• Launch of transition team

    President-elect needs to polish up vetting process President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team was officially launched Sunday, setting in motion the full-fledged formation of the new administration and the solidification of major issues to be pursued over the next five years. A signboard hanging ceremony took place in front of the…

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  • East Asia

    Brazil, Korea seek synergy over next five years

    “May the best man win”- so the old saying goes. But coming from Brazil, presently governed by a lady president, and living in Korea, whose citizens have recently chosen a woman for the highest office, I never doubted that to be successful in the globalized world of today is not…

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  • East Asia

    Politics of food

    Lawmakers halt MB’s ‘hansik’ globalization project Bureaucratic ambitions to foster “hansik,’’ or traditional Korean food, as the newest star in global cuisine appears to be on hold as lawmakers vow to look into allegations that the existing government investment has been wasted and abused. Representatives of the governing Saenuri Party…

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  • East Asia

    Tough lessons in dealing with North Korea

    South Korea has elected a new president, Park Geun-hye. The vote was primarily about economics, but Park promised to reengage the North with a policy of “trust building.” Now the North’s leader has responded by calling for a reduction in tensions. Unfortunately, Pyongyang remains an impossible partner. A year ago…

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  • East Asia

    Park’s foreign policy

    President-elect Park Geun-hye has appointed former Defense Minister Kim Jang-su as foreign policy point man for her transition team that will prepare for next month’s inauguration of the new administration. Although foreign policy, including the North Korea issue, was not a dominant campaign issue, it is directly linked to most…

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  • East Asia

    ‘Madam is more appropriate’

    How should President-elect Park Geun-hye be addressed in English? An official from Park’s transition team said the nation’s first female president could be addressed as either Madam or Ms. The Foreign Ministry also confirmed there was no preference but pointed out that Ms. was used more frequently than madam in…

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  • East Asia

    Choi Jin-sil tragedy relived

    Ex-husband hangs himself The apparent suicide of Cho Sung-min, the ex-husband of the late movie and television star Choi Jin-sil, is more than another tragedy involving a celebrity. The 39-year-old ex-pitcher of Japan’s Yomiuri Giants marked the third “connected suicide” after his ex-wife and her younger brother Jin-young. The late…

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  • South Asia

    Rare elephants’ sports competitions attract over 100,000 spectators in Nepal

    Photo: Bishnu GautamKATHMANDU – Over 100,000 local and foreign tourists enjoyed the games and beauty pageant of elephants in the Chitwan National Park, some 200 kilometers west of here last week.An overwhelming crowd of viewers of all ages and sexes reached the park, the largest national park of Nepal, to enjoy the…

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  • East Asia

    Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang Meets With Model Rural Doctors In Beijing

    Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, shakes hands with Zhong Jing (L), a rural doctor from a village in Guizhou Province, during his meeting with Zhong and 17 other…

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  • East Asia

    Yemeni PM And Chinese Amb. To Yemen Attend Ceremony To Inaugurate National Library Project In Sanaa

    Yemeni Prime Minister Mohamed Salem Basindwa (R) and Chinese Ambassador to Yemen Chang Hua (L) attend the inauguration ceremony of the National Library Project in Sanaa, Yemen, on Jan. 6, 2013. Yemeni Prime Minister Mohamed Salem Basindwa (2nd R) attend the inauguration ceremony of the National Library Project in Sanaa,…

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