by a Japanese daily newspaper that US national security adviser Jake Sullivan had strongly requested Seoul join the quadrilateral framework during a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Suh Hoon early this month. Speaking
April 14, 2021
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[Editorial] Go all out for vaccines
The use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine against COVID-19 resumed for the under-60s Monday, except for those aged 30 and below. South Korea suspended providing the AstraZeneca shot to people under 60 on Wednesday as Europe reviewed cases of blood clotting. It is an inevitable decision for the authorities to resume the rollout of administering AstraZeneca vaccines, considering South Korea’s shortage of vaccine supply in the first half of this year. The nation faces an emergency situation.
April 13, 2021
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[Editorial] Self-inflicted disgrace
A bipartisan caucus of the US House of Representatives is to hold a hearing this week on South Korea’s controversial legislation to ban the sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the inter-Korean border into the North. Five witnesses, including Suzanne Scholte, a US activist devoted to shedding light on the dire human rights situation in North Korea, will testify at the hearing scheduled for Thursday. The caucus, known as the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, said concerns had been e
April 12, 2021
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[Editorial] Stern judgment
The April 7 by-elections, regarded as a barometer for the presidential election about a year later, ended with a landslide win by an opposition party. Candidates of the conservative People Power Party won the posts of Seoul and Busan mayors at the same time. Choices facing voters focused on the judgment of the current regime, and they gave the ruling party a crushing defeat. The by-elections were similar to the April 15 general elections a year ago in view of issues and political situations. L
April 9, 2021
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[Editorial] Momentum sapped
The Moon administration must have been deeply frustrated, though not dismayed, at North Korea’s decision not to participate in the upcoming Tokyo Summer Olympics. The North announced Tuesday that its Olympics Committee held a general meeting March 25 and decided not to join the Tokyo Olympic Games, scheduled to start in July, to protect its athletes from the coronavirus pandemic. The global sports event was considered probably the last remaining chance to engage with the North before Pre
April 8, 2021