The Korea Herald

Second charter flight brings S. Koreans out of Libya

Feb 26, 2011

A second South Korea-chartered plane has flown out of Libya as part of Seoul's efforts to evacuate its nationals from the North African nation engulfed in bloody clashes between protesters and government forces, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.The special Korean Air flight left the Libyan capital of Tripoli with 236 South Koreans on board around 11 p.m. Friday (6 a.m. Saturday Korean time) befo
P.M.: Seoul has no intention to ‘absorb’ N.K.

Feb 25, 2011

South Korea has no intention to achieve unification by absorbing the North and is keeping up efforts to resume inter-Korean dialogue, Seoul’s prime minister said Friday, as tensions linger after the breakdown of inter-Korean dialogue earlier this month. “The (South Korean) government does not regard North Korea as a target of absorption,” Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said during the parliament’s q
S. Korea dispatches anti-piracy warship off Somalia to Libya

Feb 24, 2011

South Korea said Thursday it has ordered its anti-piracy naval unit stationed in Somali waters to sail toward Libya in case its plan to evacuate its nationals out of the troubled African country goes awry. The dispatch of the 4,500-ton destroyer Choi Young comes as anti-government protests intensify in Libya where leader Moammar Gadhafi is reportedly mobilizing armed units to strike those who op
Seoul seeks to limit Mideast fallout

Feb 24, 2011

Presidential office to check on oil supply, draw up plans to protect KoreansPresident Lee Myung-bak on Thursday instructed his government to closely monitor the continuing turmoil in the Middle East and take steps to minimize its economic impact during an emergency meeting with related ministers.Lee also called for utmost efforts to ensure the safety of South Koreans in Libya as violent uprisings
Lee starts 4th year with much on his hands

Feb 24, 2011

Better communication, political coordination key to president’s successPresident Lee Myung-bak greets the third anniversary of his inauguration Friday with a stack of uncompleted policy tasks and lingering concerns of political estrangement.Tricky pending tasks include deciding where to locate a 3.5-trillion-won science-business belt and a new international airport in the southeastern region, both
Prosecutors launch probe into Deutsche Bank over market plunge

Feb 24, 2011

South Korean prosecutors said Thursday they launched a probe into Deutsche Bank's local brokerage unit in connection with last November's market plunge, following the financial watchdog's partial ban on its operation in the nation over alleged stock manipulation.The prosecution's move comes at the request of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) that Wednesday announced its plan to ban the Germa
Former minister named head of science council

Feb 23, 2011

President Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday named scientist and former minister Kim Doh-yeon as chief of the National Science and Technology Council.Under a revised bill passed late last year, the presidential advisory panel is to become a standing organization in charge of distributing the state budget for research and development, starting in April.The upgrade of the council to the nation’s top decisio
Two S. Korean students unaccounted for after New Zealand earthquake

Feb 23, 2011

Two South Korean students are unaccounted for after their language-learning center building collapsed in an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.The students, a 25-year-old man and his 21-year-old sister, are feared to have been in the building when it collapsed after a 6.3-magnitude quake hit New Zealand's second-largest city on Tuesday, said Baik Joo-hyeon
DP refuses talks on constitutional revision

Feb 22, 2011

Ruling party still pushing for negotiation with opposition groupsThe main opposition Democratic Party has said it will not participate in any talks on constitutional revision before the parliamentary elections next year.“There will be no discussions on constitutional amendment in the 18th National Assembly,” DP floor leader Park Jie-won said Tuesday during his speech as the representative of a par
GNP floor leader wants debate on Constitution

Feb 21, 2011

Rep. Kim Moo-sung, floor leader of the ruling Grand National Party, proposed Monday that parliament organize a special committee to lead discussions on Constitutional amendment.A mainstream faction of the party has recently renewed its drive to revise the Constitution written in 1987 to change the current single-term five-year presidency and allow re-elections.The drive, however, is unlikely to ea
S. Korea's spy agency denies breaking into Indonesian envoys' hotel room

Feb 21, 2011

South Korea's spy agency denied a local media report on Monday that its agents had broken into an Indonesian presidential delegation's hotel room last week in Seoul to steal sensitive arms procurement information. Quoting an unnamed senior official, the Chosun Ilbo said that a trio, who had broken into the suite room of the Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul and fled after a delegation member saw
Lee expresses hopes for talks with N. Korea

Feb 20, 2011

‘Locations of new airport, science belt to be determined within the first half of this year’President Lee Myung-bak on Sunday expressed hopes for dialogue with North Korea this year, adding there was no need for prior discussions with the U.S. on an inter-Korean summit.Post-summit consultations with members of the six-nation nuclear talks, however, would be necessary, Lee told reporters during a l
Brown's wife recalls Berlusconi's eye for Campbell

Feb 20, 2011

LONDON (AP) _ The wife of Britain's ex-leader Gordon Brown says she spotted Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi asking for model Naomi Campbell's phone number at an official dinner.Sarah Brown said in an interview with the Daily Mail published Saturday that she later joked about the episode with ``Harry Potter'' author J.K. Rowling. She did not specify exactly when it took place or whether Berluscon
Korean workers in Libya evacuate after intrusion

Feb 19, 2011

About 70 South Korean construction workers in Libya had to evacuate after angry local residents broke into their work site and dorms apparently in protest of the government's housing policy, the foreign ministry said Saturday. About 200 local residents forced their way into a South Koreanconstruction site in Derna in eastern Libya at around midnightThursday (local time) and then stormed into
Assembly to speed up work on EU FTA ratification

Feb 18, 2011

Ruling party seeks early action, but opposition demands impact assessmentThe National Assembly is set to speed up discussions on South Korea’s free trade deal with the European Union, which the European Parliament ratified on Thursday. Seoul and Brussels signed their bilateral free trade agreement on Oct. 6 after two and a half years of negotiations, agreeing to tentatively put the pact into effec