South Korea

Facts About South Korea
Are you planning to visit South Korea. If yes then you are truly privileged. It is famous for its distinctive culture and heritage. Read on to acquaint yourself about some interesting facts of this fascinating country.

Korean Culture
A brief list about the culture of Korea.

South Korean Culture
If South Korean culture interests you this is the article for you, which discusses food, home, music, dance and art of Korea.

Korean Green Tea, much more then a simple cup of tea!
There is a precious lesson to learn from Koreans. They drink green tea but for them this is not only tasting a flavor matter, it also means "thinking the flavor". How do they do it? Koreans do a switch from focusing on a drink to focusing on their soul. I invite you to read on the article.

Koreans, a definition of politeness
Polite, respectful and serving, Korean people are unique trough their inheritance and their way of perceiving things. Korea is well known for its colorful and vividly celebrated festivals and this article shows different aspects of Koreans’ life revealing the origins of their deep politeness.

One of America's Strongest Allies, and Why it Gets Overlooked
South Korea has been a U.S. ally for over 40 years. It contributed over 300,000 troops to the Vietnam War, is the 3rd largest troop contributor in Iraq, and lost a Soldier in Afghanistan. Yet misperceptions have colored Americans' view of this long-time friend. Here is why we overlook South Korea and why we shouldn't.

Visiting Korea Part 2: Playing in Traffic
With motorcycles on the sidewalk, loose traffic laws, and cars that like to play chicken, getting around Korea is a unique experience by itself! Thankfully, Korea has a great public transportation system that will help you navigate its sometimes perilous roads. So keep your eyes wide open, stay on your toes, and enjoy!

Visiting Korea Part 1: There’s Nothing to be Afraid Of
People usually think of Korea in terms of fear of war, and a bizarre, mad dictator that runs the northern half of the peninsula. But as a tourist destination, Korea has a lot to offer. So ignore the hype, and pay a visit to "The Land of the Morning Calm"

South Korea Lights the Way on Carbon Emissions With Its £23bn Green Deal
Seoul's huge financial stimulus package pledges 81% for swath of energy-saving environmental projects

South Korean Team to Head North to Check on Nuclear Disarmament
Rare trip comes despite deterioration in relations between Pyongyang and Seoul

South Korean Court Convicts Actor Who Challenged Adultery Ban
Ok So-ri given suspended jail term of eight months after trying without success to overturn national ban on extramarital sex

Hotels in South Korea - in Proximity to Tourists’ Attractions
The most famous historical tourist attractions in South Korea include Seoul, Gyeongju and Buyeo. There are many landmarks, peaks, caves, islands and beaches that have attracted tourists from the world across.

Seoul Bars Japanese Condom Ad
Island controversy fuels decision by Seoul authorities to ban posters advertising Japanese condoms in subway trains

South Korea Metro Bans Japanese Condom Adverts Amid Islands Row
Order to remove posters from subway trains comes as tension mounts over Japan and South Korea's competing claims to two islands

S Korea Resumes Us Beef Imports Despite Mad-cow Protests
South Korean government says it will resume beef imports amid hopes it has taken sting from crisis that has engulfed country

South Korea Beef Row: Striking Builders Add to Growing Calls for Pm to Resign
Beleaguered prime minister struggles to shake off controversy over US beef imports as unions protest at his workplace reforms

South Korean President Approaches Rival to Become Pm
Park Geun-hye seen as stabilizing figure as protests continue over decision to lift restrictions on US beef imports

Timeline: South Korea
Mark Tran charts South Korea's political crisis over the importing of US beef

South Korean Cabinet Offers Resignation Over Us Beef Imports
President seeks to calm the storm after lifting restrictions on US beef imports

South Korea President Praises North Over Nuclear Talks
Lee Myung-bak says North Korea is cooperating with denuclearisation in speech which signals softer approach to neighbor

Spoiling for a Fight: South Korea Resists Us Beef Deal
Public fears over mad cow disease increase pressure on president to tweak trade agreement with America

Pyongyang Lambasts New South Korean President
North Korea today unleashed a rhetorical tirade against the new South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, amid worries about renewed friction on the peninsula

Fire Destroys South Korea's Best Known Monument
South Koreans mourn loss of country's most important cultural monument after fire devastates 610 year old Namdaemun gate in heart of Seoul

Pledge to Boost Economy After Landslide for Lee in South Korea
A scandal-tainted former businessman will be the next president of South Korea after a landslide victory that ends a 10-year period of liberal rule in favor of a conservative leader who has promised to make his country an economic powerhouse

Clouds Over Seoul
Leader: Just as a decade of engagement by two liberal presidents bears fruit, with the best hopes yet for a permanent peace between the two halves of the peninsula, South Korea has elected a man who has vowed to get tough with the North

South Korea Picks Conservative Ex-businessman for President
Scandal-tainted Lee Myung-bak set to become South Korea's next president, exit poll shows

Voters Cool Towards Sunshine Policy in South Korean Election
South Koreans go to the polls to elect a new president in a political landscape that has been turned on its head since Kim Dae-jung took power 10 years ago

Train Link Reconnects Two Koreas for First Time in 57 Years
Regular freight train services between North and South Korea resumed today for the first time since 1950 amid rising hopes for peace on the divided peninsula

Two Koreas Make Peace and Prosperity Pact
North and South Korea agree to press for a peace treaty to end the world's oldest and bloodiest cold war conflict.

South Korean Leader Rejects Extra Day of Summit Talks
South Korean leader turns down one more day of talks at Pyonyang summit.

Sunny South Meets Frosty North As Two Koreas Try to Bridge 50-year Gap
Low key welcome raises fears over Kim's health · Pyongyang meeting aimed at hastening reconciliation

Korean Leaders Meet for Pyongyang Summit
Leaders of North and South Korea begin second ever summit between the two countries, which are still technically at war.

South Korean President Crosses Border for Landmark Summit
South Korea's president, Roh Moo-hyun, today walked across the heavily armed border with North Korea on his way to a summit in Pyongyang.

South Korea Paid $20m to Secure Hostages' Release, Say Taliban
The South Korean government paid Afghanistan's Taliban a ransom of more than $20 million (£10m) to secure the release of 19 missionaries held hostage since mid-July.

Second-ever Meeting Between Korean Leaders Raises Hopes of Easing Tensions
The leaders of North and South Korea are to meet later this month for the first time in seven years.

Koreas to Hold First Summit for Seven Years
North and South Korea today announced their first summit in seven years amid continuing international efforts to make the north abandon nuclear weapons.

Afghan Police Find Body of Second Korean Hostage
A second South Korean hostage has been found dead in central Afghanistan, as the Taliban threatened to kill more of the remaining 21 South Korean captives by tomorrow.

Kabul Threatens Force to Free Taliban's Korean Hostages
The Afghan government threatened to use force against Taliban fighters holding 22 South Korean aid workers yesterday unless the 10-day kidnapping crisis was resolved quickly.

Taliban Push Back Deadline Over Hostages
The Taliban have extended their deadline over the threatened execution of 23 South Korean hostages to Tuesday evening.

Military Forces Surround Taliban Holding South Korean Hostages
Captors extend deadline for exchange of prisoners - Gunshot wounds found on body of abducted German

Face of the Campus Killer
Gunman was South Korean student - Suspected of stalking and bomb threats

South Korean Pupils to Get Bodyguards
South Korean children are to be offered free police escorts to school from next month under a controversial scheme intended to tackle bullying.

Seoul Charges Five With Spying for North Korea
Five suspected North Korean agents were indicted in Seoul today in what South Korean prosecutors are calling the biggest espionage case in more than five years.

Japanese Pm to Visit China and South Korea
Japan's new prime minister will meet the leaders of South Korea and China early next week in an attempt to repair damaged relations and to discuss the region's response to a possible nuclear test by North Korea.

UN's Big Five Line Up Behind South Korean for Annan's Job
The next secretary general of the United Nations is almost certain to be South Korea's foreign minister, Ban Ki-Moon, after a straw poll of the security council in New York last night suggested he commanded overwhelming support.

Koizumi Ignores Protests in Final Shrine Visit
· South Korea and China say trip damages ties · MP critical of visits has his home burned down

Get Intimate with Asia: Travel to Korea
South Korea is one of the smaller nations in Asia, with a size comparable to the state of Indiana. What it lacks in size it makes up for in abundant culture, turbulent history, exquisite cuisine and a generous and welcoming society.

Korean Scientist Faked Human Cloning Research
South Korea's fallen scientific hero Hwang Woo-suk faked all of his landmark claims to have cloned human embryonic stem cells, his university said today.

South Korea Fines Microsoft £18m
Microsoft has been fined $32m (£18.4m) by South Korean regulators and ordered to separate its instant messaging service from its Windows software.

North and South Korea to Join Forces in Fight for Olympic Gold
· Team for Beijing 2008 represents breakthrough · Lack of food and facilities hinder northern athletes.

Reports of Britons Arrested in South Korean Teaching Crackdown
Three Britons are now believed to be among the latest group of English language teachers arrested in South Korea as part of a crackdown on those flouting visa laws and using fraudulent qualifications to obtain jobs. Earlier this month, the Canadian press reported that nearly 50 of their...

Teachers Arrested in South Korea
Nearly 50 English language teachers from Canada have been arrested in South Korea on suspicion of working illegally or having fraudulent qualifications, it has emerged.

Koreans Create Something Exactly Like a Hound Dog
A team of South Korean scientists announced today that they have successfully cloned a dog for the first time.

Elephants Stampede in Seoul
Seoul has long had a reputation as one of Asia's wildest concrete jungles, but even residents who thought they had seen everything would have done a double take yesterday when a small herd of elephants stampeded through the city's streets.

Japan and S Korea in Island Row
Relations between Japan and South Korea neared breaking point yesterday over renewed claims by Tokyo to sovereignty over a cluster of uninhabited islands in the Sea of Japan.

Doing Business in South Korea
Tips and advice on how to do business in South Korea.

Seoul Fuels Nuclear Watchdog's Fears
Suspicion about South Korea's illicit nuclear activities increased yesterday when UN inspectors said they had further evidence of banned operations and diplomats accused the Seoul government of a cover-up. Opening an International Atomic Energy Agency board meeting in Vienna, the director...

South Korea Raises Fears of Asian Nuclear Arms Race
UN investigators fly in after Seoul confesses to enriching uranium.

South Korea to Move Capital 100 Miles South
Rural region will become huge building site for new city. The South Korean government confirmed yesterday that it is to create a new capital in what will be one of Asia's biggest ever construction projects.

South Korean is Latest Hostage to Be Beheaded in Iraq
A South Korean hostage became the latest victim to be beheaded by militant Islamic captors in Iraq yesterday, after Seoul refused to accede to demands for a withdrawal from the US-led coalition. American forces found the body of Kim Sun-il west of Baghdad yesterday afternoon, prompting...

Amec and Koreans in $1bn Iraq Deal
Amec, the British engineering and services group, has signed an agreement with the state-owned South Korean oil company to develop oil production in Iraq. The Korea National Oil Company (Knoc) wants to invest up to $1 billion in Iraq in order to establish itself there, along with western...

East Rolls Out a New Silken Path to Europe
One of the world's most ambitious road maps was approved in Shanghai yesterday when China, Japan and South Korea agreed plans for an 87,500-mile network of motorways, bridges and ferry routes connecting Asia and Europe.

South Korean Press Review
The rancour-ridden South Korean parliament was realigned on Thursday when voters delivered the reformist Uri party a majority in the national assembly.

South Korea's Roh Forced to Step Down
There were remarkable scenes in South Korea's parliament today as supporters of the president, Roh Moo-hyun, struggled in vain to prevent him being stripped of his powers in an unprecedented impeachment vote. Mr Roh was forced to step down after hours of scuffles and protests both inside...

Koreans Succeed in Stem Cell First
Announcement brings hope to scientists and sufferers, while opponents warn of race to clone babies.

South Korea: President Puts Head on Block
The South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun, put an electoral gun to his head yesterday by calling for a national referendum in December to judge his record in office. Admitting he had lost confidence in his ability to lead the country in the face of mounting criticism from the political and...

The Editor: Korean Press Review
While the suicide of David Kelly wiped virtually all other news from the front pages of the UK press for several days, the South Korean papers reacted more cautiously to the death early yesterday morning of Chung Mong-hun, the chairman of the Hyundai group. "The reason behind his suicide,...

Animal Shelter to be Built in South Korea
The Korean Animal Protection Society (KAPS) is soon going to have a new, state-of-the-art shelter in which to care for abused and homeless animals.

North Korea Refuses to Discuss Weapons With South
North Korea today told South Korea not to meddle in a standoff over the North's suspected nuclear weapons programme, insisting it would only discuss the issue with the US. In the second of three days of cabinet-level talks in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, South Korean delegates...

Chip sales stall Samsung
Samsung Electronics stumbled into a $640m (£407m) earnings pothole in the first three months of this year, slowing the remarkable rise of South Korea's most valuable firm.

World's First Internet President Logs on
Web already shaping policy of new South Korean leader.

Failed suicide attempt started Korean tube fire
Wednesday's fire on the underground railway in Taegu, South Korea, which killed at least 125 people, was begun by a suicidal man who did not want to die alone, the police said yesterday.

Subway Passengers Trapped in Arson Inferno That Took 122 Lives
Firefighters picked through charred bodies on two crowded subway trains in South Korea last night for evidence of a suspected arson attack that killed more than 120 commuters. The underground inferno, which trapped dozens of passengers in their carriages and asphyxiated many others on a...

Arsonist kills 134 on S Korea tube
At least 134 people were today killed, with as many as 100 more missing feared dead, in a suspected arson attack on an underground train in South Korea's third largest city.

Arsonist Kills 35 on S Korea Tube
At least 35 people were killed today, with many more missing, in a suspected arson attack on an underground train in South Korea's third largest city. The blaze started on the Daegu metro when a man set fire to a milk carton filled with flammable material, police said. A suspect was being...

Trial By New Media
South Korea's OhmyNews website has helped to elect a president and to sack Fred Varcoe, the veteran sports editor of the Japan Times, writes Jonathan Watts.

Battle for Seoul's Hearts and Minds
Envoys from Washington and Pyongyang flew into the South Korean capital Seoul yesterday to intensify the battle for the hearts and minds of the South Korean people, clearly divided in a series of recent rallies for and against the US line in its nuclear arms dispute with North Korea. The...

North Korea Rebuffs South's Mediation Efforts
North Korea today insisted that it would deal only with the United States over its suspected nuclear weapons programmes. In a blow to the South, Pyongyang's state-run Rodong newspaper said that the "nuclear issue on the Korean peninsular" was between the North and the US, so there was "no...

Japanese Pm's Shrine Visit Angers China and S Korea
China and South Korea expressed their outrage today at a visit by the Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, to a shrine that honours the Japanese war dead, including convicted war criminals. The Chinese foreign ministry said the visit could "seriously damage" relations with Japan...

North Korea Urges South to 'pool Efforts' Against America
North Korea celebrated the diplomatic trumping of the United States by its southern neighbour - and erstwhile enemy - with a call yesterday for the two halves of the divided peninsula to unite against Washington. "The 'nuclear issue' that renders the situation on the Korean peninsula...

Seoul Calls for Help in Korean Stand-off
South Korea began an intensive diplomatic effort yesterday to try to avert a nuclear stand-off between its neighbour North Korea and its closest ally, the United States. Anxious about the increasingly bellicose noises from Pyongyang and the growing calls in Washington for punitive...

Vow to Isolate North Korea Annoys Allies in South
The Bush administration came under fire from one of the US's staunchest allies yesterday when the South Korean president Kim Dae-jung warned that US efforts to isolate North Korea economically were doomed to failure. Since the North admitted the existence of an illegal uranium enrichment...

South Korea Elects Dove As President
South Korea's voters chose a progressive new president yesterday in a tight election result which may give peace a better chance on the divided Korean peninsula. The reform-minded Roh Moo-hyun, the candidate for the pro-government Millennium Democratic party, defeated the conservative Lee...

Anti-US Feeling Spurs New Wave of Patriotism in Seoul
Washington relations at risk as poll looms. The vast square outside Seoul's city hall is becoming the rallying point for a new, middle-class brand of Korean nationalism.

Typhoon Kills Around 100 in South Korea
Emergency teams in South Korea today continued to search for almost 100 people swept away by floods and landslides,

Naval row clouds Korean sunshine
North and South Korea are facing the biggest crisis in bilateral relations since policies of detente began two years ago, says Simon Tisdall

South Korea Undeterred By Sea Battle
President Kim Dae-jung was struggling to keep his "sunshine policy" of South Korean engagement with North Korea alive yesterday in the wake of the worst gun battle between the two countries for three years. Four Southern sailors were killed, 18 were injured and one is missing after...

The end of the South Korean fairytale
South Korea's World Cup fairy tale has finally come to an end. Here's a look back at their performance and the World Cup so far.

What's to love... and hate about Korea
If you look even vaguely lost in Seoul or Busan, beaming locals will rush up and offer directions, even if they boast broken English at best. Others, admittedly encouraged by the government, invite foreigners home to eat.

40 Survive South Korean Hillside Air Crash
At least 118 people died when a Chinese aircraft crashed yesterday while trying to land at a South Korean airport where dozens of flights had already been cancelled because of heavy rain and fog. The 17-year-old Air China Boeing-767 hit a hill near Kimhae airport at Busan, South Korea's...

Dozens Survive Plane Crash in South Korea
At least 39 people are said by police to have survived when an Air China plane carrying 166 people crashed into a mountain in rain and fog today as it was preparing to land in South Korea's second largest city. The Boeing 767-200 from Beijing was approaching Kimhae airport near Busan when...

'Fifty-four Survive' Plane Crash in South Korea
At least 54 people are said by police to have survived when an Air China plane carrying 166 people crashed into a mountain in rain and fog today as it was preparing to land in South Korea's second largest city. The Boeing 767-200 from Beijing was approaching Kimhae airport near Busan when...

Chinese Passenger Plane Crashes in South Korea
An Air China passenger plane carrying 166 people crashed in rain and fog near the South Korean city of Busan today, leaving most of those onboard presumed dead, according to police and airline officials. Police said that at least 31 people were confirmed to have survived the crash, which...