The Korea Herald

400 nabbed for sharing, possessing child porn

Sept 12, 2012

Police said Wednesday they have caught nearly 400 people in a massive crackdown on those possessing or distributing obscene materials on the Internet.The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said they have arrested four, including a 31-year-old suspect surnamed Lim, for allegedly possessing and distributing child pornography and booked 393 others for similar charges without physical detention. Internet pornography has been blamed for a recent spate of sex crimes on children and women that have trigg
Korea, Norway agree to work together for Arctic

Sept 12, 2012

OSLO (Yonhap News) ― South Korea and Norway agreed Wednesday to partner with each other to tackle climate change threatening the Arctic and develop the resources-rich region without harming its environment, including opening up polar shipping routes.South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg reached the agreement during summit talks, and the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding pledging to help shipping firms of their nations open new sea lanes o
Old U.S. document undermines Japan’s claim to Dokdo

Sept 12, 2012

ATLANTA (Yonhap News) ― In yet another historic document that undermines Japan’s claim to the sovereignty over Dokdo, the United States did not acknowledge the rocky outcroppings in the East Sea as Japan’s territory a century ago.The document, titled “Asiatic Pilot: East Coast of Siberia, Sakhalin Island and Korea,” and drawn up by the U.S. Hydrographic Office in 1909, was obtained by Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday.It names Dokdo as Hornet Islands or Liancourt Rocks and describes them as “two bar
Korea to counter Japan’s ad campaign

Sept 11, 2012

Japanese government uses newspaper advertisment to reiterate its claim to DokdoAfter a couple weeks of letup, tension is rekindling between Seoul and Tokyo over Dokdo as the two governments gear up for an advertisement blitz in Japanese newspapers.The Japanese Foreign Ministry ran an advertisement in local newspapers Tuesday which reiterates its long-standing claim to Korea’s easternmost islets. In response, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry announced its plan to launch an ad campaign countering Japan’s
S. Korea ready to run Dokdo ads in Japanese media: FM

Sept 11, 2012

South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said Tuesday that the government is ready to run ads on its easternmost islets of Dokdo in Japanese media, in a rare move aimed at reinforcing its global public relations campaign over the East Sea islets and countering Japan's territorial claim."The government is preparing to run ads in Japanese media to tell the Japanese people that Dokdo is a Korean t
Korea, Greenland to cooperate on green growth

Sept 10, 2012

Korea and Greenland plan to step up cooperation for environmentally friendly development projects as Seoul seeks a slice of the resources-rich region’s research and business boom. President Lee Myung-bak and Kuupik Kleist, prime minister of Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory, forged four agreements Sunday on mineral and resources exploration, geological survey and science and technology. They also agreed to work together on green growth and Arctic shipping lanes.Earlier in the day, Lee lan
Diplomatic heavyweight bridges uneasy neighbors

Sept 10, 2012

The stand-out story from November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Hawaii was the United States’ “pivot” toward Asia.With renewed focus on Pacific relations, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton must have been vexed to arrive at this month’s APEC meeting in Vladivostok to find two of its biggest allies at each others’ throats.And so one of her first tasks in Russia was reminding Korea and Japan that they are ultimately friends, despite their differences. “I raised these issues w
Swedish prince to attend Jeju conference

Sept 9, 2012

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden will travel to Korea to participate in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress in Jeju on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the Swedish Embassy.Philip will be attending as a patron of the IUCN and will participate in a number of events including the World Leaders’ Dialogue and an award ceremony Saturday. Philip will meet with Korean Minister for Environment Yoo Young-sook on Wednesday.Philip previously visited the IUCN hea
Seoul Literary Society to host author

Sept 9, 2012

Seoul Literary Society is inviting its members to an evening with Korean novelist Kim Young-ha on Sept. 17.The author of “I Have the Right to Destroy Myself” will make a presentation before taking questions from the audience at Scandinavian Design House in Apujeong in Seoul. The event, to begin at 6 p.m., will also include a reception of Swedish food. Kim is one Korea’s most famous writers, and his works have been translated into 15 languages. “Whatever Happened to the Man Stuck in the Elevator?
Seminar looks at globalization in Latin America

Sept 9, 2012

The ambassadors of Argentina and Brazil addressed a seminar on the effects of globalization on trade and investment in Latin American countries on Aug. 30.Argentine Ambassador Carlos Alberto Arganaraz and Brazilian Ambassador Edmundo Sussumu Fujita gave welcoming speeches at “The Era of Globalization: Trade, Investment and Legal Perspectives in Latin America,” which took place from 9 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. at COEX Intercontinental Hotel in Seoul.The Korea Legislation Research Institute-organized semi
Sporting spirit unites Korea, U.K.

Sept 9, 2012

While one set of Olympic Games is long finished, another just wrapped up in London. The Paralympics Games kicked off on Aug. 29, finishing Sunday. British Ambassador Scott Wightman was among those who followed the action.“I visited the Incheon training facility in December so I was able to meet some of the athletes then,” Wightman told The Korea Herald at his residence in Seoul on Tuesday. “We’ve had a couple of the athletes that took part in an event that we arranged to mark 100 days before the
Ecuador seeks Korean support for unique habitat

Sept 9, 2012

A former ambassador spearheading a unique Ecuadorian initiative to protect one of the most bio-diverse places on earth has asked Korea for its support.Speaking at the Ecuadorian Embassy in Seoul on Thursday, Yasuni-ITT Initiative Secretary of State Ivonne Baki expressed her hope that the Korean government and local concerns would support the Ecuadorian government’s proposal to refrain from exploiting oil reserves at Yasuni National Park by contributing to the cost of forgone oil revenues. The i
Clinton urges Japan, S.Korea to 'lower temperature'

Sept 9, 2012

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday urged US allies South Korea and Japan to "lower the temperature" in a simmering territorial row. Clinton said she raised the tensions during separate talks at an Asia-Pacific summit in Russia with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, who shunned each other at the event. "I raise
Korea presses China for reinvestigation of torture claims

Sept 5, 2012

South Korea on Wednesday urged China to reinvestigate the alleged torture by Chinese investigators of a prominent North Korean human rights activist. Kim Young-hwan, 49, was released on July 20 along with his three colleagues after 114 days of detention in China. Kim claimed upon return that he was tortured with beatings and electric shock. Beijing has denied the claims. Consular affairs officials of the two countries held their first talks since Kim’s freedom in Beijing. Ahn Young-jip, the dire
Seoul court gives suspended term to Japanese embassy attacker

Sept 5, 2012

A Seoul court on Wednesday gave a suspended one-year prison term to a South Korean man for ramming a truck into the Japanese embassy here in protest against a right-wing Japanese activist's nationalistic act.The 61-year-old local antique dealer, surnamed Kim, was charged with driving his cargo truck into the main gate of the embassy in central Seoul on July 9. No casualties or damage were reported