A professor at a prestigious university in Seoul has come under fire for reportedly likening Korean victims of Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement to prostitutes, triggering calls for his expulsion from the political circle and his alumni. During a lecture, Ryu Seok-chun, a sociology professor at Yonsei University, said that the victims of Japan’s sexual slavery sold sex because they needed to earn a living, and dismissed a civic organization advocating on behalf of them as

A fire that started around midnight Sunday at a fashion wholesale market in central Seoul continued to burn Sunday afternoon, with two people injured.Fire authorities have been fighting the blaze for more than 14 hours as of 3:30 p.m. Sunday at a six-story building located in Jeil Pyunghwa Clothing Market in Sindang-dong.While the fire was mostly contained, the surrounding area was thick with black fumes still rising from the building on Sunday afternoon.Two women who were inside the building wh

Police have dropped pimping charges against Yang Hyun-suk, an idol-turned-K-pop guru who was head of YG Entertainment, one of the biggest K-pop management firms, police officials said Friday.The officials at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said police investigators failed to verify suspicions that Yang arranged sex services for foreign investors in 2014 and sent his case to the prosecution with a recommendation that he not be indicted on pimping charges.The 49-year-old Yang was booked in Ju

South Korea and the United States will launch negotiations in Seoul next week on sharing the cost of upkeep for American troops here, a source with knowledge of the matter said Friday.  Seoul and Washington will likely hold the first round of negotiations on the stationing of the 28,500-strong US Forces Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday, the source told Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity.  James DeHart of the State Department will lead the US delegation, the source said. Se

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Thursday its plan to restructure Gwanghwamun Square would be put on hold to gather public opinion in the wake of opposition from the relevant ministry and some civic groups. However, the government still plans to restructure the current square, which has been compared to an isolated, gigantic traffic island, but it will revisit the current blueprint and take more time to draw up a final scheme to reflect public opinion, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said.&ldquo

The ex-chief of YG Entertainment, the label that represents the K-pop band iKON, will soon be summoned after the band’s former leader admitted to some of the drug allegations against him, police said Wednesday. The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said B.I, whose real name is Kim Han-bin, admitted to past drug use during an interrogation Tuesday. Kim was grilled for some 14 hours on suspicion of buying marijuana from an acquaintance in 2016 and smoking it. The investigators will con

An 11-day health workers’ strike at the National Cancer Center ended Monday morning after the labor union and the hospital management reached an agreement on pay and working conditions. The hospital’s operations will return to normal Tuesday at 6 a.m.The management and the union agreed to a 1.8 percent pay hike, overtime pay in 10-minute increments, transportation allowances for night-shift workers and other welfare support for hospital workers. The management also vowed not to take

The chief of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party will have his head shaved Monday to call for the dismissal of the justice minister, whose family is embroiled in corruption allegations, party officials said.LKP chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn plans to shave his head in front of the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae at 5 p.m. to call on President Moon Jae-in to sack Justice Minister Cho Kuk, according to the conservative party.In South Korea, politicians often have their heads shaved publicly in a sho

President Moon Jae-in ordered disciplinary action against three government-affiliated agencies Monday for their description of the waters between Korea and Japan as the Sea of Japan, not the East Sea.The East Sea is South Korea's official name for the waters, and the country is campaigning hard to publicize that name internationally.But the three organizations, under the wing of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, were found to have used the name, the Sea of Japan, on their Kore

Police plan to summon B.I, former leader of K-pop band iKON, next week to question him about an allegation of drug use, officials said Saturday.The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency is accelerating its probe into the drugs allegation facing the former iKON member, whose real name is Kim Han-bin, as well as related suspicions over Yang Hyun-suk, the former chief of the band's music label. Kim will be grilled over whether he bought marijuana from an acquaintance in 2016 and smoked it, accord

Working-level talks expected to take place between the United States and North Korea late this month are part of a process to draft an agreement to be signed at the next summit of the two countries, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan said Thursday. Earlier this week, the North expressed a willingness to hold working-level talks with the U.S. in late September in what would mark a resumption of the negotiating process that reached a deadlock with February's no-deal summit between U.S. President D

While Pyongyang claims conducting two rounds, pictures suggest possibilities for third round of tests

Hawkish US national security adviser John Bolton’s departure may bring flexibility to the upcoming nuclear talks with North Korea but could undercut efforts to achieve the regime’s complete denuclearization, analysts said Wednesday.US President Donald Trump announced in a surprise tweet Tuesday that he has fired the conservative advisor and that he will name a replacement next week. He cited strong disagreements with many of Bolton‘s foreign policy suggestions.Bolton’s re

North Korea on Tuesday fired two short-range projectiles from its northwestern area toward the East Sea, its 10th launch this year, South Korea’s military said. According to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pyongyang fired the projectiles from Kaechon, South Pyongan Province, at 6:53 a.m. and 7:12 a.m., with one of the projectiles flying 330 kilometers east. The JCS did not provide further details such as the altitude and speed of the projectiles launched, saying it is analyzing the in

Health care workers stage first-ever strike at state hospital, demanding improved working conditions