Following the alphabet, The Korea Times has picked 26 key words to characterize Korea in 2007. If you have any differing opinions, let us know by e-mail (kslee@koreatimes.co.kr). ― ED.
  Twenty-three Korean missionaries were kidnapped by the Taliban militants in Afghanistan in July. Two men among the hostages were killed, while the others returned home after 43 days of captivity after the government agreed with the kidnappers not to send Christian missionaries to the country again. |
  President-elect Lee Myung-bak has been suspected of allegedly being involved in a stock manipulation by his former business partner Kim Kyung-joon. Kim claimed that Lee owned BBK, the company involved in the financial scam, while Lee still denies the accusations. |
  Korea and the U.S. agreed in February that the U.S. will transfer the wartime operational control of Korean troops from Washington to Seoul in April 2012. Along with the transfer, ROK-US Combined Forces Korea will also be disbanded. |
  Consumer debt has grown fast, exceeding 80 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, according to the Bank of Korea in October. Total personal debt stood at 699 trillion won as of June, 80.2 percent of the nation’s GDP, 871.8 trillion won. |
  The presidential election was held on Dec. 19. Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party was elected, receiving 48.7 percent of the total votes and beating the runner-up with the largest margin ever. The election had the largest number of candidates ― starting with 12 and two of them stepping down in the middle of the campaign ― but the voter turnout was the lowest, 63 percent. |
  The nation signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States in June and is now negotiating with the European Union for another major deal. Since the first deal with Chile in 2004, the nation has actively pursued bilateral FTAs with other nations and economic blocs as a new momentum for growth. |
  Global warming has become an environmental and financial issue, as the nation has to consider ways of cutting back on greenhouse gases in order to pursue sustainable development. The country was the ninth-largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world in 2004. |
  Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn hit newspaper headlines described as a “Mafia boss,” after he was convicted in July of kidnapping and assaulting bar workers involved in a scuffle with his 22-year-old son at a luxury karaoke bar in Seoul. But the head of the country’s 10th-largest family-run business conglomerate was given a suspended 18-month prison term. |
  The two leaders of the divided Koreas met in the second inter-Korean summit last October after the first talks in 2000. President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il agreed on practical issues such as economy cooperation and peace creation during the historical event. |
  The country’s jobless rate stood at around 3 percent this year. The concern over the sluggish economy resulted in the victory of Lee Myung-bak from the presidential election who promised to revive the economy by facilitating his experience as a successful businessman. |
  South Korea’s figure skating star Kim Yuna showed that she could prevail on the world figure skating stage. The 17-year-old Korean defended her title at the World Grand Prix Final in December and won the title for the second straight year. |
  Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party won the presidential election ending the 10-year liberal rule. The former Seoul city mayor recorded the biggest margin victory in the 20-year history of democratic elections in Korea. |
  Journalists and the government clashed over President Roh Moo-hyun’s plan to shut down most of the press rooms at government offices. |
  Leaders of the two Koreas vowed to work toward peace at the inter-Korean summit in October and the U.S. has pledged a security arrangement under the condition of North Korea’s denuclearization. |
  Korea saw the worst oil spill in Taean, South Chungcheong Province. The spill occurred on Dec. 7 wh en a Korean construction crane on a barge collided with the stationary Hong Kong-registered supertanker, Hebei Spirit, causing it to spill 10,500 tons of crude oil. |
  There was widespread concern that the National pension fund would dry out by 2040. The government vowed to make it more profitable. Government Employees Pension Service also announced reformation, which drove hundreds of members to take early retirement. |
  The widespread “quick service” couriers carry anything from documents, food, clothes, pets to even people. They provide a speedy delivery service that gets packages from point A to point B quickly and at a cheap price and instantly became a specialty of the country. |
  At the near-end of his reign, President Roh Moo-hyun was both loved and hated widely for signing for the free trade agreement with the United States in April and shutting down pressrooms at governmental organizations. He will be succeeded by Lee Myung-bak next February. |
  Degree scammer Shin Jeong-ah and presidential secretary Byeon Yangkyoon were revealed to have been lovers for about two years. The scandal started with revelations about degree fabrication and then progressed to the love affair. |
  A presiding judge of the Seoul High Court was on Jan. 15 shot in the stomach with a crossbow by a former professor out of revenge for a ruling made against him. |
  User Created Contents (UCC) hit the cyberspace in the world’s most wired nation. The UCC ran the whole gamut of contents including entertainment, personal life stories and even election campaigns. However, unlike the 2002 election, the government’s tight regulations led to the lackluster performance of UCC election campaigns. |
  A video clip in which President-elect Lee Myung-bak said he established the scandal-tainted company, BBK, provoked serious controversy over his ethical standards just a few days ahead of the presidential election. Lee’s disputed ethics, however, did not play a definitive role in the presidential race since people believed the former CEO of the Hyundai construction arm would be capable of revitalizing the economy. |
  Former chief attorney of Samsung Group, the nation’s biggest conglomerate, revealed late October that the group accumulated massive slush funds to bribe influential figures, including politicians, prosecutors and government officials. |
  Some people’s misgivings about unverified foreign instructors emerged as Christopher Paul Neil, a Canadian English teacher who taught here for four years, was arrested in Thailand on child molestation charges. |
  The nation’s stock index topped the 2000 mark on July 25 for the first time. People rushed to invest in the stock market, as the housing market appeared to be no longer lucrative. The Yeouido fever is referred to stock investment boom in the region where the Korea Exchange is located. |
  The nation’s 1200-strong Zaytun unit deployed in Iraq decreased to the one with 650 soldiers this month as part of the government’s plan to withdraw its forces by sometime next year. |
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