Labor Ministry officials on Friday again raided the headquarters of E-Mart Co. as they broadened their investigation into allegations the country’s biggest discount chain operator illegally monitored its employees to prevent them from joining a union.The Ministry of Employment and Labor has been looking into suspicions that the retail giant systemically attempted to undermine the organization of the union, such as by illegally using workers’ resident registration numbers to check if they had joi

President-elect Park Geun-hye is scaling down some of her costly welfare programs amid budgetary concerns. The presidential transition committee on Thursday announced key policy agenda for the incoming government, including pension, health care and poverty relief packages, some of which were substantially reduced after two months of discussion. Other earlier proposed schemes were left out.Differing from Park’s original plan, the transition team said the next government would differentiate the am

A fish transportation vessel with 12 crewmembers on board sank Monday in waters between South Korea and Japan, killing three, including two South Koreans, officials said.The third crewman killed was identified as Chinese, said the South Korean Coast Guard officials.The 296-ton, Cambodian-registered vessel was on its way from the northern Japanese port of Aomori to South Korea's eastern port of Sokcho when it went down amid high waves around 7 a.m. about 548 km west of the Korean island of Ulleun

Four members of a radical teachers’ association have been indicted for alleged pro-North Korean activities, said the prosecution on Thursday. The teachers were charged without detention for violating the National Security Act. The Seoul Central District Prosecution said they founded an organization called “New Era Education Movement” and taught young students with pro-North Korean materials.One elementary school teacher posted a quote by former communist leader Kim Jong-il at the back of his cla

Koreans largely do not trust the public sector and class conflict is still deemed to be the key factor hindering social cohesion, a study by the presidential committee on social cohesion said Thursday.The study, published in the committee’s annual report of 2012, surveyed 2,000 adults on social integration.Among the six groups mentioned in the survey, the National Assembly received the lowest grade, with only 5.6 percent of those surveyed expressing trust in the institution. The reliability rate

A total of 21 parents received suspended prison terms on Tuesday for securing unlawful admission for their children to foreigner-only schools in South Korea based on fraudulent documents, according to court officials.The Incheon District Court delivered guilty verdicts to the parents for illegally putting their children in schools for children of foreign residents with fabricated passports and foreign citizenship papers which they bought from brokers.South Korean students, in principle, can be e

The updated World Factbook published by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency still refers to the body of water separating the Korean Peninsula and the main Japanese islands as the Sea of Japan, local diplomatic observers said Wednesday.They said the geographical name contested by Seoul was used in the reference book with information about the countries of the world. Koreans call the same body of water the East Sea.The South Korean government has persistently insisted that the International Hydro

Though North Korea has threatened to take stronger measures to protect its sovereignty following its Feb. 12 nuclear blast, experts say the isolated country may need several weeks to prepare for additional atomic tests.The diplomatic source in Beijing, who did not wished to be identified, claimed Pyongyang is very conscious of China and about concerns of radioactive contaminants from its underground test.“After the latest test, the North seems to be carefully checking the condition of the tunnel

A total of 164 companies including some of the nation’s largest electronics, chemicals, automotive and food makers were found to have dumped waste water tainted with toxic materials, the Environmental Ministry said Wednesday. The ministry unveiled the result of its two-month investigation of 318 companies that discharge 2,000 tons of water per day.The probe found that waste water from nearly half of them contained harmful chemicals, including phenolphthalein, copper, cadmium, chloroform, cyan an

A state spy agency official was fired Wednesday for having leaked information that implicates the agency in attempting to influence the last presidential election, the agency said.Police have been questioning a 29-year-old female employee of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) -- identified only by her surname Kim -- on suspicions that she tried to influence the Dec. 19, 2012 presidential election on behalf of her employer by writing more than 120 online posts about politically sensitive iss

 A growing number of crimes committed in foreigner-concentrated residential areas is raising calls for more government measures.With over 1.4 million foreigners currently residing in Korea, the number of violent crimes reported has jumped by 3,000 this year from 2009, according to a report in MBN news.Police investigated cities and areas where many foreigners live, including Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, Pyeongtaek and Daegu, for crimes commited by foreigners. Of the 464 foreign suspects caught, 186