State-run agency KEITI  leads drive to promote  environmental exports Korea may not be the most advanced in green technologies, or the most politically committed to carbon reductions. But that does not mean it cannot be a leader in the global environmental industry, said Yoon Seung-joon, a long-time environmental official now heading a state-run institute on the green industry. “Korea, as a country that has undergone a rapid industrialization and urbanization and struggled to fix their many side

Lawmakers grilled National Police Agency Commissioner-nominee Kim Ki-yong over the police’s lax response to a recent murder case and his personal irregularities at a confirmation hearing on Tuesday.“The police should take responsibility for the Suwon case,” Rep. Ahn Kyu-baek of the opposition Democratic United Party said. He was referring to a 28-year-old woman who was abducted and raped before being killed by a Korean-Chinese man in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province on April 1. Police failed to rescue h

Han Sun-kyo, a Saenuri Party lawmaker and head of the Korean Basketball League, apologized Tuesday for riding in a car driven by a drunk woman last week while knowing she was under the influence.The main opposition Democratic United Party criticized him for not preventing drunk driving and the arrogance he allegedly displayed during police questioning.Han was riding in the car after drinking together with his supporters, including the 40-year-old woman surnamed Jung, when it hit a passerby near

Choi See-joong (Yonhap News)Former Korea Communications Commission Chairman Choi See-joong was arrested on Monday on charges of accepting bribes from a construction developer.Choi, 75, with close ties to President Lee Myung-bak is suspected of having received 800 million won ($700,000) from his long-time friend some five years ago in return for leveraging his influence in getting a complex constru

The Korean Coast Guard seized a Chinese fishing vessel and arrested nine fishermen who attacked and injured four officials of the West Sea Fisheries Supervision Office on Monday.According to the coast guard, four Korean civil servants were attacked by Chinese fishermen when they attempted to board the Chinese vessel during a crackdown operation 75 kilometers off the coast of Hong-do in South Jeolla Province’s Heuksan County. The officials were airlifted to a hospital in the southwestern port cit

Lawmaker-elect Moon Dae-sung has resigned from the faculty at Dong-A University due to plagiarism.The former Olympic gold medalist in taekwondo left the ruling Saenuri Party on April 20 amid the scandal.Moon, who became a professor of taekwondo at the university in 2006, offered his resignation on Friday, according to the university in Busan. His doctoral thesis was confirmed to have been copied from another doctoral paper. (wone0102@heraldm.com)

Plans include creation of online education portal, expansion of scholarshipsThe government plans to double the number of foreign students in domestic universities to 200,000 by 2020 by boosting the quality of higher education and improving recruitment policies. To meet the goal, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will reinforce polices such as providing a one-stop online information center and expanding its scholarship programs for foreign students, officials said.The measure was

A Korean student has been selected to make a spring commencement speech at Northern Michigan University on Saturday.Lee Young-jong, whose major is media production with a minor in art and design, worked for the Korean Broadcasting System and a cable company as an assistant producer for two years before coming to NMU.His commencement speech will mention the advantages of coming to the school, including personalized attention from faculty and staff, according to the university.(wone0102@heraldm.co

Video footage of a frustrated pedestrian pushing a suicidal man off a bridge in China has emerged on YouTube and other websites.In the video, a person identified as Chen Fuchao sits on a bridge in Guangdong Province, contemplating suicide. Lai Jiansheng, a retired 66-year-old soldier marches up to Chen and reaches out, apparently for a handshake. However, when Chen grabs his hand, Lai shoves him off the 8-meter bridge and onto an emergency air cushion. Chen was hospitalized with wrist and back i