Police arrested a university student and charged him with sexual assault of a minor on Sunday. The 24-year-old man obtained the female student’s contact number while he was training as a teacher at her school in April, Daejeon police said. The police said the incident occurred on May 14 when the man allegedly enticed the 17-year-old student to eat with him at his home, where he sexually assaulted her.<한글 기사>교생, 여고생에게 '라면 먹자'하고 성추행교생실습으로 알게 된 여고생을 '라면 같이 끓여 먹자'고 유인해 강제로 성추행한 대학생 A(24)씨가 경찰에 성폭력 혐

A coal miner was found alive Saturday after being  underground for 17 days following a flood in a northeast China coal mine, authorities said.Twenty-eight miners had been working underground at the time of the May 2 flood at the Junyuan No. 2 Coal Mine in Xing'an district of Hegang city in Heilongjiang Province, Xinhua reported.Ten of the miners escaped, five have been rescued, 10 have been confir

National pavilions that highlight ongoing efforts by humanity to harmonize with the marine environment have drawn large crowds at the ongoing 2012 Yeosu Expo, organizers for the event said Saturday.   Organizers for the exposition that will run till Aug. 12 saidon average more than 10,000 visitors have toured South Korea'snational pavilion with it massive dome screen. The screen givesvisitors the

The 1980 Gwangju uprising played a significant role in helping move forward the democratization process in South Korea, a poll conducted by a memorial foundation showed Saturday.   The May 18 Memorial Foundation said the nationwide survey of725 people showed 65.8 percent of the respondents saying thepopular revolts and the subsequent bloody military crackdown in andaround the city of Gwangju helpe

A bus fell off a 15-meter-high cliff, injuring 38 students, two teachers, and the driver during a school trip Friday morning. Several students were unconscious and in critical condition. They were taken to a hospital by helicopter.The bus was running downhill near a military checkpoint connected to Eulji Observatory in Gangwon Province.It was reported that the brakes failed, but the exact cause of the accident is under investigation. Earlier this month, a teacher was killed and 36 students injur

A massive tuberculosis outbreak at a high school in Gyeonggi Province carries little risk of contagion, health officials said Friday. According to the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 128 of Goyang Foreign Language High School’s 471 second-graders were found to have been infected with latent TB. They are in the pre-symptomatic and pre-disease stage of the disease and thus are not infectious, the agency said.A person with inactive TB is not ill, but may develop symptoms later when

The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to promote the use of electric cars among private institutions by subsidizing two-thirds of costs for purchase. The government aims to distribute 385 electric cars this year to public and private organizations. “Seoul City will be fully prepared for the dawning of the electric car era” said Jung Hung-soon, director of Green Transportation Policy Division at the municipal government.The municipality has tried to increase the number of electric, hydrogen fue

POSCO on Friday denied a report that lawmaker Lee Sang-deuk, elder brother of President Lee Myung-bak, encouraged the steelmaker to make a failed investment in a savings bank two years ago. POSTECH, a science and technology university affiliated to the Pohang-based firm, invested 50 billion won ($43.6 million) in Busan Savings Bank in June 2010. Citing senior POSCO officials, the local daily Hankyoreh reported Friday that Lee requested the investment to POSCO chairman Chung Joon-yang and the sch

The prosecution on Friday indicted Choi See-choong and Park Young-joon on bribery charges as part of its investigation into an influence-peddling scandal involving the members of President Lee Myung-bak’s inner circle. Choi, the former chairman of the Korea Communications Commission and Lee’s mentor, is accused of taking 800 million won ($681,000) between July 2006 and February 2008 in bribes from a local developer seeking construction rights for his mega mall project. Park, a former vice minist

Prosecutors investigating alleged corruption by the elder brother of late President Roh Moo-hyun said Friday they found tens of billions of won in a bank account apparently owned by his wealth manager.Roh Geon-pyeong, 70, is being investigated for embezzlement and influence peddling allegations. He remains in custody since Tuesday for questioning at the prosecutors’ office in Changwon. The bank account is believed to be owned by Roh’s financial manager and the bulk of the money was used for thre

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, will visit South Korea next week, her first trip there in 11 years, according to a congressional source.“Rep. Ros-Lehtinen will lead a seven-member delegation of the House to visit Seoul from May 22-25,” the source told Yonhap News Agency on Thursday.During the trip, coinciding with the Memorial Day recess of Congress, she is expected to meet President Lee Myung-bak, Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and Unification M

Cheong Wa Dae denies involvement; key Lee aides summonedThe probe into the illegal surveillance scandal is revealing an increasingly wide web of corruption that could engulf the Lee Myung-bak administration.New evidence emerged this week suggesting that an organization was established in July 2008 at the Prime Minister’s Office specifically to protect Lee from “political attacks.” The document, titled “Command Structure of Public Official Ethics Division,” states that the president, or his chief

President Lee Myung-bak vowed Thursday to provide policy support to develop the country’s basic science research.“We have so far copied and followed advanced technologies,” Lee said in an international symposium celebrating the opening of the Institute for Basic Science in Daejeon, some 150 kilometers south of Seoul.“In order to make it into the advanced, top-class nations, we have to make a history of creation based on basic science and fundamental technologies,” he added, noting that he will p

Seoul City plans to increase the number of hydrogen power systems for a stable electricity supply in case of blackouts or other emergencies, officials said.Under the plan, 29 hydrogen fuel cell power plants will be built and 102 hydrogen fuel cells will be installed by 2014. The facilities are expected to generate 230 megawatts of electricity per hour that could meet the energy demands of 400,000 households. Hydrogen fuel cell plants are recognized for their efficiency, emitting less greenhouse