The prosecution began summoning Hyosung Group executives on Monday as they seek to determine the scale of the conglomerate’s alleged tax evasion. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office is also continuing to analyze data obtained by raiding the group’s office and those provided by the National Tax Service. In addition, the investigators are reported to have requested information regarding financial transactions conducted by Hyosung Group chairman Cho Suck-rai and his family from the Finan

Seoul City promised massive infrastructure investment as an incentive for Incheon to allow the capital to continue to use landfills inside the port city.The two municipal governments signed an agreement Monday under which Seoul would inject 120.5 billion won ($95.5 million) by 2016 in improving a road and the environment surrounding the waste management facilities.Two outdoor garbage dumps in Incheon have served Seoul, one already full and the other to be closed in 2016.Seoul is asking Incheon t

The Military Manpower Administration of South Korea came under 1,607 cyber attacks in the past three years, a lawmaker said on Monday, citing a report from the agency to a parliamentary audit.The online attacks came from 36 countries, in addition to home-grown hacking attempts. The majority of attacks traced back to South Korean Internet addresses, followed by the United States and China. MMA stores and manages the vast database of those serving in the Korean military. The agency said it runs bu

South Korea’s investigative agencies obtained a record 7.88 million personal records from telecom operators last year amid deepening worries over the security of personal data across the globe. The figure marked a sharp increase from 2011 when local authorities obtained 5.85 million personal records, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. The amount of personal data given to the agencies has been growing steadily in recent years.Under the current law,

A tech startup established by college students will set up an office in Silicon Valley through a global incubating program, Yonsei University in Seoul said on Monday.The startup, named Newology, has grabbed the chance for generous support and expert mentoring from Plug & Play, a major global incubating program that had nurtured famous companies such as Paypal and Dropbox.Newology will move to the office in the Plug & Play Tech Center in Silicon Valley, the very heart of promising startups toutin

Prosecutors said Monday they were closely analyzing documents seized from the headquarters of Hyosung Group over suspicion that the country's 26th-largest conglomerate evaded a massive amount of taxes.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office last week raided the company's headquarters in central Seoul to obtain computer hard drives and documents, including accounting books, after the country's tax agency had filed a charge against the group's chairman, Cho Suck-rai, 79, for allegedly leadi

Colonial Japan forced hundreds of Korean girls into hard labor to produce its war supplies, a report showed Monday, adding to the grievances of Koreans against Japan's exploitation in war times that also include sexual enslavement.The average age of Korean females subjected to forced labor came to 16.46 years, according to the report on 1,039 cases of coerced labor on Korean women by Japan during its colonial rule from 1910-45.  Among those drafted for factory jobs, the average age came out to b

Seoul City is pushing for measures to help North Korean defectors, including the establishment of a new support center and increased recruitment. The city said Thursday it would open Hana Plaza in January to provide consulting and support in employment, residence, education, legal affairs, mental health and other welfare issues. It will be established in unused space at the Gangnam branch of Seoul Medical Center. The site was provided by the city and funded by the central government.A cultural c

South Korea saw nearly 6,000 cases of husbands arrested for domestic violence in 2012, data showed Sunday. A total of 5,876 cases where husbands beat their wives or abused them in various ways took place last year, according to the data compiled by the National Assembly Research Service and presented by Rep. Kim Han-pyo of the ruling Saenuri Party.The 2012 tally is a reversal of the downward trend that lasted for nearly a decade, with 4,481 such cases in 2011, 9,117 in 2007 and 11,487 in 2004, t

Police said Friday that they are looking into private institutions here over an alleged leak of questions for the U.S. college admission test.Seoul’s Suseo and Gangnam Police Station are currently searching a number of SAT hagwons registered in the district, following rumors that they obtained the SAT test questions illegally and gave them to their students before the test on Oct. 5. The police said they would launch an official investigation if they find sufficient evidence of a leak of exam qu

The Ministry of Justice said Thursday it would tighten the marriage immigrant visa regulations as part of efforts to prevent international marriage fraud. The ministry will screen visa applicants’ elementary level of Korean language but will exempt them from the test if they are able to communicate with their spouses. It will also check the Korean spouse’s level of income and residence status to ensure stability. The ministry will limit an individual’s allowed number of marriage invitations to o

South Korean singer Kim Heung-guk was booked without physical detention Friday for drunk driving.According to Gangnam Police Station, Kim was pulled over at 12:13 a.m. for driving under the influence of alcohol. Kim’s blood alcohol content level reportedly was 0.071 percent, which is enough to have his driver’s license suspended for 100 days.Kim admitted the charges and apologized to the public for the incident. A person close to the singer said that Kim wished to apologize especially to his dau