The Korea Herald

Adoptees advised on finding families

Sept 14, 2011

An organization helping Korean overseas adoptees will hold a birth family search workshop in Seoul this weekend.Global Overseas Adoptees Link is organizing the session to help adoptees understand the birth family search procedure and decide if it is the right step for them to take. Organizers stress
International protest for N.K. refugees

Sept 14, 2011

Human rights activists in Korea are to join an international protest to save North Korean refugees on Sept. 22.The event will see protesters take to the streets in 24 cities in 13 countries around the world. In Seoul, people will demonstrate for an end to China’s policy of forcibly repatriating Nort
Korea Hands redecorates remote houses

Sept 14, 2011

Twenty college students have painted and wallpapered houses for people living on a remote Korean island. The members of Korea Hands, the state-organized volunteer group, redecorated homes on Bigeum Island in Sinan County in South Jeolla Province from Sept. 2-3.The team, led by Health and Welfare Min
DMZ Docs fest to provoke thoughts of peace in Paju

Sept 14, 2011

Nuclear weapons and energy, a controversial naval base, sex education and disability are just some of the issues to be tackled at Korea’s demilitarized zone this month. The DMZ Docs festival will show international films based on peace, coexistence and reconciliation in Paju from Sept. 22―28. The mi
Sick of city life? Why not WWOOF?

Sept 14, 2011

Volunteers escape to the country by helping out on organic farmsGWANGCHEON, South Chungcheong Province ― While most people here enjoyed family celebrations over Chuseok, Anna Gennaro and Roberto Sella took the harvest festival literally by staying on a Korean farm.The Italian couple spent more than
[Editorial] R&D collaboration

EditorialSept 14, 2011

According to a report published by the National Science and Technology Council, the Korean government, research institutes, universities and corporations invested a total of 43.85 trillion won ($37.93 billion) in R&D in 2010, up 15.6 percent from the previous year. The high increase rate is notewort
[Editorial] Curbing household loans

EditorialSept 14, 2011

Last month, domestic banks were criticized for abruptly halting the extension of fresh loans to households. They took the surprise move to comply with the regulator’s policy to rein in household debt. But it was an act that totally ignored the inconvenience that people in urgent need of loans would
[Omar Ashour] Long journey from 9/11 to the Arab Spring

ViewpointsSept 14, 2011

CAIRO ― Al-Qaida’s operating environment today is vastly different from the one in which it launched its most notorious operation, the 9/11 terror attacks. Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida’s founder and charismatic leader, was killed by United States Navy Seals in Pakistan in May. Three brutal Middle East
[David Ignatius] The payoff of quiet leadership

ViewpointsSept 14, 2011

WASHINGTON ― Barack Obama got elected president in part because he promised to change the foreign-policy priorities of a Bush administration that was unpopular abroad, had strained relations with key allies and was facing a growing Iranian challenge and a continuing menace from al-Qaida. So wha
[William Pesek] Obama’s soul mate down under may be down

ViewpointsSept 14, 2011

It’s as predictable as political leadership gets: When things go awry at home, escape overseas for a while, grip and grin with a foreign head of state and change the subject. Barack Obama may have this tried-and-true strategy in mind as he plans to visit Australia, which is about as far as a U.S. pr
[Jaime O’Neill] Hard times have spawned great art, but not these hard times, it seems

ViewpointsSept 14, 2011

Economists and politicians told us that the recession was over, though some of them now worry about it taking a double dip. For those of us living farther from the ledger sheets and closer to the reality of what’s happening in our towns and on our streets, this has been and remains a depression. It’
[Shashi Tharoor] Hazare poses saintly challenge to Indian democracy

ViewpointsSept 14, 2011

NEW DELHI ― India is no stranger to protest movements, hunger strikes, and the mass mobilization of citizens for a popular cause. But the recent fast by the Gandhian leader Anna Hazare, culminating in an extraordinary session of Parliament to pass a resolution acceding to his main demands, marked a
U.S. hikers could be freed soon: Iran

World NewsSept 14, 2011

TEHRAN (AP) ― Iran’s president predicted Tuesday that two Americans arrested while hiking along the Iraq-Iran border and sentenced to eight years in jail on espionage-related charges could be freed “in a couple of days” after a court set bail of $500,000 each.The events appeared timed to boost the i
Gadhafi’s son, 3 generals seek asylum in Niger

World NewsSept 14, 2011

NIAMEY (AP) ― A son of Moammar Gadhafi and three of his generals were trying to gain political asylum Wednesday in this poor, landlocked nation at Libya’s feet, after a more than 1,600-kilometer drive across the vast desert that separates the two countries for what could be their only shot at refuge
Bus-train crash kills 11, injures 212 in Argentina

World NewsSept 14, 2011

BUENOS AIRES (AP) ― A bus driver gambled and tried to rush across railroad tracks Tuesday despite a barrier, bells and flashing lights, setting off a chain-reaction collision with two trains that killed 11 people and injured hundreds in Argentina’s capital.The shocking accident, captured on video, c