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Daily news updates provided by Joongang Daily
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Apr. 26, 2013
- Pension guarantee law not needed
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The National Assembly committee on health and welfare has passed a bill requiring a state guarantee to provide funds if the national pension scheme runs out of money. The government strongly opposes the legislative move, saying no state in the world is legally accountable for public pensions. Th...
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Apr. 26, 2013
- Don’t be fooled, America
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President Park Geun-hye has elaborated on her initiative to achieve peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia, called the “Seoul Process,” before visiting the United States next month. At a press conference with top journalists from the print and broadcast media at the Blue House Wednesday, Pre...
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Apr. 25, 2013
- Lost in the ‘creative’ woods
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What do these items or people have in common? One: training shoes that tell how many calories one burns through walking or running. Two: a system that waters indoor plants automatically. Three: a scientific and engineering solution that can buffer noise between building floors. Four: flowers th...
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Apr. 25, 2013
- Deciphering the president
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President Park Geun-hye is known for her reserve but she recently invited politicians to the Blue House day after day after day, as if she was performing an onerous chore. The series of presidential luncheons and dinners softened her somewhat stubborn image. After the Democratic United Party le...
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Apr. 25, 2013
- Concrete action plans are needed
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President Park Geun-hye championed people’s happiness and economic recovery in her inaugural address two months ago. But the current situation threatens her presidency on security, economic and diplomatic fronts. North Korea suspended successful operation of the Kaesong Industrial Complex - an...
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Apr. 25, 2013
- Avoiding the retirement age trap
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The National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee rubber-stamped a bill to raise the legal retirement age to 60 from 2016. Raising the retirement age is a global trend along with longer life expectancy. Longer working lives can prepare society for a shrinking working population in an ag...
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Apr. 24, 2013
- Male chauvinism in the kitchen
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It’s been more than 10 years since I came to Korea. Now I am often told that I have almost become Korean, but there is still one thing that doesn’t make sense to me. I cannot understand who is supposed to do the household chores. In Korea, I have noticed a culture where not only a full-time ...
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Apr. 24, 2013
- A less perfect union
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Upon hearing the popular strike anthem “Iron Laborer” by folk singer Ahn Chi-hwan in early 1990s, passersby would respond affirmatively with clenched fists. Amidst the roaring wave of Korea’s democratization movement, the unions were the people’s military who stood at the forefront of the co...
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Apr. 24, 2013
- Abe and Aso’s sophistry
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made shocking remarks at the Diet yesterday. To a question on his views of former prime minister Tomiichi Murayama’s 1995 apology for Imperial Japan’s invasion and colonization of Asian lands, he answered that the definition of invasion is not fixed academic...
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Apr. 24, 2013
- Wanted: Sense of economic urgency
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Economic prospects are ever darkening. The Asian Development Bank recently sharply revised downward South Korea’s growth forecast to 2.8 percent from its 3.4 percent estimate last October. The revised rate is the second-slowest among the 11 largest Asian countries, aside from Japan, which is m...
