The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will finalize whether to merge South Korea‘s national train operator Korail and high-speed rail service Supreme Railways by the end of this year, officials said Friday.But a bumpy road is expected ahead with the SR labor union expressing strong opposition to the merger.“Related parties are currently holding discussions over the direction of the merger. A task force will be formed to finalize a decision by the end of this year,” said Maeng Sung-k

More seniors found employment youths in the second quarter of this year, representing the shifting demographics in the country, data showed Friday.Statistics Korea said that of those who were in employment between April and June, 4.25 million were aged 60 and over, compared to 4.03 million aged 15-29.The number for over-60s is the highest on record, and takes up 15.9 percent of all employed people.Commenting that higher employment of the elderly cannot be perceived all positive, Statistics Korea

The road that runs between the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae and Gyeongbokgung Palace has become open to the public around the clock on June 26, after nearly 50 years. The road was made inaccessible to the public after North Korea’s attempted attack on Cheong Wa Dae in 1968. Although the road became open to traffic during the daytime in the 1990s, it took another two decades for the thoroughfare to become fully open to the public. (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)The road passes the front

PHNOM PENH – The Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia’s leading English daily, has joined Asia News Network, an alliance now comprising 23 media in 19 Asian countries.The Phnom Penh Post’s CEO, Alex Odom, signed an agreement with Pana Janviroj, Executive Director of ANN, in the Cambodian capital city on July 13, 2017, witnessed by Torben Stephan, Director of Konrad Adenauer Siftung Media Programme Asia.ANN is the world’s most active media alliance established in 1999. Members exchange news and commentaries

Labor Minister nominee Cho Dae-yop stepped down on Thursday while Song Young-moo has been confirmed as the new minister of defense.  Cho Dae-yop (Yonhap)“If my appointment is an obstacle in resolving political situations, I will gladly quit as the labor minister nominee. I hope this decision goes toward the success of the Moon Jae-in government,” Cho said in a statement. Cho’s resignation came amid rumors that President Moon Jae-in might push through with his and Song’s appointments.  Song Young

The number of North Koreans escaping to the South declined sharply in the first half of this year as Pyongyang strengthened controls on its border with China, officials said.The DMZ dividing the Korean Peninsula is one of the most heavily fortified places in the world, and almost all defectors to the South go to China first -- where they still risk being repatriated if caught -- and then on to a third country before travelling to the South.In the six months to June, 593 Northerners entered South

Memorial projects for former presidents Park Chung-hee and Roh Moo-hyun are moving along very different routes, mirroring the former leaders’ contrasting terms. On Wednesday, plans to issue commemorative stamps for Park were scrapped, more than a year after the decision was made. On the same day, the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation announced a plan to establish the Roh Moo-hyun Center in central Seoul.   (Yonhap)Park and Roh are seen as polar opposites of each other, both in terms of character and polit

Will China ever become democratic? That question has been a staple of geopolitical discussion since the 1990s, and at times many commentators thought a democratic China was not so far away. Today, as restrictions on political speech and opposition increase, hardly anyone thinks this is a realistic scenario. Yet it’s still worth asking why China might never democratize, and what that can teach us about our own political dilemmas.The argument that China will become democratic rested on observation

Chris Stewart, a Republican congressman from Utah, told CNN today that Donald Trump Jr., deserves “credit” for releasing -- on Twitter, of course -- a fascinating batch of compromising emails about how he helped his father’s campaign during last year’s election. That’s one way to look at it.Another way is that the president’s eldest son just stepped in something stinky. And, given that he’s a chip off the old block, he may not have the wit or the awareness to realize that he may have caused hims