South Korea

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Kim Jong-Il Back in Public After Stroke

North Korean leader appears recovered

(Newser) - US intelligence officials believe North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has recovered from a stroke he suffered last August, and has been making public appearances, Reuters reports. The 66-year-old dictator recently inspected army units and a ceramics factory, according to North Korea's state-controlled media. One appearance is believed to have taken...

S. Korean Lawmakers Brawl Over Trade Bill

(Newser) - A melee erupted in South Korea’s parliament today as opposition MPs attempted to break into a closed committee chamber, the BBC reports. Members of the ruling party had barricaded the door as they began the process of ratifying a controversial free trade agreement with the US. Opposition lawmakers used...

23 Years in a North Korean Prison Camp

Escapee, born in prison, tells of routine, stunning torture

(Newser) - There are 14,431 North Korean defectors living in South Korea, but only one, Shin Dong-hyuk, who escaped from a Northern prison camp. In an interview with the Washington Post, Shin describes the daily horrors of life inside Kim Jong-Il's gulags, from fire torture to mutilation. He committed no crime—...

N. Korea Clamps Down on Border

Major setback to years of economic, tourist ties between Koreas

(Newser) - North Korea today made good on its threat to restrict border crossings from South Korea, severely hampering trade and ending tourism with its neighbor. The move, blocking large numbers of South Koreans and reducing border-crossing hours, is a protest against South Korea's new hardline president that negates years of hard-fought...

N. Korea to Shut Border With South

Pyongyang angered by South Korean government's actions

(Newser) - North Korea says it will cut access to South Korea on Dec. 1, by closing the border and severing the sole civilian phone link between the two nations, the BBC reports. The North has grown increasingly hostile to the South since it elected President Lee Myung-bak, who promised to “...

Kim Jong-Il Had a 2nd Stroke: Japanese TV

Report suggests that North Korea leader could be incapacitated

(Newser) - Uncertainty grew this morning about the health of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Il after a Japanese television station reported that he has suffered a second stroke, Reuters reports. The claim came from a source connected to an American intelligence agency, but South Korean officials rejected the assertion. North Korea...

Brother-in-Law Pilots N. Korea for Ailing Kim

Head of secret police fills in as dictator heals from stroke: analysts

(Newser) - Kim Jong-Il’s brother-in-law is running North Korea as the dictator recovers from a stroke, experts tell the Times of London. South Korean analysts say that while Kim is conscious and probably mobile, he remains weak. But Pyongyang appears to be functioning normally in the hands of Chang Sung Taek,...

Korea Backs Monopoly for Blind Masseurs

Profession will remain reserved for the blind in South Korea

(Newser) - A South Korean court has upheld a law allowing only blind people to work as masseurs, the AP reports. The profession has been reserved for the blind for almost a century, but a legal battle had raged for years over the constitutionality of the rule. The perceived threat to their...

Kim Calls Shots from Hospital: Japan

Leader is sick, but able to run the country

(Newser) - Kim Jong-Il is probably in the hospital but still calling the shots, Japanese PM Taro Aso says, citing intelligence reports and adding that if the North Korean leader were incoherent, "we would be seeing different developments." A Japanese professor returning from Pyongyang says North Koreans are calm, a...

Suicide Prompts Uproar Over Cyber-Insults in S. Korea

Officials push for tougher punishments for 'cyber-terrorism'

(Newser) - The suicide of a popular actress is prompting South Korean officials to get tough with “cyber-terrorists,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Choi Jin-sil hanged herself this month after Internet rumors blamed her for the death of a fellow actor. “People who inflict cyber-terrorism must pay the appropriate...

'Kimchi Deficit' Puts Korea in a Pickle

Spicy side dish's sales fall from cheaper competition

(Newser) - Seoul is facing a ferment in its effort to promote South Korean cuisine around the world: declining exports of its national dish, kimchi. The country recorded a $77.3 million trade deficit of the spicy pickled cabbage and other veggies over the past 3 years, BBC reports. A government report...

North Korea Threatens to Sever Ties With South

Calls South Korean government 'traitors'

(Newser) - North Korea is threatening to sever ties with South Korea in a war of words that has plunged relations between the partitioned neighbors to a new low, Reuters reports. North Korean officials are upset about hardline policies of South Korea's conservative government.  "If the traitors keep to the...

Asia Stocks Edge Up
 Asia Stocks Edge Up 
Oct 7, 2008 4:58 AM CDT

Asia Stocks Edge Up

Aussie rate cut spurs recovery in some markets, Nikkei down to 5-year-low

(Newser) - Asian stocks outside Japan made a modest recovery from yesterday's plunge after Australia slashed its interest rate a full percentage point to 6%, Reuters reports. Indexes in South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore all edged up slightly. In Japan, the Nikkei was down 3% to a 5-year low after the Bank...

S. Korea's Blind Masseurs Protest Threat to Livelihood

Government opens profession to sighted

(Newser) - Blind masseurs in South Korea are protesting what they see as the end of a way of life—and their livelihood, CNN reports. Police arrested 26 yesterday who gathered on a bridge and threatened to jump because the government is for the first time allowing sighted people to become licensed...

LPGA to Test Players' English
 LPGA to Test Players' English 
Aug 26, 2008 4:12 PM CDT

LPGA to Test Players' English

Tour worries about sponsor interaction as foreign players increase

(Newser) - The LPGA will begin mandatory oral English tests for its players next year, and those who fail face suspension and required tutoring, Golfweek reports. The tour is stressing the importance of English as players from Asia have come to play a prominent role in the sport. Of the 121 international...

Korean Bank Warned Off Lehman Bros. Buy

Firm may be too big a risk: official

(Newser) - The Korea Development Bank was warned today of rushing into a bid for Lehman Brothers by South Korea’s top banking official, the Financial Times reports. A Lehman investment may constitute too much risk for a state-owned bank, Jun Kwang-woo warned after last week’s news that, though KDB’s...

Korean 'Mata Hari' Was More Likely a Patsy

1950 execution of 'spy,' seductress was result of witchhunt: inquiry

(Newser) - In the thick of Cold War suspicion in 1950, South Korean socialite Kim Soo-im was executed as a wily seductress who passed secrets from her US army lover to another in North Korea. But the hasty trial and execution of the 'Korean Mata Hari' was based on charges trumped up...

Foreign Adoption Getting Harder
Foreign Adoption
Getting Harder
Aug 14, 2008 3:44 PM CDT

Foreign Adoption Getting Harder

Could be boon for thousands in US foster care

(Newser) - Heightened awareness of child trafficking and improving economies abroad are making it harder for Americans to adopt foreign kids. US officials are taking a closer look at visa applications and discouraging adoptions from countries that don’t comply with a new international adoption agreement, USA Today reports. At the same...

Bush Warns Korea on Nukes
Bush Warns Korea on Nukes
Aug 6, 2008 6:19 AM CDT

Bush Warns Korea on Nukes

In Seoul, tells North to follow through or be 'most sanctioned regime in world'

(Newser) - President Bush urged North Korea to keep its pledge to end its nuclear program ahead of a looming American deadline, reports Bloomberg. Speaking in Seoul alongside South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Bush said that Pyongyang must either "verifiably do what you say you are going to do, or you'll...

Rev. Moon Hurt in Copter Crash
 Rev. Moon Hurt in Copter Crash 
Jul 19, 2008 10:05 AM CDT

Rev. Moon Hurt in Copter Crash

Founder of Unification Church, 88, apparently has only slight injuries

(Newser) - The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church and leader of the so-called Moonies, was among 16 people injured today after his helicopter crashed and burst into flames in South Korea, the BBC reports. The controversial religious leader—traveling with his wife, 11 family members and three crew...

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