South Korean seas are still safe from the radiation leak at a Japanese nuclear power plant, the government said Thursday in an attempt to ease growing public concerns here.A recent radiation check of six areas close to Japan found no or only minuscule traces of induced radioactive materials, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries."The result of an analysis of waters from six sea areas that was conducted jointly with the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission showed no traces of induce

The Korea National Park Service is planning to introduce a gene analysis system as part of its wildlife management support for Asiatic black bears on Mount Jirisan, the Ministry of Environment said Sunday.The authorities will set up security cameras and fur traps that could pluck hair bulbs for identifying the population and tracking down their routes. The officials explained the new system was adopted due to the habitat expansion and to relieve the bears’ stress when being captured to attach tr

Major retailers are joining a campaign to reduce gift wrapping and adornments to save costs and protect the environment ahead of the the Sept. 18-20 Chuseok holidays, according to the Ministry of Environment.Major department stores, large supermarkets and online shopping malls promised to replace expensive ribbons and packaging with environmentally friendly materials for food gift packages.The new practice aims to reduce the environmental impact and cut production costs for retailers. Getting ri

The temperature of South Korean waters has risen 1.29 C over the past 43 years, which is about triple the global average in the same period, government data showed Sunday.The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said that the sea surface temperature rise was gauged at 207 locations around the Korean Peninsula from 1968 to 2010. In the same period, the world's sea surface temperature rose by 0.4 C, it said.A lawmaker who obtained and released the data said that the steep temperature rise has affected

Prime Minister Chung Hong-won has called on the government to take measures to address Koreans’ growing anxiety over a series of leaks of highly radioactive water from the crippled nuclear reactor in Japan. Concerns are growing here after the operator of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant confirmed fresh leaks in addition to its announcement of a leak of 300 tons of contaminated water earlier this week.In an emergency meeting with related ministers on Thursday Chung directed the government to enhan

The prosecution on Wednesday sought an arrest warrant for a brother-in-law of former President Chun Doo-hwan for allegedly managing properties for the military dictator accused of taking large amounts of bribes while in office in the 1980s.The move was taken as part of the prosecution’s efforts to collect the concealed assets of the former president who was ordered by the supreme court in 1997 to return to state coffers some 220 billion won ($196.8 million) he illegally accumulated through bribe

An agreement between Seoul and Pyongyang to reopen their joint industrial complex was a welcome sign for inter-Korean relations, but much work is still needed for the two sides to put their relations on a positive footing, a Chinese scholar said Thursday. South and North Korea agreed on Wednesday to reopen the Gaeseong industrial complex in the North’s border city, which was shut down in April amid soaring tensions following Pyongyang’s third nuclear test.However, they failed to set an exact dat

WASHINGTON (AP) ― As the world gets warmer, people’s tempers are likely to get hotter, scientists say. A massive new study finds that aggressive acts like committing violent crimes and waging war become more likely with each added degree.Researchers analyzed 60 studies on historic empire collapses, recent wars, violent crime rates in the United States and lab simulations that tested police decisions on when to shoot. They found something in common over centuries: Extreme weather ― very hot or dr

BALCOMBE, United Kingdom (AFP) ― Louisa Delpy had never protested before, but when she heard that shale gas extraction might begin in her leafy part of the English countryside, she was so furious that she took to the streets.The 36-year-old mother went with two friends and a home-made sign to the lonely site where test drilling for oil and gas has begun, close to her upmarket village of Balcombe in West Sussex, a fifty-minute train ride from central London.Three weeks later, the gaggle of demons

WASHINGTON (AP) ― A new massive U.S. study says the world in 2012 sweltered with continued signs of climate change. Rising sea levels, snow melt, heat buildup in the oceans, and melting Arctic sea ice and Greenland ice sheets, all broke or nearly broke records, but temperatures only sneaked into the top 10.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday issued a peer-reviewed 260-page report, which agency chief Kathryn Sullivan calls its annual “checking on the pulse of the planet