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East Asia
Beijing rejects Hong Kong’s anti-corruption laws eyeing city head
China’s central government has rejected a plan by Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to tighten the city’s anti-corruption laws and ensure that all gifts and benefits offered to the chief executive are graft-free. Beijing found the idea of amending the existing law for this reason unacceptable, a source…
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East Asia
K-fashion can go global with K-pop
Global fashion houses have one thing in common ― they do have an identity. This critical element is missing in Korean fashion, an overseas fashion insider laments. However, time is on local fashion designers’ side because there’s a Korean culture boom overseas which was sparked by K-pop’s global expansion. If the…
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East Asia
Korean man who died in Mexico returned with missing organs
The body of a Korean man who died in Mexico has been returned to his family ― without his brain, stomach and heart. Mexican authorities claim that the man, 35, surnamed Kim, died of natural causes despite a scuffle with other people just before his death. His widow fears that…
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East Asia
Germany launches educational project on DMZ, Berlin Wall
PAJU, Gyeonggi Province — Young South Koreans, according to recent surveys, have been less open than older generations to reunification of the Korean Peninsula. The situation is similar in Germany. Knowledge and interest in division and reunification of the country has been declining among the young who were born after…
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East Asia
South Korea: Daegu skate punk band set for British invasion
Although Seoul is often seen as the central hub for culture in Korea, U.K. indie label Damnably has now signed two acts from outside the capital. Daegu-based skatepunk band Drinking Boys & Girls Choir (DBGC), formed in 2012, signed recently to Damnably, which already counts Busan’s Say Sue Me on its…
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East Asia
Naver, Kakao fleeing to Japan for new businesses
Naver and Kakao are fleeing to Japan and other countries to start new businesses because of growing regulatory risks here amid conflicts with existing players, industry officials said Monday. The moves reflect the latest trend that not only manufacturing but also services companies are increasingly leaving Asia’s fourth largest economy…
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East Asia
Koreans well educated but underperforming
Rigid labor, education hinder human development South Korea has been locked in an “education paradox” with the country spending huge amounts on educating and training young people only to see their global competitiveness getting left behind year after year. Simply put, they are highly-educated but ill-equipped to bring value to the…
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East Asia
Seoul-Tokyo radar row risks derailing military cooperation
An ongoing military spat between Seoul and Tokyo is casting a shadow on bilateral exchanges. According to Japanese media reports, Tokyo is likely cancel the planned dispatch of a Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer to Busan for a joint maritime exercise in April. Japan planned to deploy the MSDFS Izumo to take…
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East Asia
Why foreigners buying Korean stocks in 2019
Foreign investors have been rushing to buy Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and other stocks since the beginning of the year as global funds shift to emerging markets on the easing of U.S.-China trade tensions and other favorable conditions. Stock prices have yet to rise above certain levels predicted by brokerages…
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East Asia
South Korea: Shareholder activism unnerves chaebol
KCGI seeks to force Cho out of Hanjin management Shareholder activism has emerged as the centerpiece of the nation’s capital market. A growing number of shareholders at large Korean companies or chaebol are trying to have a bigger say in their management and to influence the owner families’ behavior by exercising…
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