Most Popular
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1 in 3 Koreans live alone, family types becoming diverse
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Korea, Japan finance chiefs vow to tame rampant FX market volatility
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US 'incredibly concerned' about suspected NK-Iran military ties
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Sewol victims commemorated on tragedy's 10th anniversary
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K-pop group's manager dismissed for setting up spycam in theater dressing room
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K-pop singer lost consciousness after being hit by foul ball, cancels show
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Korean Muslim YouTuber's plan to build mosque in Incheon goes viral
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[Kim Seong-kon] Democracy and the future of South Korea
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Yoon's office denies considering liberal figures for key posts
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Why is Apple Pay struggling to get purchase in Korea?
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[Editorial] Flawed business practice
The South Korean government on Wednesday slapped a combined fine of 100 billion won ($72 million) on Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms for privacy violations, touching off a dispute about their business practices. The Personal Information Protection Commission fined Google 69.2 billion won and Meta 30.8 billion won for failing to clearly inform users and get their consent before collecting behavioral data that they used to generate customized ads. The privacy panel said Google has not c
Sept. 20, 2022
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[Editorial] Legislation tyranny
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Wednesday proposed a bill that requires the Board of Audit and Inspection to receive approval from the National Assembly before launching inspections on particular issues. It is unprecedented and inappropriate for a majority party to seek to control the government watchdog agency. The bill requires the board to submit inspection plans to related standing committees of the National Assembly for approval and later report inspection results to the As
Sept. 19, 2022
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[Editorial] ‘Deplorable’ power project
President Yoon Suk-yeol’s choice of adjective to describe his feeling about the news that a power project of the previous Moon Jae-in administration resulted in wasting a huge amount of taxpayers’ money was “deplorable.” “It's deplorable that taxpayers' money, which should be spent on supporting the welfare of struggling citizens, was used for corrupt acts by cartels with vested interests," Yoon told reporters on his way to work on Thursday. He said t
Sept. 16, 2022
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[Editorial] Beef up economic diplomacy
US President Joe Biden on Monday signed an executive order to launch the National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative. It lays out a strategy to reduce reliance on China in the biomedical field while bolstering the US biomanufacturing industry. It is likely the executive order will weaken the competitiveness of Korean biomedical companies that are strong in contract production. They are feared to suffer damage as in the case of the Inflation Reduction Act. The act calls for suspension
Sept. 15, 2022
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[Editorial] Privacy of phone calls
A number of South Koreans opt for smartphones made by Samsung Electronics, rather than those by its US rival Apple for mainly two killer apps. One is Samsung Pay, a mobile payment service, and the other is a built-in call recorder. Both functionalities are not available on iPhones. That may change as local media have reported that Apple is reportedly preparing to launch its own mobile pay service here in partnership with a local credit card firm, effectively removing one reason to buy Samsung ph
Sept. 14, 2022
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[Editorial] Suspicions circling Lee
Lee Hwa-young, the former vice governor of Gyeonggi Province who is said to be close to Lee Jae-myung, the new leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, is under the prosecution's investigation for allegedly taking a bribe from Ssang Bang Wool, a clothing company. Currently, he is chief executive of the Korea International Exhibition Center, which is affiliated with the provincial government. He resigned as an outside director of Ssang Bang Wool in June 2018 when Lee Jae-myun
Sept. 13, 2022
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[Editorial] Be agile
The United States is moving fast to ward off China’s challenge for high-technology supremacy. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced Tuesday that the Biden administration was preparing to divvy up $50 billion in federal assistance to the chip industry as part of a new law known as the US Chips and Science Act. She said that with the funding, the US will make sure it is never again in a position where its national security interests are compromised. US tech companies that receive f
Sept. 9, 2022
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[Editorial] Demographic crisis
It is widely known that South Korea confronts a toxic mix of a record-low fertility rate and a rapidly aging population. Even Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk has his own view about these Korean issues. “South Korea is currently tracking to lose about half its population roughly every generation. Long lifespan hides the dire nature of the problem,” the world’s richest person said on Twitter. Musk’s tweet was in response to a question from a Twitter user citing an artic
Sept. 8, 2022
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[Editorial] Rectify education
The Ministry of Education unveiled draft guidelines on the writing of Korean history textbooks for middle and high schools and social studies textbooks for elementary schools on Aug. 31. Middle and high school textbooks and elementary school textbooks, for which draft guidelines were disclosed this time, will be used at schools from 2025 and 2026, respectively. Korean history is not a standalone subject at elementary schools. Elementary school students learn it as part of social studies. Under
Sept. 7, 2022
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[Editorial] Taxi fare dispute
The city of Seoul’s plan to raise taxi fares from next year is sparking disputes over whether it could be a viable solution to the deepening shortage of nighttime taxis. The Seoul Metropolitan Government recently filed a plan for the taxi fare hike to the Seoul Metropolitan Council, as a growing number of people find it extremely difficult to hail a taxi at night in crowded places like the Gangnam Station area in southern Seoul. Under the plan, the basic fare would jump to 4,800 won ($3.50
Sept. 6, 2022
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[Editorial] Answer summons
Lee Jae-myung, the new leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, condemned the prosecution on Friday for summoning him over suspicions that he spread false information in violation of the election law. He was called to show up at a prosecution office on Tuesday for a voluntary interview with prosecutors. He said the prosecution was trying to pick holes off the mark in what he said, now that it found nothing wrong about him personally. The party has reacted strongly against the inv
Sept. 5, 2022
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[Editorial] Protect teachers
It is widely accepted that today’s students do not respect teachers as much as their parents did decades ago -- a sign of inevitable changes in South Korea’s education culture. Gone are the days when teachers had enjoyed strong authority in the classroom, even over unruly students. Nowadays, misbehaving pupils perceive teachers as easy targets of their verbal, sexual or other types of abuses. A striking example is a recent video clip of a middle school student lying on the teacher&rs
Sept. 2, 2022
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[Editorial] No wasting budget
The government unveiled next year’s budget to be proposed to the National Assembly for approval, and it is 6 percent less than this year’s total expenditure, when including supplementary budgets. No supplementary budgets were drawn up yet for next year. It is the first time in 13 years that the government budget bill is smaller than its total expenditure a year earlier. The government said the belt tightening was intended to curtail the ballooning fiscal deficit. This is the right di
Sept. 1, 2022
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[Editorial] Lee’s chance to restart
Lee Jae-myung, who lost the presidential election to Yoon Suk-yeol by a slim margin in March, has reemerged as a key political leader representing the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. Lee won a total of 77.7 percent of the votes to become the chairman of the Democratic Party during the party’s national convention Sunday, suggesting that he enjoys predominant support from fellow party members. Furthermore, four of the five Supreme Council members are pro-Lee lawmakers. The Democra
Aug. 31, 2022
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[Editorial] Unite in times of crisis
The governing People Power Party fell in a great confusion as the court granted its former leader Lee Jun-seok’s request for an injunction to invalidate the party’s decision to go into an emergency mode and suspended the leader of its emergency council. The party is teetering again after its National Assembly members at their general meeting resolved to seek a further disciplinary action against Lee and form a new emergency council while keeping Kweon Seong-dong as floor leader to m
Aug. 30, 2022
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[Editorial] Keep fighting inflation
The Bank of Korea raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point Thursday in a bid to tame stubbornly high inflation. The central bank’s fourth rate hike in a row, however, did not come as a surprise, as the market had been expecting such a move. Nonetheless, the problems lurking behind the continued rate hike by the BOK remain as serious as ever. First, it comes in response to almost 24-year-high increases in consumer prices -- 6.3 percent recorded in July compared wit
Aug. 29, 2022
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[Editorial] Stop dawdling
The special inspector of the presidential office probes allegations involving the president‘s spouse, close relatives and senior presidential secretaries. If the National Assembly recommends three candidates, the president nominates one of them and appoints the special inspector after a parliamentary confirmation hearing. The presidential office said Monday that it is waiting for the National Assembly to recommend candidates. It reaffirmed that Yoon will appoint a special inspector on
Aug. 26, 2022
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[Editorial] Currency turmoil
The South Korean currency market is now in turmoil as the local currency continues to depreciate sharply against the US dollar, sparking worries about speculative trading and its negative impacts on the broader economy. Warning signs came on Monday when the Korean won tumbled below the 1,340 level during trading hours before settling at 1339.8 won per US dollar. On Tuesday, the country’s foreign exchange authorities verbally warned to tame the fall, but the local currency skidded to clos
Aug. 25, 2022
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[Editorial] Mutual respect needed
South Korea and China on Wednesday mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Their foreign ministers signed a joint statement on the establishment of diplomatic relations on Aug. 24, 1992, in Beijing, China. The two countries ended four decades of hostility from the 1950-1953 Korean War -- though the end of the war was not declared -- and normalized their diplomatic relations. Their relations have since made leaps and bounds largely thanks to geographical proximi
Aug. 24, 2022
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[Editorial] Health insurance problem
South Korea boasts of a solid and affordable public health insurance system compared to other countries. Unlike the United States, for instance, it is rare to catch hospitals issuing Korean patients with surprise medical bills for relatively simple treatments at hospitals. Although the national health system is far from perfect, it has been dependable for decades, due largely to the government’s systematic and detailed control over the items eligible for public insurance coverage and pri
Aug. 23, 2022