The Korea Herald

Massive quake causes surge in telephone traffic between S. Korea, Japan

Mar 11, 2011

The massive earthquake that hit Japan's northeastern region has caused telephone traffic to surge between South Korea and its neighbor that effectively made placing calls impossible, the country's largest telephone operator said Friday. KT Corp. said that from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. cellular and landline phone traffic shot up 91 times and 41 times, respectively, compared to normal traffic. Calls
Lee bound for UAE Saturday

Mar 11, 2011

President Lee Myung-bak departs for the United Arab Emirates Saturday to hold summit talks, attend a nuclear power plant event and visit the South Korean troops deployed in the Middle Eastern country.Upon his arrival in Abu Dhabi Saturday, Lee will head to the eastern town of Al Ain to meet some 130 Korean troops on a two-year mission to help train UAE‘s special forces. The contingent named “Akh,”
Blue House raps Samsung chief's comments over profit-sharing system

Mar 11, 2011

Senior presidential officials expressed regret Friday over Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee's thinly veiled criticism against a proposal to introduce a profit-sharing system between conglomerates and their subcontractors here as part of efforts to balance their growth. It is unusual for top Cheong Wa Dae officials to take direct aim at a powerful head of South Korea's family-owned conglo
Japan PM under pressure over donation

Mar 11, 2011

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's embattled Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday admitted to receiving donations from a man believed to be a foreign national, the same violation which claimed the foreign minister his job."I thought he was a Japanese national as he had a Japanese name," Kan told a parliamentary committee after a newspaper report said that Kan's fund-management body had taken donations from a Sou
Clapper warns of further provocations from N. Korea

Mar 11, 2011

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The chief U.S. intelligence official Thursday did not rule out chances of North Korea provoking South Korea further after the North's attacks on a South Korean border island and a warship last year. Speaking at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, James Clapper, national intelligence director, said, "It is also our assessment at this time that there is a low proba
N. Korea may have developed nukes for missile payloads: intel chief

Mar 11, 2011

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- North Korea may have already developed nuclear warheads that are small enough to be mounted on missiles and aircraft, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Thursday. "The North may now have several plutonium-based nuclear warheads that it can deliver by ballistic missiles and aircraft as well as by conventional means," Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, director of the Defense
S. Korean diplomat in Japan's Niigata resigns over corruption: official

Mar 11, 2011

A South Korean diplomatic mission chief in Japan has resigned over allegations that he misappropriated government money, an official said Friday, adding to concern about decaying discipline of diplomats amid a sex scandal rocking the mission in Shanghai. The chief of South Korea's consulate general in Niigata, identified only by his surname initial Y, quit last month after an investigation into
Gov. Kim faces potentially damaging probe

Mar 10, 2011

Prosecution probes alleged illicit funding involving sponsors of Gyeonggi governorGyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-su, one of the ruling bloc’s strong presidential hopefuls, is facing a potentially critical setback as prosecutors are expanding their inquiries into allegations of illicit political funding involving several of his sponsors.Prosecutors are investigating allegations that employees of Gyeong
Second sex scandal rocks “Ministry of Love Affairs”

Mar 10, 2011

A diplomatic sex scandal has erupted out of the Korean Embassy in Mongolia, coming just days after a similar scandal involving a Chinese woman shook the nation, according to news reports in Seoul.A high ranking diplomat at the Korean Embassy in Ulan Bator was reported to have had an inappropriate relationship with a local woman, the government official was quoted as saying on Wednesday. When the o
World pays attention to S. Korean diplomats’ sex scandal

Mar 9, 2011

The South Korean diplomat sex scandal involving a Chinese woman has been making waves across the world. (Courtesy from Seoul Shinmun)The sex-for-favor scandal, in which three S. Korean consuls in Shanghai are alleged to have given confidential government information to their 33-year-old mistress, is rocking South Korea. And now the international media have picked up on the scandal.On some foreign
Obama lauds S. Korea's education system

Mar 9, 2011

U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday called on the U.S. to benchmark South Korea in rebuilding the country through educational reform. "In South Korea, teachers are known as 'nation builders,'" Obama said during a classroom visit at Tech Boston Academy in Massachusetts' capital city. "That's how they're described. Here in America, it's time we treated the people who educate our children with the
Chief auditor nominee faces tough questions

Mar 8, 2011

Chief state auditor nominee Yang Kun faced tough questions about his moral standards and professional independence on the first day of his parliamentary confirmation hearing Tuesday.President Lee Myung-bak last month nominated the law professor of Hanyang University to be chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, which has been vacant for five months. The former audit chief Kim Hwang-sik was
Lee calls for utmost efforts to ease public anxiety about inflation

Mar 8, 2011

President Lee Myung-bak urged his government Tuesday to ramp up efforts to alleviate public worries over inflation, saying the problem is something of "the inevitable" under the current economic situations at home and abroad, according to his office Cheong Wa Dae. "The consumer price problem has an inevitable aspect due to climate change, hikes in international law material prices, and other fac
All universities to have female ROTCs

Mar 8, 2011

All universities with the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program in place will be allowed to recruit their female students for the program this year, officials at the Ministry of National Defense said Monday. A female ROTC cadet takes part in a bayonet drill in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, last week. (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)A total of 109 four-year universities across the country will be
Lee may veto bill on political funds, aide says

Mar 7, 2011

Lawmakers of rival parties are working in unison for legislation to help each other avoid charges related to political funds, drawing criticism from the public, prosecution and presidential office.An aide to President Lee Myung-bak said Lee may veto the revised bill that practically legalizes political donations for legislative lobbying purposes. “It would be an ex post facto legislation to offer