The Korea Herald

Senior prosecutor resigns over adultery

Social affairsAug 31, 2011

A senior prosecutor in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, offered to resign Wednesday after his affair with a housewife was revealed, the Yonhap news agency reported.(Yonhap News)The two were found together by the woman’s husband at a restaurant at 5 a.m. the previous day.The prosecutor reportedly
Lawmaker accused of sexist remarks survives expulsion vote

PoliticsAug 31, 2011

A South Korean lawmaker accused of making sexist remarks retained his seat as a motion to oust him was voted down in the National Assembly on Wednesday, sparking criticism that legislators are too soft on wrongdoings committed by fellow lawmakers. Rep. Kang Yong-seokRep. Kang Yong-seok, 42, came und
Woman arrested for pretending to be pregnant

Social affairsAug 31, 2011

A 30-year-old woman was booked without detention on Wednesday after she pretended to be pregnant to steal household goods, the police said.The woman surnamed Lee left a mall in Daegu without paying for 900,000 won ($880) worth of household items. When a security guard stopped her, Lee said that she
S. Korea to call for boycott of tours to N. Korean mountain resort

North KoreaAug 30, 2011

South Korea will ask the United States, China and Japan to prevent their citizens from visiting a troubled mountain resort in North Korea, a Seoul official said Tuesday.The move comes as the isolated communist country is seeking to attract foreign tourists to Mount Kumgang as part of its attempts to
Court says Seoul‘s inaction over former ‘comfort women’ unconstitutional

Social affairsAug 30, 2011

A top South Korean court said Tuesday that it is unconstitutional for the government to make no tangible effort to settle disputes with Japan over its refusal to compensate Korean women mobilized as sex slaves during its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.The Constitutional Court ruled in
Prosecutors to summon Kwak’s wife, confidants

Social affairsAug 30, 2011

The prosecution will summon the wife of Seoul’s education chief for questioning Wednesday, on allegations that her husband bought a rival candidate out of race in last year’s election, officials said Tuesday.It will also subpoena two confidants of Kwak No-hyun, superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan O
Profiles of minister designates

PoliticsAug 30, 2011

Yu Woo-ikUnification MinisterYu Woo-ik, 61, former ambassador to China, mapped out several of President Lee Myung-bak’s major policies. He was the first chief of staff under the Lee administration in 2008. Yu is said to have designed the grand canal plan, which later became the controversial four-ri
Yu Woo-ik named unification minister

PoliticsAug 30, 2011

By Kim So-hyunPresident Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday named his first chief-of-staff and architect of the controversial “Grand Canal” pledge Yu Woo-ik as the new unification minister, confirming what had been expected ever since Yu left his 16-month service as ambassador to China four months ago.Lee also
Lee names confidant as unification minister designate

PoliticsAug 30, 2011

Bureaucrat, historian named successors to ministers with parliamentary seatsPresident Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday named his first chief-of-staff and architect of the controversial “Grand Canal” pledge Yu Woo-ik as the new unification minister, confirming what had been expected ever since Yu left his 16
Prosecutors set to summon Kwak

Social affairsAug 30, 2011

Seoul education chief uspected of bribing former election rivalSeoul’s education chief Kwak No-hyun may face subpoena as early as Wednesday in an intensifying probe into allegations that he bought a rival candidate out of race during last year’s election, sources at the prosecution said Tuesday. The
Lee to replace at least 4 ministers

PoliticsAug 30, 2011

President Lee Myung-bak is expected to name on Wednesday successors to ministers of health, unification, gender equality and perhaps culture, as three of the incumbents plan to run in the general elections seven months away. Ministers Lee Jae-oh of special affairs, Chung Byoung-gug of culture and Ch
Seoul calls for Tokyo to ‘look squarely at its past’

Foreign affairsAug 30, 2011

South Korea on Tuesday urged Japan’s new government to “look squarely at its past,” setting a brusque tone following reinforced Japanese moves to lay claim to the South’s easternmost islets of Dokdo. Japan’s parliament approved former finance minister Yoshihiko Noda as the new prime minister earlier
EU delegation to visit N.K. next month

North KoreaAug 30, 2011

An EU delegation will visit North Korea next month, a U.S.-funded radio station reported Tuesday, confirming the annual visit which had been cancelled last year after the North’s provocations on Seoul. The European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the Korean Peninsula, led by Christian Ehl
Savings bank lobbyist to weigh on elections

PoliticsAug 30, 2011

Parties stirred uneasily as the prosecution continued its interrogation of Park Tae-gyu, the key lobbyist involved in the Busan Savings Bank.Park’s case, together with that of Seoul Educational Superintendent Kwak No-hyun’s bribery allegations, is shaking up the political landscape ahead of the upco
Gas pipeline to provide breakthrough in inter-Korean ties: GNP chief

Foreign affairsAug 30, 2011

Lee sought Russian pipeline project since taking office: GNP chiefThe purported project for Russia to pipe Siberian natural gas through North Korean territory into South Korea will help the two Koreas thaw the months-long ice and move on to a new chapter in ties, the leader of Seoul’s ruling party s