The war of words is heating up between the government and Seoul City over the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs’ plans to raise the national flag at the heart of downtown in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the country’s liberation from Japan this year. The tit-for-tat over how long and where the giant flag pole should be installed represents a fresh standoff between the conservative government of President Park Geun-hye and the progressive municipality run by Mayor Park Won-soon

The defection of Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo and the looming split of the party is a heavy blow to the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, with only four months remaining until the next parliamentary elections.But it is also a repetition of history for a party that has experienced countless divisions and mergers over the past six decades.All through the years, the opposition camp has had an unwritten rule: Integration leads to victory and division to defeat.It is for such reason that the ongoing split o

Ssangyong Motor’s management and labor union have reached a tentative agreement to rehire a group of dismissed workers, a move widely seen here as a major breakthrough to end their six-year labor dispute. “The company took a critical step to end the prolonged labor conflict,” a company official said Monday. The agreement was made during tripartite talks among Ssangyong CEO Choi Johng-sik, union leader Hong Bong-seok and Kim Deuk-jung, a representative from the Korea Metal Workers’ Union. Kim has

In a meeting with reporters last week, Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan dismissed warnings that the Korean economy may be facing its worst ever conditions as exaggerated.“Some have said our economy is heading toward a grave crisis, but all data are showing Korea is doing better than most of its peer countries under difficult situations,” he said.Choi, who concurrently serves as deputy prime minister for economic affairs, argued that if exports had not fallen, Asia’s fourth-largest economy could

Poland is modernizing its roads, railways, airports and seaports to be a “pan-European” transportation hub. The Central European powerhouse is well positioned for the European Union’s infrastructure policy ― the Trans-European Transport Network ― unveiled by the European Commission in January last year, aimed at boosting East-West and North-South linkages across the continent. Covering both passengers and freight, the ambitious initiative will close transport capacities between 28 member states,

The United Nation’s World Happiness Report listed Denmark as the world’s happiest nation in 2013 and 2014, while it came in at third place behind Switzerland and Iceland this year. When Koreans think of the Nordic nation, they conjure up ideas of work-life balance, plentiful welfare and fancy lifestyles, an egalitarian utopia far from “Hell Joseon,” a phrase Korean youth have recently used to describe Korea’s structural malaise. In the same report, Korea was ranked 47th of 158 countries for this

Marking one year of the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement that entered into force on Dec. 12 last year, the Australian Embassy held a press conference last week to reflect on the deal’s positive impacts and gauge potentials for growth. The comprehensive agreement covers a broad spectrum, including trade in goods and services, investment, technology and information sharing. Korea agreed to a 94 percent tariff reduction on goods imported and Australia consented to a 100 percent elimination.  (F

France, which has Europe’s second-largest venture capital ecosystem, is vying to transform the entire country into a start-up incubator. The government of President Francois Hollande has unveiled an ambitious “French Tech” initiative backed with 215 million euros ($236 million) in funding, aimed at harnessing countrywide entrepreneurship and global competitiveness in the information communications technology, e-commerce and innovative industries, as well as med-tech, bio-tech and clean-tech sect