GYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province (Yonhap) ― Police on Friday blamed shoddy construction and poor materials for last week‘s deadly gymnasium collapse that killed 10 people, mostly college students, and injured 128 others.The roof of the gymnasium at the Mauna Ocean Resort in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, caved in on some 560 incoming freshmen of the Busan University of Foreign Studies on Feb. 17 during a welcoming party. Announcing the interim results of their investigation into the tra

A Seoul court on Friday allowed the convicted chairman of food and entertainment conglomerate CJ Group to stay out of prison for another two months, citing his poor health, court officials said.The custody suspension of Lee Jay-hyun, who has been staying at a Seoul hospital since being temporarily released from prison, will be extended until April 30, said the officials at the Seoul Central District Court.The court earlier this month sentenced the 54-year-old tycoon to four years in prison for m

The National Pension Service said Thursday that it would launch a call center for foreign clients to offer advice in three Asian languages. The call center will offer counseling and help issue certificates of service subscription in Chinese, Indonesian and Thai from next week, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. English-language telephone assistance is already available.Chinese service will be available at (02) 2176-8735, with Indonesian service at (02) 2176-8734 and Thai service at (02) 2176-8730. Nearly hal

South Korea’s top court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s ruling to sentence the chief of SK Group, the country’s third-largest family conglomerate, to four years in jail for embezzling company assets. SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won was convicted of misappropriating nearly 46.5 billion won ($43.6 million) from two of the SK Group affiliates ― SK Telecom Co. and SK C&C Co. ― to make personal investments in stock futures and options in 2008.The Supreme Court also handed down a three-and-a-half-ye

Despite growing concerns about safety, residents refused to leave a partially burned housing facility in Seoul, originally built for Koreans of Chinese ancestry, known as “hwagyo.” The building, located in Jung-gu, caught fire earlier this month, killing two people and injuring six before firefighters contained the blaze. Some 20 residents returned to the burned building, defying the district administration‘s eviction order to vacate the premises. The residents had been staying temporarily at ne

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a life sentence for a 25-year-old man on charges of kidnapping and raping a female child in Naju, South Jeolla Province. Defendant Ko Jong-suk was convicted of kidnapping an 8-year-old girl asleep at her home, and attempting to kill her after raping her under a bridge in 2012. The victim was left with permanent organ damage. The court upheld the lower court’s decision for Ko to receive chemical castration for five years to stifle his sexual impulses. This is

Keeping the Korean Peninsula nuclear free is the "biggest challenge" facing China-U.S. relations in the coming years, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to China said Thursday. "One of the biggest challenges we face is that, President Barack) Obama and Vice President (Joe) Biden and Chinese leaders have talked a lot about, is trying to make sure the Korean Peninsula (is) nuclear free," U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke said at a farewell press conference. Other significant challenges facing the U.S. and Chin

The nation's top court on Thursday upheld a suspended jail sentence imposed on Hwang Woo-suk, a disgraced cloning scientist who had claimed major breakthroughs in stem-cell research, for embezzling government research funds.Hwang, a former professor at Seoul National University, was convicted of embezzling research funds he had been granted by the government and other agencies based on falsified research that purported to show he had created the world's first cloned human embryos.      The Supre

The number of babies born in South Korea dropped for the first time in four years in 2013, a report showed Thursday, deepening worries for a country whose already low birthrate undermines its growth potential.According to the report by Statistics Korea, 436,600 babies were born last year, down 48,000 or 9.9 percent from a year earlier.The number marked the lowest since 2005 when 435,031 babies were born. It also represented the first time that childbirths have declined on a year-on-year basis si

The nation's top court on Thursday upheld the life sentence for a 25-year-old man for kidnapping and raping an eight-year-old girl in the southern city of Naju.The defendant, only identified by his surname Koh, was convicted of abducting the sleeping elementary school first-grader from her home and brutally raping her before trying to kill her in August 2012 in Naju, 350 kilometers south of Seoul.The Supreme Court also upheld lower courts' order that Koh undergo chemical castration over a five-y

The Huffington Post, a U.S.-based online news provider, will launch its Korean edition in partnership with a local daily, the Hankyoreh, on Friday. “By joining forces, we will combine Hankyoreh’s independent spirit and history of fighting for press freedom with the power of the HuffPost platform, telling the stories that need to be told and ― just as important ― inviting Koreans to tell their stories themselves,” Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief, said in a statement.Huffington i

Korea ranked ninth in terms of national power among the world’s 20 wealthiest countries this year, a Seoul-based think tank said.According to Hansun Foundation’s 2014 Total National Power index released on Wednesday, Korea climbed up four notches from 13th five years ago thanks to significant progress in the nation’s ability to cope with changes and its defense power.The total national power index is a measurement of a nation’s power. It shows capability of a nation to influence events and outco