SK Group's chairman appeared before prosecutors Monday morning to be grilled over suspicions that he embezzled a massive amount of group funds in collusion with his younger brother. Chey Tae-won entered the prosecutors' office in southern Seoul around 9:25 a.m., after getting the notice of the summo

Seoul is seeking to expand its non-smoking zones to include sidewalks and pedestrian roads, city officials said Sunday.The city council of the nation’s capital said it has introduced an ordinance on amending the current regulation that curbs second-hand smoking on streets. The ordinance is expected to reach the relevant standing committee at the council in February at the earliest. Under the revision, the city’s non-smoking areas will include sidewalks and pedestrian pathways as defined by the t

The local court is expected to further increase its recommended jail terms for child sex offenders early next year, complying with growing social calls for tougher punishments against violent and inhumane crimes, officials said Sunday.The measure, if implemented, would follow two similar moves over the past two years and is expected to additionally deter sex crimes against children, said the officials. The Supreme Court is scheduled to convene its sentencing committee on Monday to discuss revisi

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (Yonhap News) ― Korea’s first icebreaker, the Araon, is set to embark on a rescue mission to help save a Russian boat trapped in the Antarctic, ship operators said Saturday.The Korean ship, currently anchored at New Zealand’s second-largest city of Christchurch, will set sail later Saturday to head for the 500-ton Russian fishing boat, they said. The Russian ship is said to be slowly sinking since its hull was punctured in a collision with an iceberg. The ship is carryi

Seoul City’s budget committee passed funding cuts Saturday for all of its high school foreign English teachers next year, while funding for them at elementary and middle schools will fall about 7 percent.But the city hinted at further cuts in the middle of next year.The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will not renew funding for 255 foreign English teachers in high schools due to the cuts passed Saturday. Previous reports had said about 30 teachers would be spared.The budget, passed by the

The chief of the state police agency on Friday vowed to seek the revision of the Criminal Procedure Code to guarantee police independence and authority in investigations. He also disowned earlier remarks that he would resign should the prosecution and the administration refuse to reflect the police’s request in the upcoming presidential decree on criminal investigation.According to the National Police Agency, its Commissioner-General Cho Hyun-oh sent an e-mail to all police officers last Friday

The number of households in Korea has surpassed 20 million while the average number of people per household has dropped in recent years, a government report showed Sunday.The Ministry of Public Administration and Security said the number of households exceeded 20 million for the first time in October and reached 21.98 million as of November.The ministry said the total population was 50.71 million, and there was an average of 2.53 people living in each household. Compared to November 2008, the to

The largest opposition Democratic Unified Party on Sunday urged the prosecution to investigate whether the presidential office had ordered the police to conceal important evidence that could identify the mastermind of the cyber attack on the National Election Commission website during the Oct. 26 by-elections. “If Cheong Wa Dae is revealed to have been involved in the attack against the constitutional institution, the president should be impeached,” said Rep. Ooh Che-Chang, calling for a tougher

Seoul is seeking to expand its non-smoking zones to include sidewalks and pedestrian roads, city officials said Sunday.The city council of the nation's capital said it has introduced an ordinance on amending the current regulation that curbs second-hand smoking on streets. The ordinance is expected

Former employees of Shim Hyung-rae have won a lawsuit over wages that the disgraced comedian-turned-director failed to pay at his bankrupt movie production company, court officials said Sunday.The Seoul Southern District Court ordered Shim, head of Younggu-Art Entertainment, to pay his employees 891

OSAKA, Japan -- President Lee Myung-bak arrived in Japan on Saturday for talks with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, overshadowed by fresh tensions arising from Tokyo's sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II.Lee's two-day trip to Japan was originally expected to be largely an occasion

An openly gay South Korean man’s reception of refugee status in Canada in objection to the South‘s mandatory military service, recently revealed two years after the fact, has shed light on abuse and discrimination against gay men in the armed forces.The National Human Rights Commission of Korea on Friday released reports on plight of gay soldiers in South Korea. The first report told the story of one man, only identified as A, who came out in 2004 during a counseling session at an Army boot camp

The government on Friday included descriptions of the May 18, 1980 Democratic Movement and several other important events in Korea’s modern history in a draft of its new writing guidelines for textbooks to be used at high schools across the country.The guidelines, if finalized, will serve as a key reference for textbook writers.The move came after the education ministry triggered strong protests from liberal historians and related organizations last month for failing to include descriptions of t