• Gov’t debt tops W1.1 quadrillion

    The government’s debt, including liabilities of state pension funds, rose sharply last year to 1.117 quadrillion won, according to the government’s settlement report for last year’s budget, released Tuesday. This is up some 215 trillion won from the previous year’s 902 trillion won, and represents 78.2 percent of the country’s…

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  • Save the whales, 2014

    It was widely known for many years that Japan’s “scientific whaling” program was a sham, designed to get around the international moratorium on hunting whales. Almost no research on the animals came from Japanese scientists; instead, whale meat kept showing up in restaurants and school lunches. Finally, Australia, a whaling…

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  • Disrupted by drones

    It’s time to calm down, check defense preparedness Three small, crashed drones presumably sent by North Korea have touched off a noisy but inconclusive controversy in the South. Tracing back the course of debate over recently found unmanned aerial vehicles, however, reveals big holes in the nation’s defense posture and…

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  • Amhaeng-eosa: secret royal inspector in Joseon Kingdom

    These days, news of a modern version of the “amhaeng-eosa” or secret royal inspector prevails throughout the country. There was a story about a military unit that introduced an undercover system to unearth internal problems in its barracks. Meanwhile, undercover election observers have reportedly worked against fraudulent and manipulated elections.…

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  • Eating vicariously?

    Food-centric TV shows becoming hot trend Yoon Hoo, the son of singer Yoon Min-soo, was catapulted to stardom by “eating voraciously” on MBC’s high-rating reality show “Where Are We Going, Dad?” Choo Sa-rang, the daughter of Korean-Japanese combat sports star Choo Sung-hoon, is winning the hearts of viewers mainly for…

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  • Concerns over N. Korea’s drones overblown: analysts

    A number of defense analysts have expressed skepticism about the possibility of North Korea’s unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) posing any serious threat to national security. Three drones that crashed here have dominated the headlines since the beginning of April, raising tension in South Korea over a possible new threat from…

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  • Assembly emblem to feature Hanguel

    A group of bipartisan lawmakers agreed Tuesday to change the text in the center of the National Assembly emblem and on lapel badges worn in the parliament by representatives from a Chinese character to Hangeul, Korean script. The parliamentary steering committee passed a bill to revise the relevant law. In…

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  • NK warned against nuclear test

    South Korea, the United States and Japan urged North Korea to drop its plan to conduct another nuclear test or face serious repercussions. They issued the warning following a trilateral meeting in Washington D.C., Monday. “If North Korea goes ahead with another nuclear test, we, along with the international community,…

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  • Hyundai hybrid cars have lowest emissions

    Audi slapped with W1 billion fine Hyundai Motor’s hybrid vehicles produced the lowest emissions among domestic vehicles, the Ministry of Environment said Tuesday. According to a survey conducted by the Metropolitan Air Quality Management Office, a unit of the ministry, Hyundai’s Sonata Hybrid topped the list of the lowest emission…

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  • Moon stripped of doctorate over plagiarism

    Kookmin University stripped Moon Dae-sung, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and a Saeunuri Party lawmaker, of his doctor’s degree in sports psychology last month, weeks after concluding that his thesis was plagiarized, an official from the school told The Korea Times on Tuesday. “The school revoked Moon’s…

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