• Society

    Korea seeks diplomats with ‘entrepreneurial spirit’

    Korea is shifting the focus of selecting and training rookie diplomats by putting an emphasis on a spirit of challenge. This is aimed at enabling our corps of diplomats to better cope with the fast-changing global environment and to promote national interest. Leading this change is Kim Byung-kook, the inaugural…

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  • Society

    Mental health concerns rise with cosmetic surgery boom

    “This is the nose you’ll see most if you go clubbing these days,” said Sumi Lee, a university student in Seoul. She gestured to an ad for a posh plastic surgery clinic, showcasing “before and after” images of a rhinoplasty patient.  “I call it the Gangnam nose, and half of…

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  • Society

    Suwon murder shames police

    Police’s ability to perform their duty — serve and protect — has been put in serious doubt, following the revelation that they apparently mishandled a call for help by a woman being confronted by a Korean Chinese man in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, last week. The 28-year-old woman was killed and…

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  • Politics

    “Improved South-North relation crucial for peace in Asia”

    U.S. Special Representative for North Korean Affairs Glyn Davies, left, listens to South Korean nuclear envoy Lim Sung-nam during their joint press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012. <Photo=AP/Newsis> Most of the candidates running for the 19th general election, scheduled to take place…

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  • Politics

    Top UN officials warn against growing human trafficking

    *Editor’s note: High-ranking UN officials including Secretary-General Bank Ki-moon delivered speeches at the special General Assembly meeting held Tuesday (Apr. 3, 2012) in New York to raise the awareness among the members nations about the seriousness of the human trafficking. The AsiaN excerpted the story from the UN home page. …

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  • Society

    Transgender Woman to Compete in Miss Universe

    Jenna Talackova, foreground, who advanced to the finals of the Miss Canada competition, part of the Miss Universe contest, who was recently forced out of the competition, appears with her attorney Gloria Allred at a news conference in Los Angeles Tuesday, April 3, 2012. Talackova says she was forced out…

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  • Society

    Russia suffers frequent plane crashes

    Russian emergency workers search the crash site of the ATR-72 plane crash outside Tyumen, a major regional center in Siberia, Russia, Monday, April 2, 2012. <Photo: AP/Newsis> MOSCOW (Xinhua) — Russia, once an aviation powerhouse, has been plagued by deadly plane crashes in recent years, with the latest claiming 31 lives…

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  • Society

    Turkish energy minister hates hike but says necessary

    Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz said he also did not like the new natural gas energy hike price increase of 18 percent on Monday. Yet Yildiz went on to explain that even with the natural gas discount his country had received in 2011 from Russia it was not…

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  • Society

    Korea-Arab Society actively builds up cultural bridges

    Although Korea and the Arab world have had links through the Silk Road for more than 1,000 years, in modern times, they have been restricted to the Arab construction boom in the 1970s and ‘80s and, more recently, to Korea’s energy dependency on Middle East oil. A joint partnership led…

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  • Society

    Two victims outcry danger of nuclear power plant

    HAPCHON, Korea – “There is no perfect safety as far as nuclear program is concerned. A land once devastated by nuclear pollution will never be restored to the state it used to be,” outcried two victims of nuclear fallout who visited Korea on the occasion of the Anti-Nuclear and Peace…

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