Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, who recently suffered from a heart attack, was moved to a general ward from an intensive care unit at Samsung Medical Center in Seoul on Monday as he is in very stable condition, according to the hospital and Samsung Group on Tuesday. “The chairman is recovering at a fast pace and all test results show that he is in stable condition,” the two sides said in a statement. The latest development came nine days after he had the attack on May 11. SMC said Monday it was co

KBS primetime evening news was cut to 19 minutes on Monday as a result of a staff strike against the company president Gil Hwan-young, who is accused of yielding to apparent government meddling in the state-run network’s reporting.The daily newscast begins at 9 p.m. and normally runs for 59 minutes. Another KBS news program, which starts at 7 p.m., was cut to 20 minutes from 30 because of the walkout. The broadcaster’s reporters, anchors and cameramen launched their strike on Monday after Gil re

Two Navy officers have been arrested on charges of sexually harassing a female colleague on a patrol ship, the defense ministry said Tuesday.The captain-level male officer, whose identity was withheld, is accused of breaking into the female officer’s room on the patrol ship in March and trying to touch her body.A month earlier, the female ensign suffered sexual molestation by another lieutenant commander-level officer in the ship, the ministry said. Military police found that he made verbal abus

More than 210,000 foreigners from 191 countries were treated in medical institutions in Korea last year, leading to revenue of nearly 393 billion won ($384 million), according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The number of foreign patients climbed by 36.9 percent in 2013 from the year before. The largest number of patients came from China, the U.S. and Russia. The number of Russian patients, in particular, rose 46 percent to 24,000 in 2013 from 16,000 in 2012.Chinese patients brought the m

One more body was recovered from the sunken ferry Sewol on Monday, raising the death toll to 287 and lowering the number of those missing to 17, more than a month after the ship sank off South Korea's southwest coast.A joint team of government and civilian divers retrieved the body of a woman wearing a blue long-sleeved hooded shirt and khaki sweatpants from a kitchen on the third deck, officials said.Search operations were halted earlier in the day after a wire connecting an anchor chain to a b

Yoo Byung-eon, the owner of the sunken Sewol ferry’s operator, is suspected of lobbying politicians or government officials by providing them with premium golf clubs as a kickback, prosecutors said Monday.According to the Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office, Yoo, former chairman of the now-defunct Semo Group, allegedly used one of his in-laws as a lobbying activity channel.The allegation included that the person in question, a company chief, reportedly purchased some 100 golf clubs, together wo

Eleven people were injured Monday after an insulator exploded on a subway train in Gunpo, just south of Seoul, officials said.The explosion occurred around 6:56 p.m. as the train was entering Geumjeong station on Line 4, causing some of the train'swindows to break and wounding eleven people on the platform, police and fire officials said.The wounded were taken to a hospital, they added."It appears that the accident occurred as an insulator connecting the train to the electric supply equipment su

Korean-Americans across the U.S. held rallies Sunday to protest against the Park Geun-hye administration for its handling of the Sewol ferry tragedy. On Sunday afternoon, about 120 Korean-Americans gathered to commemorate the victims of the Sewol ferry disaster and denounce the government for its “censorship of the media and anti-democratic actions” at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.Prior to the rally, the protesters handed out photocopies of the advertisement taken out in the New York

A fire broke out after an explosion at a Seoul power plant, an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters said Monday.The fire was extinguished as of 4:39 p.m. the official said.Fire department officials are investigating the cause of the explosion, which occurred between 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.No casualties were reported.Authorities at the Seoul fire and disaster headquarters said there were reports of an explosion in at least one of the power station’s electric transformers.S

JINDO (Yonhap) ― Rescue divers retrieved one more body early Sunday morning from a ferry that sank off South Korea’s southwest coast last month, bringing the confirmed death toll to 286, officials said. The body of a woman was recovered from the crew‘s cafeteria on the third-floor dock at around 5 a.m., the government emergency response team said. The number of those still unaccounted for dropped to 18 as the search and rescue operation entered the 33rd day. The 6,825-ton ferry Sewol carrying an