The state-run rights commission was revealed Monday to have advised staff not to compare government bodies to the fictional dictator “Big Brother,” stirring up controversy about whether it was going out of its way to block criticism of the government.According to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, standing commissioner Yoo Yoeng-ha recently told one of the NHRCK’s employees not to use the phrase in an official report. The employee had used the term in a report on how to improve Korea

More than 2,000 people have been arrested in a little over three months, during a special investigation into the personal data breaches involving 475 million pieces of data, the South Korean police said Monday. More than 560 people were accused of collecting personal data illegally via the Internet, about 160 people of leaking the information and almost 70 people of hacking. Some 2,200 people have been arrested and 164 people have been detained since the end of January. The police have been work

The government on Monday revoked the operating license of the shipping line that owned the ill-fated Sewol ferry, citing gross violations of safety rules by the company and crew.The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said the Incheon Regional Maritime Affairs & Port Administration annulled the Incheon-Jeju license, after Chonghaejin Marine Co. did not raise any objections to an administrative action notice outlining the intent to penalize the company.The ministry said the move has been taken becau

North Korea has called on the United States not to side with South Korea over the findings of a probe into three drones found crashed near the inter-Korean border.The North's army mission at the border village of Panmunjom on Sunday accused the U.S. of echoing South Korea's conclusion that North Korea is behind the rudimentary drones that were found in the South in recent weeks."If Washington pays heed only to what its stooges trumpet, it is bound to be accused of being a senile grandfather tryi

XIAN, China (Yonhap) ― In another slap to the face of Japan, China plans to unveil a stone monument later this month honoring Korean soldiers who fought for their peninsula’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule, multiple sources said Sunday.China earlier this year had dedicated a memorial to a prominent Korean independence hero, Ahn Jung-geun, who assassinated the Korean Peninsula’s first Japanese governor-general, Hirobumi Ito, in its northeastern city of Harbin in October 1909.Japan

A former Seoul official who was cleared of charges of spying in a high profile espionage case last month was indicted again on charges of sending money to North Korea with other defectors.Yoo Woo-seong, 34, was booked without detention for violating the currency exchange law and obstruction of justice, prosecutors said on Sunday.The Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office indicted him for allegations that he illegally sent about 2.7 billion won ($2.6 million) to North Korea between 2005 and 2

The justice ministry said Sunday it will propose a law that would fine people up to 5 million won ($4,873) for failing to report child abuse.The law would also give a prosecutor the authority to keep track of a case through a committee made up of police, doctors, lawyers and welfare workers, the ministry said.The law, to be formally proposed on Monday, will fine people who know of but neglect to report suspected child abuse. “This is intended for not just closing the case by punishing the abuser

The government said on Sunday it will exclude dual citizenship holders who live abroad for more than 60 days a year from the basic pension program that starts in July.The Health and Welfare Ministry is set to provide a monthly allowance of between 100,000 won and 200,000 won ($97 to $195) to the poorest 70 percent of Koreans aged 65 or older. In its previous plan, the ministry said it would not give the welfare benefits to seniors who hold dual citizenships and live less than six months per year

The justice ministry said Sunday it will propose a law that would fine people up to 5 million won ($4,873) for failing to report child abuse.The law would also give a prosecutor the authority to keep track of a case through a committee made up of police, doctors, lawyers and welfare workers, the ministry said.The law, to be formally proposed on Monday, will fine people who know of but neglect to report suspected child abuse. "This is intended for not just closing the case by punishing the abuser

The search for victims of the Sewol ferry sinking has been put on hold due to unfavorable weather near Jindo island, authorities said Saturday.Officials in charge of finding victims and determining the cause of the tragic accident said high wind and wave alerts issued for the area are making it impossible to send divers to the sunken ship after two more bodies were recovered the previous day."Waves are rising to the point that they are wetting the deck of the barge that is being used as the stag

Funeral services for three Danwon High School students lost in the sinking of the Sewol ferry last month were held Saturday, as the official death toll stands at 274, with 30 still missing.The service for the students took place at two hospitals in Ansan, located 42 kilometers southwest of Seoul.Representatives of families who lost their loved ones said that over 462,000 people have visited various memorial altars since April 23. They added that 99,000 condolence messages have been received.The