The Dokdo Times

Hawaiian Airlines' Cultural Insensitivity to Koreans

2012-02-26T20:05:00.001+09:00

A Hawaiian Airlines passenger plane bound for Incheon International Airport, which last year won the title of World's Best Airport for the sixth year in a row, returned to Honolulu Airport shortly after takeoff Saturday, causing considerable inconvenience to Korean honeymooners and other passengers who had visited the U.S. resort island. The flight had taken off at 1.45pm on Saturday, but it

Koreans Live Longer Than People in Any Other Country

2012-02-25T20:04:00.001+09:00

The envied superiority of Korean DNA, especially among residents of Seoul, has now resulted in Koreans living longer than any other people in the world, according to data from the Korean Institute for Health and Social Affairs. Average life expectancy is now said to be 78.6 years in Korea, which officially ranks Koreans 28th against the World Health Organizaton's 2009 report on global longevity

Cyworld to Build Version of Cyworld Where Cyworld is Popular

2012-02-23T20:04:00.056+09:00

Cyworld, Korea's most widely known social networking service (SNS) has launched a plan to attract foreign users and become a global social networking site rivaling Facebook which will succeed this time after years of failure. It is a little-known fact that Cyworld actually invented Facebook before Facebook. A favorite story for company officials is how they showed the ropes to a younger Mark

Government Crackdown on Drunk Airline Pilots

2012-02-21T20:16:00.033+09:00

The 'Makgeolli Effect' Almost a year since the government decided to ban some drunk drivers from driving buses, officials have finally made good on their threat to try and extend the measures to airline pilots. The move comes as pilots have been caught drinking alcohol in cockpits or engaging in unprofessional conduct such as failing to follow flight manuals or abiding by safety rules. Last

Who is Ahn Cheol-soo?

2012-02-14T20:03:00.003+09:00

Actor, comedian, physician It's said that the surest way of getting elected president in these cynical times is to tell everyone you're not running for president. If that is the case, experts believe Ahn Cheol-soo should now be well into his second term of office. But who is Ahn Cheol-soo, and why are the political establishment now so afraid of him that they are considering a so-called 'Ahn

Koreans Urged to Buy Gifts for Dokdo on Valentine's Day

2012-02-13T20:04:00.003+09:00

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has urged Koreans to show their love for Dokdo by buying gifts for it tomorrow on Valentine's Day. Despite all their bizarre claims to own Dokdo - which clearly they factually don't - Japanese people have never shown their love for Dokdo, because in all the years they have claimed it as their own, not one Valentine's gift or card has arrived from Japan

Most College Girls Ditch First Boyfriend Within Two Years

2012-02-12T20:30:00.001+09:00

It is notoriously difficult to find a man these days. Most women look for something stable, but once they have one, a surprising number want to change them. Many women soon feel exhausted and end up asking whether the man is really right for them. Tired from being overworked, an inability to handle sour relationships with the man's parents and family, and dissatisfaction with the level of pay

E-Books Expected to Herald New Reading Culture

2012-02-09T20:04:00.007+09:00

A recent survey of book lovers has revealed that Korea's e-book market has been growing exponentially as Korean people realize they are much easier to copy. Schools are especially excited by the development as it will allow them to offer large libraries of stolen content. The market for digital books in Korea stood at an estimated $9 million in 2010, but successfully decreased to $5.5 million

Kim Denies Being in Anti-Virus Business

2012-02-08T20:22:00.007+09:00

49 year-old Kim Cheol-soo, a prominent South Korean technology entrepreneur, sought Tuesday to distance himself from South Korea's established software circles. "I do not run an anti-virus business" Kim told The Dokdo Times. "I never claimed to be able to remove infections from people's computers, but they are constantly creating stories about it." Kim founded AnLab, which stands for 'No

NK Blasts Upcoming Korea-US Military Drills

2012-02-07T20:53:00.035+09:00

North Korea claims it has used secretly developed time-travel technology to blast upcoming Korea-US military drills, sinking several ships and destroying much of the South Korean air force. The drills will take place as part of Operation Key Resolve from February 27 to March 10. As proof officials in Pyongyang held up a future copy of the South's Hankyoreh newspaper which bore the headline "US

North Korea Fights Restaurant War With South

2012-02-05T20:12:00.002+09:00

A North Korean government-owned restaurant has opened in the capital of The Netherlands, Amsterdam, in what seems to be another attempt to threaten South Korea - which opened a government-run restaurant of its own in New York just over a year ago. The move is also being seen as the communist monarchy's latest attempt to earn hard currency and foster closer ties with European communist

New TV Show "I Want to Be Average" A Hit

2012-01-28T20:12:00.038+09:00

A new television show, which takes ordinary people who want to remain ordinary, has proven a surprise hit with Korean audiences tiring of a society where everyone wants to be famous by singing one of the ten songs which appear on Korea's hundreds of search-for-a-star audition programs. During filming, 24 year-old Kim stood on stage, complaining that she had arrived on the pretext of a job

Korea Times Says Alien Invaders From Planet Gootan Arrive November

2012-01-26T20:06:00.013+09:00

The Korea Times has broken ranks with a massive conspiracy of silence instigated by the government and scientific community, to warn its readers that alien invaders from the planet Gootan are now expected to arrive at Earth in November to launch a massive attack. Last year there was panic when the newspaper, Korea's oldest mainland English language publication, revealed that three giant objects

Was Seollal Japanese First?

2012-01-24T10:23:00.001+09:00

Anger has mounted within Korea today after Korean scientists reported that Seollal – the Korean Lunar New Year which is now celebrated around the world – had occurred in Japan an hour before it being rightfully enjoyed by Korea. The scientists said that the new moon, which marks the beginning of a new and prosperous year for all South Koreans except disabled and gay people, was claimed in Tokyo

Exclusive: Microsoft Plans Massive Cyber Attack Against South Korea

2012-01-15T20:58:00.005+09:00

Following the death of North Korean leader King Jong-il last month, South Korea's telecommunications regulator warned people against possible cyber attacks in retaliation for them not wailing enough, with the nation's cyber alert level raised to the third highest level – known as "pretending-to-watch" - from its forth-highest level known as "head-in-the-ground". But now open sources close to the

'Organized Crime Ring Members Control Korea'

2012-01-12T20:15:00.002+09:00

Members of an organized crime ring have taken the helm of the government for the past 24 years, police said Wednesday. They used taxes collected from people to operate the government as a fund for their crime ring, a spokesman said, adding that the chief of the group and his cronies worked as the the president and various ministers one after another. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it

Hyundai Ends Legal Battle Against Hyundai

2012-01-04T20:57:00.001+09:00

Hyundai and Hyundai have agreed to end all legal disputes stemming from the purchase of local construction company Hyundai by Hyundai last year. Hyundai had originally owned the bankrupt construction company - Hyundai - before it was handed over to banks in a debt for equity swap. After the banks had turned the business around Hyundai was picked as the prospective buyer so the whole cycle of

2012 Marks 5,000 Years of Hangeul

2012-01-03T20:28:00.000+09:00

2012 will mark the 5,000th birthday of the written Korean language the Korean government have announced. Hanguel, or Hangul, is acknowledged as the most scientific language in the world. But the anniversary carries mixed emotions for Hangul scientists, who say they need to do more to educate uneducated people about the true origins of the written language. Many people still believe that Hangeul

Anti-FTA Protesters Seek to Ban Santa From South Korea

2011-12-24T20:01:00.012+09:00

Foreigner Protesters were gathering Saturday to hold a Christmas Eve candlelight vigil to protest against what they feared would be "a massive influx of goods" by the foreign entity known as 'Santa Claus'. Under the FTA – or Free Trade Agreement – which South Korea signed up to this year with what's left of the European Union, Santa Claus is now allowed to import goods into Korean unimpeded

North Korea Requests More Wailers Before Resuming Six-Party Talks

2011-12-23T20:02:00.006+09:00

Famous painting 'Korean Woman Misses Subway Train' Five days after the official death of its leader, King Jong-il, North Korea has requested emergency supplies of wailers from the South after stocks of people able to scream and weep uncontrollably for the cameras ran dangerously low. Experts in the South speculate that without help, scenes of stony-faced silence or even stifled giggling may

Foreign Media Frustrated as War Fails to Break Out

2011-12-20T20:55:00.004+09:00

Foreign media outlets were left disappointed and frustrated yesterday after the long-awaited death of North Korea's King Jong-il failed to spark an outbreak of ratings-enhancing hostilities on the Korean peninsula. As wide-angled and poorly focused shots of the border area were fixed expectantly to their screens, several Western news channels urgently recalled graphic designers back to their

Christmas Trees Originated in Korea

2011-12-15T20:01:00.053+09:00

Public humiliation - captured war trophy As Christmas approaches once again, Koreans are being urged to remember the great contribution they have made to the Western method of celebrating the day Jesus was born in Namyangju near Seoul – the 'Christmas tree'. According to Korea's National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), the 'Christmas Tree' in your house is actually a Korean fir tree,

Rain Hinders Occupy Protests in Seoul

2011-12-13T15:14:00.019+09:00

The Occupy Seoul protests, which have struggled to achieve the success of sister movements in New York and London, have a new difficulty to content with. The world's most influential person, Korean pop star and actor Rain, was yesterday ordered to help suppress the protesters as part of his new duties in the national army. When Rain began is two-year mandatory military service in October there

Namhae: An Island Famous for Not Being Famous

2011-12-11T20:02:00.000+09:00

Escape from Namhae's 'German Village' is said to be impossible Some 500 kilometers beyond Seoul's southern borders, out into the dead-zone known as the 'Bundokeu', Namhae – Korea's fourth largest island and Pending Cultural Property Number 724, sits at the very tip of the Korean Peninsula, though still well within Korea's historical territory which stretches south to Australia, or the land of '

Restroom Revelation Inspires Google Chief to Laud Korean Work Ethic

2011-12-09T20:16:00.004+09:00

It seems that Google executives can find inspiration in the unlikeliest of places. In Korea, the company's Executive Chairman - who was recently visiting this country to learn how Daum and Naver became the world's best search engines - found inspiration in a public restroom. "Koreans are impressively productive" he told reporters. It is said that he reached his conclusion while washing his hands