Four Korean-Americans, including one former gang member with a violent criminal history in the U.S., were arrested by police on Wednesday on suspicion of falsifying their academic credentials.According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Thursday, five were arrested after being caught smoking marijuana together, and further investigation found that one was wanted for drug trafficking.All of the arrested were found to be teaching English in the capital, including in Gangnam-gu, an area pri

The Prime Minister’s Office announced Thursday comprehensive plans for managing natural disasters in response to climate change.The Prime Minister’s Office also said that the budget for disaster-prevention measures for 2011 has been increased by 21 percent from this year to about 5 trillion won ($4.4 billion).Including funds to be generated from regional authorities, 6.7 trillion won will be spent on related projects.Under the mid-term plans, which were drawn up by a government-private sector ta

SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- Police said Thursday that they have questioned aides to two more conservative lawmakers about a cyber attack that temporarily paralyzed the Web site of the national election watchdog in October.The National Police Agency said it had an overnight interrogation of a former se

SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors said Thursday they have applied for an arrest warrant for a private practice lawyer suspected of bribing a prosecutor in return for her influence.Busan prosecutors, who are handling the case, said they requested the local court there issue the warrant for the 49

A regional court issued an arrest warrant on Wednesday for a former female prosecutor mired in a corruption scandal.   The Busan District Court approved prosecutors' request to issue the warrant to prolong their custody of the 36-year-old surnamed Lee, who allegedly received a luxury sedan

SK Group‘s vice chairman was called back for questioning by prosecutors Wednesday on suspicions he embezzled nearly 100 billion won ($88.7 million) of the group’s funds in collusion with his elder brother.Chey Jae-won reappeared at the central prosecutors‘ office in southern Seoul at around 10 a.m., for his second interrogation over the embezzlement charges. It came less than a week after he underwent 16 hours of intensive interrogation on Friday.“I came here to sincerely answer questions (that

A Seoul women’s university will launch a unit of female cadets for an officer-training program this week, becoming only the second local women-only college to do so, the Army said Wednesday.The Army said Sungshin Women‘s University will have the launching ceremony for its Reserved Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program Thursday. The Army has picked 30 cadets from the school.Sungshin joins Sookmyung Women’s University, also based in Seoul, as the only female-only schools to run the ROTC program. S

Seoul has consistently exceeded the national limits on toxic air pollutants for a decade, according to research released Wednesday.The report by the Seoul Development Institute said that the amount of nitrogen dioxide in Seoul exceeded the national limit from 2000 to 2009.Nitrogen dioxide is a toxic pollutant which can cause respiratory problems and other health problems including bronchitis, pneumonia and asthma.The institute found that air near high-traffic areas, mainly roads, was between 49

Seoul plans to increase the number of information gatherers it has in developed countries, officials announced Wednesday.Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to expand the number of “foreign correspondents” in the U.S. and euro zone.The capital already has 145 correspondents in 80 cities in 33 countries who gather and send information on the cities’ policies. The program began in 2008 and has since provided Seoul with information that it could possibly implement into its own policy.The city said

Police on Tuesday questioned an aide of Rep. Park Hee-tae, the National Assembly speaker and a ruling party member, as part of their investigation into the election-day cyber attack against the national election watchdog. The aide, identified by his surname Kim, is one of five people who had drinks with a main suspect ―- a staffer to Grand National Party Rep. Choi Ku-shik -― the night before the attack.“We questioned, as witnesses, all five who had drinks with Gong on the eve of the Oct. 26 by-e

SEOUL, Dec. 6 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors said Tuesday they plan to summon this week the chairman of SK Group, the third-largest industrial conglomerate in South Korea, on suspicion that he embezzled nearly 100 billion won ($88.4 million) of group funds in collusion with his younger brother.The summons

The Cabinet endorsed a bill Tuesday to reward those who help authorities confiscate assets that have been illegally acquired.The current law stipulates that the authorities may confiscate profits earned by offenders from specific “serious crimes,” such as influence peddling, organized crime and sex trafficking, in order to eradicate economic incentives for such crimes and to prevent the resources from being used for other criminal activities.Under the revision, the government approved a clause t