The state-run railway operator said on Thursday it is recruiting hundreds of substitute workers to cope with a protracted strike by its union members.The Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) said it has put out a public notice to hire 660 workers -- 280 train attendants and 380 drivers -- and that they will be placed to work after receiving job training."We plan to hire more workers if the strike is protracted further," said Jang Jin-bok, a spokesman of the rail company.More than 8,700 KORAIL workers w

Cho Kuk, a progressive law professor, has been cleared of suspicions of plagiarism that were raised by conservative activists, according to his school.Seoul National University announced Tuesday that its research ethics committee concluded there is lack of evidence to support the allegations against Cho.Cho has been under investigation by the university since February after conservative columnist Byun Hee-jae filed a claim that Cho plagiarized a research paper published in 2008 from one of his p

Local education offices led by progressive superintendents rejected the Education Ministry’s recent directive to curb the spread of political posters at middle and high schools. The ministry last Wednesday sent out guidelines to provincial education offices expressing concerns that the academic atmosphere may be damaged by the wave of the so-called daejabo movement. Daejabo, or hand-written posters dealing with various issues, have been appearing across the country after a Korea University stude

Amnesty International criticized South Korea Tuesday for a police raid on the office of a militant umbrella labor union, saying it breached international human rights and labor standards.Hundreds of policemen stormed the headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions in central Seoul on Sunday to arrest striking rail union leaders believed to be holed up there, sparking controversy over the excessive use of police force.“The entry of police forces into the KCTU building is a clear viol

The number of deaths caused by traffic accidents in Seoul fell nearly 15 percent on-year in the July-November period thanks to facility improvements, data showed Tuesday.According to the data compiled by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, a total of 156 people were killed by traffic accidents in the capital city in the five-month period, down 14.8 percent from 183 cases a year earlier.A city official attributed the decline to the completion of traffic facility improvements. “We’ve completed work

Opposition lawmakers accused the military Monday of trying to cover up more pervasive election meddling in last year's presidential poll by purposely carrying out a shoddy investigation into an alleged online smear campaign by the cyber warfare command.The defense ministry last week announced that military prosecutors will indict the director of the psychological warfare unit and 10 other cyber warfare officials for posting political writings in connection with last year's presidential election.

The state anti-corruption body on Monday called for the government and universities to plug loopholes in preferential admission rules for overseas Korean students.Currently, applicants who hold foreign citizenship or who studied at least three years in a foreign country can apply for the special quota system without competing with ordinary applicants.But the rule is believed to be widely exploited by affluent parents to gain admission of their unqualified children into prestigious schools, espec

Comedian and movie director Shim Hyung-rae came under a hailstorm of criticism on Monday after a picture emerged of him sitting at a nightclub with supposedly underage girls.Earlier in the day, a young woman uploaded a photo that she said was of herself with Shim. The photo shows Shim and scantily-clad girls sitting in what appears to be a private room at a nightclub with alcohol and food placed on the table in front of him.There was a furor among netizens when it was learned that the person who

SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Yonhap) -- More than 100 striking railway workers were taken into custody Sunday after the police forced their way into a union office with tear gas to round them up for questioning.Some 600 police officers were deployed to raid the headquarters of a militant labor umbrella group, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), in central Seoul around 11 a.m. to arrest union leaders of the state-run Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) who have been defying summons by prosecutors. The

Korea will allow about 53,000 migrant workers under the non-professional employment (E-9) visa next year, an increase of 3,000 from this year, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Sunday.The figure includes about 5,600 workers with a reentry visa under the government’s foreign work permit system. They will be assigned largely to the manufacturing, construction, agriculture and fishing industries, which are suffering a worsening labor shortage. Some 17,000 foreign employees will return to th