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Politics
U.S. ratchets up pressure on South Korea to jack up share of defense costs
Seoul: The United States is ramping up pressure on South Korea to sharply increase Seoul’s share of the expenses for stationing American troops here, apparently with an eye to expanding the scope of their cost-sharing deal to cover activities outside the peninsula. This week, James DeHart, the top U.S. negotiator…
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Society
South Korea to turn key elite schools into general ones by 2025
Seoul: South Korea on Thursday announced a plan to transform three categories of elite high schools into general schools by 2025 to promote fairness in education and improve overall public education. The education ministry said autonomous private, foreign language and international high schools will be deprived of their status of…
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Politics
Moon requests continued support from OANA news agencies for Korea peace
Seoul: President Moon Jae-in asked Thursday for continued attention and support for the Korea peace process from Asia-Pacific news agencies, as he greeted their representatives at Cheong Wa Dae. “Peace on the Korean Peninsula is a starting point for achieving a peace community of co-prosperity,” Moon said in a meeting…
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Politics
Headquarters of international alliance to protect safety of maritime navigation opened
By Habib Toumi Manama: The headquarters of the International Maritime Security Construct (IMSC) Task Force, an international alliance that aims “to protect the safety of maritime navigation and international trade”, have been opened in Bahrain. The premises within the US Naval Support Activity were inaugurated by Field Marshall Shaikh Khalifa…
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Society
South Korea deports two North Koreans accused of killing 16 fellow crew members
Seoul: South Korea deported two North Koreans back to the communist nation after learning that they killed 16 fellow crew members on their fishing boat and fled to the South, the unification ministry said Thursday. The two in their 20s were sent back to the North at around 3:10 p.m.…
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Culture
Unique exhibition to celebrate 40 years of Korea-Kuwait diplomatic relations
By Lee Sang-Ki AsiaN, Former Chairman of the Korean Journalists Association Kuwait: Korean artist Lee Hyang’s special exhibition “The Beauty of Korea” will be held at Shaikh Abdullah Salem Cultural Center, Kuwait Royal Museum, on November 18-23, as the two countries continue celebrating their 40 years of diplomatic relations. The…
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Society
International marriages in South Korea up 8.5 pct in 2018
Sejong: The number of international marriages between a South Korean national and a foreigner rose 8.5 percent in 2018 from a year earlier, government data showed Wednesday. There were 23,773 international marriages last year, up 1,856 from 2017, according to the data by Statistics Korea. It marked the second straight…
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Politics
Senior U.S. diplomat calls recent Moon-Abe meeting ‘encouraging’ sign
Seoul: The top American diplomat for East Asia on Wednesday described this week’s meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as an “encouraging” sign in fence-mending efforts between Seoul and Tokyo. Assistant Secretary of State David Stilwell made the remarks after paying courtesy calls…
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South East Asia
Inexorably approaching the retirement milestone
By Nasir Yousoff Contributor to AsiaN Kuala Lumpur: After serving this great organisation for some 37 years, 451 months and 13,505 days, the remaining 140 plus days before going into retirement seem so short, so negligible. Minus some 70 days of accumulated leave that I have to finish before retiring,…
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Poaching accelerating extinction of protected species
By Ravindran Raman Kutty Communications practitioner (Malaysia) Kuala Lumpur: “An endangered pygmy elephant was found dead in Sabah. It had been shot 70 times and its tusks were hacked off during a brutal attack by poachers…” This was the first thing I heard when I switched on the radio one…
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