Labor disputes at the Hankook Ilbo, a Korean-language newspaper, escalated over the weekend after its management expelled defiant reporters and closed the newsroom.The two sides have been at odds for months over allegedly unfair appointment and personal corruption by chairman Chang Jae-ku. On Saturday, the management evicted two journalists from its newsroom mobilizing 15 contract security guards and closed down the office, according to the labor union.The firm demanded that reporters sign a doc

French fashion house Longchamp has won a legal battle with a Korean brand over the sale of bag products that look similar to its signature folding bags, an appellate court said Sunday.The Seoul High Court overturned a lower court’s order and ruled in favor of Longchamp which accused the local brand of copying its best-selling product Le Pliage. Le Pliage, meaning fold in French, has been popular here for its practical design since 1997. “The bag (produced) by ‘S’ brand appears to carry designs s

A group of 330 Jehovah’s Witnesses plans to file a constitutional appeal Tuesday, demanding their right to conscientious objection, their legal representative said.In the petition, they will propose that the Korean government provide alternative military service, compensate objectors who served time in prison and erase their criminal records, according to lawyer Oh Du-jin."The U.N. Human Rights Committee has repeatedly advised Korea to provide alternative service, which Korea has consistently ig

Korean prosecutors raided Yonsei Severance Hospital on Thursday to investigate whether one of its staff wrote a false doctor’s note for a woman convicted of arranging a contract-killing. The doctor allegedly exaggerated the diagnosis, helping the criminal patient to delay the execution of the sentence.The 68-year-old woman was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2004 for hiring a hit-man to kill an innocent college student who she believed was having an affair with her son-in-law.But she delayed t

Former President Chun Doo-hwan is estimated to have accumulated about 933 billion won ($829 million) in illegal wealth, the main opposition party said Friday, stepping up calls for him to pay his long overdue fines.Chun, who ruled from 1981-88, was ordered by the Supreme Court in 1997 to return 220 billion won he was found to have accumulated illegally to the state coffers. He refused to make the payment, saying he was almost penniless. The former president has so far paid only a quarter of the

The Seoul municipal government said Friday it has dismissed requests from a ward office to review a plan to build a memorial park for Park Chung-hee, the late president and father of the incumbent leader, amid controversy over project.Earlier this month, Seoul's Jung-gu district office said it will push to build the park around the former Park family house in Shindang-dong in central Seoul, where he lived for three years before seizing power in a 1961 coup. President Park Geun-hye also lived the

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin voiced his support Friday for a move to revive a system that rewards job seekers who have served in the military.The defense ministry and the gender equality ministry have been at odds with each other over the system because it applies only to men who have fulfilled their mandatory military service.Before being ruled unconstitutional in 1999, the reward system gave male applicants with a military background extra points on exams for jobs.Critics of the system have c

The head of a South Korean supplier to global brands, including Zara and GAP, set up shell companies in tax havens, an independent South Korean online news outlet said Thursday, in its latest revelation of a list that also includes three other Korean businessmen.Kim Ki-hong, chairman of Nobland, was registered as one of two directors and a shareholder of Jade Crown Group Ltd. set up in the British Virgin Islands on Sept. 8, 2006, the Korea Center for Investigative Journalism (KCIJ) said on its w

The prosecutors’ office said Thursday it launched a probe into former presidential spokesperson Yoon Chang-jung, who allegedly harassed a female intern during a presidential trip to Washington, D.C., in May. Earlier this month, about 1,000 women from the minor opposition United Progressive Party and the Korean Women Alliance, an advocacy group, filed a complaint against Yoon on charges of sexual abuse and libel. “An accusation of sexual molestation requires a complaint filed by the victim, and v

The central government and the South Gyeongsang Province administration collided again Thursday over a regional public hospital recently shut down due to huge losses and labor disputes. The local assembly recently passed Gov. Hong Joon-pyo’s order to close Jinju Medical Center despite opposition from its union and the central government. Health and Welfare Minister Chin Young has requested Hong to ask local councilors to reconsider their approval of the shutdown motion. The ministry criticized t