The Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was officially inaugurated on June 27, 2006. He has proved his capability to lead the country and overcome many difficulties to ensure social security and the stability of Vietnamese people’s income be maintained and to develop Vietnam to a new high level, despite the fact that Vietnam has been facing many difficulties and is still poor ― a country und

Former managing director of Sejong Center for the Performing Art’s programming division was indicted Tuesday for receiving bribes from show production companies, according to the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office. The former director, identified only as a Choi, 54, is accused of having received a total of 42 million won from Lim, a show production house head, since last September. In return, Lim receive

Jumping in a fitness center is believed to have caused the shaking of the 39-story shopping mall in Seoul that had forced the evacuation of hundreds of tenants earlier this month, experts said Tuesday.The upper floor of TechnoMart, which houses hundreds of electronics retailers and commercial offices, rocked up and down for about 10 minutes on July 6 for no apparent reason. Authorities evacuated t

President Lee Myung-bak called Monday for concerted efforts to curb rising consumer prices, instructing aides to set up a prices-monitoring team and to make the issue a fixture on the agenda for weekly meetings of senior secretaries, his spokesman said.“The most important thing for our government is the issues of prices and jobs. We have to tighten the rein on prices,” Lee told a meeting of senior

South Korean scientists said Friday that they have developed a highly efficient nanoporous industrial catalyst that can have a considerable impact on chemical and oil-refining sectors.The team of scientists led by Ryoo Ryong, a chemistry professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, said the solid zeolite compound developed in the laboratory has a reaction speed five to 10 t

President Lee Myung-bak is expected to nominate a new justice minister and new prosecutor-general as early as Friday, an official said Thursday, as Lee faces opposition from within his own party against naming one of his secretaries for the minister’s post.The nominations will be announced after consultations with the ruling Grand National Party and background checks on candidates to see if they a

High prices for basic necessities such as food and housing are taking their toll on Seoul’s office workers, with many people turning to cheaper alternatives to make ends meet.Im Su-jeong, 33, works in Seoul’s financial hub of Yeouido, where dining out is known to be expensive. In a culture where going Dutch is still awkward and sometimes embarrassing, Im finds herself easily paying 40,000 won ($38

Four North Koreans from the same family have come to share assets left by their late father with their half-brothers and sisters in South Korea under mediation by a Seoul court in the first case of its kind.The North Koreans, surnamed Yoon, had filed a lawsuit against their South Korean stepmother and four half-brothers and sisters in February 2009 demanding they split 10 billion won ($9.35 millio

Red Cross officials from the two Koreas held informal talks on the sidelines of an international conference in China last week, a South Korean Red Cross official said Monday.Kim Yong-hyun, secretary-general of the South’s Red Cross, and Paek Yong-ho, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Red Cross Society of North Korea, met during breaks at the East Asian regional Red Cross leadership mee

South Korea will carry out a disaster drill on a nuclear power plant on the east coast this week to check updated emergency protocols on damage control and evacuation, the government said Monday.The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said the drill will be carried out at the Wolsong station, located 370 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Tuesday and Wednesday. The plant currently has fou

Rep. Cho Jin-hyeong of the Grand National Party talks in a recent interview with The Korea Herald. (Yang Dong-chul/The Korea Herald)Lawmaker proposes postal votes, transport for Korean voters in remote areasPending bills must be passed to ensure the 7 million Korean citizens overseas can exercise their political rights, a ruling party lawmaker has said.“We don’t have much time left until this Nove

At least eight people were killed and four were missing after torrential rains hit southern parts of South Korea over the weekend, emergency officials said Sunday. Since Friday, as much as 40 centimeters of rain has fallen in South Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces, leaving tens of thousands of hectares of farmland submerged and nearly 90 homes flooded. On Sunday, two old women, aged 92 and 86, were

The number of South Korean nationals who left their home country for the purpose of permanent residence in foreign nations dropped to a record low last year, as the nation’s economy continues to improve, a report showed Sunday. A total of 899 people left South Korea to emigrate in 2010, down 22 percent from the previous year, according to the report by the Foreign Ministry. It marked the first tim

A Korean volunteering group was caught allegedly selling fake prizes in the name of U.S. President Barack Obama.Twenty-nine people including lawyers, businessmen and students were swindled, according to Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Friday.The police’s international division booked the 52-year-old leader surnamed Park and six others on charges of fraud.Park told police that he planned the fraud

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi (Yonhap News)ADDIS ABABA (Yonhap News) ― Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Thursday that his government is seeking to attract more investments from South Korean businesses in a bid to create jobs for youth and industrialize the nation’s agriculture-based economy.In an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency days before President Lee Myung-bak ar

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― North Korea or unidentified forces aligned with the communist nation may be preparing for full-fledged cyber-terrorism against South Korea or the United States, based on its “test” attacks in 2009 and earlier this year, a U.S. Internet security firm said Tuesday.In a special report, McAfee Inc. said North Korea or its “sympathizers” seem to have been responsible for the

North Koreans gathered Monday at a massive rally in Pyongyang to denounce the conservative government of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak as a “group of unparalleled traitors.“More than 100,000 citizens, soldiers and senior government and army officials flocked to Kim Il Sung Square, according to footage from Associated Press Television News in Pyongyang.Signs carried slogans praising North Ko

U.S. first lady Michelle Obama is expected to make her first visit to South Korea next March to join a rare gathering for spouses of world leaders during a global summit on nuclear security, an official at Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. The U.S. first lady is likely to accompany her husband, President Barack Obama, on his trip to the next Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, which leaders fro

The defense military has declared a war on smoking, unveiling a plan to lower its service members’ smoking rate by 3 percentage points this year.Some 47.2 percent of military personnel were smokers as of the end of last year, higher than the average of 39.6 percent for the country’s men, according to government data.“Under the smoking reduction goal, the defense ministry designated 100 non-smoking

Safety concerns are rising as the Ministry of National Defense seeks to allow citizens including high-school students to experience live-fire drills at a training facility for reserve forces in Seoul in October.The ministry plans to commission a private organization to run the shooting facility in Seocho-gu, and allow all citizens aged 16 or older to use it to enhance security awareness, officials