Rev. Moon Sun-myung, founder of the controversial Unification Church, is in critical condition with breathing problems, doctors said Wednesday. He was taken into intensive care at the Catholic University’s St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul on Monday. “I understand that he is in critical condition after being admitted to the pulmonology division at the hospital,” said the official, declining to be named.Moon founded the Unification Church in Korea in 1952 and has built it into a worldwide religious or

The 1,035th Wednesday Protest for the resolution of the Japanese military sexual slavery issue was held in front of the Japanese Embassy in downtown Seoul on Wednesday to mark Korea’s Liberation Day. Despite the heavy rainfall, many supporters joined the protest and called for the Japanese government to apologize for the wartime atrocities against Korean women. Kim Bok-dong, a victim of sexual slavery, said that Japan should make a formal apology and that the Korean government should pay more

 The U.S. cable news channel CNN carried a detailed report Tuesday on a South Korean singer's swimming journey to Dokdo, a set of islets in the East Sea at the center of a renewed diplomatic spat between Seoul and Tokyo.CNN described Kim Jang-hoon's three-day project as "swimming into the diplomatic row" over Dokdo between the neighboring nations.Along with dozens of college students and other ama

Low price of soju costing Korea enormouslyBinge-drinking in Korea was once viewed as a relatively harmless deviation among the nation’s workaholics, but its burden on public money and social capital is starting to prompt action. The cost of premature death caused by alcohol exceeded 3 trillion won ($2.6 billion) in 2007 and is likely to have risen since. The government has been tightening the regulatory system. Drinking in public parks will be banned from next year. In Seoul, there are proposals

Nineteen foreign graduates from 17 countries who studied here with support from the Korean government visited the country last week at the invitation of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.“It’s very exciting to see so many changes taking place in this country,” said Niki Tasika, a 42-year-old taekwondo coach from Greece. He learned the Korean martial art at Kyung Hee University from 2000-2003.Seyitriza Tigrek, 48, who studied at Seoul National University in 1993 and is now a profe

Technology helps expand access to learning, reduce educational gapEconomics professor Lee Jun-koo has been highly popular among laypersons scared of a labyrinth of jargon, curves and indices that block their access to the discipline.The renowned practitioner of behavioral economics mixes everyday affairs into the principles of demand and supply, asymmetric information, and the relations between the market and government. His sarcastic criticism of President Lee Myung-bak’s growth-centered polici

The presidential race has already begun with prominent candidates from rival parties scrambling to make their pledges to win people’s attention. Their pledges form a blueprint, albeit vague, for the country for the next five years. We are able to spot one common promise: a strong emphasis on helping people open a new, “third” chapter in life through lifelong education to ensure their happiness and breaking away from the current education system focused on university admission. One powerful candi

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday praised Korean relief groups and workers for their efforts to help needy children around the world. Ban acknowledged the rapid growth and brisk activities of the Korean committee for the U.N. Children’s Fund, better known as UNICEF, during a visit to its office in central Seoul. “I’d pick UNICEF and UNDP as two representative U.N. organs, because they have the longest histories and help needy people in the nearest distance,” he said, referr