-
East Asia
Park haunted by suspicion on PM nominee
President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team seems desperate to press for the nomination of Kim Yong-joon as the first prime minister of the incoming government, despite growing suspicion surrounding Kim’s property and two sons’ exemption from military service. The team is seeking to call on the ruling and opposition parties soon…
Read More » -
East Asia
Special guests to visit PyeongChang
World leaders, including Myanmar’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and sporting greats such as former NBA player Yao Ming of China and U.S. figure skater Michelle Kwan will visit Korea for the Special Olympics Global Development Summit on Wednesday. They join Malawi President Joyce Banda, Jamaican Prime Minister Portia…
Read More » -
East Asia
‘Hanwha move complies with Park’s rules’
A member of President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team Sunday welcomed Hanwha Group’s move to put about 2,000 “temporary” workers on regular payroll as part of efforts to improve job security and access to employment benefits. “The Hanwha move complies with the President-elect’s principle,” the member said, adding that the issue…
Read More » -
East Asia
US may learn from Korea’s gun control
The recent shooting tragedies in the United States and ensuing debates on gun control are shocking and almost incomprehensible to South Koreans because they don’t face such issues pertaining to firearms. There are strict laws here regarding the possession of hand guns. Citizens can only buy hunting guns and air…
Read More » -
East Asia
Online bookstores oppose discount ban
Publishing firms and online book stores are pitched against each other over a revised bill recently submitted to the National Assembly that is designed to stop excessive discounts on book prices. Publishers and major bookstores that support the bill claim that online bookstores are not only taking away their share…
Read More » -
East Asia
Samsung posts record profit of W8.84 tril.
Samsung Electronics said Friday that its operating profit nearly doubled to a record high of 8.84 trillion won ($8.3 billion) for the fourth quarter of last year from a year earlier on the back of brisk smartphone sales. Its net profit jumped 75.6 percent to 7.04 trillion won during the…
Read More » -
East Asia
We want to see more of you
We want to see more of our leader-to-be as Park Geun-hye has made herself scarce, minimizing public appearances. Keeping a low profile may help in some ways but doesn’t in others. As the President-elect said, it enables the incumbent government to finish their business without distraction. During previous changeovers, the…
Read More » -
East Asia
Kakao Story creating lots of trouble for everyone
So Yeon, a member of girls vocal group Tiara, and her entertainer friends engaged in private conversation on Kakao Story, a mobile communications network, in which she berated some of the people she knew. That got her into hot water. A 27-year-old company worker went on a pleasure trip to…
Read More » -
KT, LG to offer ‘unlimited’ LTE service
KT and LG Uplus announced Friday that they will offer “unlimited” data services for customers signing up for new pricing packages supporting speedier telecommunication networks called Long-Term Evolution (LTE). The move was designed to attract more customers as top local carrier SK Telecom will be banned from signing new customers…
Read More » -
East Asia
Women rise at foreign drugmakers
The imaginary glass ceiling seems omnipresent for Korean women, who struggle to advance their corporate careers in a country that data shows has the highest level of workplace gender division among rich economies. For female employees frustrated by the pace of advancement, branches of foreign pharmaceutical companies here may feel…
Read More »