• Game-changing move or too little, too late?

    Moments after Ahn Cheol-soo ended his multi-week circus of flip-flopping and committed to the campaign of Democratic United Party (DUP) candidate Moon Jae-in, Woo Sang-ho, Moon’s spokesman, was caught grinning like a Cheshire cat. “This is s whole new ballgame,’’ said the beaming lawmaker, whose expression was notably gloomier earlier…

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  • East Asia

    Foreigners view moral standing as key quality

    Foreign tourists and residents say the most important quality for a leader and by extension the next Korean president is “moral standing,” according to a recent survey published Thursday. They also think inter-Korean relations will be the new leader’s biggest challenge. The survey by travel agency Cosmojin Tour, coming ahead…

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  • East Asia

    Singapore Asked By Hong Kong Labor Union To Release Chinese Bus Driver In Detention

    A representative of the Singapore Consulate General, left, receives a letter from members of a labor union outside the Singapore Consulate General in Hong Kong Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, as they demand the Singapore government to release a Chinese immigrant bus driver. Singapore sentenced a Chinese immigrant bus driver to…

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  • East Asia

    International Bakery Expo Kicks Off In Hong Kong

    Visitors take photos of cake models exhibited at the Hong Kong International Bakery Expo in Hong Kong, south China, Dec. 5, 2012. The three-day bakery event kicked off here Wednesday, involving participants from home and abroad. Colorful cupcakes are exhibited at the Hong Kong International Bakery Expo in Hong Kong,…

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  • Are two Koreas in space race?

    While pundits speculate over North Korea’s motivation for a long-range rocket planned launch for this month, one factor has been largely overlooked: a competition with the South to become the first to put a satellite in orbit. Security analysts point out that Pyongyang’s announcement on Dec. 1 of the launch…

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  • Seoul seeks to freeze NK accounts

    Seoul is working with international powers to identify North Korean financial accounts to freeze as a possible measure if Pyongyang follows through with a long-range rocket launch later this month. Government officials said the Lee administration was working with the international community to identify bank accounts abroad that hold money…

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  • South Korea falls to 45th in global corruption awareness ranking

    South Korea dropped two notches in a global corruption awareness ranking to place 45th among 176 nations in 2012, an international watchdog said in its annual report on Wednesday. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2012 issued by the non-governmental agency Transparency International (TI), South Korea scored 56 out…

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  • East Asia

    ‘We want to be a window of Asia’

    The AsiaN, a Seoul-based online media service published in four languages, aims at playing the role of “the window of Asia” by delivering news in the region from an Asian perspective, its head said. Lee Sang-ki, publisher of The AsiaN (http://theasian.asia), said foreign press tend to report Asian news from…

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  • East Asia

    Samsung speeds up power transition

    Junior Lee faces task of handling patent battle with Apple The promotion of Samsung Electronics Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President Lee Jay-yong to vice chairman came as a surprise because there had been speculation that he would maintain his current position. A Samsung executive said that the one-notch elevation…

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  • East Asia

    Smart payment service

    KT develops MoCa to beat Google in mobile payment KT introduced a new service called MoCa Wednesday in a bid to beat Google in the smart mobile payment service market. The new service comes as KT, Korea’s No. 2 mobile carrier after SK Telecom and leading broadband operator, has made…

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