Unionists of the state-run railway operator KORAIL on Tuesday ended a 22-day walkout and returned to their workplaces.However, they vowed to continue their struggle against the government's approval of the establishment of a KORAIL affiliate, which will run the new bullet train route out of Suseo in southwestern Seoul from as early as 2015."All union members returned and resumed their work as of 11 a.m. We will go back to our normal duties before the strike," said Choi Eun-cheol, spokesman of th

   A Seoul court acquitted an American soldier of raping his South Korean fiancee in 2011, court officials said Tuesday.      The sergeant major of the U.S. Army, whose identity has been withheld, was indicted on charges of raping and assaulting his fiancee, whose identity remains anonymous, officials said.   The Seoul Central District Court delivered a not-guilty verdict, citing lack of evidence, they added.   "The court does not take credibility in the plaintiff's statement as well as other ev

A local court on Monday turned down a request from authors of six history textbooks to suspend a controversial government order to amend them for containing ideological bias, allowing the distribution of revised versions to high school students early next year as scheduled.   The Ministry of Education ordered publishers of the books on Dec. 2 to revise 41 parts of their descriptions for containing factual errors and views that could "negatively affect students perspective of history."   Two days

The sweeping popularity of expensive winter jackets from foreign brands among students is becoming a social issue in South Korea. The premium padded jumpers made by foreign apparel companies like Canada Goose and Moncler usually cost more than 1 to 2 million won ($947 to $1,893). Despite their price tags, the jackets became a huge hit among Korean students this year. The jackets were initially imported in limited quantities for high-income consumers in Gangnam and other posh areas but are now be

The prosecution has indicted two former managers of KB Kookmin Bank’s Tokyo branch for extending illegal loans worth 400 billion won ($379 million), officials said Sunday. The prosecutors are further investigating whether the two suspects, identified by the surnames Lee and Ahn, received kickbacks from the borrowers and used them to create a slush fund at home. They were arrested earlier this month on charges of breach of trust. Lee, former branch chief, and Ahn, former deputy chief, were found

A cargo ship collided with a chemical-laden tanker off South Korea's southeast coast early Sunday, causing the tanker to catch fire, but all 91 crew members on the two vessels were rescued safely, coast guard officials said.The 55,000-ton freighter Gravity Highway was on a test-run when it collided with Maritime Maisie, a tanker carrying 29,337 tons of inflammable chemicals, in waters about 9.2 nautical miles off the southeastern port city of Busan around 2:15 a.m., officials said.The impact cau

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Friday issued a license for the state-run rail operator to establish an affiliate to run a new branch of the KTX line, despite fierce opposition from labor unions and others.The issuance is expected to increase pressure on the 27 percent of KORAIL’s 20,443 employees who have been on strike since Dec. 9 against what they claim to be a move to privatize the railroads.“The Daejeon District Court on Friday evening approved the registration of the