While grieving for the loss of loved ones, mourners in Korea usually stay up all night in funeral halls to support the bereaved families. Drinking beer and soju, the guests console the family members during the three-day funeral period, sharing a common human bond during tough times.For politicians in Korea, this tradition often serves as not just a somber chance to pay condolences but also as an opportunity to gather, recollect forces and even strategize against political foes.Taking their armo

President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday spoke up about her administration’s controversial reintroduction of state history textbooks, saying inaction threatened the “souls” of young Koreans.“One would have no soul without knowing the history of one’s country, and learning it in a wrong way would turn one’s soul into an abnormal one,” she said at a Cabinet meeting. President Park Geun-hye speaks during a Cabinet meeting, Tuesday. (Yonhap)Park urged the National Institute of Korean History in charge of

Officials of Seoul and Tokyo will resume their negotiations over Japan’s colonial-era sexual enslavement of Korean women on Wednesday, the first to be held after their leaders agreed to speed up the talks during a summit last week.Observers say that this round of talks led by directors general of each side would be a touchstone for the neighbors’ will to settle the long-festering issue within this year. They have held talks since April 2014, but no significant progress has been made.Park Ok-seon

Iceland President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson received an honorary doctorate from Kookmin University on Monday during his visit to South Korea this week.“We highly praise President Grimsson’s accomplishments as a politician and in preserving the global environment and contributing to international peace, and therefore decided to give him the honorary doctorate degree on the occasion of his first visit,” said Kookmin University President Yu Ji-soo. Grimsson also delivered a special lecture for the uni

Former National Intelligence Service director Kim Man-bok said Monday that he plans to run in an open primary to appear on the ruling Saenuri Party’s ticket to run in Gijang, Busan, his hometown, on April 13 next year.His announcement came on the heels of Home Affairs Minister Chong Jong-sup’s press conference Sunday to resign from his post, with heavy indications that he would be running in the parliamentary race. Kim Man-bok (Yonhap)The two join a host of other former Cabinet and Cheong Wa Dae

 Last Friday, Choi Mong-lyong -- the government’s choice as one of the main authors for a new set of state-issued history textbooks -- resigned after allegations surfaced that he had sexual harassed a female reporter.While denying any wrongdoing, the professor emeritus of Seoul National University said he did not want to bog down the publication process.Professor Choi Mong-lyong is surrounded by the press as he heads to his home in Yeouido, Friday. (Yonhap)The resignation of the seasoned scholar

 Seoul City Mayor Park Won-soon filed a defamation suit against former ruling party lawmaker and attorney Kang Yong-seok for spreading rumors on his son’s alleged military draft dodging, sources said Sunday.This is the first lawsuit raised by Park on behalf of his son Park Ju-sin, 29, against Kang, who has for years claimed the son fabricated medical records to dodge the mandatory military service. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon (left) and lawyer Kang Yong-seok YonhapAccording to legal sources, Park

President Park Geun-hye will visit Turkey, the Philippines and Malaysia starting this weekend to participate in multinational summits including the G20 and other regional dialogues, Cheong Wa Dae said Sunday. President Park Geun-hye YonhapPark’s first stop will be Antalya, Turkey on Nov. 15-16 to attend the G20 summit, said senior presidential secretary on foreign affairs Kim Kyou-hyun at a press briefing.She will then fly to Manila in the Philippines from Nov. 17-19 to take part in the Asian-Pa

The ASEAN-Korea Center on Thursday launched a moving tourism information center on the member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to promote the region’s culture and tourism among the Korean public.The ASEAN Roadshow will travel across the country through Saturday next week, starting from Seoul and making stops in Gwangju and Busan. Participants including ASEAN-Korea Center Secretary-General Kim Young-sun (fourth from left) attend the launch ceremony for the ASEAN Roadshow at C

Seoul Metropolitan City on Wednesday said it has requested a budget increase from the central government for its project to register the Pungnap Earthen Fortress in Songpa-gu, eastern Seoul, on the UNESCO World Heritage list.Seoul says that in order to finish relocating and offering compensation to residents at the site of the early-Baekje royal castle by the target year 2020, the annual state budget of 35 billion won ($31 million) should be increased to at least 70 billion won. Seoul City has b

Korea’s successful economic growth not only brought wealth and prosperity but also posed inevitable urban challenges, especially the waste.Bombarded with increasing amounts of trash, Seoul has striven to cut down on garbage with various recycling-oriented measures since the concept was first introduced here in 1992.Under tough green initiatives, the government has pushed for a systematic waste sorting system to boost recycling. Once individuals separate the garbage by type -- ranging from paper,

Some 154 professors and lecturers specializing in Korean history at universities around the world on Sunday released a joint statement opposing South Korea’s move to reinstate government-authored textbooks for secondary education.The statement said that history textbooks in a democratic nation must respect various views and analyses, and be based on free discussion and research of professional historians. Opposition lawmakers including New Politics Alliance for Democracy chairman Rep. Moon Jae-i

Over 83 percent of Middle East respiratory syndrome transmissions in Korea were linked to five super-spreaders during the outbreak in South Korea this summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday.The nation’s death toll, meanwhile, was raised to 37 on Sunday after another patient died. The patient was recovering from the aftereffects of MERS after testing negative earlier. The 152nd patient received a lung transplant after suffering from MERS but failed to recover fully. Fo

MOUNT GEUMGANGSAN, North Korea -- With joyful screams and unstoppable tears, 389 South Koreans were reunited with their long-lost kin at the Mount Geumgangsan resort as the first round of reunions began Tuesday.Some of the participants from the two Koreas collapsed as they recognized their brothers, sisters, sons and daughters they had been separated from since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Others looked confused, trying to identify their relatives and calling out each other’s names in trem

This is the second installment in a series of interviews with renowned scholars and experts on China as a resurgent Asian power triggering shifts in the regional order. This installment looks into China’s social problems and policy efforts to address them. -- Ed.Over the last several years, the Chinese government has been paying notable policy attention to “social governance” in tandem with nongovernmental organizations to address an array of social issues including the public welfare, a sociolo

WASHINGTON -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye's first visit to the Pentagon on Thursday morning underscores her committment to Seoul’s alliance with the U.S. before she sits down for a summit at the White House.Park’s planned visit to the military superpower’s core defense organ was seen as a way to show off their bilateral ties and that they remain unshaken by growing concerns over Seoul inclining toward Beijing. She is set to hold a summit with her U.S. counterpart Barack Obama on Friday

The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday cleared former presidential secretary Cho Eung-cheon on charges of leaking presidential confidential information.Cho, who had worked in the civil discipline department, was indicted in January for allegedly handing over 17 documents containing confidential information including allegations that Chung Yoon-hoi, Park’s former aide, colluded with presidential aides and meddled in state affairs by forming a secret group. Chung was Park’s chief of staff wh

The main opposition party Thursday removed its Rep. Kang Dong-won from the National Assembly’s House Steering Committee over his remarks alleging fraud in the 2012 presidential race that prompted fury from the ruling camp and placed his party in a strategic quagmire.The New Politics Alliance for Democracy’s senior vice floor leader Rep. Lee Choon-suak said during a party meeting that Kang’s argument made earlier this week was an individual belief that the party disagrees.Saenuri Party members su

WASHINGTON -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye started her official schedule Wednesday by paying tribute to Korean War veterans, embarking on her mission to upgrade the bilateral alliance with the U.S. amid growing concerns over a cozy relationship between Seoul and Beijing.On her second day in Washington, Park laid a wreath at the Korean War Veterans Memorial -- a monument established to honor American soldiers who served in the 1950-53 Korean War. Park’s visit to the memorial, a symbol of

Mokpo English Village in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, is hosting an English contest this Saturday bringing together elementary school students to boast their linguistic skills.The event, to be held Saturday, will start with a quiz for students from fourth to sixth grades in elementary schools to be followed by a speaking contest.The quiz will cover trivia, science and arts to be conducted in English. The winner will receive an award given by Mokpo’s education superintendent. Participants in the