Torrential rains pounded central parts of the country on Monday, leaving at least four people dead, disaster officials said. Heavy rain alerts were issued in Seoul as well as Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces as more than 100 millimeters of rain soaked the areas.Some roads, river walks and bridges in Seoul were closed and a parking lot was fully flooded, damaging around 30 to 40 cars. Parts of the city received an average of 80 millimeters of rain with up to 145.5 millimeters in some districts.Road

The city of Boryeong, the host of the annual Boryeong Mud Festival, said Monday some foreign visitors were now booking their tickets and coming from overseas to participate in the event. Foreign visitors to the festival have generally been already residing in the country. “Jay from the United States saw an online ad for the festival and immediately booked a ticket to land in South Korea on Friday, the opening day of the festival,” said one of the interpreters at the event.Daecheon Beach, the ven

It remains unclear whether Yoon Chang-jung, a former South Korean presidential spokesman, will stand trial in the U.S. on charges of molesting an embassy intern, his attorney said Sunday.Kim Suk-han, a lawyer and partner with law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in Washington, D.C., dismissed a news report that U.S. law-enforcement authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Yoon. President Park Geun-hye fired Yoon, 56, while visiting the U.S. in early May as he was accused of sexually abus

Prosecutors said Sunday they indicted lobbyist-turned-businessman Choi Kyu-sun for embezzlement. The chief executive of UI Energy Corp., a resources developer, and Hyundai P&C, a maker of coating and paint products, is suspected of misappropriating about 41.6 billion won ($34.2 million) in funds from the two companies. He was not detained. Choi was at the center of a series of influence-peddling scandals in 2002 including one involving then President Kim Dae-jung’s third son Kim Hong-gul. He ser

The deaths of five students at a private seaside boot camp Thursday have ignited debate over lax safety and flawed operations of military-style boot camps for young people. Police were widening their probe into the accident in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, in which the high-school students drowned after they followed trainers’ orders to take off their life jackets and go into the sea. Police said only six out of 12 instructors had lifeguard licenses, and eight had sea sports licenses. Some

The Metropolitan Police Department of Washington D.C. has filed for an arrest warrant for former Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Yoon Chang-jung, a local news agency reported Sunday.Yoon is alleged to have sexually harassed a Korean-American intern hired by the Korean embassy in the U.S. as support staff for President Park Geun-hye’s visit in May.“It appears that the police department filed for an arrest warrant and the U.S. Attorney’s Office is reviewing the request,” an official at Korea’s Ministry of

The Taean Coast Guard on Friday said they have recovered all five bodies of students who had gone missing a day earlier at a seaside summer camp. They were found more than twelve hours after the first three bodies were recovered, the Coast Guard said. The students were found dead after they were swept away by a powerful rip tide along the country’s west coast. The students’ deaths sparked widespread criticism of the camp operator for its lack of safety measures. The five students, all in their s