Kim Geun-tae, a renowned pro-democracy activist and politician who laid the cornerstone of South Korean democracy, died of complications from pneumonia and blood poisoning on Friday. He was 64.He served as leader of the former ruling Uri Party and health and welfare minister during the late President Roh Moo-hyun administration. Kim was hospitalized late last month due to cerebral vein thrombosis at Seoul National University Hospital after suffering from Parkinson’s disease for years.  Complicat

 Pioneering hallyu TV drama sees 10th anniversaryOn the night of Jan. 14, 2002, the first episode of KBS TV drama series “Winter Sonata” went on air. Korea was four months ahead of the highly anticipated 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan, and was still recovering from the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The term “hallyu,” which was in fact introduced in 1999 by local reporters in Beijing who were surprised by the popularity of Korean TV drama shows in China, was still unfamiliar among the view

This is the fourth in a series of interviews with first-term lawmakers. ― Ed.Politics is about turning theory into policy and thus dreams into reality, says a biologist-turned-lawmaker.Rep. Bae Eun-hee, before joining the ruling Grand National Party in 2008 as a representative chosen by proportional representation, was chief executive officer of Regen Biotech, a biotechnology venture company.“I never thought of myself as a politician before I heard President Lee Myung-bak say that policies must

Renault Samsung, the local affiliate of French automaker Renault SA, said it plans to introduce the all-electric SM3 to the public in 2013 in what is to become the country’s first mass production of zero-emission cars, CEO Francois Provost said.“We have plans to mass produce EV cars out of our Busan plant, we will confirm the details at the beginning of next year,” Provost recently told The Korea Herald. “For Renault Samsung, (the emergence of electric cars) is a big opportunity because the Kore

ROME (AP) ― Italy’s borrowing costs fell for a second day Thursday but the country’s new premier said his government has more to do before it convinces financial markets it can manage the heavy debts that have made it the focus of the eurozone crisis.Mario Monti said he was encouraged by the bond auctions at which the interest costs paid out by Italy to bond investors eased. He said his government of technocrats, in office for just a month and a half following the resignation of Silvio Berluscon