Most Popular
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Contentious grain bill put directly to plenary meeting for vote
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Yoon's approval rating plunges to all-time low
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Will tug-of-war between doctors, government end soon?
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Climate impacts set to cut 2050 global GDP by nearly a fifth
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Trilateral talks acknowledge ‘serious’ slumps of won, yen
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[Graphic News] More Koreans say they plan long-distance trips this year
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[KH Explains] Hyundai's full hybrid edge to pay off amid slow transition to pure EVs
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North Korea removes streetlights along cross-border roads with South
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Russia's denial of entry of S. Korean national unrelated to bilateral ties: Seoul official
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Farming households dip below 1m for first time in 2023
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Court sentences Korean-Chinese murderer to death
A local court on Friday sentenced to death a Korean-Chinese man accused of kidnapping, killing and chopping into pieces a woman in a high-profile case that led to the resignation of police chief Cho Hyun-oh.Oh Won-choon, or Wu Yuanchuan, 42, was arrested for abduction and murder of a 28-year-old woman in April in Suwon, south of Seoul. He is also accused of dismembering the victim’s body, carving out 365 pieces of her flesh. “Capital punishment is unavoidable for the defendant, who, despite havi
June 15, 2012
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Korea to push forward new medical pricing plan
Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said Friday that the government will push forward with its plan to set fixed prices on seven different medical treatments despite objections from doctors’ groups.The government announced earlier that it will introduce the Diagnosis-Related Group pricing system for treatment of seven common illnesses, such as cataracts and hemorrhoids, starting on July 1 as a part of its health care reform. Under the new system, patients diagnosed with the seven diseases will be charg
June 15, 2012
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Korean-Chinese man gets death penalty for Suwon murder
A Korean-Chinese man accused of kidnapping and killing a 28-year-old woman was sentenced to death Friday, two months after the high-profile murder that also exposed the carelessness of the police.The Suwon District Court in Suwon, south of Seoul, handed down the death penalty to Wu Yuanchun, 42, citing the ruthlessness of his crime and his lack of remorse."The defendant killed the victim with sini
June 15, 2012
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Power outage halts LCD production at Samsung plant
A power failure at a Samsung plant in the western city of Asan briefly halted production of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, the company said Friday, leading to concerns about its economic impact.The power cut occurred at around 9:05 p.m. Thursday and lasted about 11 minutes before electricity was restored to the production line in Asan, about 95 kilometers south of Seoul, according to an offi
June 15, 2012
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Top court orders recalculation of forfeiture amount for Chun
The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a retrial of Sejoong Namo Tour chairman Chun Shin-il, a close friend of President Lee Myung-bak, who was convicted of bribery, saying that the amount of money to be forfeited was wrongly calculated.Last December, Seoul’s appellate court meted out a two-year jail term along with a forfeiture of some 3.21 billion won ($2.75 million) in restitution for his bribery conviction.The top court said that income taxes should be subtracted from the forfeiture in the ca
June 14, 2012
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Korean discipline is our core value: N.Y. high school founder
The Korean way of learning is making for a success story in New York City’s Harlem, thanks to a devoted educator who prioritizes discipline, enthusiasm and accountability.Democracy Prep High School opened in 2006 in the northern Manhattan neighborhood. It is the first school in the city offering regular Korean language courses.The majority students are African-American and Hispanic, and although currently there is no single Korean or even Asian student at the school, all the students are require
June 14, 2012
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Wartime sex slavery victim Kim Hwa-seon dies
Kim Hwa-seon, a Korean victim of forced sexual slavery during the Japanese colonial period, died Wednesday.Kim died of natural causes at a hospital in Gwangju, according to the House of Sharing, an organization for the so-called comfort women. She was 86.Kim was taken by Japan’s Imperial Army to Singapore in 1941. After Korea’s independence she lived alone in the city of Daejeon until she moved to live at the House of Sharing in 2011. The number of women staying at the facility has been reduced
June 14, 2012
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High school teacher probed for gambling with students
Education officials said Thursday they are investigating a high school teacher who allegedly gambled with students.The 48-year-old teacher, whose identity was withheld, allegedly played traditional card games with five students for an hour during a field trip last month, according to the North Gyeongsang Province Office of Education. Officials said the teacher had initially tried to persuade the students to go to sleep. But when they refused, he started gambling to “soothe” them.The students’ pa
June 14, 2012
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Bodies of Peru crash victims to be flown home this week
The bodies of eight South Koreans killed in a recent chopper crash in Peru will be brought home this week as they have been exempted from undergoing autopsies, officials said Wednesday.The bodies currently lie in a morgue in the southeastern city of Cusco, where they have been identified through dental records and by their families. They were expected to undergo autopsies as required under Peruvia
June 14, 2012
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Police arrest 15-yr-old Ottawa girls for trafficking
Two 15-year-old girls have been arrested for human trafficking in Ottawa and another 17-year-old girl was being sought Tuesday for her alleged role in forcing teens into prostitution, police said."It's shocking," police spokesman Staff Sergeant John McGetrick said of the pimping case.Ottawa police said they found three female victims, aged 13 to 17 years, who had been lured to a Walkley Road resid
June 14, 2012
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Illegal surveillance targeted prominent figures: prosecutors
Names on list included Samsung’s Lee, chief justice, police chiefOpposition politicians lashed out at prosecutors for watering down their investigation into the government’s illegal surveillance of civilians after they closed the case on Wednesday without charging any additional high-level suspects.The prosecutors announced that the illegal surveillance activities of the defunct ethics division of the Prime Minister’s Office was overseen by former vice minister of knowledge economy Park Young-jo
June 13, 2012
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Seoul schools to get solar panels
Over 1,000 schools in Seoul will get solar panels installed on their roofs by 2014, under a campaign led by the municipal government, city education authority and a civic group.Mayor Park Won-soon, Educational Superintendent Kwak No-hyun and representatives of a group called Seoul Citizens’ Solar Power Plant kicked off the campaign at a ceremony in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, on Wednesday. The movement aims to draw investment from ordinary citizens to build solar panels on schools and other publ
June 13, 2012
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Ministry warns against doctors’ protest over change of pricing
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Wednesday that it would seek to penalize doctors who go on strike against diagnosis-related group pricing system.The strike, due to start July 1, is against the government’s policy to slash health insurance expenditure and is expected to cause chaos in the national medical industry. “It is a shame that some of the facts have been distorted. The DRG-pricing system has been supported by about 80 percent of medical institutions nationwide and its effectivenes
June 13, 2012
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Seoul to build solar power plants in 1,000 schools
The Seoul municipal government said Wednesday it is seeking to build solar power facilities at about 1,000 of its schools in an effort to cope with the effects of global climate change.The city signed an agreement with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and a local environmental organization, officials said, as part of its measures to conserve energy and reduce the country's reliance on nu
June 13, 2012
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Busan teenager stabs father to death
A teenager in Busan is in custody and facing a charge of patricide for stabbing his father to death after being scolded, police said Wednesday.The furious 18-year-old son allegedly followed his father into the bathroom and stabbed him late Tuesday after being told off about a fight he had with a younger sibling, according to the police.The father, 47, was immediately taken to a nearby hospital for
June 13, 2012
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Arrest warrant sought for ex-tax official in savings bank bribery
Prosecutors said Wednesday they have sought a warrant to arrest a former tax official over graft allegations as part of an investigation into financial irregularities involving suspended savings banks.The former official who is only identified by his surname Nam is suspected of receiving 100 million won (US$85,689) from Solomon Savings Bank between late 2009 and early 2010, when he was serving at
June 13, 2012
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Unions take minimum wage row to ILO
Korea’s two largest labor groups filed a complaint with the International Labor Organization, accusing the government of breaching a global pact on minimum wages, officials of the two groups said Tuesday. The Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which together represent 1.5 million workers, claimed that the Korean government’s unilateral appointment of a third of the members of the board that sets the minimum wage resulted in a significant slowdown in w
June 12, 2012
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Jogye claims monks were spied on
Nation’s largest Buddhist order demands prosecution investigate allegationThe nation’s largest Buddhist order on Tuesday lambasted the Lee Myung-bak administration over allegations that its top officials were placed under illegal surveillance by the defunct ethics division of the Prime Minister’s Office. According to the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the team spied on Ven. Boseon, chief of its central council, and Ven. Jikwan, head of the order’s administrative body, between 2005 and 2009.“It
June 12, 2012
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Families of chopper crash victims arrive in Peru
CUSCO, Peru (Yonhap News) ― The families of four of the 14 people killed in a recent helicopter crash in Peru arrived in the South American country Monday as local police stepped up efforts to identify the bodies, including those of eight South Koreans.The bereaved family members of South Koreans Kim Hyo-jun, 48, and Woo Sang-dae, 39, flew into the southeastern city of Cusco, where the bodies lie in a morgue.The two men were among a group of construction and engineering officials sent last week
June 12, 2012
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U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon ins Seoul Peace Prize
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was named Tuesday the winner of this year’s Seoul Peace Prize for his campaigning for women, children, poor countries and Middle East democratization.He is the first Korean national to win the biennial prize since its establishment in 1990 in commemoration of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.“After a rigorous and careful screening process, the screening committee decided to award the Seoul Peace Prize to U.N. Secretary-General Ban in recognition of his great d
June 12, 2012