People

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  Hyundai auto group recruits AI expert to bolster future car, mobility capabilities SEOUL -- South Korea's Hyundai auto group has recruited Kyunghyun Cho, a renowned artificial intelligence expert, to bolster capabilities in mobility and future car businesses. He would advise on the application of AI technology to the mobility industry and the excavation of new AI-based business opportunities. The associate professor of computer science and data science at New York University would work with AIRS, an organization dedicated to the development of Hyundai and Ki 2021-04-23
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  Celebrity 'chef-tainer' Baek Jong-won makes international debut thru Netflix SEOUL -- South Korea's celebrity "chef-tainer" Baek Jong-won, who has hosted a number of cooking-related TV programs, will make his international debut through a reality talk show to be launched by Netflix, the world's most popular over-the-top video-on-demand service. The program will show Baek drinking and talking with people from various fields representing South Korea. This would be the first Netflix reality series that introduces Korean alcohol, food and c 2020-12-04
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  Jeong Eun-kyeong promoted to head S. Korea's new disease control tower SEOUL -- Jeong Eun-kyeong, a cool-headed woman who has led South Korea's quarantine war against COVID-19 with a prudential and stable attitude, was picked to head a new disease control tower that will have greater power than before. Her status was promoted to become a vice minister with independent authority. Jeong, 55, had served as director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), a state body affiliated with the Ministry of Health and Welfare since he 2020-09-08
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  104-year-old COVID-19 patient discharged from hospital after successful treatment SEOUL -- A 104-year-old grandmother, the oldest among South Korea's COVID-19 patients, was discharged after a 67-day battle against the deadly virus that killed 260 people. Doctors and nurses congratulated her discharge with a bouquet of flowers. A ceremony was held at noon on Friday at Pohang Medical Center in the southeastern industrial port of Pohang to send off the grandmother identified by her family name, Choi, who was infected with COVID-19 on March 8. She had lived in a 2020-05-15
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  Public petition calls for permanent residency to reward heroic action by illegal Kazakh worker SEOUL -- A civic campaign has been launched in South Korea to permit a green card for a 28-year-old illegal immigrant from Kazakhstan in reward for his brave deed. He risked his life to save ten people trapped in a raging fire despite fears of deportation. A petition was uploaded onto the presidential website on April 21, asking the government to provide help for the Kazakh man known as Ali. More than 5,300 people have supported the petition as of noon (0300 GMT) on Wednesday. More 2020-04-22
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  [Coronavirus] Ballet dancer Na fired for violating self-quarantine order SEOUL -- Na Dae-han, a celebrity ballet dancer who appeared on a TV variety show, has been sacked by his company for traveling to Japan with his girlfriend at the height of a new coronavirus epidemic by ignoring an order to put himself into spontaneous quarantine for monitoring. Na, born in 1992, was formally expelled from the prestigious Korea National BalleIt in a rare decision on March 16 by its disciplinary committee involving Kang Sue-jin, the artistic director who has scolded 2020-03-17
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  S. Korean nuclear power expert named to oversee fusion reactor installation SEOUL -- Kim Keun-kyeong, a South Korean expert in the design and construction of nuclear power stations, has been appointed to oversee the installation of a fusion reactor, which is similar to the sun. The first phase of main assembly begins this year for completion in 2025. "I'm pleased to be able to use the experience and technology I have accumulated from my participation in the construction of nuclear power plants in South Korea for a historic project to develop future 2020-02-17
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  Transgender soldier makes tearful appeal for military service SEOUL -- Wearing a military uniform and black-rimmed glasses, a staff sergeant made a tearful salute, calling for her undisrupted military service, after the Army decided to kick her out for sex reassignment surgery. A military medical team has rated the officer as a "handicapped" person who is not eligible for military service. "I want to show that regardless of gender identity, I can become a great soldier who protects this country," Byun Hee-soo, 22, told a pr 2020-01-22
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  Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho dies at age 99: Yonhap SEOUL -- Shin Kyuk-ho, founder and honorary chairman of South Korean retail giant Lotte Group, died on Sunday of a chronic illness, the group said. He was 99. Shin died at about 4:30 p.m. at Asan Medical Center in eastern Seoul, the group said in a statement. Lotte, which started as a small chewing gum manufacturer in Japan in the late 1940s, is now South Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate, with its business portfolio ranging from retail and hotels to entertainment and chemica 2020-01-20
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  LG Electronics teams up with MIT robot expert to develop next-generation robot technology SEOUL -- Sangbae Kim, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will work with LG Electronics to develop next-generation robot technology. LG said on Wednesday that its robot research center would begin joint research work with Kim this month. The company plans to establish a robotics lab in Boston where U.S. robot-related companies are flocking to conduct technical research. Kim's research focuses on the bio-inspired rob 2020-01-15
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  Samsung Group's bedridden patriarch becomes richer thanks to increase in equity assets SEOUL -- Lee Kun-hee remained bedridden and incommunicado at an isolated hospital room after being hit by a stroke in 2014, but the value of his equity assets soared this year to keep his status as South Korea's richest man mainly thanks to earnings from his stake in Samsung Electronics. As of December 30, the total value of equity assets held by the 77-year-old patriarch of South Korea's largest conglomerate stood at 17.62 trillion won ($15.2 billion), up from 13.58 trill 2019-12-31
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  KAL's 'nut rage' woman hurls open criticism at brother and Hanjin group chairman SEOUL -- Six months after she avoided legal punishment, Cho Hyun-ah, a former Korean Air vice president known for a "nut rage" incident in 2014, put an end to her prude life and hurled open criticism at her brother of running South Korea's Hanjin Group without prior consultations with family members on crucial group affairs. Harking back to a death-bed counsel from her late father, the 45-year-old argued through her lawyer that Hanjin's new chairman Cho Won-tae has 2019-12-23
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  Former Daewoo Group Chairman Kim Woo-choong dies: Yonhap SEOUL -- Former Daewoo Group Chairman Kim Woo-choong died late Monday at age 82, an organization affiliated with the now-defunct conglomerate said. Kim, the founder of the company, died of a chronic disease at a hospital in Suwon, just south of Seoul, at 11:50 p.m., according to Daewoosky Institute, which represents former employees of Daewoo. Daewoo Group was founded in 1967 and became the second-largest conglomerate in South Korea after Hyundai Group. During the Asian financial 2019-12-10
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  SK chairman's wife decides to end marital life and seek asset division SEOUL -- The estranged wife of Chey Tae-won, the chairman of South Korea's third-largest conglomerate SK Group, changed her mind to accept a divorce after she launched a legal battle for an asset division, four years after the breakdown of their marital life was made public through Chey's revelation that he had a child out of wedlock. Chey's assets exceed four trillion won ($3.4 billion), including an 18.44 percent stake in SK Holdings. Chey, 59, filed a request wit 2019-12-05