• East Asia

    Ban Ki-moon Speaks In Opening Of UN Climate Change Conference

    United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks during the opening session of the high-level segment of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar, on Dec. 4, 2012. UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres speaks during the opening session of the high-level segment of the…

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  • East Asia

    Seoul to ditch US missile purchase

    Seoul is considering eliminating a U.S. defense giant from its possible bidders for the purchase of 177 long-range air-to-surface cruise missiles due to Washington’s continued delay in issuing an export license, multiple sources said Tuesday. Korea has repeatedly expressed interest in the purchase of the Lockheed Martin’s the Joint Air-to-Surface…

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  • East Asia

    Rotten Vegetable Leaves Turned Into Food For Insects In China

    Workers sort mealworms at a feedlot breeding insects in Lijiazhuang Village, Yuzhong County of northwest China’s Gansu Province, Dec. 4, 2012. A worker tries dried mealworms at a feedlot breeding insects in Lijiazhuang Village, Yuzhong County of northwest China’s Gansu Province, Dec. 4, 2012. The feedlot was set up in…

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  • East Asia

    Candidates aim to win ‘midfield’ battle

    Conservative Park continues to lead, but Moon hangs within striking distance Let’s get one thing out of the way: Korea probably won’t see its version of Nate Silver in this presidential election and maybe not in the next. The idea of a poker player-turned-political forecaster winning fame after predicting the…

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  • East Asia

    Debate captures woman power

    Korean politics is the domain of men or so many people believe. But Tuesday night’s televised presidential debate gave a strong rebuttal to this conventional wisdom. The main opposition Democratic United Party’s Moon Jae-in was sandwiched between two female candidates: the ruling Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye and the minor leftist…

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  • East Asia

    Corporate culture crushes joy of life

    A nine-to-five existence and a two-week annual holiday, regarded as a humdrum life in some countries, remains a pipedream for most Korean workers. Rather than being able to keep regular hours, many office workers here must remain at their desks if their boss stays late, even if they lack anything…

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  • Korea, China agree to tap swap line for trade settlement

    South Korea’s central bank said Tuesday that it has agreed with its Chinese counterpart to support a trade settlement in the two countries’ currencies by using the existing bilateral currency swap line. In October last year, South Korea and China agreed to double their won-yuan swap line to 360 billion…

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  • East Asia

    Japanese Major Political Parties Have Gone Into Election Footing

    An elderly woman walks by candidates’ poster boards for parliamentary elections, left, and Tokyo Gubernatorial election in Tokyo Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012. Leaders for Japan’s biggest political parties kicked off Tuesday the campaign for parliamentary elections to be held in less than two weeks with visits to nuclear crisis-hit Fukushima…

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  • East Asia

    Chinese Legislators Visit Cambodia To Strengthen Bilateral Ties

    President of Cambodia’s National Assembly Heng Samrin (R) shakes hands with Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee of the China’s National People’s Congress Hu Kangsheng in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Dec. 3, 2012. A group of Chinese legislators led by Hu Kangsheng is visiting Cambodia to strengthen and…

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  • East Asia

    [Korea Report] My first experience of snow in Seoul as romantic as I imagined

    Even though Korea has been entering Winter since mid November, first snow fell in Seoul last Monday night (December 4) and officially started the winter season. As someone who was born and grew up in a tropical country, last Monday night was a special night for me. It was another magical moment I…

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