The former head of financially troubled shipping and shipbuilding conglomerate STX Group was called in by prosecutors Friday to face questioning over alleged embezzlement and business malpractice. Kang Duk-soo, who headed the group between 2003 and February 2014, appeared at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in southern Seoul around 9:20 a.m. to undergo questioning as a suspect in the corruption case. “I apologize for causing the people to worry, and I will sincerely respond to the

A Mongolian-registered freighter sank off the southern coast of South Korea, leaving two North Korean crew members dead and 11 missing, maritime authorities said Friday. The 4,300-ton Grand Fortune 1 sent a rescue signal at 1:19 a.m. about 34 kilometers off the southern port city of Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, the Coast Guard said. The ship, with 16 North Koreans on board, was en route to Shanghai, China, from North Korea’s eastern city of Chongjin.Three were rescued in the early morning and b

As much as 1.5 trillion won ($1.4 billion) is spent every year on thyroid cancer examinations in Korea, a report showed Thursday, as concerns grow about overdiagnosis of the disease.According to a report released by the National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency, Koreans were estimated to have spent somewhere between 120 billion won to 1.5 trillion won a year ultrasonic tests for thyroid cancer. The research agency made this calculation based on a survey of 800 hospitals across the

Seoul City signed an agreement with Beijing Thursday to make joint efforts in tackling air pollution, including hazardous ultrafine dust that has been increasingly affecting Northeast Asia.The agreement, signed between Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and his counterpart Wang Anshun during Park’s one-day visit to the Chinese capital, calls for the establishment of an environmental team within a joint committee in charge of economic and cultural exchange projects.The committee, set up by the local gover

A South Korean court turned down a transgender father’s request to be legally recognized as female, citing the disapproval of family members. The Incheon District Court in February ruled against the person only identified as Lee, in a verdict intended to protect the social status of his adult son.The Korean court previously threw out a similar case involving underage children, and the latest marks the first of a kind in which an adult son’s legal position is taken into consideration when a paren

Buses with the faces of animated characters are attracting children from all over the nation, prompting Seoul to expand its newest bus project, according to local media on Thursday. The coming to life of characters from the animated series “Tayo, the Little Bus” is exploding in popularity across Seoul and the city is considering extending the operating term into May. The buses were originally scheduled to run for one month starting on March 26.The city also plans to increase the number of buses

South Korea's science ministry said Thursday it will host a ministerial-level meeting next year to discuss solutions to environmental pollution and resource shortages, with science ministers and other representatives from OECD member nations set to attend.The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said the two-day meeting of the Committee of Science & Technological Policy at Ministerial Level under the Economic Cooperation and Development, will kick off in Daejeon, 164 kilometers south of

A Seoul court handed down a ruling on Wednesday ordering the family of a victim acquitted after being imprisoned for campaigning against the military regime led by then-President Park Chung-hee to return part of its compensation from the government. The late victim, Lee Jae-hyung, was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 1978 after being found guilty of plotting against the regime at the behest of the North Korean government. In 2007, his family won a retrial against the state and received about 1.7

The South Korean health authorities released Wednesday a massive amount of medical information to the public to boost research into health and genetics, officials said. State-run Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it would provide health data on about 210,000 Koreans that it has been tracking since 2001 for research purposes. The information includes data on health conditions, daily habits, blood and urine information and family history. Personal data has been excluded from th

The nation’s top court on Wednesday accepted the resignation of the chief of the Gwangju District Court over allegations he helped an ex-tycoon receive a soft punishment in 2010. Judge Chang Byong-woo offered to resign on Wednesday after his lenient ruling on the former chairman of now-defunct Daeju Group caused a public uproar for valuing his daily work at 500 million won ($467,700) in a high-profile embezzlement case.The development has added weight to suspicions that there was an illicit real

Korean employees of U.S. Forces Korea announced Wednesday that they will take industrial action including all-out strikes.The Korean Employees Union of USFK plans to stage rallies and strikes across the nation in time with U.S. President Barak Obama’s visit to Korea on April 21. The union leaders claimed that the U.S. military is making unfair demands and refusing to negotiate further. “As the negotiations to improve working conditions have fallen apart due to the USFK’s refusal, (the union) wil