Presidential secretary for political affairs offers to resign

The Korea Times - Nov 6, 2026

President Lee Jae Myung's chief secretary for political affairs, Hong Ik-pyo, has offered to resign, according to sources Friday. The former three-term lawmaker, who took office in January, was expected to leave the presidential office after Sunday, the sources said. Cheong Wa Dae is widely expected to name Hong's successor around Sunday, with Choi In-ho, currently president of Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corp., reportedly being considered as a candidate.

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SANTA ANA, Cagayan — A marbled monitor lizard found inside a resident’s stockroom in Basco, Batanes, was rescued and returned to its natural habitat on Thursday, Nov. 5. The resident voluntarily surrendered the reptile to the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) in Batanes to ensure its safe handling. The lizard, scientifically known as

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Nov 6, 2026

[FRIENDS OF KOREA] An American teenager in Seoul in 1967

I was 13 when our family of 10 (mom, dad and eight kids ranging in age from 1 to 15) arrived at Kimpo Airport in August 1966. We arrived a bit prior to the first volunteers of the Peace Corps K-1, because our school started in early September. The older kids attended Seoul Foreign School (SFS) in Yeonhui-dong, behind Yonsei University. In fact, the founders of our school were some of the same missionaries who founded Yonsei, such as the Underwoods, the Allens and the Avisons. Today, there is a statue to Horace Grant Underwood in front of one of the Yonsei buildings. Being born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and at our young ages, none of us kids were very familiar with the outside world, so when Dad (Kevin O'Donnell, the first Peace Corps country director for Korea) told us he got a new job and we were going to move to Korea, we thought he said Berea, a Cleveland suburb near the airport, and wondered why in the world would anyone want to move there. He said, "Not Berea — Korea. It's a foreign country over by China and Japan." This got most of us quite excited, but my older sister wa

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[FRIENDS OF KOREA] How one Peace Corps Volunteer helped deaf Koreans find their voice

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