About 10,000 more abortions than usual were carried out in Europe when the Chernobyl power plant exploded in 1986.“The decisions were made not because of their possible exposure to high levels of radiation, but because of the excessive atomic scare,” said Lee Jae-ki, nuclear engineering professor at Hanyang University and member of the International Commission on Radiological Protection.“There is

Seoul police on Thursday captured a 43-year-old man suspected of killing the mother of a senior member of a conservative civic group on Thursday.The murder case has drawn keen public interest as speculation has circulated that pro-North Korea terrorists might have killed her, as her son’s group has actively engaged in a series of activities against the communist country in recent years.The suspect

The state’s geological survey recorded a small quake in central Korea on Thursday, causing alarm among citizens amid quake fears.According to the Daejeon Regional Meteorological Administration, a 2.8-magnitude quake struck 23 kilometers west of Okcheon County at 4:35 a.m.Although the Korean Meteorological Administration received no reports of damage, they have received reports of citizens feeling

Mando, the nation’s largest automobile parts maker, has been fined 25 million won ($28,000) for paying extra wages to fulltime unionists, officials said Thursday.The Suwon District Court slapped fines of 15 million won and 10 million won on the company president and another executive in charge of labor affairs, for breaking the “time off” system adopted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor last

A transgender father of four has been given a two-year jail term for abusing his children who refused to call him "mom," a local court here said Wednesday.The 31-year-old man, identified only by his last name Oh, was charged with starving and beating up his four children -- one born to his first ex-girlfriend and three to the second one, whom he lived with from 2006 until last year. His second ex-

Ideological tensions are have been reignited over a ban on corporal punishment at schools as some educational offices resist the “indirect punishment” system recently announced by the government.The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced a revised education law on Friday which bans physical punishment but allows schools to adopt other disciplinary measures.Since the corporal punis

Seo Min-jung, just admitted into a doctoral program in Japan, decided to leave for the earthquake-hit country despite the concerns of her family. Her course at the University of Tsukuba in a small town near Tokyo commences in April. Even though the repeated reports about the natural disasters and the leakage of radioactivity from a nuclear power plant in Fukushima frighten her and her family from

Nine out of 10 South Korean adults are afraid of possible natural disasters, a report by the job portal site Saramin said Monday.Out of 1,198 adults the Saramin website surveyed, more than 89 percent said they were afraid that a major natural disaster will occur in South Korea.Furthermore, the survey revealed that 82.5 percent of adults are more frightened at thoughts of possible natural disasters

BUSAN (Yonhap News) ― Eight North Korean defectors are believed to have sought asylum in Britain after staying for years in South Korea, police said Tuesday.Police in Busan recently conducted a survey on 25 North Korean defectors who stayed in foreign countries for more than three months. The police hoped to gain insight into the North Koreans’ motivation to live overseas.Among them, eight North K

Prosecutors on Tuesday raided Orion Group, the nation's major confectionery company, and its affiliates over its chairman's alleged illegal bonds transaction during the process of taking over large shares of an Orion subsidiary.Tam Chul-gon, 56, is suspected of buying bonds with warrants issued by On Media, Orion's media affiliate established in 2000 to diversify its business portfolio, at below-m

Police are investigating the possibility that an ethnic Korean of Chinese nationality may have killed the mother of a senior member of a conservative civic group earlier this month, officials said Tuesday.Police said that DNA detected at the scene was identical to that of an ethnic Korean suspected of having robbed a house last April in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, where many ethnic Koreans from Chin

No radioactive materials were found in rain that fell here over the weekend amid fears of radiation leaks from quake-hit Japan, the government said Tuesday. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said that sampling tests on rainwater collected from across the nation Sunday showed no traces of radioactive iodine or cesium. “There was no trace of either iodine-131 or cesium-137 in any of

The police agency here will raise the standards for the physical assessment of police officers amid rising criticism that the standards are too low, officials announced Tuesday.Under a decision by the Korean National Police Commission, the police officer fitness regulations were raised, addressing concerns of a ruling party lawmaker after seeing questionable results from last year’s physical.A rul

Part-time college lecturers, often referred to as peddlars of academia for their poor job security and salaries, will finally be acknowledged as proper educational staffers.The Cabinet on Tuesday passed a revision bill guaranteeing higher paychecks and welfare to 70,000 part-time lecturers nationwide covering about 40 percent of university classes. According to the bill, the Ministry of Education,