The Korean daily media headlines and humor

These famed Korean artists are also famous for their landscapes, figure painting (including nudes) and still life works. Please visit the following sites of The Korea Post Internet for sample paintings.

Dr. Sang-Ki Hahn's African wise-sayings:

One does not show the child God. He knows God from birth. It is pre-natal knowledge.
- A common African proverb

All men are the children of God; no one is a child of the earth.
- A Ghanaian proverb

The door sees the internal and external of a house.
- A Cameroonian proverb

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Humor from Korean-language economic dailies this morning:

Hankuk Kyungje
Matrimony
-Every mother generally hopes that her daughter will snag a better husband than she managed to do…but she is certain that her boy will never get as great a wife as his father did.
-In marriage, as in war, it is permitted to take every advantage of the enemy.
-Men should never marry a woman for her beauty alone. That is rather buying a house just because you like the way it’s painted.
-Every man has it in his power to make one woman happy … by remaining a bachelor.
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KBS (http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/)

Park Calls for External Pressure to Change N. Korea
President Park Geun-hye says unless North Korea changes on its own, South Korea should create an environment where the North cannot help but change.

Thesis Discovered to Prove Japanese Experiments on Live Humans
An academic thesis has been discovered proving Japan conducted medical experiments on live humans during World War Two.

Unification Minister Questions North's Unacceptable Proposals
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae has commented on North Korea's repeated calls for improving inter-Korean relations, saying the two Koreas should pick up from where they left off.

Foreign Ministry Denounces Japan for Condemning Ahn Jung-geun
Seoul’s Foreign Ministry has denounced Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga for calling Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun a terrorist.

Ahn to Launch Party in March Ahead of June Elections
Independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo says he will launch a political party in March and field candidates for local elections in June.
Gov't Grants Citizenship to 2 Canadian Hockey Players
South Korea has granted citizenship to two Canadian professional hockey players.
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Yonhap (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)

Park kicks off 'sales diplomacy' in Davos
President Park Geun-hye appealed for investment in South Korea as she began a two-day visit to this Swiss ski resort for an annual gathering of international political and business leaders.

Ex-USFK chiefs split over OPCON transfer
Former top U.S. military commanders in Korea were divided Tuesday over the timing of wartime operational control, while agreeing with the urgency of coping with North Korea's "asymmetric" capabilities.

Seiler: Seoul-Tokyo stand-off not hampering N. Korea denuclearization efforts
A White House official said Tuesday that a soured relationship between South Korea and Japan is not taking a toll itself on efforts to denuclearize North Korea.

S. Korean kidnapped in Libya confirmed unharmed: official
A South Korean trade agency employee kidnapped in Libya has been confirmed to be unharmed, a ranking government official said Tuesday.
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The Korea Herald (http://www.koreaherald.com)

Card firms face stiff fines over data leak
Regulatory authorities are considering fining all financial firms that had customer privacy breached in the recent mass ...

Ahn to launch party in March, sounds horn for local elections
Independent Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo is set to launch his party in March and field candidates for all...

Google may face penalty over data gathering
Google could face disciplinary action from the country’s communication regulator as the global...

Smartphones can be deadly distraction
It came as a stark reminder of the seriousness of the country’s smartphone addiction: A colleg...

10 tips for working smarter

IMF raises global growth forecast

Obama to meet with Pope Francis in March

China seized 60,000 piracy suspects last...

Park takes firsthand look at Swiss vocat...

Syria photos prove mass torture by Assad...

Visitor from Australia killed in crash o...

S. Korea, China hold working-level defen...

Park takes firsthand look at Swiss vocat...

U.S. ready to send envoy to N.K. to free...

Korea struggles to contain AI

Seollal sorting

Growth returns to global economy: B20 ou...

Shares close higher on back of China’s ...

U.S. concerned about reckless N. Korea: ...
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The Korea Times (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr)

Credit card `run' triggers chaos
It had all the trappings of a major bank run except that few were withdrawing their money, and the lines that formed were outside credit card companies. Hundreds, if not thousands, thronged to credit card firms Tuesday to get th...

Pair of 17-year-olds compete to be Kim Yu-na's heir
Park So-yeon and Kim Hae-jin are a cheery pair of high school girls destined for the dreaded task of succeeding one of the greatest Olympians of all time. Figure skating megastar Kim Yu-na, the Vancouver Olympic champion who is ...

Ahn's new party to be launched in March
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo said Tuesday that he will launch a new political party by the end of March, three months before the local elections. “I realized anew that my decision to push for a new politics was right. Old politics can do ...

No more cards please! 
The massive personal information leaks that hit three credit card companies may reshape the whole ... 

More heads likely to roll for customer data leaks 
A lot of heads are expected to roll as the result of the largest-scale personal information leaks ... 

Expat calls card firms 'appalling' 
Foreign residents here are expressing their anger and concerns over being kept in the dark on cust... 

Handful of migrant ducks found dead on Jeju Island  
A handful of ducks were found dead Tuesday near a wintering site for migratory birds on Jeju Islan... 

KTX line to be extended to Incheon Int'l Airport  
The nation’s bullet train line will be extended to Incheon International Airport by the end of Jun... 

Ahn Jung-geun hall worsens Seoul-Tokyo ties  
A memorial hall built in China to honor Ahn Jung-geun, a Korean independence hero, is further wors... 

Samsung, Google become 'frienemies' 
Samsung Electronics and Google have become “frienemies” - part friends, part enemies - with each o... 

SK hynix to remain bullish 
SK hynix is expected to continue on a bullish run in the stock market this year on the back of the... 

Killing of 11,000 by Syria calls for war crimes charges  
Syrian government officials could face war crimes charges in the light of a huge cache of evidence...   
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Dong A (http://english.donga.com)

Ahn to launch new party in March
Independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo said Tuesday he will launch a new political party in March and field candidates for all 17 regional government chiefs in June 4 elections. This years` regional election will be a... 

‘123456,’ the worst password of 2013
‘123456’ has been revealed as the most common password used by internet users whose private information was leaked last year. Major foreign media including CBS covered on Monday the ‘25 worst passwords of 2013’...

U.S. is to build database for N. Korean political prisoner camps
The U.S. project to build a database for political prisoner camps in North Korea in cooperation with North Korea human rights organizations in South Korea has been indicated in the federal appropriation bill for the...

Emergence of Ahn’s party to create 3-way race in local elections
A new party initiated by independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo announced a specific timeline that it will launch a preparatory committee to found the party in February, and complete the foundation process by end of March, before participating in the local elections in June. 

N. Korean soccer team coming to Incheon 
Pyongyang announced that it would send its men’s and women’s soccer teams for the Asian Games to be held in Incheon from Sept. 19 through Oct. 14.

Top Korean baduk rivals to meet
The two baduk players are rivals and friends. For over 10 years, they have met through 34 games.
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Chosun Ilbo (http://english.chosun.com)

More Koreans Remarry
A total of 107,602 people in Korea remarried in 2012, more than two-and-a-half times the number in 1982. The figure divides into 51,114 men and 56,488 women. It includes a growing proportion of people over 50 who try again, in part reflecting the rise in the average life..

Gov't Develops Textbooks for N.Korean Defectors
The Education Ministry has come out with textbooks aimed at helping North Korean defectors adapt to school in South Korea. The books will be distributed to schools in March. The ministry on Monday said the eight textbooks were developed in conjunction with the Korea Educational Development Institute..

Korea Overtakes Japan in Semiconductor Market
Korea outpaced Japan last year to grab the second largest share of the global semiconductor market for the first time, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Monday. Korea achieved the feat 31 years after Samsung Group began memory chip production back in 1983..

Oxfam: Wealth of 85 Richest Equals That of 3.5 Billion Poorest
The human rights group Oxfam reported that the wealth of the world's 85 richest people is equal to that of the poorer half the world's population. Oxfam released a study on global...

Vietnamese Man Dies of H5N1 Bird Flu
A 52-year-old man in Ho Chi Minh City has become the first person in Vietnam to die from bird flu in nine months. Vietnamese health officials said Tuesday the man was hospitalized...
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Hankyoreh (http://english.hani.co.kr)

Memorial to Korean independence activist opens in China
Ahn Jung-geun assassinated Japanese Governor General in 1909; to this day it’s not known where his remains are 
The clock at the entrance to the Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Hall outside Harbin Station in China is stopped at 9:30, the time when Ahn committed his revolutionary act. It was right here, on Platform No. 1 at Harbin Station, on Oct. 26, 1909, 105 years ago, that An brought down Ito Hirobumi with three bullets. During the course of ten days in Harbin, Ahn meticulously devised the plot to assassinate Ito, Governor-General of Korea, with the help of fellow independence activists Woo Deok-sun and Yu Dong-ha.

Japanese government voices disapproval of Ahn Jung-geun memorial
The Japanese government stridently criticized South Korea and China for joining together to open a memorial hall for Ahn Jung-gun in Harbin, China.

N. Korea to send teams to Asian Games in Incheon this year
North Korea has announced its intention to send its men’s and women’s soccer teams to participate in the Incheon Asian Games in September and is asking for ‘reconciliation’ with South Korea in an attempt to improve inter-Korean relations.

N. Korea criticizes Pres. Park’s comment about unification being “the jackpot”
Criticizing the comment that President Park Geun-hye made during her New Year’s press conference on Jan. 6 that unification would be like hitting “the jackpot,” North Korea said that the remark is “fueled by delusions about unification by absorption.” Pyongyang also called once again for the South to accede to its “important proposal” to stop engaging in “mutual slander and hostile military activity.” But the South Korean government snubbed the proposal once again, demanding that the North prove its words through action.

Migratory birds confirmed to be source of bird flu outbreak
The flock of dead Baikal teal found at Dongrim Reservoir in Seongnae Township, Gochang County, North Jeolla Province was infected with avian influenza, or bird flu, authorities confirmed on Jan. 20.
“Our tests found that the dead wild migratory birds that we collected in Gochang County on Jan. 17 were infected with avian influenza. The strain was H5N8, same as the ducks that we had tested previously,” said Kwon Jae-han, director-general of the livestock policy bureau in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs, in the press briefing on Monday.l
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Joong Ang (conservative): (http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/)

Leak panic continues on
People flock to cancel credit cards, endure long waits on hold
The panic touched off by the worst personal information breach in Korean history showed no sign of calming down even after nearly 40 top executives of three credit card companies tendered their resignations. As of noon yesterday, nearly 1.2 million requests had been received for cards to be canceled…

Ahn’s party to field candidates for major polls
Independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo declared yesterday that he would form his own political party and field candidates for June’s local elections no later than the end of March…

Officials fear bird migration routes may spread virus
Officials are scrambling to keep track of the movement of large flocks of birds following the government’s confirmation on Monday that avian influenza (AI)…

Park to emphasize creative economy at Davos
President Park Geun-hye will attend the World Economic Forum today in Davos, Switzerland, to promote Korea’s business-friendly environment to foreign investors…

Massive leak opens the floodgates for phishing
New kinds of voice phishing and fraudulent text messages are preying on millions of vulnerable consumers trying to cope with a massive security breach that compromised…

Kotra official abducted in Libya said to be ‘safe’
The abducted head of the Libya office of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) has been confirmed to be alive and supposedly safe…

On visit, U.S. officials to focus on North Korea
A series of high-ranking government officials from Washington are visiting Seoul this week to intensify discussions on North Korea, considered a top priority of the trip…

Small firms drive exports
Small and midsize companies surpassed the conglomerates in export growth last year, while the total trade exceeded $1 trillion for the third consecutive year…

Educators decry SNU’s 2015 admissions plan
High school teachers publicly criticized Seoul National University’s admission plan for next year, arguing that the institution is trying to draw more students…

KJD biz editor gets engineering award
Shim Jae-woo, chief of the business desk at the Korea JoongAng Daily, was chosen as one of the two recipients of the Haedong Award, presented annually…

Faithful protest razing of church
The 125-year-old Dongdaemun Methodist Church near the Dongdaemun castle walls in northeastern Seoul has recently become a battleground in an intensifying struggle…

8-year-old’s eczema leads to murder, suicide
A mother in Busan appears to have choked her 8-year-old daughter to death before hanging herself.The mother left behind a suicide note saying she felt responsible…

Three measures sowed seeds of crisis
Loopholes in rules and regulations initially intended to strengthen the financial industry and protect consumer information are blamed for triggering the country’s worst…
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Edaily (http://eng.edaily.co.kr/Stock/)

[US the closing price]The U.S. Dow Jones Index, -44.12p(-0.27%) slightly down.
The U.S. Dow Jones Index Closing (At 2014.01.21) The Dow closed at 16,414.44p, slightly down -44.12p(-0.2...

[Table]Exchange Rate Quotation
This is Exchange rate Quotation offered by Korea Exchange Bank. [table] Exchange Rate Quotation Offered by KEB ...

[Table]Exchange Rate Currency Crossrate
2014.01.22 08:10(Korean time), this is Currency Crossrate of major 12 countries. [table] FX Cross Currency ...
[Closed] Domestic rate of return of final bid closed. 3-year government bond up 0bp.
This is the rate of return of final bid. Quoted by Korea Financial Investment Association, domestic rate of return of final bid of 3-year government bond recorded at 2.91%, up (0bp) from yesterday… 
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Maeil Kyungje (neutral-oriented conservative, economic/business): (http://news.mk.co.kr/english/)

Gov’t mulls ban on collecting resident registration numbers for credit card issuance
South Koreans would likely be allowed to keep their resident registration numbers undisclosed to financial companies when seeking issuance of credit cards. The list of other personal information due for submission is likely to shrink as well.“Under the current practice, financial firms ask people to provide too much information,” said a senior governmental official Tuesday. “We are working on reducing the number of many personal information categor.....

Ahn Cheol-soo to create new party in March
Popular independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo announced Tuesday that he will launch a new political party in March.

SK suspends PX plant construction
SK Incheon Petrochem decided to put a stop to the construction of its paraxylene (PX) plant expansion even though this will incur loss worth around 100 billion won ($93.8 billion).

Number of newly set up corporations in S. Korea hits 5-month high in Dec
The number of newly established corporations in South Korea rose to five-month high in last December, data showed.

Another bird flu report calls for revamping quarantine strategy
A farm in Jeongeup in north Jeolla province filed a report of avian influenza (AI) infection Tuesday, in addition to the previous outbreak locations in Gochang and Buan.