The Korea Herald

안녕하세요 Shin Hyon-hee 기자입니다.

Articles by Shin Hyon-hee

Single male Seoulites up 10-fold over 20 years

Social affairsJul 25, 2012

The number of unmarried male citizens in Seoul aged 35 to 49 has increased more than 10-fold over the past 20 years, data showed Wednesday.According to the data released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the number of single men of the age bracket in the capital city came to 242,590 in 2010, up from 24,239 in 1990. The rate of unmarried men among the age group has shown an upward trajectory during the past two decades to account for 20.1 percent in 2010 from around 2 percent in 1990, the dat
Kim visits amusement park

Social affairsJul 25, 2012

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has paid an inspection visit to an amusement park construction site, the North’s media said Wednesday, publishing Kim’s third reported visit to the newly built facility in Pyongyang.“Marshal Kim Jong-un visited the Rungna People’s Pleasure Ground just before the start of operation,” the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported in an English-language dispatch. The official news outlet has covered Kim’s two previous visits in April and early July to the am
Learn from Myanmar: U.S. envoy

Social affairsJul 25, 2012

The U.S. ambassador on Wednesday urged North Korea to learn from the recent political and economic reforms in Myanmar to improve the lives of its own people, but warned the North’s new leadership will be further isolated unless it abandons its nuclear ambitions. U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Sung Kim also said his government has “lost confidence” in working toward resuming dialogue with North Korea after it reneged on the Feb. 29th deal with Washington, an agreement to swap denuclearization ste
'Chinese investigators torture anti-N.K. activist’

Social affairsJul 25, 2012

Kim Young-hwan claims North Korea was involved in detention of four activistsNorth Korea was closely involved in China’s detention of four South Korean activists who campaigned for human rights in the communist country, one of them said Wednesday. Kim Young-hwan also told a news conference that he was physically abused by Chinese investigators during interrogation and told not to disclose it.Kim and three others arrived in Seoul on Friday after 114 days of confinement in China. They were arreste
Budget strains Seoul’s aid programs

Foreign affairsJul 24, 2012

World’s 17th-largest donor struggling with shortage of funds and personnelSouth Korea is struggling to meet its commitments to an increased overseas assistance as its financial stability is threatened by ever-growing welfare outlays and shriveling tax revenues. The country has touted its astonishing transformation from a major aid recipient to the world’s 17th largest donor in a few decades. In 2010, it joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Development Assistance Com
Ex-Lee aide named special envoy

PoliticsJul 24, 2012

Lee Dong-kwan, a former presidential secretary of public relations, has been appointed to a new post of ambassador for cooperation in public opinion and culture, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.The Cabinet also created another ambassadorial position for human rights during a meeting and appointed Kim Young-ho, a former unification aide and now a professor at Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul. The two posts offer neither an office nor pay and last one year. Lee is believed to be one of President Le
KOICA builds power plant in Haiti, technical college in Nepal

Foreign affairsJul 23, 2012

The Korea International Cooperation Agency said Monday it has completed a power plant in Haiti as part of its efforts to help rebuild the disaster-stricken country. The state-run aid agency has funneled $3 million into the project over the last two years in the sea town of Leogane, some 40 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince and the epicenter of a powerful earthquake that swept through the country in February 2010. The facility is expected to supply about 4,000 households and entails a mobile elec
EAI soars in global think tank map

Foreign affairsJul 23, 2012

Institute builds on global knowledge network in security, Asia, public policyWhen it started out in the spring of 2002, the East Asia Institute looked no different from many independent academic projects ― pure, proud but doomed to obscurity.Its organization was untenably tiny with only two staffers. It declared financial independence from government and businesses. Its motto ― “Ideas can change the world” ― sounded fairly idealist A decade later, the experiment has transformed into one of the w
Nuclear school, IAEA sign cooperation pact

North KoreaJul 22, 2012

ULSAN (Yonhap News) ― A South Korean graduate school specializing in nuclear studies has signed a cooperation deal with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency to train experts in atomic power, the school said Saturday.Under the agreement, the International Atomic Energy Agency will recommend students from member nations seeking to build atomic power plants to study at the KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School (KINGS) in South Korea’s southeastern coastal city of Ulsan, according to a KINGS offic
Seoul allows seafood imports from N. Korea

North KoreaJul 22, 2012

South Korea has recently allowed fish imports from North Korea, government officials said Sunday, a first since it imposed sanctions on the communist state following its deadly military provocations in 2010.Forty tons of scallops, an amount worth $100,000, were shipped through the Port of Sokcho on the eastern border in mid-June upon the request of three South Korean firms, said officials at the unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs. It is the first time the South Korean gover
Freed activist renews efforts to help N.K. human rights

North KoreaJul 22, 2012

Kim Young-hwan, the prominent anti-North Korea activist freed Friday from detention in China, pledged to continue his fight for democracy and human rights in the communist country. Kim, 49, and his three colleagues arrived in Seoul on the same day China expelled them after 114 days of detention. They were arrested on March 29 in the northeastern border city of Dalian apparently for helping North Korean refugees. They were charged with “endangering national security.”“The reality in North Korea i
Inflation, weak currency weigh on N.K.

North KoreaJul 22, 2012

Unusual data attributed to costly political events, hoarding supplies, point to further decline of N.K. economyNorth Korea’s rice prices and currency exchange rates have sharply risen in recent months, data showed Sunday, threatening its already crumbling economy. According to Daily NK, a specialized online news outlet, the price of rice in Pyongyang more than doubled from 2,600 North Korean won a kilogram on April 25 to 5,300 won on July 13.The prices also maintained an upward slide in two othe
Presumed N.K. first lady may hint at change

North KoreaJul 18, 2012

Amid slight signs of change, North Korea’s recent disclosure of its presumed de facto first lady is reinforcing the prospect of reform under the budding leadership of Kim Jong-un. Little was officially announced about her status or background, other than video footage and pictures from the communist regime’s mouthpieces. The young, elegant-looking woman, reportedly surnamed Hong, accompanied Kim during official activities such as a visit to a kindergarten and concert. Analysts see her ongoing me
‘Korea needs to focus on specialized aid’

Foreign affairsJul 17, 2012

Travel writer and relief worker Han Bi-ya, called on the Korean government on Tuesday to shift its foreign aid policy to a more specialized, grant-based approach.She underlined the significance of close cooperation between the government, development-related agencies and non-governmental organizations in crafting programs that reflect the needs of recipients. “While Korean NGOs and other related sectors have secured some level of professionalism in development and relief activities, the governme
Preparing for long-cherished national dream

North KoreaJul 16, 2012

Minister avows onset of unification preparations, calls for dialogue with North KoreaWhite porcelain ceramics represent the epitome of Korea’s traditional aesthetics ― steeped in simplicity, purity and harmony with nature. The moon jar, dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries, is the most prized of its kind. Its exact symmetry, round shape and milky white hue are reminiscent of a full moon and characterize fertility and a good harvest. Due to their large size, the upper and lower parts of the