A powerful earthquake that struck off Japan's northeastern coast on Friday caused all flights bound for Japan to be canceled, the government said.   The flight disruption came hours after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit Japan's Pacific coast, unleashing a tsunami that washed away cars and houses along the coastal areas.   The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said that flight operat

  DAEJEON (Yonhap) -- South Korea is relatively safe from major earthquakes, although there is a need to pay close attention to developments taking place in countries such as Japan, local geological experts said Friday.   Lee Hee-il, head of the geological research division at the state-run Korea Institute of Geoscience & Mineral Resources (KIGAM), said the country is relatively insulated from the

Mother of a group member found dead with no traces of robbery: policeA conservative group that has flown anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets across the border said Friday that its senior member’s mother had been killed a day earlier, and possibly by terrorists.The group, Korea Parent Federation, cancelled its leaflet-sending event at Imjingak scheduled for Saturday, claiming she was likely to hav

Aluin, a Filipino immigrant worker, learns espresso coffee making at a center for foreign workers in Yangcheon, southwestern Seoul. “I attend the barista class every weekend. I’ll make a career in Seoul after completing the program, then set up my own coffee shop in my home country,” he said. Another immigrant worker, Tiron from Sri Lanka, lost his right leg in an industrial accident. It was also

Choi Sun-hee, 54, stresses that she and her husband would rather stay in a nursing home than expect their children to live with and support them. “In my generation, you could buy an apartment with a modest salary worker’s income. But now, inflation has made that nearly impossible. I don’t plan to ask my children for help ― they are too burdened to look after their own family,” she said. Choi said

The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Wednesday denied allegations that the government may scrap a plan to allow multiple charity organizations to receive donations.The denial came after a U.S. charity leader was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as saying that Health and Welfare Minister Chin Soo-hee agreed with his view that the country needs no second charity organizer.“Increasing the number of

Asian tourists have picked Seoul as their favorite destination for the third consecutive year, a recent survey found Wednesday. The survey, commissioned by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, questioned 3,200 people in China, Japan and Thailand and 600 others visiting Seoul last year.Of 1,050 Chinese surveyed, 16.4 percent picked Seoul as the city which they wanted to visit within a year, followed

The Gyeonggi police agency said Wednesday that it had found letters thought to be written by the late actress Jang Ja-yeon.The letters had been sent to Jang’s acquaintance, known as Jeon, who is currently serving a jail term. The police inspected Jeon’s cell Wednesday morning and found 20 letters and five envelopes, believed to have been sent by the actress, and several newspaper articles. “The le

South Korea has seen a dramatic rise in suicides of economically strapped elderly people over the last two decades, a study revealed Wednesday, calling public attention to the dark aspects of the nation's rapidly aging society.   The suicide ratio for those aged over 65 jumped to 77 per100,000 population in 2009, an over five-fold surge from 14recorded in 1990, according to Hallym University's Ins