The government on Tuesday toughened punishments for match fixing in local professionals sports, in light of a major match-rigging scandal that shook the nation’s top division football league earlier this year.During a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae, the government passed a bill on revising the national sports promotion law, which governs sales of Sports Toto, the only licensed sports lottery in South Korea.Under the change, players or coaches who receive or demand bribes in attempts to fi

The Seoul city government is offering rent-free offices for six months to foreign entrepreneurs here in Korea, officials said Tuesday. The four incubation facilities for foreign business startups will provide basic office equipment, internet support and business management resources. Three offices, each 5.75 square meters, are located in the Global Business Support Center in Gangnam COEX, and a 25.9-square-meter office is in the new Seoul International Finance Center in Yeouido. The city will se

Prosecutors on Tuesday raided the head office of SK Group, widening their investigation into suspicions surrounding catastrophic financial investments made by its chairman Chey Tae-won. Investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office descended upon the group’s headquarters in central Seoul early in the morning to search for evidence. The raid concurrently took place in 10 places, including the office of SK Holdings, the group’s de facto holding company controlled by the group’s

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Yonhap) -- American gang members have signed up for the U.S. military forces stationed in South Korea, a recent U.S. gang assessment report showed Monday, posing possible criminal threats to local law enforcement. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in the October report th

Three South Korean businessmen who have been missing on a southern island in the Philippines since late last month have been confirmed as kidnapped by unidentified gunmen, a foreign ministry official in Seoul said Monday. The three Korean miners have been missing since Oct. 21 on the Philippine island of Mindanao and local police recently confirmed that they are held by gunmen, the official said on the condition of anonymity. The gunmen have demanded a ransom for the Korean miners, the official

Prosecutors are investigating allegations that Rep. Choi Kyung-hee of the ruling Grand National Party asked Koreans living in the U.S. to vote for GNP candidates in the general elections scheduled for April 11. It is against the law to urge voters to support a party in an election ahead of the official campaign period.The investigators have e-mailed those who attended a meeting of Koreans in Los Angeles in June to find out exactly what Choi said there. “We are still waiting for replies from them

The capital will pay for nearly 60 low-income multicultural families to visit the Philippines or Vietnam for family reunions.Seoul Metropolitan Government says it will provide round trip tickets to 213 people from 59 families with wives from either Vietnam or the Philippines. They will leave Tuesday.Also funding the seven-day trip will be Korea Airports Corp., which will provide expenses for the families who receive government support for basic necessities.“I’ve always wanted to visit home, but

Soil around 247 fuel storage facilities nationwide, including gas stations, was found to contain excessive levels of carcinogenic materials, the Ministry of Environment said Sunday. The authorities examined the soil near 7,347 petroleum and natural gas production sites and petrol stations and other areas with underground or above-ground storage tanks. It found 247 places, or 3.4 percent of the facilities, containing TPH and BTEX above government guidelines. TPH, or total petroleum hydrocarbon an

The Seoul city government said Saturday it will conduct radioactivity tests on all asphalt roads paved in 2000 after higher-than-standard levels of radioactivity were detected on a pavement in a northern part of the city.Up to 10 times the average radioactivity levels were detected on a road in Wolgye-dong in northern Seoul, though the state-run Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety said the levels, which were measured at up to 1,400 nanosivert per hour, were not hazardous to human health.After hour

Korea’s auto workers, represented by some of the country’s most powerful labor unions, are putting in hours beyond legal limits, the Labor Ministry said Sunday. The ministry’s on-the-spot checks found that all five carmakers operating in Korea, including the largest Hyundai Motor, had their employees work in excess of the 12 hours of weekly overtime that the law permits. Their working hours per week averaged 55, about 14 hours longer than the country’s industry average. The five carmakers are Hy

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade appointed it’s first female vice spokesperson as part of its efforts to enhance communication with the public, officials said Saturday. Former journalist Han Hye-jin, 49, was selected through a competitive hiring process in which 10 people including some from outside the ministry like Han applied, officials said.“She is well versed in journalism, public relations and international affairs. We expect her to contribute to better communication with citizens