Actress Yoon Ji-oh, who is under investigation for suspected fraud and defamation, lashed out at police for requesting an Interpol Red Notice for the Korean Canadian, despite her alleged crimes not being serious. Women’s rights activists accused police of showing “surprisingly” strong determination to conduct an investigation into Yoon, saying she is under tighter scrutiny by police because she is a woman. “A Red Notice is targeting those who committed heinous crimes

Police said Thursday they have placed a travel ban on Dorj Odbayar, head of Mongolia’s Constitutional Court who is accused of groping a Korean flight attendant and verbally abusing a Mongolian crew member during a flight from Ulaanbaatar to Incheon on Oct. 31. “We feel confident that Odbayar’s charges are clear and well founded. We will hand him over to the prosecution on Friday or some time definitely before Nov. 15, when the 10-day travel ban expires,” an Incheon Metro

South Korea deported two North Koreans back to the communist nation after learning that they killed 16 fellow crew members on their fishing boat and fled to the South, the unification ministry said Thursday.The two in their 20s were sent back to the North at around 3:10 p.m. through the truce village of Panmunjom, five days after they were captured near the Northern Limit Line sea border in the East Sea on Saturday, according to the ministry.It marks the South's first deportation of North Korean

Son Heung-min now stands alone at the top of the South Korean scoring list in European club football history.The attacking ace for Tottenham Hotspur netted two goals in the Premier League club's 4-0 victory over Red Star Belgrade in their Group B match of the UEFA Champions League at Red Star Stadium in Belgrade on Wednesday (local time). Son now has 123 goals in his European career, breaking a tie with former Bundesliga star Cha Bum-kun's mark of 121 for most by a South Korean player on the con

Two producers of a K-pop competition TV show were arrested late Tuesday over allegations they rigged the results of audience votes that decided which singers would progress through and win the competitions.The Seoul Central District Court issued warrants to detain a producer and the chief producer of the Mnet program “Produce X 101,” a fan-vote audition show through which popular K-pop bands, including Wanna One, debuted. The two are suspected of having conspired with music labels to

The defense ministry is considering making it mandatory for naturalized male citizens to serve in the military, as other South Korean men must do, in an effort to cope with a decrease in the number of draftees amid a shrinking population, a senior government official said Wednesday. The state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses is in the final stage of research on the issue, and based on the results, the ministry could begin procedures to revise the military service act as early as next yea

Banners hung up at a university campus in Seoul by students to show support for the Hong Kong protests have been taken down twice in as many weeks.A group of Yonsei University students -- who identified themselves as “South Korean students of Yonsei University advocating for Hong Kong” -- said Tuesday that four banners they put up on Monday around noon were removed less than two hours later. The banners bearing the slogans “Liberate Hong Kong” and “Free Hong Kong, r

A Seoul court on Tuesday began its review of a prosecution request to issue arrest warrants for a producer of a popular TV audition show over vote-rigging allegations.The Seoul Central Court held its hearing to decide whether to issue arrest warrants for the producer and three talent agency officials embroiled in a scandal over "Produce X 101," a fan-voted idol competition show that ran on cable channel Mnet.Police have been investigating allegations that production staff manipulated m

Korean liquor manufacturers may no longer be allowed to use photos of celebrities on their beverage packaging.The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Monday it would come up with measures banning the images of celebrities on alcohol bottles to discourage the drinking culture.The move follows Rep. Nam In-soon’s exhortation during a parliamentary audit of the ministry last month that featuring celebrities on alcohol beverages may induce more consumption, especially among teenagers, and shoul

A queer festival organizing committee in South Gyeongsang Province filed for a permit to hold the festival, an event advocating equality for sexual minorities, in Changwon on Nov. 30, police said Sunday. If permission is granted, it will be the festival’s first run in the largely conservative province.The committee sought to hold the festival in the public square in front of Changwon City Hall, estimating that almost 4,000 people would gather there.A conservative civic group also requ

South Korean farmers are urging local authorities to make efforts to normalize pork prices here in the face of the African swine fever outbreak, industry watchers said Saturday.The local wholesale price of pork reached 2,809 won ($2.4) per kilogram, plunging 28.2 percent from a year earlier as of end-October, the latest data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs showed.The price is far below the production cost estimated at 4,200 won, according to the Korea Pork Produce

Rescue workers on Friday located the wrecked chopper that crashed near the Dokdo islets in the East Sea the previous night and found a body believed to be of one of seven missing people.The chopper belonging to the National Fire Agency fell at around 11:30 p.m., Thursday, a few minutes after it took off from Dokdo. An injured person from a fishing boat, a friend and five rescue officials were reportedly on board. "Three Korea Coast Guard divers who were searching in seas 600 meters sou

A 52-year-old man surnamed Yun who claims he was wrongly imprisoned for the 1988 rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, is seeking a retrial. Yun’s lawyer Park Joon-young confirmed to The Korea Herald on Thursday that his client will file a petition for retrial in about two weeks’ time.Park said Yun will undergo forensic hypnosis and lie detector tests next Monday at Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency, a procedure which he said Yun and his defense

Yang Hyun-suk, the scandal-ridden former CEO of YG Entertainment, and Seungri, a former member of the K-pop boy band BIGBANG, were found to have each spent several hundred million won on gambling abroad, police said Thursday, wrapping up monthslong investigations.The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it will refer Yang and Seungri to the prosecution with a recommendation that they be indicted on charges of habitual gambling. But the police agency said it will not recommend indictment for the

It ended where it started. BTS on Tuesday staged the grand finale of its “Love Yourself” series in Seoul, wrapping up a yearlong world tour that kicked off in the capital of band’s home country. Tuesday’s show at Seoul’s Olympic Stadium was the last of three sold-out shows of BTS’ “Love Yourself: Speak Yourself” stadium tour, an extension of “Love Yourself,” which kicked off in August on the same stage last year. When BTS