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East Asia

Park bets on safe PM choice

Transition team chairman Kim Yong-jun nominated President-elect Park Geun-hye trumped all guesses Thursday and named her transition team Chairman Kim Yong-jun as her nominee for the first prime minister of her inaugural Cabinet. Kim, 75, headed the Constitutional Court and is respected for overcoming a physical handicap. But the beauty…
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East Asia

President’s brother gets two years

Rep. Chung jailed in court for aiding in illegal campaign fundraising The Seoul Central District Court sentenced President Lee Myung-bak’s elder brother-cum-political mentor Lee Sang-deuk to two years in prison Thursday on charges of taking illegal political funds from businesses during the 2007 presidential race. The court also ordered him…
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East Asia

Korean ‘Paul Potts’ will go to college next month

Korea’s Paul Potts, Choi Sung-bong, will enter college next month. Choi was the runner-up in Korea’s Got Talent in 2011, a local version of the audition program Britain’s Got Talent. He will enter as a freshman at the Department of Culture and Arts Management at Kyung Hee Cyber University. The…
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East Asia

Do names influence our destiny?

“Do I have to change my name?” This is one of the questions I am asked most frequently when a saju reading foretells misfortune. Many people tell me that they have already changed their name upon advice from other fortune tellers. Some of them say they benefit from the new…
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East Asia

Uncomfortable truth about Korean society

This new film ““Namjjogeuro Tur” by Lim Soon-rye is a classical example of political bias; it is a significant reminder of trumpeting anxieties that were prevelant last year in Gangjeong village on Korea’s southernmost major island, Jeju. This 121-minute film produced by director Lim, who is best known for “Forever…
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East Asia

Collective creativity at Concept Korea

Concept Korea, a collaboration to promote Korean fashion in the U.S., will feature five of the most innovative and promising Korean designers at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York next month. Here is a preview of Concept Korea 2013, to be held under the theme “Rhythm of Korea” on…
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East Asia

Treading on the snow, meditating

Snow makes us feel like we’re in wonderland. The fluffy white dazzles us by magically descending onto earth from a place we would like to imagine as heaven. Somehow we feel like being purified when looking at the snow _ something that has not been stained by human presence or…
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Master plan for Lumbini Peace City appears to complete in six months

KATHMANDU – The new master plan of the Lumbini Peace City is likely to complete in six months. According to Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), 80 percent works of the master plan has been completed. Korean professor Kwak Young Hoon, 72, is drafting the new master plan to build a lotus-shape…
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East Asia

U.S. Special Envoy On NK Affairs Arrives In Seoul For Consultation With His South Korean Counterpart

U.S. special envoy for policy on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Glyn Davies speaks to reporters upon his arrival at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, Jan. 23, 2013. Glyn Davies, who is accompanied by Clifford Hart, U.S. chief envoy for the six-party talks, will meet with…
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South East Asia

Thai Labor Activist Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Having Defamed The Country’s Monarchy

Activist Somyot Pruksakasemsuk arrives at criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. The court has sentenced the prominent labor rights activist and magazine editor to 10 years in prison for publishing a pair of articles prosecutors said defamed the country’s monarchy. Activist Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, rear, arrives at criminal…
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