The Korea Herald

Korea plans to triple food exports by 2017

Sept 28, 2011

Korean Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan (left) shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Zhang Ping at the opening of the economic ministers’ meeting in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap News)The Agriculture Ministry announced on Wednesday its six-year plan to strengthen the food industry to match the soarin
Asbestos scare spreads to schools

Social affairsSept 28, 2011

Ministry inspects school playgrounds for cancer-causing agentFear of asbestos is spreading fast among the public after an environmental group claimed to have found high levels of the cancer-causing agent in many school playgrounds and baseball fields where professional games are held. The Education
LG files to ban sales of BMW, Audi cars here

IndustrySept 28, 2011

Two LG affiliates have filed a lawsuit to ban BWM and Audi’s local branches from selling cars fitted with Osram-made headlamps as part of their ongoing patent battle with the lightmaker, LG Electronics said on Wednesday. LG Electronics and LG Innotek said they are together seeking the sales injuncti
Weak won a major obstacle to stock gains

Sept 28, 2011

With fears about the eurozone debt crisis and a slower recovery of the U.S. economy weighing down investor sentiment, a recovery of the KOSPI hinges on the stabilization of the local currency, analysts said on Wednesday. (Yonhap News)The Korean stock market in the past week went through gyrati
N.K. succession appears smoother than expected

North KoreaSept 28, 2011

Experts cite Kim Jong-il’s health, economy as factors to affect power transfer to his sonNorth Korea’s second hereditary power succession plan has proceeded smoothly and systematically since the communist state essentially made it official a year ago that its leader’s third son Kim Jong-un was to su
N. Korea blames Libyan regime collapse on absence of nukes: outgoing British envoy

North KoreaSept 28, 2011

North Korean officials believe the Libyan regime would not have collapsed had it held on to its nuclear weapons, the outgoing British ambassador to Pyongyang said Wednesday, casting doubt on the likelihood that the North will relinquish its nuclear capabilities.The remarks by Ambassador Peter Hughes
Verdi opera gets modern makeover in Korea

TheaterSept 28, 2011

The National Opera Company of Korea’s upcoming production “Un Ballo in Maschera” (A Masked Ball) will be a modern reinterpretation of Verdi’s opera with urban stage designs and black-and-white lighting effects, opera director Jang Soo-dong said.The opera company is to showcase “Un Ballo in Maschera”
SKC completes EVA plant in United States

IndustrySept 28, 2011

SKC Inc., a South Korean industrial film maker, said Wednesday that it has completed an ethylene vinyl acetate plant in Georgia in the United States.The plant will annually produce 12,000 tons of EVA, a key component in making solar cells, raising the company’s total annual capacity of EVA to 36,000
Paju book fest to celebrate literature, history

BooksSept 28, 2011

Ko Un, Lee O-young, Richard Booth to participate in nine-day eventPaju Book City, home to some 260 Korean publishing companies in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, is throwing a book-themed festival from Oct. 1 to 9, celebrating literature and its history with highly acclaimed participants from home and abro
GNP leader’s Gaeseong visit may reduce tension

North KoreaSept 28, 2011

A planned visit to North Korea by a top right-wing South Korean politician is drawing attention as the two Koreas have been trying for months to thaw their icy ties.Hong Joon-pyo, chief of Seoul’s ruling Grand National Party, will travel to a joint factory park in North Korea’s Gaeseong on Friday to
London stages Shakespeare’s plays in 37 dialects

TheaterSept 28, 2011

LONDON (AFP) -- Actors from around the world will converge on London next year to stage all of Shakespeare’s plays in 37 different dialects and styles, from a hip-hop “Othello” to “The Comedy of Errors” in Farsi.The six-week marathon at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre begins on April 23 and is timed to
FTC to examine firms’ shared-growth efforts

IndustrySept 28, 2011

The Fair Trade Commission said on Wednesday that it will start a large-scale crackdown on unfair business practices next month, especially on high commission fees at major retail companies. The nation’s antitrust regulator revealed the plan on the first anniversary of the government’s shared-growth
Korea, China agree to tighten policy cooperation

Sept 28, 2011

Finance chiefs of Korea and China agreed to tighten policy cooperation to boost regional developments and seek solutions to social problems they share, Korea’s Finance Ministry said Wednesday. The agreement was reached during a four-hour meeting between Korean Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan and his C
Culture Ministry to honor contributors to Korean writing

CultureSept 28, 2011

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is to present an order of cultural merit to Nam Gi-sim, former chairman of the Korean Language Deliberation Council, and Vladimir Pucek, Korean language and literature professor at Charles University in Prague, in celebration of the upcoming Hangeul Day on
Journalist from SBS named Lee’s PR chief

PoliticsSept 28, 2011

Choe Guem-nakPresident Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday named SBS TV executive Choe Guem-nak as his top aide for public relations, hours after his predecessor went behind bars on charges of bribery. Hailing from Yeoju in Gyeonggi Province, Choe worked as a reporter at MBC before moving to SBS TV where he