• East Asia

    Yamaha marks 125th year

    Japanese multinational corp. Yamaha has announced a new line of grand pianos to mark its 125th anniversary. This year also marks the 110th since the company began to manufacture grand pianos, one of the symbols of the company that makes a wide range of musical instruments, electronics, motorcycles and power…

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  • East Asia

    Samsung-Apple competition comes down to supply chains

    Samsung Electronics and Apple are locked in a bitter fight for supremacy in the exploding smartphone and tablet market. But the fight is about more than just introducing cooler touch-screen gadgets and could be determined by innovations in supply chain management, according to a senior official at technology industry researcher…

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  • ‘Islam fund’ to be launched for SMEs

    The government plans to join hands with sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East to launch private equity funds (PEF) to support small Korean companies seeking to advance into the rapidly-growing market. To that end, industry sources said the Korea Finance Corporation (KoFC), the state-run lender, is now in talks…

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  • East Asia

    We present Mme President!

    Rep. Park Geun-hye couldn’t sleep. When Park, who turned 61 this year, looked up at the clock on the wall, it was one minute past midnight. She smiled at herself, thinking that she had been the 18thpresident of the Republic of Korea for an hour or so. Two hours before,…

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  • Huge hole in safety

    Nuclear plant operation cannot go on like now The recent news about prolonged, widespread use of substandard parts in atomic power plants here brings two questions to mind. First, which of the two cases would have been more perilous: whether the plant operators have committed such horrifying irregularities wittingly or…

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  • East Asia

    Afghan student builds up dream to be Korean diplomat

    Fahim Nezam, 24, is pursuing an unusual dream: joining the Korean foreign service. Born in Afghanistan, Nezam arrived in Korea eight years ago. He followed his father, who was sent to work as a cook for the Afghan Embassy in Seoul. He now has a student visa, and is studying…

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  • East Asia

    Hotels hold ‘hansik’ promotions overseas

    Various government and private organizations are promoting “hansik,” or Korean cuisine, around the world. These days another sector has joined the push, the hotel industry. Top-class hotels here hold hansik introduction events or send their chefs to brand chain hotels overseas where they teach local chefs there how to make…

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  • East Asia

    Japan’s ignorance about Dokdo threatens alliance

    The resolution of the Dokdo issue plays a prominent role in promoting peace in Asia. Dokdo, nestled within the East Sea should be seen as more than just a set of islets. The richly colored water surrounding the islets provides ample fishing and natural resources. Untapped resources including petroleum and…

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  • East Asia

    Moon, Ahn agree on single candidacy

    7-point pact can’t  rule out last-minute discord The two leading liberal presidential contenders, Rep. Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) and independent Ahn Cheol-soo, agreed Tuesday to unify their candidacy before final registration on Nov. 26. The decision came after a closed-door meeting between the two…

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  • East Asia

    Dancers Perform “Tengchong Deam,” Featuring History, Customs Of Tengchong Region, China

    Dancers perform during a tourism dance “Tengchong Dream” in Tengchong County of southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Nov. 4, 2012. The large-scale tourism dance is a national-standard grand cultural banquet which takes Tengchong’s history and local customs as the main contents and can perfectly reflect the local features of Tengchong. A…

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