The Korea Herald

Cute Korean robot a charity hit

May 4, 2011

Meet DONA ― the Korean robot that could change the face of charity collecting. The cute, red-caped robot interacts with passers-by, encouraging them to put money in its collecting can. DONA interacts with people when its sensors tell it that someone is about to give some cash. It reacts by bowing, blinking, waving and wiggling its arms in thanks. Trials in New York’s Union Square and Seoul Museum
First Korean Single Mom’s Day

May 4, 2011

Celebrations during Korea’s family month of May are to recognize single mothers in the country’s first ever Single Mom’s Day.Unwed mothers and their children are to be celebrated and supported at a conference exploring issues ranging from international adoption to the discrimination these small families often face.Attendees will celebrate the event on May 11 by sharing enough birthday cakes to fee
[Lee Jae-min] The perfect not the enemy of the good

ViewpointsMay 4, 2011

Ironically, it was Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organization in Geneva, who made a case for the importance of prompt ratification and implementation of Korea’s free trade agreements with the European Union and the United States. At the Trade Negotiation Committee meeting last Friday, the WTO chief officially acknowledged that the Doha negotiation is now “on the brink of failure
[Editorial] Corrupt diplomats

EditorialMay 4, 2011

One of the most important tasks for a diplomat is to settle disputes and resolve conflicts through negotiations. But what if he himself should cause a dispute or a conflict, as a former ambassador to an African country may have done?The case in point involved the ambassador who recently returned home after his assignment in the Ivory Coast. Among the items he brought with him from the African coun
[Editorial] Bulging coffers

EditorialMay 4, 2011

The nation’s holdings of foreign currency surpassed the $300 billion mark at the end of April. Should the nation confront any financial crisis in the future, these bulging state coffers will be of great help in cushioning the blow.To hold $300 billion in foreign reserves is nothing short of a sea change for a nation that has been exposed to the threat of sovereign bankruptcy on two occasions durin
[Doyle McManus] The right budget battle to watch

ViewpointsMay 4, 2011

You’ve no doubt been hearing the harrowing warnings about what might happen if Congress refuses to lift the federal government’s debt ceiling, as some conservative Republicans have threatened.If the federal government gets anywhere near defaulting on its debts, President Obama warned this month, that “could plunge the world economy back into recession.”Even House Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, O
U.S. must help neighbors fight drug wars

ViewpointsMay 4, 2011

When President Obama visited El Salvador in March, he offered an acute analysis of the danger represented by homegrown criminal gangs and international narcotics cartels. This is a shared problem with a shared responsibility, the president declared.Nice speech, but where’s the beef? The unrestricted flow of drugs into the United States via Central America ― or Mexico, or the Caribbean ― represents
[Dick Polman] GOP desperately seeking viable candidate

ViewpointsMay 4, 2011

Pop quiz: Who is Fred Karger?I doubt you’d know. Sounds like a guy who’d sell you Sheetrock or life insurance.And yet, the folks who run the South Carolina Republican Party are very interested in Fred Karger ― so interested, in fact, that they want him on stage on Thursday as a presidential candidate in the first Republican debate of the 2012 campaign, slated for airing on Fox News. They’ve invite
[Jonathan Alter] Bin Laden’s death may be marker in U.S. history

ViewpointsMay 4, 2011

Are we at a hinge of history? When I heard the news about Osama bin Laden and saw the cathartic outpouring of pride in this country, my mind went back not just to Sept. 11, but to a couple of other dates that mark the course of global events, pregnant with promise or peril.We won’t know for years the consequences of the killing of bin Laden for U.S. foreign policy; they might be transitory. But th
[Brahma Chellaney] Osama bin Laden and Pakistan

ViewpointsMay 4, 2011

NEW DELHI ― The killing of Osama bin Laden by United States special forces in a helicopter assault on a sprawling luxury mansion near Islamabad recalls the capture of other al-Qaida leaders in Pakistani cities. Once again, we see that the real terrorist sanctuaries are located not along Pakistan’s borders with Afghanistan and India, but in the Pakistani heartland.This, in turn, underlines another
‘Top hotels must have Korean restaurants’

CultureMay 4, 2011

Minister Choung says hotels without should not be granted ‘five-star’ gradeCulture Minister Choung Byoung-gug said on Tuesday local hotels should not be granted a “five-star” rank if they do not have a restaurant specializing in Korean cuisine. Korean hotels are rated differently from those in the West, being rated by the number of mugunghwa, or Rose of Sharon they are awarded. Top hotels in Korea
‘The Chorus’ singers on Korea tour

MusicMay 4, 2011

Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc, or the Little Singers of Saint Marc, is set to start a tour hoping to give Korean audiences a flavor of the 2004 French hit film “The Chorus”. Founded in 1986, the choir recorded the entire soundtrack of “The Chorus,” nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category in 2005, with the song “Look to Your Path” earning a nomination for Best
Kids’ stuff: Authors gather for children’s prizes

BooksMay 4, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) ― Hilary Knight didn’t expect “Eloise” to be a children’s favorite.“Never,” the illustrator said Monday night at a reception before the Children’s Choice Book Awards. “If (‘Eloise’ writer) Kay Thompson were alive, she’d be horrified. She hated when the stores started putting those books in the children’s section. She would go to one store and put them back in the adult section.”The a
Kim to perform in Seoul this weekend

More sportsMay 4, 2011

South Korean figure skating star Kim Yu-na has said she is still recovering from her ankle injury, but insisted she would be fully ready before the opening of her ice show this weekend. “I still have some pain in my ankle, and I’m a little bit worried. But hopefully I’ll be fully ready before the ice show,” she said. Kim had aimed for claiming her second world title last week at the World Figure S