Latest News in Korea
Korea's Kang and Ryu lead Women's British Open
(CNN) -- South Korea's Haeji Kang and So Yeon Ryu are co-leaders after the opening round of the Women's British Open at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake.
Both women shot opening rounds of 70 to finish on two-under par, one shot ahead of a group of nine players which includes compatriot Jiyai Shin, English amateur Charley Hull and Australia pair Karrie Webb and Stacey Keating.
Bank of Korea unexpectedly holds borrowing costs
SEOUL - The central bank of South Korea unexpectedly held borrowing costs in its second surprise decision this year as it opted to preserve policy room in the event of a deeper slowdown and assess the impact of a recent small domestic fiscal boost.
Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong Soo and his board kept the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate at 3 per cent after a cut in July, the central bank said yesterday.
Drunk North Korean Man Allegedly Floats To South Korea
Military police in South Korea have questioned a man who claims to have defected from North Korea by clinging to a wooden board and floating southward.
The man, who is believed to be in his 20s, was discovered hiding in a house in Ganghwa, near the border with North Korea, on Sunday morning. According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, the man was dressed only in his underwear and appeared drunk when he was questioned by authorities.
American Attitudes Toward Korean Security: Steady as She Goes
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs this week released the 2012 results of their biannual poll on American attitudes toward foreign policy. The report shows a rising American appreciation of the importance of Asia and a desire for a greater emphasis on nonmilitary forms of international engagement, including through diplomacy, alliances, and multilateral coalitions working together to solve international problems.
North Korea Investment Zone Promoted to Chinese as Next Shenzhen
North Korean economic zones run jointly with the nation’s main ally, China, are wooing investors by promising low taxes and high returns as the totalitarian North seeks to salvage an impoverished economy.
More than 150 years ago, in antebellum America, the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses, allowed slaves to escape to freedom. Today a similar network has been created by humanitarian groups and Christian missionaries, as well as by unscrupulous smugglers and brokers, to help North Koreans escape their modern-day slave state—a place where freedom of speech, religion and movement are all forbidden and where some 200,000 inmates are held in Stalinist gulags.
Sim Cheol Hwan is one of the countless twentysomethings around the world who have adopted Facebook (FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg as their patron saint. The 27-year-old engineering student wants to take a break from college in Seoul to make apps for mobile phones. “I don’t want to get a job at a top 10 Korean company,” says the Hanyang University student. “Zuckerberg’s success proves that there is a lot of money to be made” in startups.