The Korea Herald

BoJ chief stepping down before term expires: reports

Feb 5, 2013

TOKYO (AFP) – The head of the Bank of Japan has offered to step down about three weeks before his term ends, reports said Tuesday, after the BoJ and Japan's new government butted heads on policy matters."I'd like to step down on March 19 when the terms of the two deputy BoJ governors end," Masaaki Shirakawa told reporters in Tokyo, according to Dow Jones Newswires.Japan's top central banker added that he hoped his successor would be sworn in at the same time as a new slate of deputy governors, s
Mr. Right for rent in China

Feb 3, 2013

BEIJING (AFP) ― Selling a kiss online, accompanying a stranger overnight for a fee ― none of the “rent a boyfriend” services popping up on some Chinese websites sound at all family-friendly.Yet the budding market aims to help young singles address the most traditional of values: respecting their elders, meeting their demand to find a mate and bringing him home for the country’s biggest holiday, the Lunar New Year.The extreme measure reflects the extraordinary pressure that some young Chinese ― e
Released photos appear to show Korean victims of past Japanese massacre

Feb 3, 2013

A South Korean historian on Sunday released photos apparently showing Korean victims of a Japanese massacre following a devastating earthquake nine decades ago.The release comes just a few days after officials in Tokyo decided to remove references to the mass killing from high school textbooks.Jeong Seong-gil, the honorary director of Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center Museum, presented to Yonhap News Agency photos dated Sept. 1, 1923, the day that the Great Kanto Earthquake occurred. Th
India sees push for police reform after outcry over rape cases

Jan 29, 2013

NEW DELHI (AFP) ― Sixteen-year-old Seenu was walking to her grandmother’s house along a quiet street in northern India when a group of men dragged her into a car, took her to a secluded field and raped her in turns.They filmed the act on their mobile phones and forced a pill into her mouth. She woke up an hour later, naked, bloodied, disoriented. The sun was just beginning to set as she put on her jeans and made her way back home.When her father ― a gardener belonging to the “untouchable” or Dal
Syringes, surgery and slaps: Thais suffer for beauty

Jan 27, 2013

BANGKOK (AFP) ― From breast-slapping and gold thread face-lifts to vaginal whitening soaps and olive oil penis enlargements, image obsessed Thais are going to ever increasing extremes in the quest for beauty.The colorful self-proclaimed pioneer of breast-slapping says her unusual technique allows clients to boost their bust by at least one bra size without surgery.“This is the beauty by nature ― one million percent guaranteed,” the eccentric 46-year-old, who has changed her name to Khunyingtobno
Food stalls become source of livelihood

Jan 27, 2013

Kim In-su laughs nervously as a crowd begins to form in front of him. It’s 9 p.m., halfway through the dinner rush, and already the street food guru is in emergency mode; the rice is almost gone.On a narrow side street in Noryangjin, a district of western Seoul, a procession of shivering students huddle impatiently beneath the yellow glow of a dusty halogen bulb hanging from his plastic tent. They’re here for his “cup bap,” or cup rice, a quick and cheap meal served in a cup that has become popu
[Newsmaker] Dijsselbloem out to spur euro recovery

Jan 22, 2013

New Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem may well be the ultimate compromise candidate.Elected to head the group of eurozone finance ministers Monday, the Dutch finance minister has sided with Germany and other northern eurozone states who insist on austerity for countries needing bailouts. He is also a social democrat like the government in France, the EU’s other major power player.But perhaps the key factor driving his acceptability is his novelty ― Dijsselbloem has headed the Dutch finance min
Resumed factory smoke clouds China anti-pollution pledges

Jan 20, 2013

DALIAN, China (AFP) ― Clouds of smoke billow from the chimneys at a Chinese chemical plant rumbling with activity, more than a year after authorities closed it following protests by thousands of people.The factory in Dalian was ordered to halt work and relocate 17 months ago after local residents took to the streets, fearing a toxic chemical spill that might poison them and their children.But now it appears to be functioning, although at what capacity is unclear.The apparent U-turn raises questi
Russia bans visas for some U.S. officials

Jan 20, 2013

Russian officials have confirmed the existence of a list of Americans blacklisted from receiving Russian visas, called the “Guantanamo List.”The list includes the names of 60 people accused of violating human rights of Russian citizens in the United States or in zones under American jurisdiction, such as Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, RIA Novosti reported.“In our relations with the United States, we have so-called blacklists. The makeup of these lists, as well as the criteria on which they are based, is
Leadership transitions in Korea, China, Japan positive for pro-growth drive: Moody's

Jan 16, 2013

Leadership changes in South Korea, China and Japan bode well for a pro-growth approach in the region but soaring geopolitical tensions remain a potential obstacle to the leading Asian economies, Moody's Investors Service said Tuesday.In general, sovereign credit fundamentals in the Asia-Pacific region are likely to stay resilient to both global headwinds in 2013 and monetary easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve, it added."At the same time, sovereign credit profiles in the region will likely contin
Nuclear fears contaminate sales for Japanese farmers

Jan 15, 2013

TOKYO (AFP) ― Mayumi Kurasawa’s seaweed company saw seven of its factories swept away by Japan’s 2011 tsunami. Nearly two years later, sales continue to be eroded by consumer fears over nuclear contamination. “Our seaweed is checked every day, and I guarantee you that it’s safe,” she told AFP during a recent visit to Tokyo to promote the company she works for, Kawashu. “But we are selling two-thirds less than before Fukushima.” Like many farmers in the Tohoku region in northeast Japan, Kurasawa
Pollution turns Hong Kong harbor from ‘fragrant’ to foul

Jan 13, 2013

HONG KONG (AFP) ― Hong Kong’s name may mean “fragrant harbor,” but cargo ships burning dirty fuel in what is one of the world’s busiest ports add to a foul layer of pollution that kills more than 3,000 people a year.Now the government is vowing to get tough, with activists hoping mandatory restrictions on shipping emissions will be among a raft of measures announced next week aimed at making the city more environmentally friendly.A total of 410,560 vessels arrived and left the port in 2011, wit
Thai ‘scavengers club’ turns trash to treasure

Jan 6, 2013

BANGKOK (AFP) ― Thai grandmother Nom Prom-on rummages through rubbish bins looking for bottles, cans and paper to trade for food and other goods at a recycling cooperative providing a lifeline for Bangkok’s poor.Riding an old motorcycle with a rubbish cart attached, the 61-year-old and her husband Rai rise early to beat rival scavengers to claim the best of the city’s recyclable trash, which they take to a cash-free “zero baht shop.”The couple have combed bins for decades, but their earnings of
Afghan toys inspire ‘dandelion’ anti-mine device

Jan 6, 2013

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands (AFP) ― Childhood toys lost in a war-torn field have inspired an odd-looking invention which its young Dutch inventor hopes can help save thousands of lives and limbs in his native Afghanistan.Decades of war, notably the 1979-89 Soviet invasion, have left the rugged Afghan countryside littered with landmines that continue to exact a merciless toll, mainly on children.Now, in a small workshop in the industrial heart of the southern city of Eindhoven, 29-year-old Massoud Has
Japanese flee Fukushima to faraway Okinawa

Jan 6, 2013

NAHA, Japan (AP) ― Okinawa is about as far away as one can get from Fukushima without leaving Japan, and that is why Minaho Kubota is here. Petrified of the radiation spewing from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant that went into multiple meltdowns last year, Kubota grabbed her children, left her skeptical husband and moved to the small southwestern island. More than 1,000 people from the disaster zone have done the same thing. “I thought I would lose my mind,” Kubota told The Associated Press