All Koreans must have felt heartbroken at the pictures of the bodies of eight Korean engineers being recovered with those of six other people from the site of a helicopter crash in the mountains in southern Peru on Sunday.They were flying back to a Peruvian town after aerial surveillance of a possible site for a hydroelectric project when their helicopter apparently crashed at about 4,950 meters above sea level due to bad weather conditions Wednesday.Most of the eight Koreans aboard the ill-fate

A majority of Korean families are gripped with a range of problems, which threaten to rattle the foundation of society if left unaddressed.Nearly six out of 10 households are in critical or vulnerable situations due to disease, debt, unemployment, delinquent children or other troubles, according to a report published this month.Only 42 percent said they had little difficulty during the past year.About one in four families (23 percent) cited illness of one of its members as the most serious conce

Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan has been elected the new chairman of the main opposition Democratic United Party. The six-term lawmaker won a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Rep. Kim Han-gil on Saturday, the final day of the party’s leadership race that began on May 20.The new leader’s primary task is to manage the selection of a party candidate for the presidential election in December. The job sounds simple but is in fact complex because the party, after nominating its own presidenti

Spain has at last decided to request European financing to recapitalize its teetering banks, becoming the fourth eurozone country to receive an EU bailout, following Greece, Ireland and Portugal.Madrid’s request for a financial rescue is welcome news for the global economy, as it would calm market jitters over Spanish banks, which are swamped with bad debts resulting from their reckless lending to property developers.The specific amount of aid has not yet been set, as an assessment of the capita

North Korea, which has conducted two nuclear tests in the past, is alarmingly provocative. It has recently proclaimed itself a nuclear weapons state in defiance of the international community’s demand that it dismantle its nuclear weapons program.It has also picked out President Lee Myung-bak and news outlets in Seoul as potential targets for a “holy war of retribution.” As if to demonstrate its resolve, it sends its jet fighters threateningly close to the Demilitarized Zone before calling them

Ancient China had a great civilization, with the Great Wall being one of its legacies attesting to its ancient history. But was it necessary for modern China to dot the fortifications of non-Chinese ancient civilizations and link them to extend the length of the Great Wall, as it has done now?The wall, the largest manmade structure in the world, is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth and other materials. According to a 2009 Chinese estimate, the wall, built to fend off

The ruling Saenuri Party has come up with a sweeping set of reform proposals to curtail privileges and benefits for lawmakers and hold them to higher ethical standards.The party said the package is designed to implement its pledges made for the April parliamentary election. It is desirable for a political party to try to put into practice its election promises to the public. The package contains six proposals, including scrapping lawmakers’ immunity from arrest, reforming their much criticized r

The controversy over the alleged pro-North Korea lawmakers of the left-wing United Progressive Party has escalated into a virulent ideological dispute between the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party. The escalation was sparked by DUP Rep. Lim Soo-kyung, a former high-profile student activist who became a lawmaker on a proportional representation ticket. Lim recently insulted North Korean defectors in the South by calling them “traitors.” She apologized to the def

Departing from their low-key position, business circles are beginning to raise their voices against political parties’ moves to impose stricter regulations on conglomerates in the name of economic democratization.A research institute affiliated with the Federation of Korean Industries, the country’s main business lobby group, held a debate this week, where participants criticized politicians for pushing ahead with bills that go against market economy principles and shackle big business.They clai

Koreans are recognized for their zeal for learning English, though the efficiency of their study methods is often called into question.A report released this week suggested there might be a good reason they have to be so zealous in acquiring a better command of the language.Employees who outscore their colleagues by 100 points on the Test of English for International Communication earn an average 1.7 million won ($1,400) more a year, according to the report by Korea Development Institute, a stat

The 19th National Assembly started its term in office on May 30. But it has yet to hold an opening session, with the rival parties bickering over who will head each of the 18 committees.No one knows when the legislature will start its normal operations. The standoff may last more than a month, if past experience is any indication.Still, each lawmaker will be given, without interruption, a monthly payment of 12.24 million won and access to 200 perks ― ranging from free rides on state-owned means

As is often said, a crisis that is already known may not be a crisis any longer. Those who perceive themselves to be at the risk of being exposed to a crisis are certain to take all precautions possible for their own protection.But the axiom does not appear to apply to the current sovereign-debt crisis in Europe. The crisis came to a head in 2008 when Ireland was added to the PIGS group of Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain to form a new pejorative term ― PIIGS.The crisis, which the European Unio

The shortlist of candidates to replace four outgoing Supreme Court justices, which were recommended by Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae to President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday, appears to add to the conservative tendency of the top court rather than altering it.All of the four candidates -- three high-ranking judges and a senior prosecutor – are men in their 50s and thought to be conservative to some extent.The selection naturally drew a negative response from opposition lawmakers and civic group membe

With the entire world contaminated with the eurozone virus, the Korean economy is also beginning to feel the impact of the global slowdown.Government policymakers recently revised down their growth forecast for this year to 3.5 percent from 3.7 percent in the face of shrinking exports coupled with sluggish domestic demand.The effect of their stimulus measures appears to be limited.What if there was a way to boost the growth rate by one extra percentage point without increasing government expendi

Korea, a country poor in natural resources, has turned itself into a major exporting powerhouse during the past six decades. It owes its rapid rags-to-riches transformation to huge export earnings.Korea’s prowess as an exporter, however, is nowhere to be found when it comes to trade with Japan. It has recorded no trade surplus ever since its liberation from Japan’s colonial occupation in 1945.At long last, however, Korea sees a possibility of selling more to Japan than buying from it. This possi