The Korea Herald

Kim visits amusement park

Jul 25, 2012

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has paid an inspection visit to an amusement park construction site, the North’s media said Wednesday, publishing Kim’s third reported visit to the newly built facility in Pyongyang.“Marshal Kim Jong-un visited the Rungna People’s Pleasure Ground just before the start of operation,” the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported in an English-language dispatch. The official news outlet has covered Kim’s two previous visits in April and early July to the am
Learn from Myanmar: U.S. envoy

Jul 25, 2012

The U.S. ambassador on Wednesday urged North Korea to learn from the recent political and economic reforms in Myanmar to improve the lives of its own people, but warned the North’s new leadership will be further isolated unless it abandons its nuclear ambitions. U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Sung Kim also said his government has “lost confidence” in working toward resuming dialogue with North Korea after it reneged on the Feb. 29th deal with Washington, an agreement to swap denuclearization ste
'Chinese investigators torture anti-N.K. activist’

Jul 25, 2012

Kim Young-hwan claims North Korea was involved in detention of four activistsNorth Korea was closely involved in China’s detention of four South Korean activists who campaigned for human rights in the communist country, one of them said Wednesday. Kim Young-hwan also told a news conference that he was physically abused by Chinese investigators during interrogation and told not to disclose it.Kim and three others arrived in Seoul on Friday after 114 days of confinement in China. They were arreste
Single male Seoulites up 10-fold over 20 years

Jul 25, 2012

The number of unmarried male citizens in Seoul aged 35 to 49 has increased more than 10-fold over the past 20 years, data showed Wednesday.According to the data released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the number of single men of the age bracket in the capital city came to 242,590 in 2010, up from 24,239 in 1990. The rate of unmarried men among the age group has shown an upward trajectory du
North Korea ramps up campaign against Lee

Jul 24, 2012

North Korea ramped up its bashing campaign of the South’s President Lee Myung-bak, with its broadcasting station airing images of North Korean soldiers shooting at paper targets marked with Lee’s name and campaign phrases.The state-run media (North) Korean Central Television, monitored in Seoul, aired a nighttime program on Monday featuring security soldiers who accused the Lee administration of masterminding an attack on the statues of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung and pledged revenge for wha
Cabinet approves law to cut capital gains tax on houses

Jul 24, 2012

South Korea’s Cabinet approved Tuesday a revised law to cut the capital gains tax on home sales, in the latest measure to stimulate the real-estate market and boost consumption. Under the revised law, endorsed at the Cabinet meeting presided over by President Lee Myung-bak, an owner of two houses does not have to owe a flat rate of 50 percent of capital gains earned on a home sale as tax. Also, an owner of three or more houses does not have to pay a flat rate of 60 percent of gains made on a hom
French world atlas uses ‘East Sea’ name

Jul 24, 2012

PARIS (Yonhap News) ― The French publisher of one of the world’s most authoritative world atlases has adopted both Korean and Japanese names for the waters between them in its latest edition, according to publishing firms here on Tuesday.The company Atlas used the names “Mer de l’Est (East Sea)”and “Mer du Japon (Sea of Japan)” printed in letters of the same size in eight maps of its world atlas for 2012, they said.It marks the first time that the Korean name for the waters has been used concurr
Presidential aide slapped with arrest warrant

Jul 24, 2012

A local court on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Kim Hee-jung, a former presidential secretary in personal affairs, for receiving money from the management of ailing savings bank. The Seoul Central District Court granted Kim’s detention for allegedly receiving some 100 million won from Lim Suk, chairman of Solomon Savings Bank from 2009 to 2010 in exchange for peddling his influence in rescui
U.S. deputy defense chief to visit Seoul

Jul 24, 2012

Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan will meet with U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter in Seoul to discuss the bilateral alliance and North Korea, ministry officials said Tuesday. Carter will make a two-day visit to Seoul from Wednesday as part of his trip to Asia-Pacific nations and the meeting with Kim will take place Thursday, officials said. Kim and Carter are expected to “exchange views on the situation of North Korea and discuss policy coordination on the North,” a ministry official
No need for Korea to enrich uranium: Obama aide

Jul 24, 2012

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― Gary Samore, President Barack Obama’s top aide for nonproliferation, said Monday that the U.S. sees no need for South Korea to enrich uranium, a stance against Seoul’s goals.Samore, arms control coordinator at the White House National Security Council, said South Korean can continue to buy enrichment services from the U.S. and France and in other international markets rather than having its own uranium-enrichment technology.“So there is no danger that Korean industry w
Korea issues heat wave warnings

Jul 24, 2012

Weather authorities issued heat wave advisories nationwide on Tuesday in response to a heat wave that has been gripping South Korea, with the capital city experiencing its second straight “tropical night” this week.The so-called tropical night phenomenon is defined by nighttime lows staying above 25 C, with nighttime being from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m.It often happens when monsoon season ends, which falls in July in general for the country. Overnight lows across the nation soared well above the threshol
Jeju trekking paths temporarily closed after murder case

Jul 24, 2012

JEJU (Yonhap News) ― Some parts of the famous trekking paths on the country’s southernmost island of Jeju have been temporarily closed following a recent kidnapping and murder case there, officials said Tuesday.A man identified only by the surname of Kang was arrested Monday on suspicion of kidnapping and killing a 40-year-old female tourist and abandoning her body. She went missing near the trekking course on July 12, one day after she arrived from Seoul alone to hike the popular coastal walkin
Doubts cast on sex offender monitoring

Jul 24, 2012

The deaths of a 10-year-old elementary school girl in Tongyeong of South Gyeongsang Province and a tourist in Jeju by possible sex offenders are triggering public anger toward the lack of a state monitoring system on perpetrators and prevention measures. Experts urge the government to make easier and wider access to information about sex offenders and closer management for isolated and underprivileged children who are most likely to become targets of molestation and other crimes. Such calls expl
Princeton to name lecture hall after Syngman Rhee

Jul 24, 2012

Princeton University will dedicate a lecture hall to honor South Korea’s first president Syngman Rhee, the university’s Korean alumni association announced on Tuesday.The group has been raising funds since 2010 to set up a monument for the late president on the campus.A total of 530 billion won ($461 million) has been collected from its alumni, including LS Group chairman John Koo, also from well-known outiside figures, such as Saenuri Party lawmaker Chung Mong-joon, said Kim Jong-seok, the pres
Court allows union rally at Samsung building

Jul 23, 2012

A Seoul court ruled Monday that the labor union of South Korea’s largest conglomerate, Samsung Group, can protest in front of the company headquarters, opening the way for the union to stage a legitimate rally there.The Seoul Administrative Court accepted the union’s request to cancel a police prohibition on the rally the union planned to hold later that afternoon to honor a Samsung Electronics employee who died from leukemia he allegedly contracted at work.The landmark decision, the first of it