• Politics

    2007 election funds to be probed

    Prsident’s elder brother arrested for taking bribes Prosecutors said Wednesday they are looking into the allegations that Lee Sang-deuk, President Lee Myung-bak’s elder brother, received illegal political funds from businesses to finance his brother’s presidential campaign in 2007. The elder Lee, a former National Assembly vice speaker, was jailed earlier…

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  • Politics

    Rep. Chung’s arrest motion rejected

    Saenuri faces criticism for protecting one of their own; Park Geun-hye skips vote Rep. Chung Doo-un of the ruling Saenuri Party survived a parliamentary motion Wednesday to have him arrested on charges of receiving money from the head of a troubled savings bank together with President Lee Myung-baks elder brother,…

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  • Samsung, POSCO boost cooperation

    Two firms to jointly develop new materials POSCO, the world’s third largest steelmaker, has decided to develop next-generation materials for smartphones and other electronic gadgets in cooperation with Samsung Electronics. This is the latest in a series of moves designed to boost business collaboration between Korea’s two leading enterprises. Since…

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  • Politics

    Lawmakers express concern over Korea-Japan military pact

    Bipartisan lawmakers of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee Wednesday expressed concern over the intelligence-protection agreement with Tokyo. Some of them urged the need to sign an equivalent military pact with China, the nation’s biggest trading partner, to sweep away the allegation that the Korea-Japan pact aims to counter Beijing’s military…

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  • Nation urged to boost birthrate to 1.8

    Marking the country’s first Population Day, Wednesday, a state-funded think tank called on the government to take bolder measures to tackle rapid demographic changes. The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) recommended the government boost the birthrate to 1.8 by 2045 to retain the population at its current…

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  • IBM Korea ignores outcry of sales agents

    A good corporate citizen has two important objectives – first making profits through business activities and second, creating economic value and contributing to society through sharing the fruits of their enterprise. In this regard, IBM Korea cannot be considered a good corporate citizen. The Korean arm of the U.S.-headquartered software…

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  • Society

    Tension runs high at state colleges

    Professors outraged over scrapping of direct vote to pick president Professors of state-run universities are up in arms over the government’s move to deprive them of the right to choose presidents of their own schools. Tension is escalating between professors and school authorities at some regional colleges since the prosecution…

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  • Business

    3-way battle

    KB, AIA, Manulife to vie for ING’s Korean unit The contest to buy ING Group’s Korean insurance unit has turned into a three-way battle as Canada’s Manulife Financial is expected to join the main bidding scheduled for July 16. KB Financial Group and Hong Kong’s AIA Group were considered the…

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  • Column

    Higgs boson and Lee Sang-deuk

    Apparently shocked by the arrest of his elder brother, President Lee Myung-bak cancelled all morning meetings Wednesday, just after Lee Sang-deuk was detained on charges of bribery. It might have been all the more perplexing for both Lees because the arrest was the first such case against a brother of…

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  • President’s apology

    Lee should feel ashamed over brother’s arrest Lee Sang-deuk, President Lee Myung-bak’s elder brother, was jailed early Wednesday morning after a Seoul court issued an arrest warrant on bribery charges. He has become the first brother of a sitting president to be arrested in Korean history. Lee is suspected of…

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