Major setback to years of economic, tourist ties between Koreas
Los Angeles Times 8 hours, 5 minutes ago
(Newser)
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North Korea today made good on its threat to restrict border crossings from South Korea, severely hampering trade and ending tourism with its neighbor. The move, blocking large numbers of South Koreans and reducing border-crossing hours, is a protest against South Korea's new hardline president that negates years of hard-fought progress. It's likely also a signal to Barack Obama not to underestimate North Korea, reports the Los Angeles Times.
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Pyongyang angered by South Korean government's actions
BBC Nov 12, 08 1:45 PM CST
(Newser)
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North Korea says it will cut access to South Korea on Dec. 1, by closing the border and severing the sole civilian phone link between the two nations, the BBC reports. The North has grown increasingly hostile to the South since it elected President Lee Myung-bak, who promised to “get tough” with Pyongyang. His government co-sponsored a UN resolution criticizing North Korea’s human rights record.
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Report suggests that North Korea leader could be incapacitated
Reuters Nov 11, 08 6:25 AM CST
(Newser)
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Uncertainty grew this morning about the health of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Il after a Japanese television station reported that he has suffered a second stroke, Reuters reports. The claim came from a source connected to an American intelligence agency, but South Korean officials rejected the assertion. North Korea has failed to release any proof that Kim is in good health since the stroke he is widely believed to have had in August.
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Head of secret police fills in as dictator heals from stroke: analysts
Times (UK) Nov 7, 08 2:47 PM CST
(Newser)
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Kim Jong-Il’s brother-in-law is running North Korea as the dictator recovers from a stroke, experts tell the Times of London. South Korean analysts say that while Kim is conscious and probably mobile, he remains weak. But Pyongyang appears to be functioning normally in the hands of Chang Sung Taek, 62, the head of the country’s secret police.
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Profession will remain reserved for the blind in South Korea
Associated Press Oct 31, 08 5:24 AM CDT
(Newser)
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A South Korean court has upheld a law allowing only blind people to work as masseurs, the AP reports. The profession has been reserved for the blind for almost a century, but a legal battle had raged for years over the constitutionality of the rule. The perceived threat to their livelihood sparked huge protests and two suicides among the country's 7,000 blind masseurs.
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Leader is sick, but able to run the country
AFP Oct 28, 08 1:22 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Kim Jong-Il is probably in the hospital but still calling the shots, Japanese PM Taro Aso says, citing intelligence reports and adding that if the North Korean leader were incoherent, "we would be seeing different developments." A Japanese professor returning from Pyongyang says North Koreans are calm, a sign that Kim is not as gravely ill as the world suspects, reports AFP. He adds that, should the leader's condition worsen, the military seems prepared to step in and preserve the regime.
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Officials push for tougher punishments for 'cyber-terrorism'
Los Angeles Times Oct 26, 08 2:18 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The suicide of a popular actress is prompting South Korean officials to get tough with “cyber-terrorists,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Choi Jin-sil hanged herself this month after Internet rumors blamed her for the death of a fellow actor. “People who inflict cyber-terrorism must pay the appropriate price,” said one lawmaker, as colleagues press for stiffer punishments.
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Spicy side dish's sales fall from cheaper competition
BBC Oct 20, 08 7:08 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Seoul is facing a ferment in its effort to promote South Korean cuisine around the world: declining exports of its national dish, kimchi. The country recorded a $77.3 million trade deficit of the spicy pickled cabbage and other veggies over the past 3 years, BBC reports. A government report blamed competition with cheaper Chinese-made kimchi for the "kimchi deficit."
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Calls South Korean government 'traitors'
Reuters Oct 16, 08 2:18 AM CDT
(Newser)
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North Korea is threatening to sever ties with South Korea in a war of words that has plunged relations between the partitioned neighbors to a new low, Reuters reports. North Korean officials are upset about hardline policies of South Korea's conservative government. "If the traitors keep to the road of reckless confrontation with North Korea, defaming its dignity," officials will consider a "total freeze of relations," declared the state's Communist newspaper.
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Aussie rate cut spurs recovery in some markets, Nikkei down to 5-year-low
Reuters Oct 7, 08 4:58 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Asian stocks outside Japan made a modest recovery from yesterday's plunge after Australia slashed its interest rate a full percentage point to 6%, Reuters reports. Indexes in South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore all edged up slightly. In Japan, the Nikkei was down 3% to a 5-year low after the Bank of Japan announced it would keep interest rates unchanged.
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Government opens profession to sighted
CNN Sep 19, 08 12:54 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Blind masseurs in South Korea are protesting what they see as the end of a way of life—and their livelihood, CNN reports. Police arrested 26 yesterday who gathered on a bridge and threatened to jump because the government is for the first time allowing sighted people to become licensed masseurs. Two actually did jump, but neither were injured. The massage profession had been restricted to the legally blind since 1963.
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Tour worries about sponsor interaction as foreign players increase
Golfweek Aug 26, 08 4:12 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The LPGA will begin mandatory oral English tests for its players next year, and those who fail face suspension and required tutoring, Golfweek reports. The tour is stressing the importance of English as players from Asia have come to play a prominent role in the sport. Of the 121 international players on the tour this year, 45 are from South Korea.
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Firm may be too big a risk: official
Financial Times (UK) Aug 25, 08 2:49 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The Korea Development Bank was warned today of rushing into a bid for Lehman Brothers by South Korea’s top banking official, the Financial Times reports. A Lehman investment may constitute too much risk for a state-owned bank, Jun Kwang-woo warned after last week’s news that, though KDB’s talks with the US investment giant hadn’t reach a deal, one was still a “possibility.”
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