A South Korean diplomat to the United Nations was required to kneel down in front of National Security Office Second Deputy Chief Kim Hyun-chong over a mistake that led to a missed engagement, a lawmaker said Thursday. An error by a first secretary-level diplomat left Kim unable to attend a summit between Korean President Moon Jae-in and Polish President Andrzej Duda in New York on Sept. 23, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.  Rep. Chung Jin-suk of the Liberty Korea Party disclose

Typhoon Mitag leaves 10 dead, 4 missing and 8 injured as of 7 p.m.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea is pushing for special legislation to look into possible irregularities into the college admissions of the children of lawmakers and senior public officials.The minor opposition Justice Party and Bareunmirae Party and ruling Democratic Party Chairman Lee Hae-chan had earlier proposed an inquiry into how all legislators’ children obtained their university admissions, to which the main opposition Liberty Korea Party agreed.The rival parties had difference

The Cabinet on Tuesday passed revised labor bills that allow the unemployed, dismissed workers, retired public officials, teachers, firefighters and college faculty members to join unions, in a bid to comply with international labor conventions.The Cabinet has approved revised bills on labor unions, public officials’ unions and teachers’ unions to ratify three conventions of the International Labor Organization, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said.The three ILO conventions are

A national anti-fine dust body suggested Monday that the government enforce stronger measures to curb hazardous particulate pollution, such as by shutting down coal power plants and restricting old diesel vehicles from December to March next year. 　The National Council on Climate and Air Quality suggested a seasonal dust management system, under which a crackdown on illegal emissions is toughened, up to 27 coal power plants are shut down in spring and over 1 million aged diesel vehicles are rest

Typhoon Mitag is forecast to hit the southern region of the Korean Peninsula this week, according to the Korea Meteorological Agency on Sunday.The weather agency said Mitag is expected to make landfall on Jeju Island on Wednesday morning before making its way through the country’s southern and central regions. By Thursday morning, Mitag is predicted to reach waters 120 kilometers west of the Dokdo islets. Formed off the east coast of the Philippines, Mitag was reported to be traveling nort

Typhoon Mitag, the season's 18th typhoon, could affect the Korean Peninsula next week, the weather agency said Saturday.The typhoon formed in the Philippine Sea earlier in the day and is moving northwest at a speed of 56 kilometers per hour, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.  As of 9 a.m., Mitag was classified as "small" with a central pressure of 1,000 hectopascals (hPa). The maximum sustained wind speed near its center was 61 kph, or 17 meters per second.It m

Prosecutors on Friday raided the National Police Agency headquarters in western Seoul, widening their probe into allegations that a ranking NPA officer was involved in attempts to cover up irregularities at southern Seoul nightclubs.Prosecutors and investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office searched the office of a senior superintendent, identified only by his surname, Yoon, at the NPA headquarters, beginning at 9 a.m., before reportedly securing his computer hard drive and

Police have reached a tentative conclusion that Koh Yu-jeong, who is suspected of murdering her ex-husband, killed her 5-year-old stepson as well.Cheongju Sangdang Police Station said Wednesday that investigators believe Koh, 36, murdered her stepson -- her current husband’s biological son -- after a five-month probe into the case. Cheongju police booked Koh and her husband in June on suspicions of murder and involuntary manslaughter, respectively.Based on the couple’s testimonies, p

An order of the Korean Presbyterian Church on Thursday practically approved the father-to-son succession by a megachurch affiliated with the order, a move expected to fuel the heated debate over hereditary leadership in Korean Protestant churches.Myungsung Church, one of the biggest Presbyterian churches in the world with a membership of 100,000, has been at the center of controversy in South Korea since its founder Rev. Kim Sam-hwan named his eldest son, Rev. Kim Ha-na, to succeed him in 2017.

Police are looking into the possibility that more unsolved crimes might be linked to a 56-year-old man surnamed Lee, who has been identified as a prime suspect in cold case rape-murders from the 1980s and early 1990s.Police said Tuesday that there might be another set of rapes involving Lee, who is already a suspect in at least eight rape-murders that took place between 1986 and 1991 in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. Police tied Lee to the case after DNA evidence from three of the rape-murders mat

South Korea reported a new suspected African swine fever case on Wednesday, adding to concerns over the potential spread of the deadly animal disease despite massive disinfection efforts.The suspected case was reported at a farm on Ganghwa Island in Incheon, around 60 kilometers west of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The ministry confirmed the fifth ASF case from the same location a day earlier.If confirmed, it would mark the sixth ASF case confirmed in

A petition calling for the punishment of five teenagers who allegedly assaulted a 13-year-old in Suwon has garnered over 200,000 signatures.As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, more than 210,000 people had signed the online petition posted Monday on the Cheong Wa Dae website, urging for the punishment of the five girls, who are accused of beating the teenager in a karaoke room in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. As more than 200,000 signatures have been collected, the Blue House is required to issue an official

Seungri, a former member of the K-pop boy band BIGBANG, was questioned by police on Tuesday over his alleged overseas gambling.Dressed in formal attire, the disgraced K-pop star arrived at a police investigative unit in eastern Seoul at 10:40 a.m.Seungri quickly walked past some journalists, who asked him about allegations that he regularly gambled in foreign countries and illegally secured gambling funds. It was his second interrogation following one on Aug. 28, when he apologized for "cau

A pregnant woman here lost her child when a doctor performed an abortion after medical staff mixed up her medical chart with that of another patient.Seoul Gangseo Police Station on Monday said they booked a gynecologist and a nurse for conducting an abortion on a six-week pregnant woman by failing to check the patient’s information before the operation.According to investigators, the alleged victim -- a Vietnamese national -- who was six weeks into her pregnancy was prescribed nutritional