The Korea Herald

[Newsmaker] Governor refuses to budge on closed hospital

Jul 11, 2013

Lawmakers are set to file a complaint with the prosecution against South Gyeongsang Province Governor Hong Joon-pyo after he refused to attend a parliamentary hearing on his closure of a provincial public hospital. The Assembly’s special committee on the inquiry into the current status of public medical institutions, which is looking into the shutdown of Jinju Medical Center, will determine whether to take legal action against the political bigwig on Friday.After Hong refused to stand before the
Court upholds sentence of man in ‘body-less murder’

Jul 11, 2013

The nation’s top court on Friday upheld the heavy prison term for a middle-aged defendant in a rare murder case in which the victim’s body remained unfound. The 42-year-old man, surnamed Park, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for burying his 37-year-old business partner alive during a quarrel over money. The victim was last seen sometime in 2008. The absence of the corpse was a big challenge for prosecutors.Charges were filed against Park based on testimony from witnesses and circumstantial e
Police step up probe over sex bribery case

Jul 11, 2013

Police said Thursday that they will launch a full-fledged investigation into allegations that a detained local construction contractor hired women to provide sexual favors to a number of high-profile figures in return for business benefits.On Wednesday night, the 52-year-old construction contractor, surnamed Yoon, was put under detention immediately after a Seoul court approved the prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant for the businessman who has been at the center of a massive sex scandal
Japan’s vice foreign minister visits Seoul

Jul 11, 2013

Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki arrived in Seoul on Thursday for a two-day visit to hold talks with his South Korean counterpart, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.The top bureaucrat at the ministry met Seoul’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun to discuss issues of mutual interest.“Saiki came here to exchange greetings with Kim upon his taking the position late last month,” a Seoul ministry official said.Their meeting came amid soured Seoul-Tokyo relations after Japanese politic
Remains of soldier killed in Korean War repatriated to family

Jul 11, 2013

After 60 years, a South Korean soldier who was killed during the Korean War was repatriated to his relative Thursday for reburial, a military excavation team said.The Ministry of National Defense’s Agency for Killed in Action Recovery and Identification in May found remains of Jung Cheol-ho near a former battle site in Cherwon, just south of the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas. The Army staff sergeant who belonged to the 8th Infantry Division fought in the battle in early July 1
Head of N.K. Red Cross replaced amid dialogue with South

Jul 11, 2013

North Korea has recently replaced the head of the Red Cross in the country, a major channel of exchange with South Korea, the international Red Cross group’s member list showed Thursday.Kang Su-rin has recently supplanted Jang Jae-on as the chairman of the central committee of the Red Cross Society of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, according to the member list of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The country did not make public the personnel change
Ryoo sets terms of Mount Geumgang tours

Jul 11, 2013

Making headway at the ongoing talks to normalize the inter-Korean industrial park in Gaeseong can help resolve the long-drawn standoff surrounding suspended tours to Mount Geumgang, the South Korea unification minister said Thursday.Speaking at a North Korea policy forum gathering in Seoul, Ryoo Kihl-jae said that Seoul wants to first concentrate on dealing with the impasse over the Gaeseong industrial complex, but hinted a satisfactory conclusion can lead to the resumption of the tours to the e
Trust crucial to peace: top Swedish neutral observer

Jul 11, 2013

Swedish NNSC chief urges N. Korea to change
Charity vaccinates 430,000 N.K. children against deadly disease

Jul 11, 2013

The German branch of the international Catholic relief group Caritas vaccinated 430,000 North Korean children against Japanese encephalitis earlier this month, the group said Thursday.The North Korean children vaccinated in the first round of anti-Japanese encephalitis vaccination programs on July 2 are those living in South Hwanghae Province, just north of the inter-Korean border, an official at Caritas Germany told Yonhap News Agency. The group plans to vaccinate a total of 3.2 million North K
S. Korea to re-examine fighter jet project

Jul 11, 2013

South Korea will stop the current bidding for fighter jets and revise the project as high price tags have made the chance of selecting a satisfactory contractor slim, a senior official said Thursday. The move comes after the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) carried out 55 separate biddings with three defense groups to buy 60 advanced jets with an 8.3 trillion won ($7.2 billion) budget, but the procedure was put on hold last week due to their expensive price tags. Boeing's F-15 S
Ministry seeks bigger defense budget

Jul 10, 2013

The Defense Ministry said Wednesday it requested the government to increase its budget by 6.9 percent to 36.8 trillion won ($32.2 billion) next year to enhance combat capabilities and improve solders’ welfare. The proposal includes a 15-percent salary hike for enlisted troops and outlays for a series of procurement projects for weapons systems, such as mid-range air-to-surface guided bombs, surveillance aircraft, satellites and high-tech destroyers. The plan was submitted to the Ministry of Stra
Ex-prosecutor gets 7-year prison term for bribery

Jul 9, 2013

A Seoul court sentenced a former high-ranking prosecutor to seven years behind bars on Tuesday for receiving large sums of bribes in exchange for favors.Kim Kwang-joon was found guilty of receiving some 380 million won ($333,000) worth of bribes from several suspects he was investigating, including Cho Hee-pal, the mastermind behind the country’s biggest-ever pyramid scheme.The Seoul Central District Court also ordered the 52-year-old former prosecutor of the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office to pa
Navy chief visits China to boost military ties

Jul 9, 2013

The South Korean Navy’s chief of staff on Tuesday visited China to promote bilateral military ties and discuss ways to prevent maritime clashes in the Yellow Sea during peak fishing seasons, the Navy said. On the first day of his four-day trip, Adm. Choi Yun-hee met Wu Shengli, commander in chief of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, in Shanghai to explore measures to curb naval clashes near the western sea border between Chinese fishermen and South Korean Coast Guards. The two discussed ways to
S. Korean fighter jet project stuck over pricing

Jul 8, 2013

South Korea's plan to buy 60 fighter jets has been temporarily put on ice as three competitors have failed to offer prices within Seoul's 8.3 trillion won ($7.2 billion) budget, further delaying the replacement of its aging fleet. Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle, Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth jet and the Eurofighter Tranche 3 Typhoon from the European Aerospace Defense and Space Company (EADS) participated in the bidding sessions from June 18 to July 5 to win Seoul's largest arms import deal. The De
Missile-killer test-launched in California

Jul 6, 2013

A weapon designed to blast nuclear missiles out of the sky has been tested at a Southern California coastal base but failed to hit its target.The Missile Defense Agency, part of the U.S. Department of Defense, said a ground-based interceptor missile was launched Friday. Its target: a missile launched 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) away from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.The interceptor did not hit its target. Officials will try to determine the cause of any anomalies that may have pre