An Army major accused of sexually harassing a female subordinate officer -- which led the victim to commit suicide -- is believed to have physically and verbally abused six other female officers as well, a local human rights body said Thursday.According to the Center for Military Human Rights, an internal probe by the South Korean army found that the major in question had harassed the officers from June to September. He reportedly disparaged the victims’ looks and made them feel “sexually humili

Widening its probe into the scandal-ridden cyber command, military investigators have investigated all officials in charge of psychological warfare operations to look into their involvement in an alleged smear campaign, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday. The defense ministry's cyber command has come under investigation after some of its officials were caught posting political messages against the opposition camp ahead of last December's presidential poll.With suspicions lingering ov

The pilot of a South Korean airliner that crashed in San Francisco in July felt very stressed about touching down without a functioning instrument landing system to guide him, according to documents made public Wednesday.Three passengers died when Asiana Airlines Flight 214 clipped a seawall with its landing gear, skidded off the runway and burst into flames at the tragic end of an otherwise routine flight from Seoul on July 6.Another 182 passengers and crew aboard the Boeing 777 were injured, i

Conflicts between the government and unionized rail workers intensified on Wednesday as the ministries threatened to take stern action against the employees if they continued their “illegal” strike against a new bullet train operation plan. Six related ministries issued a joint statement urging the workers to return to work and stressing that their actions were causing massive public inconvenience and hurting the nation’s economy. The Korean Railway Workers’ Union launched a general strike on Mo

Prosecutors sought arrest warrants for two former Tokyo branch mangers of KB Kookmin Bank on bribery charges Wednesday in connection with a slush fund scandal involving the nation’s second largest lender. They and other workers in Kookmin’s Tokyo operation are alleged to have extended illegal loans worth about 170 billion won ($161 million) to unqualified customers in return for bribes between 2008 and 2012.Financial authorities and the prosecution suspected the kickbacks were channeled into its

An average South Korean employee uses seven vacation days out of a possible 10, making it one of the most vacation-deprived nations, according to a recent survey on worldwide holiday habits. Online travel agency Expedia conducted a “2013 Vacation Deprivation Study,” involving 8,500 employees across 24 countries and five continents. According to the data, the total average number of days off given to employees was 21.6 days, but respondents only took an average of 18.7 days off, showing that Kore

The head of major family-run conglomerate Hyosung Group was called in Wednesday by prosecutors for a second day of questioning over suspicions of the group's tax evasion and slush funds.Cho Suck-rai appeared at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul around 10:50 a.m. to undergo questioning.The 78-year-old chairman, who was grilled until late last night, was admitted last week at Seoul National University Hospital for cardiac arrhythmia. He was previously hospitalized fo

A female professional golfer on Wednesday was handed a suspended prison term for assaulting a police officer who asked to check her blood alcohol level, a Seoul court said Wednesday.Seoul Central District Court sentenced a 34-year-old golfer surnamed Lee to six months in prison, suspended for two years, and 120 hours of community service. Lee was indicted for refusing to take the blood test and kicking a police officer in March.“Considering that she was arrested for assaulting the officer after

An investigative hearing on the cause of an Asiana Airlines passenger jet crash in late July has been rescheduled to open on Wednesday, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).It originally planned to hold a two-day hearing from Tuesday at its Washington headquarters but had to postpone due to inclement weather in the Washington, D.C. area.The hearing has been "rescheduled for tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. Condensed to one day, (it) will run until 8 p.m.," the NTSB announced.The hea

Ulsan Police on Tuesday said it is investigating a case of a man who died 20 days after getting plastic surgery.According to Ulsan Nambu Police Station, a man in his late 20s died Saturday after he had received cosmetic surgery on his eyes and nose at a plastic surgical clinic in Nam-gu, Ulsan, on Nov. 28. He had visited a host of hospitals, including one in neighboring city of Busan, to treat inflammation that flared up after the initial surgery. The family of the deceased pinned the blame on t

The board of the Korea Railroad Corp on Tuesday approved a plan to establish an affiliate for a new bullet train operation despite a general strike by workers who claimed the spin-off was a disguised step toward privatization. During a closed-door meeting held an hour ahead of schedule, 12 of the 13 board members voted in favor of the plan. “The company for the new KTX operation is an opportunity to increase the quality of the railway operation and service as well as KORAIL’s competitiveness,” K

30% of Korean firms avoid hiring recruits aged over 30: survey Three out of 10 Korean companies tend to avoid hiring those in their 30s, a survey conducted by job portal Saramin showed Tuesday. Among the 778 companies surveyed, 29.4 percent expressed negative views on applicants aged over 30, with 16 percent of responses coming from major companies, 32.4 percent from mid-sized companies and 29.6 percent from smaller enterprises.An overwhelming 60.4 percent of participants said there is an optima

Five months into a probe into the cause of Asiana Airlines flight 214's crash landing in San Francisco, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Monday it will hold an investigative hearing this week expected to provide the public with comprehensive information on the incident.The two-day event beginning Tuesday will be led by NTSB chairwoman Deborah Hersman at the NTSB's headquarters in Washington, D.C."We are in a fact-gathering phase," a senior NTSB official said in a roundtable m

The prosecution plans to question a government official alleged to have requested a Cheong Wa Dae official to track down personal information of a boy suspected to be the illegitimate son of former prosecution chief Chae Dong-wook.The official at the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, identified only by his surname Kim, is said to have asked Cho Oh-young, an administrative official at the president’s office, to check on the boy’s home address and family registration in June. He deni