The Korea Herald

S. Korean boy band hits Abbey Road

MusicJun 20, 2011

LONDON, June 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korean boy band SHINee put on a showcase at a famed recording studio here Sunday ahead of the release of their first Japanese single this week.In the latest sign of the growing popularity of Korean pop music, or "K-pop," the five-man dance and R&B unit was greeted by hundreds of fans from Britain and other nations around the world at the Abbey Road Studios. The Be
Hyundai Motor workers disciplined for online gambling at work

Social affairsJun 19, 2011

ULSAN, June 19 (Yonhap) -- An internal audit by Hyundai Motor Co. revealed that 97 workers have accessed Internet gambling sites at work, leading the company to discipline them for improper use of company computers, corporate officials said Sunday. The audit was launched in April after the company received a whistle-blower's tip that some employees on production lines were betting online with offi
Military won't reprimand Marines who mistakenly fired at civilian airliner

DefenseJun 19, 2011

SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military said Sunday it will not reprimand two Marines who fired rifles last week at a civilian jetliner after mistaking it for a North Korean military aircraft. The two Marines guarding an island near the tense Yellow Sea border with the North fired their K-2 rifles at the Asiana Airlines plane flying in sea fog in a pre-dawn incident on Friday. The plane
IMF says global recovery at risk

World BusinessJun 19, 2011

SAO PAULO (AFP) -- A fragile global economic recovery could falter unless Europe averts sovereign defaults, the United States gets its fiscal house in order and emerging economies prevent overheating, the IMF warned Friday.“There are very clear risks to the recovery,” the International Monetary Fund‘s research director, Olivier Blanchard, said in Sao Paulo as he presented the Fund’s latest update
U.N. to reelect Ban Ki-moon as chief this week

Foreign affairsJun 19, 2011

South Korea hailed the reelection of Ban Ki-moon as the U.N. Secretary-General over the weekend, as the Security Council cleared the South Korean diplomat of his last barricade in heading the international body for another five years. Following the council’s approval, the 192-member General Assembly will hold a definitive vote this week. The 67-year-old diplomat is certain to win a second term as
Rising mortgage rates could dampen spending

Jun 19, 2011

Mortgage rates hit a 30-month high fueled by Bank of Korea’s rates hike this month, raising concerns for damaging effects to the economy.On June 10, the central bank raised the benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage points to 3.25 percent in an effort to counter the rising inflationary pressure. Against market expectations, the central bank had kept the rates frozen for two consecutive months in April
Prosecution, police clash over reform plan

Social affairsJun 19, 2011

Prosecutors defy plan to empower policeThe prosecution and the police have locked horns with each other over whether to share the rights to launch investigations, which is now exclusive for prosecutors. While prosecutors are concerned that empowering police could lead to redundant and abusive investigations causing various problems, police are determined to demand certain level of independence, wh
North Korea replaces ambassador to Germany

North KoreaJun 19, 2011

North Korea replaced its top envoy to Germany, the country’s official news agency said Saturday.Ri Si-hong was appointed the new ambassador to the European nation under a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the North’s legislature, according to a one-sentence dispatch of the Korean Central News Agency.It provided no further details.Little is known about Ri, except that he acc
‘N. Korea has nothing to gain from provocations’

North KoreaJun 19, 2011

North Korea has nothing to gain from provocations against South Korea, Seoul’s Cabinet minister handling inter-Korean relations said Saturday, urging the communist nation to carry out reform and open up to the outside world.Unification Minister Hyun In-taek accused Pyongyang of launching “reckless political provocations after militaryprovocations,” referring to the North’s unilateral disclosure of
Ministry mulls earlier hours for public sector

PoliticsJun 19, 2011

The government will consider changing the working hours of public sector employees and splitting up the long school winter vacation into several breaks in an effort to spur domestic demand, officials said Saturday.The measures were among a package of proposals discussed at a meeting of Cabinet and other top government officials that President Lee Myung-bak presided over to brainstorm ideas on how
Seoul says lack of apology no longer 6-way talks dealbreaker

Foreign affairsJun 19, 2011

South Korea is easing its previous stance that it will not resume any kind of dialogue with North Korea until Pyongyang apologizes for last year’s deadly attacks, Seoul officials said Sunday. The two Koreas, still technically at war, have had their frostiest ties in decades since the North conducted two naval attacks that killed 50 South Koreans.Since the last attack in November, Seoul has suspend
Reformists dominate GNP race

PoliticsJun 19, 2011

Hong Joon-pyo puts self forward as anti-factional candidateThe race to become the new chief of the governing Grand National Party is shaping up to be a competition among young, reform-minded members from the capital area, with no clear frontrunner, political observers said Sunday. With about two weeks to go before the July 4 party convention, three lawmakers threw their hat in the ring on the day,
Asiana flight ‘did not go off route’

Social affairsJun 19, 2011

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs confirmed Sunday that an Asiana jetliner was “following a normal route” when Marine Corps mistook it as a North Korean military plane and shot at it late Friday. “The Asiana flight was flying normally. In fact, another plane had taken that route just 20 minutes before,” a ministry official said. It backed the claim by Asiana Airlines that the fl
U.S. bill would suspend plan to move troops’ families here

DefenseJun 19, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) ― A Senate committee is looking to block the reorganization of U.S. forces in east Asia, which it sees as too costly and impractical, the panel’s chairman said Friday.Legislation backed by the Senate Armed Services Committee would prohibit funding to relocate the U.S. Marine base in the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. It also would suspend plans to relocate thousands of famili
Hand-foot-and-mouth alert issued

Social affairsJun 19, 2011

The government issued an alert against the rapidly spreading hand-foot-and-mouth disease on Saturday, asking nurseries, kindergartens and medical facilities to take extra care to prevent the infection of children. According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the HFMD diagnosis rate marked 21.1 per every 1,000 outpatients last week, marking a sharp increase from 9.8 per 1,000