You Young-koo, head of the Korea Baseball Organization, was arrested on Wednesday for misappropriating funds from his school foundation in 2006. He has offered to resign from the governing post of the Korean professional baseball league, officials said. Officers at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said You had made a payment guarantee for a 150 billion won ($138 m) loan to Myongji Co

Prosecutors requested a local court on Wednesday to issue an arrest warrant for Hong Song-won, head of Gallery Seomi, one of the most prominent art galleries in Korea, for laundering slush funds of business conglomerate Orion Group. According to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, Hong received 4 billion won ($3.7 million) in slush funds from Orion last year and bought several pieces o

The Foreign Ministry has begun studying whether the April 12 cyber attack by North Korea violated the international law as part of efforts to ward off additional attacks, an official said Wednesday.“The exercise of their right in a way that inflicts damage on other countries is illegal under the international law,” the official said on condition of anonymity.Prosecutors on Tuesday concluded that t

Despite its reputation as one of the most closed nations in the world, North Korea is, at least partly, opening up to market economy conventions, evident in its effort to cultivate its specially designated economic zone.North Korea designated Raseon the country’s first free trade zone, as a “special city” in January 2010. The city, which borders both China and Russia, was dubbed a free trade zone

Kim Min-joo, an 18-year-old student, feels extremely exhausted at the end of each day, swamped with a slew of things to study. She finds little time or energy to share even small talk with her family and friends.She is one of many final-year high school students undergoing one of the most grueling periods in their lives to survive the fierce competition for entry into universities. In Korea, admis

A taxi driver said to have had fanatical religious beliefs was found dead Sunday on a wooden cross in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, police said.In an apparent emulation of the crucifixion of Jesus, his hands and feet were found nailed to a cross in an abandoned quarry mine. The 58-year-old man surnamed Kim wore something similar to a crown of thorns on his head. He was wearing only underpa

The government’s efforts to facilitate domestic adoption are not paying off as the number of cases has failedto increase strongly. The number of adoptions was 1,462 in 2010, compared to 1,314 in 2009, 1,306 in 2008 and 1,388 in 2007, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.The ministry has offered several perks to adoptive families including special days off for civil servant-parents, exem

North Korea’s cyber warfare unit was back in the spotlight on Tuesday after South Korean prosecutors blamed the North for launching an online attack that crippled computer operations at one of Seoul’s biggest banks last month. Prosecutors pinpointed the North’s top intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, as the perpetrator of the attack that paralyzed the computer system of the Nat

Despite prosecutors’ announcement pinpointing North Korea as the culprit for the April 12 cyber attack, security experts say that it is difficult to identify its instigator given the complicated nature of the hacking process.On Tuesday, investigators at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said the Reconnaissance General Bureau, the North’s premier intelligence body, orchestrated the “un

Hikers are being asked to raise funds for children in the Himalayas by taking to the Korean mountains. A charity hike is to be held to raise money for MountainChild’s ranch program in Kathmandu, Nepal. The charity helps tackle a variety of issues facing children living in the Himalayan mountains, including rescuing them from the threat of human trafficking. The MountainChild Get-High campaign is a