The Korea Herald

Watchdog allows online campaigns

Jan 13, 2012

National Election Commission to push for amendment of relevant lawThe nation’s election watchdog on Friday decided to allow all election campaigns using social networking services and other online tools without time restriction, opening a new era in electioneering. People will be able to post their pictures at the voting booth and encourage others to cast their votes for certain candidates even on voting day or before the official campaigning period on their Twitter or Facebook pages, the Nation
Minister moves to tackle school violence

Jan 12, 2012

Lee urges preventive education, active responses; vows to step up college reformsThe start of 2012 was hectic for Education Minister Lee Ju-ho, after a spate of student suicides widely blamed on school bullying.Determined to root out recurrent school violence, Lee pledged to make sweeping changes to how schools and society deal with it. For the past few weeks, he has been busy collecting ideas and suggestions from students, teachers, parents and experts.Saying school violence was related to dive
Maternity leave excluded from working period

Jan 12, 2012

Decision prompts backlash from women’s groups, opposition partiesMaternity leave should not be counted as part of a woman’s working period, the Ministry of Government Legislation said Thursday, sparking a backlash from women’s groups.Critics claim that the interpretation is against the law, calling for equal treatment and opportunities for all working women regardless of pregnancy.The dispute was sparked when the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism asked the Legislation Ministry about whethe
Probe into vote-buying scandal expands

Jan 12, 2012

Senior presidential secretary denies his involvementProsecutors are expanding their probe into a vote-buying scandal involving former and current Grand National Party members as fresh allegations emerged that a party official attempted to bribe non-parliamentary members before the 2008 leadership contest.Investigators questioned Ahn Byeong-yong, chief of the ruling party’s district council in Seoul, over the allegations for a second straight day on Thursday.Ahn is suspected of having offered 20
Minister stresses ongoing campaign to tackle school violence

Jan 12, 2012

Lee urges preventive education, active response; vows to step up college reformsThe start of 2012 was hectic for Education Minister Lee Ju-ho, after a spate of student suicides widely blamed on school bullying.Determined to root out recurrent school violence, Lee pledged to make sweeping changes to how schools and society deal with it. For the past few weeks, he has been busy collecting ideas and suggestions from students, teachers, parents and experts.Saying school violence was related to diver
Chairman of suspended savings bank commits suicide

Jan 12, 2012

The chairman of a suspended savings bank died early Thursday of an apparent suicide after being summoned by prosecutors investigating irregularities at several troubled savings banks. Ace Mutual Savings Bank chairman Kim Hak-heon lost consciousness in a hotel room in southern Seoul after taking sleeping pills earlier in the day, prosecutors said. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Kim was scheduled to appear before prosecutors for questioning the same morning in re
Ex-KBS chief cleared of embezzlement charges

Jan 12, 2012

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s judgment and cleared a former chief of the state-run Korean Broadcasting System of breach-of-trust charges.The final ruling cleared Jung Yun-joo of charges he caused nearly 190 billion won ($164 million) in losses for the state broadcasting firm by withdrawing a tax-dispute suit that could have given the firm a massive tax refund.Prosecutors indicted Jung in 2008, alleging that the dropping of the lawsuit against the tax agency forced the stat
Ministry excludes maternity leave from working period

Jan 12, 2012

Decision invites backlash from women’s groups, opposition parties Maternity leave should not be counted as part of a woman’s working period, the Ministry of Government Legislation said Thursday, sparking a backlash from women’s groups.Critics claim that the interpretation is against the law, calling for equal treatment and opportunities for all working women regardless of pregnancy.The dispute was sparked when the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism asked the Ministry of Government Legislati
Police investigate men for illegal U.S. base passes

Jan 12, 2012

Police here are investigating two men on suspicions of providing and selling passes onto a Seoul U.S. military base, officials said Thursday.According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Station, a retired Korean Army lieutenant colonel and his associate, a special assistant for international relations for a former U.S. Forces Korea commander have been booked without detention.The reserve officer and his acquaintance are being questioned regarding allegations that they provided passes onto the Yong
6 percent use Oriental medicine

Jan 12, 2012

Six out of 100 people here visit Oriental medical doctors, a Ministry of Health and Welfare survey found Thursday. Expensive treatment and lingering doubts about the safety of medicines are stopping more people from choosing traditional treatments over Western practices, the authority said. According to research conducted on 5,507 people who have used Oriental medicine, as well as 471 Oriental medical institutions and 863 places selling Oriental medicines, 86.5 percent of people use Western medi
Securities dealers caught for backroom dealings

Jan 12, 2012

The prosecution has indicted and arrested a number of securities firm officials on charges of taking bribes in warrant bond issuance deals.The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office, which has been investigating illegal deals in the financial industry since late last year, has indicted four executives and working-level officials of four local securities firms.According the investigators’ findings the four securities dealers took bribes of as much as 830 million won ($717,000) for helping co
Supreme Court clears former KBS chief of breach-of-trust charges

Jan 12, 2012

SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court's judgment and cleared a former chief of the state-run Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) of breach-of-trust charges.The final ruling cleared Jung Yun-joo of charges he caused nearly 190 billion won (US$164 million) in losse
Nuke reactor shut down for thermometer malfunction

Jan 12, 2012

SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea shut down a nuclear reactor Thursday due to a malfunctioning thermometer attached to the reactor's cooling pump, the government said.The reactor at Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant, located some 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was automatically shut down at 4:24
3 dead, 37 rescued in Antarctic fishing boat fire

Jan 11, 2012

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)-- Fire raged out of control on a fishing ship near Antarctica as the crew tried to fight back the flames early Wednesday. Three fishermen died, and two of the 37 rescued had severe burns.Rescue coordinators said help given by a nearby sister ship and another fishing vess
Speaker’s ex-aide detained in GNP vote-buying case

Jan 11, 2012

Prosecutors investigating alleged bribery in a Grand National Party leadership election raided the home of Parliamentary Speaker Park Hee-tae’s former secretary Koh Myung-jin on Wednesday.Koh is suspected of having been involved in the alleged bribery case. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office executed a search and seizure warrant on Koh’s home in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province early Wednesday morning, and took a number of documents and a laptop as evidence.Koh presented himself at the pros