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East Asia
Naro launch is blazing success!
Satellite payload in orbit GOHEUNG, South Jeolla Province ― South Korea was third time lucky in its aspirations to join the Asian space race Wednesday after successfully launching a two-stage rocket from its Naro Space Center on the country’s southwestern coast. Korea is the 11th country joining an elite group…
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East Asia
2013 Special Olympic World Winter Games Open In PyeongChang, South Korea
The Special Olympics flag is raised during the Opening Ceremony of the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Pyeongchang, east of Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 29, 2013. The Special Olympics World Winter Games for athletes with intellectual disabilities is held in Pyeongchang and Gangneung from Jan. 29 to Feb.…
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East Asia
O-hyun, a great Korean monk, depicts his enlightment through his poems
We were eager to meet the great Korean monk in his reception room, when he entered with a bald head, and a bold smile. Shaking hand with him gave me a touch of the human aspect in Mr. Cho O-hyun, but listening to him added the divine side of that…
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Won vs. yen
Will ‘Geunhyenomics’ be able to get over ‘Abenomics’? “Japan Inc. is coming back at the expense of Korea Inc.” So went the headline of a Bloomberg news story Monday, which described the revival of Japanese auto and electronics makers riding on a weak yen in contrast to their Korean counterparts…
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East Asia
Foreign filmmaker eyes Korea
A foreign independent filmmaker has achieved what some see as a first on the peninsula. Writing and directing a movie about Korean issues from a foreign perspective, with Korean actors. U.S. citizen, Chris Norlund, founder and director of Ruva Film, shot a 30 minute drama titled “Into Pieces,” highlighting the…
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East Asia
PM nominee withdraws
‘I don’t want to be burden to President-elect’ Kim Yong-joon, President-elect Park Geun-hye’s nominee for prime minister, withdrew his nomination Tuesday amid persisting suspicion over his property deals and other potential ethical lapses. In a statement read to the press by the transition team’s spokesman Yoon Chang-jung, Kim wrote, “I…
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East Asia
NK leader empowers ‘cell secretaries’
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un emphasized the importance of lower-level secretaries of the ruling Worker’s Party in a rare meeting of such officials this week, Pyongyang’s state media said Tuesday, as the young ruler attempts to gain “grassroots” support. The North a day earlier convened the meeting of the secretaries…
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East Asia
Kang Sue-jin offers life lessons
Kang Sue-jin is more than a prima ballerina. Uniquely for an artist, the Korean public has embraced her as a national hero and many young women in their 20s perceive her as a role model. The longtime principal of Germany’s Stuttgart Ballet arrived in Seoul on Jan. 19 to promote…
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East Asia
Vanity conquers all
Many Korean women have red hot love affairs with designer label handbags. Regardless of their income levels, they crave high-end luxury bags in order to satisfy their obsessive vanity and make a social statement. Sensitive about how they appear to others, they want to decorate themselves with expensive accessories. The…
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East Asia
Bailout feared to cause moral hazard
Private lenders use Park’s debt plan as marketing tool Saving debt-crushed families is good for the economy, says incoming President Park Geun-hye. But critics are sounding the alarm on her plans for intervention, arguing that using taxpayer’s money to rescue the more needy borrowers will cause the nation to fall…
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