Opposition lawmakers Thursday blasted the education minister at the parliamentary audit for not providing sufficient information on its supposed drive to reinstate state-published textbooks for secondary education.Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea, who has stated that students needed to learn from “one version of history,” said that it was “inappropriate” for him to say where the ministry stands on the issue as he has not been briefed by the National Institute of Korean History on the matter. The

Cheong Wa Dae Wednesday denied reports that the government has decided to adopt state-published textbooks for secondary education history, amid growing dispute over the possible change strongly opposed by key educators and progressives.The Education Ministry also released a statement earlier in the day denying a local news report that it had agreed with Cheong Wa Dae to allow only the government to author history textbooks.“As of now, the ministry has yet to reach a decision on the state history

President Park Geun-hye on Friday said South Korea and China could quickly begin various discussions on how to achieve a peaceful unification between South and North Korea.“Peaceful unification is the fundamental and the quickest way to resolve nuclear and other issues,” Park said in a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on the way back to Seoul from a trip to China, referring to tensions on the Korean Peninsula.Tensions persist on the divided peninsula over the North’s pursuit of its missile and

The Syrian man who survived a desperate voyage from Turkey to Greece buried his wife and two sons on Friday in their hometown of Kobani, returning them to the conflict-torn Syrian Kurdish region they had fled. With the burial, Abdullah Kurdi abandoned any plans of leaving his homeland again.“He only wanted to go to Europe for the sake of his children,” said Suleiman Kurdi, an uncle of the grieving father. “Now that they’re dead, he wants to stay here in Kobani next to them.”The haunting image of

The photo of the dead 3-year-old Syrian boy on a Turkish beach is haunting.It captures everything we don’t want to see when we tap our phones or open our newspapers: a vicious civil war, a surge of refugees, the death of an innocent.The image of little Aylan Kurdi is hammering home the Syrian migrant crisis to the world, largely through social media. Aylan died along with his 5-year-old brother and their mother when their small rubber boat capsized as it headed for Greece. The Associated Press d

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to a seven-year low in August as employers added a modest 173,000 jobs, a key piece of evidence for the Federal Reserve in deciding whether to raise interest rates from record lows later this month.The Labor Department says the unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent from 5.3 percent, the lowest since April 2008. Hiring in August was the lowest in five months, but the government revised up the June and July job growth by a combined 44,000. From June through August,

The government will change the English names of the Home Ministry and several other government offices to help foreigners easily understand the roles and functions of the organizations at a glance, the Home Ministry said Friday.The Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs announced that its new English name will be “Ministry of the Interior.”Sixty foreign countries, including Germany and Finland, currently use the name for a government office overseeing home and general affairs and pub

Seoul education chief Cho Hi-yeon (left) embraces his supporter outside Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul. (Yonhap)Seoul High Court on Friday suspended the sentence of Seoul education superintendent Cho Hi-yeon, who was accused of conducting a smear campaign against his rival candidate in last year’s election.The ruling would allow him to retain his post if confirmed. If a person whose sentence has been suspended commits no further offenses for two years, his or her charges are expun

Civil servants and scholars from developing countries around the world picked education as South Korea’s most appealing development policy, a survey by KDI School of Public Policy and Management found.Officials from the KDI School conducted the survey on 400 people from 83 developing countries in Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe, Middle East and the Americas from May to June. “The survey was conducted to find out which aspect of Korea’s experience on development was most appealing to people from dev

The government’s decision to allow the construction of a second cable car route on Mount Seoraksan last week drew mixed reactions over the weekend, with civic groups blasting authorities for ignoring its potential environmental impact and local residents calling it a business opportunity.The Environment Ministry’s national park committee on Friday agreed to allow Yangyang County Office of Gangwon Province to construct a 3.5-kilometer cable car on Mount Seoraksan, one of the country’s best-preser

“I’m a talented individual who is very diligent.”“From a very young age, I was very interested in cars. I wish to become a car engineer.”Bluntly praising one’s qualities and telling life experiences that do little to stress one’s abilities or academic prowess are only some of the pitfalls students can fall into while writing self-introductory essays, South Korean education firms that offer lessons on composing essays say.They offer a service that a growing number of students are turning to in th

Many would think of Korean barbecue as one of the best-known -- and common --　Korean foods. But a recent study claimed that more than 70 percent of Koreans are in fact not consuming enough meat, which can lead to a number of health problems including anemia and protein deficiency.According to the report released by Dankook University, 72.6 percent of 17,460 Koreans who participated in the study were not eating enough meat -- beef, pork or chicken -- from 2010-2012. The inadequate consumption of

Lee Jong-heeMany people tan during the summer because it makes them look healthy and thin. Spending prolonged hours outside during the summer, particularly during vacation periods, results in skin exposure to the sun.The sun is the energy source for plants to undergo photosynthesis to maintain the ecosystem. It also helps the skin produce vitamin D. Therefore, sunlight is crucial to living.However, prolonged exposure to the sun or getting sunburned has its downsides. Prolonged exposure to strong

President Park Geun-hye will hold summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday, ahead of China’s celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.The summit is set to take place next Wednesday upon her arrival in China for a three-day visit, the presidential office said.On Thursday, Park plans to watch the huge military parade to be staged in Tiananmen Square before attending a luncheon reception to be hosted by Xi at the Great Hall of the

Angela Merkel urged Germans to stand up against hatred and vowed zero tolerance for attacks against refugees, even as more than a hundred far-right protesters booed her visit to a shelter for asylum-seekers Wednesday.Merkel had traveled to Heidenau, a small town near Germany’s eastern border with the Czech Republic, to express support for refugees following neo-Nazi riots at the site over the weekend. Dozens of police were injured when a far-right mob hurled bottles and fireworks at officers in

The Philippine defense chief said he asked the visiting U.S. Pacific commander on Wednesday to help protect the transport of fresh Filipino troops and supplies to Philippine-occupied reefs in the disputed South China Sea by deploying American patrol planes to discourage Chinese moves to block the resupply missions.The Philippines has protested past attempts by Chinese coast guard ships to block smaller boats transporting fresh military personnel, food and other supplies to a Filipino military sh

Reunions of families on either side of the Korean Peninsula separated by the Korean War could be held around mid-October, a South Korean Red Cross official said Thursday.In a breakthrough agreement following intensive talks earlier this week, the two Koreas said they’d hold Red Cross talks early September to arrange for family reunions.“Considering the amount of time it takes from the inter-Korean Red Cross meetings to the actual reunions, I estimate the family meetings to take place around mid-

Employees of one of China’s biggest securities firms and one current and one former employee of its market regulator are under investigation on suspicion of illegal stock trading, state media reported Wednesday, amid the collapse of a stock price boom.Three other brokerages announced they are under investigation for possible violations of rules on confirming the identities of customers.China’s main stock market index has fallen more than 40 percent since early June. On Wednesday, it fell another

Police said Wednesday they had taken a 27-year-old woman into custody on suspicion of secretly filming a women’s locker room at local water resorts, including images of victims in the shower that were later leaked online.The suspect, identified by her surname Choi, allegedly took the images at three water resorts and an outdoor pool in Korea last summer. She has admitted to taking the images, but denied any responsibility for distributing them online. A woman accused of secretly filming women in

A restaurant in a busy metropolitan area of Sinchon, Seoul, on Saturday was packed with families, couples and friends. They engaged in animated conversation, merrily chatting away about their week, vacation plans and dating advice as Seoulites went on with their regular weekend routine. This merry scene was just two days after North Korea had fired artillery shells at the inter-Korea border, and one day after Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong-un declared a “quasi-state of war” and put his troops on wa