The police said Friday that they are probing allegations that Yang Hyun-suk, former CEO and chief producer of K-pop entertainment powerhouse YG Entertainment, gambled overseas.South Koreans are prohibited from gambling at home and abroad.Upon a tip-off, the police are looking through Yang’s financial reports to investigate whether he secured his gambling funds through illegal foreign exchange transactions.Yang, 49, is already under investigation on suspicions that he procured sexual servic

Olympic short track speed skating champion Lim Hyo-jun has been suspended for one year for sexually harassing a male teammate. The Korea Skating Union reached the decision Thursday evening, saying Lim, who won a gold medal in the men's 1,500m at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, will be banned from all skating-related activities until Aug. 7, 2020.During training on June 17, Lim pulled down the pants of a younger teammate with female skaters present at Jincheon National Training Center in Ji

The Ministry of Interior and Safety has asked the Seoul Metropolitan Government to put the city’s plans to revamp Gwanghwamun Square on hold.According to the Interior Ministry on Thursday, the ministry told the city government July 30 that a public consensus should precede the plan’s execution. The ministry asked that civic groups be involved in the discussion, citing negative public sentiment over the Seoul city project.The square renewal proposal submitted by Seoul encroaches on th

South Korea is planning to conduct combined maritime defense drills on and around its easternmost islets of Dokdo as early as this month, government sources said Wednesday. During a parliamentary committee session, National Security Director Chung Eui-yong confirmed Tuesday that the government would carry out two maritime drills this year. While the date has not yet been decided, military sources said the maritime drills are likely to take place before or after the Liberation Day holiday Aug. 15

On the 74th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, a ceremony in South Gyeongsang Province remembered the tens of thousands of Koreans who lost their lives in the foreign cities after being taken there against their will.Over 200,000 people were killed by the two atomic bombs that were dropped Aug. 6 and 9, respectively, in 1945. Most of the victims were Japanese civilians, but some of the dead and injured were Koreans who had been drafted for forced labor and other forms of exploit

The court of the Presbyterian Church of Korea ruled early Tuesday that a megachurch pastor’s succession to the post previously held by his father was invalid, in what is seen as a warning about the widespread practice of hereditary leadership in Korean churches.Rev. Kim Sam-hwan, the founder of Myungsung Church in southeastern Seoul, which has a membership of 100,000, named his eldest son, Rev. Kim Ha-na, as his successor in 2017, giving him control over the church’s massive finances

Typhoon Francisco, the season’s eighth typhoon, will hit Korea from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday, with heavy rains expected across the country, the weather agency said Monday.The typhoon was moving northwest at a speed of 24 kilometers per hour from about 390 km east of Kagoshima, Japan, as of 3 p.m. Monday. It is expected to land on the country’s south coast between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.Francisco is expected

Japan continues efforts to prevent showing of sex slave statues

A 72-year-old South Korean man died on Saturday three days after setting himself on fire in Seoul, police said, in apparent protest against Japan's trade curbs against Korea.The man, whose identity was withheld, set himself ablaze near the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in the heart of Seoul on Thursday morning. He died at 5:41 p.m. on Saturday while being treated at a hospital, police said. Police found a bag that appears to belong to the man near the location of his self-immolation. The

South Korea pushed ahead Friday to cancel the licenses of 10 "autonomous private high schools" despite strong protests from the elite institutions and parents. Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae gave consent to regional education offices' decision to deprive eight schools in Seoul and one in Busan of their special status as they failed to pass recent performance assessments, the ministry said. They will turned into regular schools next year. One school in Seoul applied for such conversion

A 15-member task force team was launched under Yangcheon Police Station on Thursday to investigate an accident at a rainwater pump construction site in Seoul that left three people dead, amid criticism that the accident could been avoidedAll three workers who went missing at the site amid heavy rainfall were confirmed dead, after two bodies were found early Thursday morning, according to fire authorities. Torrential downpours on Wednesday morning isolated three workers at a rainwater drainage fa

Hundreds of personnel continued the search Wednesday for a teenage girl who went missing eight days ago while hiking with her family in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province.Cho Eunnuri, 14, was last seen near the upper part of a stream in Naeam-ri, Gadeok-myeon in Cheongju at around 10:40 a.m. on July 23. She has intellectual disabilities. About 151 centimeters tall, Cho was wearing a gray, short-sleeved T-shirt, black skirted leggings, gray-colored aqua shoes and blue horn-rimmed glasses at the

Police said Tuesday they are looking into suspicions that singer-actor Park Yoo-chun invited police officers, who were in charge of probing rape allegations against him, home for a meal while under investigation. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency received a tip-off that Park, 33, invited the officers for dinner and drinks at his home in 2016 while he was being investigated by Gangnam Police Station for suspected rape. Four women filed complaints against Park, then a member of boy band JY

Police have launched a probe into circumstances surrounding the leak of video footage taken during the arrest of Koh Yu-jeong, a prime suspect in the murder of her ex-husband.The leaked footage, released Saturday by local media, shows Koh’s arrest on June 1 at 10:32 a.m. in the parking lot of an apartment block in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. As police officers handcuff her after informing her of her Miranda rights, Koh asks, “Why? I never did that. I am the victim.”Ko

South Korean Ko Jin-young has captured the Evian Championship for her second career LPGA major title, booking a return to the top of the world rankings in the process.Ko won the fourth major tournament of the 2019 season at 15-under 269 at the par-71 Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France, on Sunday, beating three players, including fellow Korean Kim Hyo-joo, by two strokes.Jennifer Kupcho of the United States and Feng Shanshan of China also finished at 13-under.This is Ko's fifth LPG