Chung Bong-ju, the former opposition lawmaker convicted of spreading false information about President Lee Myung-bak has asked the prosecution that he be jailed after Christmas. Opposition parties, who have blasted his conviction as a political gambit, threatened to protest should the prosecutors reject the offer. According to media reports, Chung’s solicitor on Friday morning requested the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office that Chung, sentenced to one year in prison by the Supreme Cour

SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul appellate court on Friday upheld a 20-year sentence for a medical doctor who killed his pregnant wife during a quarrel, rejecting his appeal to overturn an earlier conviction.Upholding the lower court's ruling in September, the Seoul High Court found the 31-year-ol

The life sentence for a Somali pirate who hijacked a South Korean freighter and shot its captain early this year was upheld in the Supreme Court Thursday, denying his last appeal.The court upheld the ruling for Mahomed Arai’s, 21, the leader of five pirates captured on the hijacked ship, Samho Jewelry, for attempted murder, maritime robbery and six other offenses.The court also upheld the earlier sentences of 13 to 15 years for three others ― Abdikhad Iman Ali, Abdullah Ali and Aul Brallat ― for

Prosecutors said Thursday they have indicted Arthur Patterson, a key suspect in the murder of a college student in Seoul's multicultural Itaewon district nearly 15 years ago, on charges of murder.The U.S. citizen was suspected of stabbing Cho Joong-pil, 22, several times to death at a Burger King ou

A 28-year-old man from Abu Dhabi arrived in Seoul to be treated for a vocal cords disorder, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday. He is the first patient referred and transferred to a Korean medical institution under a pact signed by the Health Authority-Abu Dhabi and four Korean hospitals on patient referrals and transfers last month. According to the ministry, the patient arrived on Wednesday night, and received health checkups and examinations at the Seoul National University Hosp

Korea was ranked the 57th most charitable among 153 nations, according to a recent poll by a British aid group, trailing far behind the top-ranked United States, as well as Asian neighbors Hong Kong and Thailand. The second annual survey by the Charities Aid Foundation, called the World Giving Index 2011, was complied by questioning people in the surveyed nations on three measures ― volunteering, helping strangers and donating money. Korea, which had ranked 81st in the same poll last year, ranke

The Financial Services Commission on Wednesday filed a complaint with the prosecution against Jeon Jong-hwa, a relative of President Lee Myung-bak, for involvement in stock manipulation and embezzlement. Jeon is the latest person around Lee to be investigated for fraud or other criminal allegations. According to the FSC, business takeover specialists, Kim and Lee, in 2009 established a private equity fund, Namu Equity, and scouted Jeon, a financial analyst. Jeon is also the son-in-law of Lee San

A smartphone application that allows users to report school and sexual violence against students, receive counseling information and provides tips against violence has been released by the Education Ministry, officials said Thursday. The application, named “Goodbye school violence,” is available for free on iPhone and Android phones from Thursday.It features five services: it sends a text message or makes a call to a nearby police station in case of emergencies; provides guidelines in case a stu

Experts say American’s departure extends statute of limitations in 1997 caseSeoul prosecutors indicted Thursday the now sole suspect of an infamous 1997 murder in Seoul.The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office indicted Arthur Patterson after learning that he had been arrested and placed under trial in October at a California district court on suspicion of murder in the 14-year-old case.On April 3, 1997, 23-year-old Hongik University student Cho Choong-pil was found brutally murdered in the first-floor ba

The life sentence for a Somali pirate who hijacked a South Korean freighter and shot its captain early this year was upheld in the Supreme Court Thursday, denying his last appeal.The court upheld the ruling for Mahomed Arai’s, 21, the leader of five pirates captured on the hijacked ship, Samho Jewel

The government said Wednesday that it will expand incentives to attract more foreign education institutions to Korea in an attempt to increase the nation’s competitiveness in global education business.It plans to encourage international education institutions to come to Korea by easing restrictions, providing more incentives and subsidies and simplifying review processes. It also will seek to revise a related law to allow them to send their earnings back to their countries and apply the accounti

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has fired 65 officials since February 2009 in keeping with the so-called “one-strike out” sanction system designed to weed out corrupt officials. The officials caught embezzling or accepting bribes in excess of 1 million won ($800) were dismissed and will not be reinstated, city officials said Wednesday.The system led to the firings of 28 officials in 2009, 24 in 2010 and 13 this year. The money amounts ranged from as much as 64 million won ($55,000) to as littl

The 1,001st Wednesday Protest calling for the Japanese government’s apology and compensation for “comfort women” forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military took place in front of the Japanese Embassy in downtown Seoul. Two victims, Kim Bok-dong and Kil Won-ok, joined about 100 participants in the rally despite the cold weather.“We are starting all over again,” said Kim Dong-hee, an official of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, which organizes