A so-called “website quota” could be established to delete barely-used government sites in an effort to make public administration more efficient, officials said on Wednesday.The tentative regulation will obligate the Ministry of Security and Administration to limit the number of government webpages to only those that follow a set of guidelines.Security ministry officials will most likely scrap government sites that are relatively unused by citizens or prone to attacks from hackers. Other criter

Five more bodies were recovered from the sunken ferry Sewol on Wednesday, raising the death toll to 281 and lowering the number of those missing to 23, four weeks after the ship sank off South Korea's southwest coast.A joint team of government and civilian divers retrieved the five bodies shortly after it resumed search operations in the afternoon, officials said.Divers searched the sunken ferry for about an hour overnight, but no bodies were found then. In the morning, strong currents prevented

A Seoul appellate court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former priest who claims Catholic authorities wrongfully stripped him of his religious status and pay. The Seoul High Court ruled that courts could not interfere in church affairs as the Constitution guarantees the freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.The former priest, only identified by his surname, Kim, initially filed the lawsuit against the Samsungsan Cathedral in 2012 after he lost his priesthood and pay

More than one third of the tracks of Seoul’s four oldest subway lines are not earthquake-safe, escalating concerns over public safety following a recent subway crash, a report showed Tuesday. According to a report released by ruling Saenuri Party Rep. Lee No-keun, 36 percent of Seoul’s Subway lines 1 to 4 are not built with an earthquake-resistant design. The combined distance of the tracks amounts to 147 kilometers. The rest can endure possible earthquakes, he added. About 87 percent of the tra

Self-defense cannot be cited as a valid reason for murder in a domestic violence case, according to the Seoul court on Tuesday.The Seoul Northern District Court ruled against a 49 year-old woman who killed her husband by choking him with a rope after years of domestic violence. The woman received a two-year prison sentence. The court said it would uphold the existence of a threat of imminent unlawful injury, since the violence was likely to continue. The court, however, said that the defendant h

Seoul court on Tuesday ruled that the government should overturn its decision to prohibit a Chinese man from becoming naturalized because of a drunk driving conviction in 2006.A 55-year-old Chinese man surnamed Lee requested Korean citizenship in April 2012, but had been turned down by the Justice Ministry. The ministry said the decision was based on the grounds that he does not meet the qualifications required of those seeking Korean citizenship, which is to “have orderly behavior.” It took iss

A door of a Seoul subway train temporarily went out of order, apparently because of a piece of trash, causing inconvenience for passengers during rush hour on Tuesday, officials said. One of the doors of a southbound train at Gireum Station on Line 4 failed to close at around 8:20 a.m., forcing more than 500 passengers to get off and take the next train. The exact cause is unknown but a piece of trash stuck in the door is suspected to have prevented it from closing, officials said. Subway operat

A son of disgraced former President Chun Doo-hwan on Tuesday denied allegations of tax evasion and appealed the court’s decision to hand him a suspended prison term.Chun Jae-yong, 50, claimed that the prosecutors have unlawfully indicted him and his uncle Lee Chang-seok to pressure his father into coughing up billions of won accumulated during his tenure as president. They have been convicted on the charge of evading taxes during a land deal in 2006. The elder Chun vowed to make the payment afte

The Seoul Municipal Government began to crack down on unlicensed travel guides on Monday at popular tourist sites for foreigners like Gyeongbokgung Palace and the traditional district of Bukchon, six district offices including the Jongno-gu office said on Tuesday. Recently, a growing number of companies have reportedly hired unlicensed tour guides in violation of the Korean Tourism Promotion Act.Travel authorities and the district offices of Jongno-gu, Gangnam-gu, Mapo-gu, Jung-gu, Seodaemun-gu

President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday she will soon issue a statement to the nation about how the government will upgrade the country's safety and emergency response system in the wake of the deadly sinking of the ferry Sewol.Park made the remark as she opened a Cabinet meeting aimed at discussing key issues to be included in the statement she plans to make to apologize for the government mishandling the ferry's sinking and to announce reform measures for the country's safety system."I hope inten

The investigation into Yoo Byung-eon and his family appears to have hit a snag, with key suspects refusing to comply with the prosecution’s summons. On Monday, Yoo Byung-eon’s eldest son, Yoo Dae-gyun, ignored the prosecution’s summons in connection with the assorted wrongdoings his family allegedly committed. Prosecutors requested a warrant to detain him later in the day.Yoo Byung-eon, the de facto owner of the sunken ferry Sewol and a host of affiliated companies, and his family members are su

The South Korean government legally recognized Monday three ferry victims who risked their lives to save others in the Sewol ferry that sank off the southern coast of the country on April 16.The legal recognition is granted to those who go beyond the call of duty in saving others, the Health and Welfare Ministry said. Once recognized, the bodies of the victims are allowed to be buried in the national cemetery. The bereaved families become eligible for compensation and additional health and educa