Korean comedian Kim Gu-Ra has found himself facing criticism after an audio file containing his comments degrading comfort women on an Internet broadcast program was disclosed Monday.In the audio file which lasts around thirty seconds, Kim compares comfort women to the eighty or so prostitutes who resisted an indiscriminate police crackdown in January 2002. It is understood that two buses were shared by the women as transport to a silent vigil, which was held in front of the National Human Right

South Korea has imported no oil or natural gas from any of the overseas fields it controls, despite having poured a total of 16 trillion won ($14.1 billion) to secure these assets, the country’s audit and inspection agency said Saturday.The Board of Audit and Inspection announced, after reviewing the status of 17 overseas crude and gas production operations up till July 2011, that the country imported no fossil fuel resources from any of these fields. It said that of the 17, only two located in

Police on Saturday arrested a man suspected of vandalizing dozens of windows by shooting them with an air gun. They are now looking for his accomplice. Police said they are questioning a suspect whose vehicle matches the description of one seen fleeing the scene of the latest vandalism.Police found a black Sonata in an apartment parking lot in the northern district of Seongbuk. After checking the license plate, officers found that the vehicle was a rental car that it did not belong to any tenant

Police have rounded up 881 members of organized crime groups, taking 175 of them into custody, officials said Sunday.According to the National Police Agency, the criminals were arrested between February and April 11. This came after another raid from late October to the end of the year resulted in the roundup of 1,060 gangsters, with 140 of them detained. The series of crackdowns began after a massive street brawl broke out in front of a funeral home in Incheon between rival gang members last ye

South Korea has issued a rabies alert after a dog tested positive for the potentially deadly disease, the country's farm ministry said Saturday.The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said a dog on a farm in Hwaseong some 55 km southwest of Seoul, tested positive for rabies. Local quarantine officials have been ordered to inoculate all domestic animals in the vicinity of the far

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will provide field trips to foreign visitors to the capital to increase their understanding of Korean culture and promote the city, officials said Thursday. The city government plans to offer 1,000 foreign visitors this year a chance to experience Korean culture during their stay in the capital. The program was launched in 2008 to promote the city to foreign visitors. City officials say that this year the program is designed to publicize the 2012 Yeosu Expo from

TORONTO (AP) ― A spokeswoman for Korean Airlines says no bomb was found after authorities searched a Boeing 777 that was diverted to a Canadian military base after the airline’s U.S. call center received a bomb threat.Korean Air spokeswoman Penny Pfaelzer said Wednesday the 149 passengers are on their way to Vancouver, British Columbia’s airport where the plane will be refueled before heading to Seoul.Two U.S. F-15 fighter jets from Portland, Oregon, escorted the plane to Canada’s Comox air base

Mongolian teachers will teach South Korean students and help provincial communities improve their understanding of multicultural families under a teacher-exchange program.The Korean Education Ministry said Thursday that 20 teachers would be assigned to nine local elementary or middle schools with a concentration of multiethnic students including Mongolian children.They will spend two months from April 23 mostly at schools in Mongolian communities in Gangwon Province. They are to teach English or

Suwon victim violently resisted attacker while awaiting rescue by policeA young woman claimed that a man similar to the killer in the brutal rape and murder in Suwon had attempted to kidnap her last year in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, police officials said Wednesday.The testimony by the 26 year old is leading investigators to believe that 42-year-old Wu Yuangchun’s vicious rape and murder of a young woman in Suwon was premeditated, and that there may have been other incidents.“I escaped from someo