• Taming Tokyo

    President Obama’s forthcoming trip to Korea and Japan in late April is partly meant to narrow the growing differences between Washington’s two important allies in Northeast Asia. The need for action appears to be urgent from the U.S. perspective in regards to maintaining its Asian strategy. What is particularly worrisome…

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  • Unveiling of drones raises eyebrows

    The defense ministry’s decision to make public South Korea’s in-service unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is raising some eyebrows. In the wake of growing concerns over North Korea’s drone incursions and criticism of the South’s lax surveillance, the Ministry of National Defense publicized its indigenous UAVs in an apparent move to…

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  • Saenuri’s mayor hopefuls in 1st TV debate

    The three Saenuri Party members hoping to contest the Seoul mayoral race appeared in their first televised primary debate, Wednesday. During the debate, former Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, seven-term lawmaker Chung Mong-joon and Supreme Council member Lee Hye-hoon also attacked sitting Mayor Park Won-soon, a member of the New Politics…

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  • Kim Jong-un keeps job

    North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was re-elected as the first chairman of the country’s powerful National Defense Commission (NDC), Wednesday. His re-election came during the first session of the North’s newly-elected Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), said the state-run North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim was initially chosen for the…

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  • US President likely to pass on sex slave issue

    Korea visit will follow Japan trip U.S. President Barack Obama will face a couple of issues that Koreans want to see addressed during his visit here later this month. First among these is the issue of Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War…

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  • Assembly emblem to feature Hanguel

    A group of bipartisan lawmakers agreed Tuesday to change the text in the center of the National Assembly emblem and on lapel badges worn in the parliament by representatives from a Chinese character to Hangeul, Korean script. The parliamentary steering committee passed a bill to revise the relevant law. In…

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  • NK warned against nuclear test

    South Korea, the United States and Japan urged North Korea to drop its plan to conduct another nuclear test or face serious repercussions. They issued the warning following a trilateral meeting in Washington D.C., Monday. “If North Korea goes ahead with another nuclear test, we, along with the international community,…

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  • Rep. Ahn loses magic

    NPAD leader concedes on signature pledge Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo has lost another piece of his political soul by conceding his signature political initiative. In a news conference, Ahn, now co-chairman of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), announced that he would not insist on the abolition of parties’ nomination…

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  • Park’s ‘Dresden Doctrine’ faces tough test

    North Korea reacts to peace initiative with provocations Barely 10 days after President Park Geun-hye came up with a package of proposals for the future unification of the two Koreas during her visit to the German city of Dresden last month, her so-called “Dresden Doctrine” has generated a great deal…

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  • Human rights body’s fall

    Seoul must take swift steps to avoid further disgrace Korea’s human rights organization, once the object of envoy among new democracies, has become a disgrace to the nation. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRC), which barely limped along during the past seven years under successive conservative governments, is…

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