Free Republic

Korea Fines Intel $25 Million for Antitrust Violations Steven Schwankert and Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service Wed Jun 4, 11:10 PM ET The Korea Fair Trade Commission has fined Intel a reported 26 billion won (US$25.42 million) for abusing its dominant position in the microprocessor market, by offering rebates to South Korean computer makers in a way that unfairly harmed its rival Advanced Micro Devices. Intel said it was unhappy with the ruling and indicated that it will appeal it to the high court in Seoul. Bruce Sewell, Intel general counsel, said Intel believes the Fair Trade Commission did not...

Lehman seeking overseas capital, eyes Korea: report 1 hour, 55 minutes ago Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc is looking to raise capital overseas and has approached at least one investor in South Korea, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Lehman shares fell 9.5 percent to near a five-year low on Tuesday on concerns that it may need to raise more capital. According to the newspaper, options for Lehman in Korea include the state-run Korea Development Bank and Woori Financial Group Korean Investment Corp (KIC), a sovereign wealth fund that manages about $20 billion and is an investor in Merrill Lynch...

South Korea's constitutional court on Thursday began considering a petition from a top actress seeking to abolish a law which makes adultery a criminal offence. Ok So-Ri filed the petition in February, claiming the 54-year-old adultery law infringes on the right of individual choice in sexual relations, The constitutional court has rejected three previous appeals on the grounds that social morality may be weakened. "Based on today's hearing, a nine-member panel will make a decision later. We don't know when it will come," spokesman Kim Bok-Gi told AFP. The hearing was attended by legal experts, justice ministry officials and lawyers,...

SEOUL — As they chatted over pricey cups of coffee on the top floor of Seoul’s ritzy Shinsagae department store, Kim Eun-jun and her girlfriends were barely two miles from the largest U.S. military base in South Korea, but they were a world away. All in their mid- to late-30s, the women said they rarely think about the thousands of U.S. troops stationed at the base in the heart of the city. “We aren’t the generation that went through the war,” said Kim, a 35-year-old translator. “That may be the reason we don’t care or worry about national defense issues.”...

SEOUL — On a recent weekday evening, Pfc. David King was one of just a trickle of U.S. soldiers strolling through Itaewon, the bar and restaurant district outside the Army’s Yongsan Garrison in Seoul. And that’s a shame, the 22-year-old said. Whenever he goes off post — especially outside of Itaewon — he gets a warm welcome from South Koreans, who he believes support the U.S. military presence here. U.S. troops sometimes get a less-than-friendly greeting in Itaewon, he said, because South Koreans there see the troops at their worst — looking for women and cheap drinks. But for the...

This is the first in a two-day series exploring the South Korean population’s perception of the U.S. military presence. SEOUL — When the Korea Military Academy asked its incoming cadets in 2004 to name South Korea’s main enemy, they were shocked at the answer: 34 percent said the United States while only 33 percent said North Korea. The country’s top military leaders asked that question of the 250 cadets — among the smartest university students in the nation — because they wanted to know if a 2-year-old surge of anti-Americanism had influenced the future military officers, Kim Chul-woo said. He...

Authorities testing for deadly strain as new bird flu outbreak hits South Korea AP - Saturday, April 5 SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea reported another bird flu outbreak at a poultry farm Saturday, days after confirming the return of the deadly H5N1 virus following a yearlong absence. ADVERTISEMENT Ducks at the farm tested positive for a general bird flu virus, but more tests are needed to determine if it is the specific strain that has caused worldwide concern, said Kim Ung-sang, an Agriculture Ministry official said. Results are expected by Monday. Several strains of bird flu typically circulate in...

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea on Thursday said that it was “deeply regrettable” that North Korea had ordered South Korea officials to leave its territory, but that South Korea was undaunted by the move. The predawn expulsion on Thursday followed an announcement on Wednesday by the new South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, that his government would not expand economic cooperation with North Korea unless it cooperated in dismantling its nuclear weapons programs

Fire destroys South Korean landmark By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press An overnight fire destroyed a 610-year-old landmark that was considered the top national treasure, officials said Monday. Police said the cause of the blaze was unclear but one official said arson was suspected. The fire broke out Sunday night and burned down the wooden structure at the top of the Namdaemun gate that once formed part of a wall that encircled the capital. Some 360 firefighters fought to bring the blaze under control, according to Lee Sang-joon, an official with the National Emergency Management Agency. No one was injured, he...

From a South Korean blog today. Photo taken in LA near freeway. Results should be in firmly by 7:00-9:00 a.m. Eastern Time tomorrow (18Dec), but might be a cliff hanger in a two or three way race.

by Elisa Santafe Sat Oct 6, 2:50 PM ET BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) - South Korean soap operas are winning global audiences and have become major rivals to Latin America's racier telenovelas, participants at an industry conference held in Spain said. Jordanian television distributor Media Marketing and Production started buying the rights to air South Korean serials in the Arab world last year since they cause less headaches with censors, its manager Firas Al-Homoud said. Telenovelas, as soap operas are called in South America, feature scenes that depict sex or deal with topics like homosexuality that need to be edited out...

1,300-year-old SKorean Buddha unearthed intact Tue Sep 11, 2:05 AM ET SEOUL (AFP) - A 70-ton granite statue of Buddha, which toppled over face-down 1,300 years ago in South Korea, has been unearthed with its features intact. The 5.6-metre (18-foot) sculpture was in May found buried in the southeastern city of Gyeongju and has been partially unearthed after months of work, news reports said Tuesday. The nose missed a rock by only five centimetres when the statue toppled, the English-language JoongAng Daily quoted specialists as saying. "It was a miracle that the Buddha's face was saved by only five centimetres,"...

Bush, Roh have testy exchange at summit By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer President Bush's talks with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun ended on a sour note Friday not over the war in Iraq, but rather the Korean conflict that ended with a truce more than five decades ago. As Bush began to wind down his stay at the Asia-Pacific summit, Roh challenged him to make a declaration to end the Korean War. That conflict ended in a truce in 1953, not a peace treaty, so the two sides technically remain at war. The awkward exchange occurred during the first...

Taliban release 8 South Korean hostages By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Taliban militants on Wednesday released eight of 19 South Korean captives they promised to free under a deal struck with the South Korean government to resolve a nearly six-week hostage crisis. The hostages were released into the care of officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross at two separate locations in central Afghanistan close to the city of Ghazni, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene. Meanwhile, U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed more than 100 suspected Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, officials said....

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: A purported Taliban spokesman said Wednesday that negotiations for the lives of 23 South Korean hostages have stalled and that the militants planned to kill "a few" of the captives immediately. Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the militants, said the Afghan government hadn't responded to any of its demands and that between 11:30 a.m. (0700 GMT) and 2 p.m. (0930 GMT) the militants would kill "a few" of the hostages. ~ snip ~

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea refused to send food aid to North Korea until its communist neighbor starts dismantling its nuclear weapons program. Four days of Cabinet-level meetings in Seoul ended Friday in a vaguely worded joint statement rather than any substantial agreement. "Both sides agreed to further study issues aimed at promoting peace on the Korean peninsula as well as reconciliation and cooperation between the South and the North," it said. South Korean media have voiced concern that the no-aid decision could further chill relations between the divided Koreas. The South decided to delay a shipment of rice...

Not everyone is in favour of a free trade deal South Korea and the US are in the final round of free trade talks, trying to reach a deal before a looming deadline.US presidential powers to fast track trade deals ends at the end of March, making agreement all the more urgent. Since talks started on Thursday they have agreed to streamline customs and anti-trust rules, but farming and automobiles remain contentious issues. Hundreds of South Koreans have protested in Seoul arguing that a trade deal could threaten their livelihoods. Seoul wants the US to immediately end tariffs that...

In Pictures: Robot menagerie An ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa, is being drawn up by South Korea. The Robot Ethics Charter will cover standards for users and manufacturers and will be released later in 2007. It is being put together by a five member team of experts that includes futurists and a science fiction writer. The South Korean government has identified robotics as a key economic driver and is pumping millions of dollars into research. "The government plans to set ethical guidelines concerning the roles and functions of robots as robots are expected to...

South Korea's intelligence chief was quoted as saying Tuesday that he believes North Korea has a secret uranium enrichment programme, in addition to its plutonium-based nuclear weapons project. "We believe (the programme) exists," Kim Man-Bok, the head of the National Intelligence Service, told a closed-door parliamentary committee, according to lawmakers who attended the meeting. Kim was answering a question on whether the North is operating a highly-enriched uranium (HEU) programme, the lawmakers told Yonhap news agency on condition of anonymity. US claims that the North has such a programme led to the collapse in 2002 of a previous deal to...

President Roh has seen his popularity fall sharply Twenty-three South Korean lawmakers have left the ruling Uri party to form a new political group to fight elections later in the year.The move leaves the conservative opposition Grand National Party (GNP) as the largest group in parliament. Correspondents say the breakaway MPs want to distance themselves from the increasingly unpopular President Roh Moo-hyun ahead of December elections. A recent opinion poll put the Uri party's approval rating at just 10%. In contrast, the GNP is enjoying public support of around 50%, the same poll found. Resignation offer In a statement,...

A United Nations committee on human rights expressed its concern Friday about South Korea's punitive rules against nationals who refuse to serve in the military. The Human Rights Committee, one of the seven U.N.-linked human rights treaty bodies, recommended that South Korea stop discriminating against those who refuse to serve their mandatory military service for religious or other personal reasons. Under the current law, those who refuse can be jailed for up to three years. They also get a criminal record and can be banned from working at government agencies. The review, a human rights report South Korea submitted in...

SEOUL — A South Korean telecommunications executive accused of bribing U.S. military officials in exchange for a multimillion-dollar Internet service contract is awaiting documents from the Army and Air Force Exchange Service to help build his defense, his lawyers said. As Jeong Gi-hwnan, 40, stood in a green prison uniform in a South Korean court Friday, his lawyers sought more time to defend him against an accusation that he gave AAFES officials cash and entertainment in exchange for a multiyear Internet service contract for U.S. servicemembers in South Korea, according to court proceedings and Korean National Police. As an SSRT...

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — The Army’s South Korea-based helicopter battalion, whose main job is evacuating noncombatants from the peninsula during a crisis, is getting a new name. At a ceremony set for 10 a.m. Monday at Camp Humphreys, the 2nd Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, part of the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, will become the brigade’s 3rd Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment. The “reflagging” is part of the ongoing Armywide transformation of its aviation units into what are known as combat aviation brigades, said 1st Lt. Brad DeLoach, the battalion’s adjutant. Such structures merge various Army aircraft types into a single brigade....

Pretty interesting footage, today, on Japanese TV showing what a terrorist takeover of an international airport might look like, and how the South Korean ROK forces would respond.Actors took the parts of North Korean terrorist agents.Streaming Video Clip 300k at the link above, and here:http://meta.cdn.yahoo-streaming.jp/cgi-bin/yahoo/news.asx?cid=20061025-00000066-jnn-int-movie-001&media=wm300k

(October 9, 2006) -- A North Korean soldier tells the world what he and the DPRK think after their announcement of a nuclear test, ignoring world opinion. Quisling South Korean President, Roh Mu Hyon, a long-time Clintonista-type appeaser with his failed Sunshine Policy towards North Korea, joins in the fun.

/begin my translation Kim Jong-il, "The Whole World Is Our Enemy; Can't Trust S. Korea, China, and Russia" Instruction to overseas diplomatic mission chiefs in Pyongyang last July (Tokyo = Yonhap News) Shin Ji-hong = Kim Jong-il instructed to overseas diplomatic mission chiefs gathered in Pyongyang last July, " Right now the whole world is our enemy. We have to resolve difficult issues ourselves," according to Oct. 7 dispatch from Seoul by Tokyo Shimbun, quoting sources on Koreas N. Korea convened the meeting of overseas mission chiefs between July 18 and July 22, after UN Security Council adopted the resolution...

Britain demands plum UN posts in backroom deal By Richard Beeston and James Bone BRITAIN has demanded a key United Nations policy job as the price of supporting the man likely to become the new UN Secretary-General. Before throwing its weight behind Ban Ki Moon, the South Korean in the leading position to succeed Kofi Annan, the Government set out conditions that included the promise of top jobs for British officials. The “unseemly” horse trading also involved other countries, according to diplomatic sources. It took place behind closed doors before Mr Ban cleared the latest hurdle — an informal straw...

Korea to Combat Capital Flight The government is seeking to prevent massive capital flight led by U.K. and U.S. investors. In all, US$9.264 billion foreign investors had in stocks, bonds and dividends here left the country between the beginning of this year and Aug. 11, the most since the stock market was opened to foreign investors in 1992. This is especially worrisome as the foreign funds are fleeing the country for good without re-investing here after they sell stocks and deposit the profits in domestic banks. Korea experienced a net outflow of $830 million in foreign capital in 2002 and...

/begin my excerpt Armitage, "N. Korea to Push Ahead with Nuclear Test This Year" (Washington = Yonhap News) Cho Bok-rae = Richard Armitage, the former Deputy Secretary of State, commented on Sept. 21, "N. Korea will push ahead with nuclear test this year. If it happens, everything including the issue of wartime command control would be brought back to square one, and reevaluated," according to a lawmaker of Hannara Party(conservative opposition) visiting U.S. Mr. Armitage gave his view, saying that it is his personal opinion, while meeting some lawmakers from Hannara delegation made up of Lee Sang-deuk, Vice Chairman of...

Seoul, Sept 14: The world's oldest fossilised webbed footprints of birds, believed to be 110 million years old, have been found on a South Korean island, a scientist said on Friday. Kim Jeong-Yul, an earth science professor at the Korea National University of Education in Cheongju, said his team discovered 100 fossilised prints on Changseon island, 270 kilometres south of Seoul. "The prints were found in a geological stratum created 110 million years ago," he said, adding each print was 4.5 centimetres wide and 5.1 centimetres long. The prints are believed to have been made during the Cretaceous period of...

"Whither Deterrence?" That's an interesting question to ask at a time when undeterrable missiles, thousands of them, have been raining down on Israel from Lebanon. Of course, the question of deterrence -- or not -- has, shall we say, implications for Americans, too. Surely it would be better for any country if incoming missiles could be intercepted. And if I can be allowed a personal point, I will note that more than five years ago I wrote -- here in TCS no less -- that the civilized nations of the world needed to get together, as an international alliance, to...

SECURITY forces captured three members of the Abu Sofia group implicated in the 2002 kidnapping of a South Korean citizen in the southern Philippines, officials said on Friday. Officials said policemen, backed by soldiers, stormed a terrorist hideout in the village of Bulalo in Maguindanao's Sultan Kudarat town and arrested the trio Thursday afternoon. "They are all under interrogation and the capture of the three men was the result of a long intelligence operation. We finally got them," said Col. Frank del Prado, a spokesman for the Army's 6th Infantry Division. He said soldiers seized automatic weapons from the three...

No Extradition for Vietnamese Dissident A Korean court on Thursday turned down a request for the extradition of a Vietnamese dissident Hanoi accuses of terrorism. The Seoul High Court ruled that Nguyen Huu Chanh (58), who described as a criminal in its extradition request to Seoul, is a political prisoner and can thus not be extradited to Vietnam. That marks the first time South Korea has turned down an extradition request. As this verdict can not be appealed to the Supreme Court, Nguyen is now a free man. But that is likely to spark diplomatic tensions since Hanoi and Seoul...

SEOUL, South Korea - More than 100 people are dead or missing in North Korea due to floods and landslides, an aid group operating in the communist nation said Wednesday. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said heavy rains last week and this week had caused flash floods that totally or partially destroyed 11,524 houses, leaving more than 9,000 families homeless. More than 100 people were dead or missing, the group said in a statement, without giving further details on casualties. The damage has cut off telephone connections, making collecting reliable information difficult, it said. "A...

Now Who Is Outside Air Force One?

US firms accuse Qualcomm of unfair practices in South Korea SEOUL, July 3, 2006 (AFP) - Two US technology firms have filed a complaint with South Korea's antitrust watchdog accusing US mobile phone chip developer Qualcomm of abusing its market dominance, officials have said. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC), a state organization watching for fair trade, said the complaint was lodged by Texas Instruments and Broadcom. "Qualcomm was accused of selling its handset chips bundled with other chip products by using its market dominance," an FTC official said. Qualcomm has monopoly market status in South Korea as the sole supplier...

NATO poised to affiliate with Seoul 'Global partnership' status could be effective in 2008 June 27, 2006 - WASHINGTON - The United States and Britain have proposed that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization invite South Korea, Japan and Australia to join as "global partners," a senior U.S. government official told the JoongAng Ilbo in a recent interview. The official, who asked that his name not be used, said the three nations may be able to win that associate status by 2008 if they wished to do so. NATO's secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, has stressed repeatedly in speeches and briefings...

Seoul Skeptical About N.Korean ‘Ballistic’ Missile Test The South Korean government believes that some in Japan and the U.S. are having a field day with the uproar over alleged preparations for a long-range ballistic missile test in North Korea, an insider said Monday. Seoul thinks even if a missile is fired, it is not necessarily a military device, and sees reports in the U.S. and Japanese press that claim a launch is imminent as unreliable. U.S. and Japanese authorities have portrayed the situation as a fundamental threat to security. If a launch were to occur, their ideas on how to...

Korean Navy Launches New Submarine Korea launched a stealthier and more powerful submarine on Friday. The 214 class Sohn Won-il was launched from Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan in what experts say is a major step from Korea’s existing subs in terms of operational capability and power. While the sub is not quite up to the level of the large nuclear submarines of China, Russia and the U.S., among diesel and electricity-propelled craft, the Sohn Won-il is as powerful as they come and extends the potential scope of operations for the South Korean Navy to the Philippines and the island...

The left figure shows the electoral breakdown for 2004 national legislative election in northern part of Seoul. The ruling party did particularly well in this part of Seoul. Yellow represents the ruling party's gain and blue, the conservative opposition. In that contest, two thirds of legislative districts in entire Seoul went for the ruling party. Legislative districts are subdivision of an administrative district. The right figures show administrative districts which went for the opposition in Seoul's mayoral contest. The average margin for victory is over 2:1 in favor of the conservative opposition. Additionally, the opposition had the clean sweep of...

A lasting 'Net legacy - Korean anti-Americanism By Jeffrey Robertson SEOUL - As the administration of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun winds down and assumes its "lame duck" status, the question of its historical legacy is coming to the fore. Of all the issues that Roh has faced as president, two themes have dominated from the very beginning - the Internet and anti-Americanism. Blogs and Internet chat rooms were the genesis of Roh's campaign. They brought a virtually unknown candidate to the presidency. With little background in national politics, without an prestigious education and from a less than privileged background,...

S.Korean conservatives win big in local polls By Jon Herskovitz 1 hour, 21 minutes ago South Korea's main conservative party scored a landslide victory in local elections, official results showed on Thursday, dealing a blow to President Roh Moo-hyun and a key aide tipped as a possible successor. The drubbing for Roh's liberal Uri Party means Roh will likely will have little power to push forward his agenda to implement new tax policy, corporate reform and rules on foreign investment for the little under two years he has left in his term, analysts said. It also puts the main opposition...

Five Centuries of Shrinking Korean Fashions A fashion show will provide the first comprehensive overview of Korean fashions from the last 500 years, using original pieces and clothes reconstructed based on painstaking research. The Suk Joo-sun Memorial Museum of Dankook University picked some 40 items of menswear and 60 of women's clothing from its 10,000-piece collection of Chosun-era clothes excavated from burial sites since the 1960s. After thorough analysis of each specimen and review of the historical record, they recreated the garments that will be shown at the Hyatt Hotel on June 2 under the title "The Beauty and...

A Headmaster on his Way to Vote On the morning of May 31,  nation-wide local election was held. At Yang-ji Study Hall, located at Yonsan, Nonsan City, S. Choong-chong Province, its headmaster Yoo Bok-yop(front) and other masters are on their way to vote, receiving a send-off from young pupils. /Yonhap News On the morning of May 31,  nation-wide local election was held. At Yang-ji Study Hall, located at Yonsan, Nonsan City, S. Choong-chong Province, its headmaster Yoo Bok-yop(front) and other masters are on their way to vote, receiving a send-off from young pupils. /Yonhap News On the morning of...

Wednesday May 31, 5:11 PM S. Korea's opposition GNP wins big in local elections: exit polls (Kyodo) _ South Korea's main opposition Grand National Party won a crushing victory over the ruling Uri Party in Wednesday's nationwide local elections, widely seen as a weathervane for next year's presidential election, according to exit poll results released by local TV networks. The state-run Korean Broadcasting System said its exit poll results showed the GNP won 11 out of 16 contests for either mayor or governors, with the Uri Party winning just one and the others going to minor opposition parties. The YTN...

N.Korea Blames South for Train Test Cancellation North Korea's state-run media on Monday put the blame for the Stalinist country’s unilateral cancellation of a cross-border train test run squarely on South Korea. The Workers’ Party daily or Rodong Shinmun in an editorial warned unless the maritime border between the two Koreas “is clearly delineated” -- i.e. redrawn as the North Korean military demands -- “a third or fourth clash in the West Sea could happen any time." Alluding to the collapse of talks between top brass from the two Koreas earlier this month over their failure to agree safe passage...

U.S. Warned Its Air Force Could Move Out of Korea Washington warned Seoul in October that the U.S. Air Force will move elsewhere unless Korea guarantees air-to-surface training ranges, it belatedly emerged Monday. The warning came in the 37th Security Consultative Meeting between the two countries. Documents concerning a training facility off the coast near the U.S. Forces Korea’s Kunsan Base show that the U.S. warned it could move its entire Air Force contingent off the peninsula if Korea is unwilling to guarantee adequate training facilities for its pilots. The meeting headed by the two countries’ defense chiefs came after...

China, U.S. in talks on 4 defectors from North May 22, 2006 ¤Ñ WASHINGTON ¡ª The United States has begun negotiations with China over four North Korean defectors, three men and a woman, who broke into the U.S. consulate in Shenyang, China. It was confirmed on Friday that the four North Koreans who had been sheltering in the South Korean consulate recently entered the neighboring U.S. consulate by climbing the wall between the two embassy buildings. A South Korean diplomatic source said yesterday, "The ball is now in the U.S. court," and, "We know that negotiations between the United States...

Assailant slashes South Korea's main opposition leader with box cutter Sat May 20, 09:56 AM EST SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A man attacked the leader of South Korea's main opposition party with a box cutter Saturday, leaving a long but not life-threatening wound on her face, a party official and police said. Park Geun-hye, chairwoman of the Grand National Party, was campaigning in the South Korean capital, Seoul, for upcoming local elections when she was attacked, said Lee Jung-hyun, a spokesman for the party. Park suffered a 10-centimetre cut on her face and was undergoing surgery in a Seoul...

Many N.Koreans Would Choose U.S. Over South: Poll Signs that the U.S. is opening its doors to refugees from North Korea, starting with a group of six who found asylum there Saturday, suggest defectors may soon be able to choose whether to go to America or South Korea, with many expected to pick the former option. A survey conducted by the Chosun Ilbo on Monday among 100 North Korean refugees who settled in South Korea found that 50 would go to the U.S. given a choice and 46 South Korea. The others were not sure. Of those who chose the...