The Korea Herald

Letters show J.D. Salinger’s human side

BooksJan 27, 2011

LONDON (AP) ― He had a reputation as a literary recluse, but a trove of previously unseen letters written by J.D. Salinger to a British friend reveals a sociable man who took bus trips to Niagara Falls, ate fast-food hamburgers, enjoyed watching tennis and claimed always to be writing new work.The 50 letters and four postcards have been donated to a British university, which made them public Thurs
Mom, doctors in U.S. blame chemicals for child’s cancer

FashionJan 27, 2011

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― A mom whose 4-year-old died after losing a battle to a brain tumor called Wednesday for tougher U.S. regulation of chemicals suspected of being behind a rise in childhood cancers.“There’s growing evidence linking toxic chemicals and carcinogens in the environment with childhood cancer,” Christine Brouwer told a telephone news conference as she described losing a child to cancer.
Kids who misbehave face trouble as adults: study in New Zealand

FashionJan 27, 2011

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Children who are over-active, cannot concentrate or act impulsively as early as age 3 tend to become troubled adults unless they learn self-control along the way, a new study said.An international team of researchers examined young children in New Zealand and Britain and found that the low-scorers on measures of self-control as kids faced more financial, health and substance abu
Korea chases top-3 finish at Winter Asiad

More sportsJan 27, 2011

Sandwiched by two traditional powers and an upstart nation poised to mount a challenge, South Korea will try to remain among the top three regional winter sports leaders at the upcoming Asian Winter Games.The seventh edition of the quadrennial winter sports competition will kick off on Sunday in Kazakhstan and run until Feb. 6. Astana and Almaty, the country’s two largest cities, will split the op
Military academies lower bar for overseas Koreans

PoliticsJan 27, 2011

Military academies have decided to loosen their admission requirements or lower the cutoff score in their preliminary admission process for children of overseas Korean nationals, officials at the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday.The move comes as the military seeks to nurture soldiers with global mindsets and high proficiency in foreign languages, as the country has been expanding its ov
Police troops report cases of abuse

Social affairsJan 27, 2011

The government has launched a large-scale investigation into physical assault and other abuses among conscripted police officers, with more than 100 cases reported in Seoul alone. Starting from Wednesday, the National Police Agency is interviewing junior police officers who have been in the service for less than six months in its local branches nationwide. In the first day of the inspection, the p
Travelers scramble to spend Seollal in the sun

Social affairsJan 27, 2011

Airlines are enjoying a sales boom in international flights as travelers take advantage of the five-day Lunar New Year holiday to escape the unrelenting cold spell in Korea, airport officials said Thursday.Incheon International Airport is expecting a five-year record of 588,900 passengers from Feb. 1-6 for the Seollal holiday, an increase of nearly 14 percent from last year’s 517,242.This year’s S
Samho captain in ‘serious condition’

PoliticsJan 27, 2011

Korea may send military aircraft to bring in five captured pirates for trialThe captain of the Korean freighter rescued from Somali pirates last Friday was in a “serious condition,” according to a Korean doctor dispatched to Oman where he is being treated.On Wednesday, Seok Hae-gyun, the 58-year-old captain of the Samho Jewelry freighter, underwent the second surgical procedure for the abdominal g
Ministry considers panic rooms as anti-piracy step

Jan 27, 2011

South Korea will require all Korean vessels which go through piracy-prone regions to establish a safety zone inside, and double escorting capacity for its vessels at the Gulf of Aden, the government said Thursday.The Ministry of Land, Transportation and Maritime Affairs revealed strengthened anti-piracy measures to counter the rising number of its ships being attacked and hijacked by pirates over
Inflation fight lifts won amid persisting animal disease

Jan 27, 2011

Korea’s plans to slaughter 7.9 million cattle, pigs and poultry to halt the spread of disease are pricing pensioner Lee Ok-soon out of a Lunar New Year tradition of cooking beef soup as an offering for her ancestors. “I don’t believe the government can do anything to pull down prices, which are soaring as if the sky’s the limit,” said Lee, 77, as she shopped at a market in central Seoul on Jan. 20
Hyundai Motor net soars to 5.27tr won

IndustryJan 27, 2011

Hyundai Motor Co.’s net annual profits broke the 5 trillion won mark for the first time in 2010 buoyed by improving performances from overseas operations, the company announced Thursday.The company’s net profits for 2010 jumped 77.8 percent from the previous year to come in at 5.27 trillion won ($4.73 billion), while operating profits came in at 3.23 trillion won, up 44.4 percent from 2009.The com
Robots to teach, fight fire in pilot projects

IndustryJan 27, 2011

Robots will be deployed for education, fire-fighting, sewage repairs and manufacturing this year in a series of pilot projects aimed at nurturing robotics as the country’s key growth industry.Next year will see robots patrol danger zones, remove mines in the DMZ and do farm work, according to government-led plans unveiled Thursday.Seven ministries involving industry, education and the environment
Korea logs fourth largest-ever surplus in 2010

Jan 27, 2011

South Korea posted a $28.21 billion current account surplus last year, the fourth largest in its history, due to robust exports of electronics, chips and automobiles despite the won’s gain and high oil prices, the central bank said Thursday.The figure was lower than the $32.8 billion recorded in 2009 and fell short of the Bank of Korea’s earlier forecast of $29 billion. The country posted a surplu
Hynix posts record W12tr sales in 2010

IndustryJan 27, 2011

Hynix Semiconductor Inc. announced Thursday that its consolidated sales for last year reached record 12.09 trillion won ($10.86 billion), up by 53 percent from 2009, despite the fall in prices of DRAM and NAND Flash memory.The world’s second-biggest computer memory chipmaker said that its operating profit totaled 3.27 trillion won, an increase of 1,605 percent from 192 billion won recorded in 2009
IBK CEO aims to build finance group

Jan 27, 2011

Cho to focus on forging stable growth, boosting customer baseCho Joon-hee, new head of the Industrial Bank of Korea, said Thursday he will focus primarily on forging stable growth and boosting the customer base while pushing for a long-term goal of reorganizing the lender under a holding company structure.Cho took office last month as chief executive officer of the state-run lender which specializ