GOYANG, Gyeonggi Province -- Police released the man suspected of having caused the fire at a gasoline storage tank northwest of Seoul on Wednesday as prosecutors decided not to file for his arrest warrant, citing insufficient grounds. The Goyang Police Station said their request for a writ against the 27-year-old Sri Lankan national was dismissed by the Goyang branch of the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office. Police have sought to arrest him twice since Monday.  (Yonhap)The suspect, whose n

Debate persists over need to raise market liquidity versus concerns about excessive workload

The South Korean prime minister on Tuesday reaffirmed the government's will to restart efforts to compile a unified Korean-language dictionary with North Korea as his country observed Hangul Day, which marks the invention of the Korean alphabet more than five centuries ago."The Roh Moo-hyun government began a project to jointly publish the 'Gyeoreomal-keunsajeon' with North Korea in 2005 but it has been suspended amid the ups and downs of inter-Korean relations,"(Yonhap)Lee Nak-yeon said during

Following the appeals court’s suspension of his sentence last week, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin returned to work Monday after eight months away, facing pending decisions including kick-starting Lotte Chemical’s 4 trillion-won ($3.5 billion) petrochemicals project in Indonesia and completing the group’s corporate governance overhaul plan.The leader’s absence had dealt a blow to the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate, where about 10 mergers and acquisitions deals here and abroad, worth so

Every step of BTS in the US has been history-making, from its performance at Prudential Center in Newark to its heartfelt speech in front of the United Nations in New York. But maybe it was the highly anticipated show at Citi Field in New York that allowed the K-pop phenomenon to vault to the highest tier of pop superstardom in the US, where it also marked the end of the North American leg of its “Love Yourself” world tour.  (Big Hit Entertainment)The enthusiasm for the act’s first-ever statesid

Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Yazidi campaigner Nadia Murad won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their work in fighting sexual violence in conflicts around the world.The pair won the award for their "efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war," Nobel committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said in unveiling the winners in Oslo.Both have come to represent the struggle against a global scourge which goes well beyond any single conflict, as the ever-expanding #MeToo

With so many events slated for this month featuring artists with huge fan bases, the race is on to get tickets to see our favorite singers live.Most concerts featuring world-famous singers can’t accommodate all the fans who want to be there, and ticket-reservation websites often crash as soon as tickets to a popular concert become available. The impact of too many people logging in at the same time is just too much for the servers.Knowing that competition will be fierce, fans gear up in advance

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Jessica Cathcart, a 24-year-old from California, says university professor Christine Blasey Ford inspired her to speak up about her own sexual assault, which took place when she was in high school.Angela Trzepkowski, 55, from Delaware, says she would be devastated if Brett Kavanaugh, accused by Blasey Ford of attempted rape, is confirmed to the Supreme Court of the United States.Both were among a sea of women who descended on Washington Thursday urging lawmakers not to confir

Two Yemeni asylum seekers were attacked by Koreans on the southern island of Jeju, police said Thursday. According to Jeju Dongbu Police Station, two Yemeni asylum seekers reported they were beaten by a group of Koreans near Jeju City Hall at 2:41 a.m. on Tuesday. When police arrived at the scene, the suspects had already fled.(Uto Image)Police identified one suspect as a man who appears to be in his 20s from footage obtained from surveillance cameras installed nearby the crime scene. The asylum

Unionized workers in South Korea’s service and retail sectors -- mainly those who work at department stores and duty-free shops -- are fighting for their “right to sit down” at work, saying many of them suffer health conditions that result from having to stand in high heels for more than seven hours daily.　Since late September, the union members have been sitting at work when there are no customers around as a way to protest. 　“It’s been 10 years since chairs have been placed at department store

WASHINGTON (AP) -- North Korea‘s nuclear and missile tests have stopped, but its hacking operations to gather intelligence and raise funds for the sanction-strapped government in Pyongyang may be gathering steam.US security firm FireEye raised the alarm Wednesday over a North Korean group that it says has stolen hundreds of millions of dollars by infiltrating the computer systems of banks around the world since 2014 through highly sophisticated and destructive attacks that have spanned at least

Super Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to affect southern parts of South Korea this weekend, the weather agency said Wednesday. As of 9 a.m., this year's 25th typhoon was traveling northwest at a speed of 18 kilometers per hour about 710 kilometers south-southeast of Japan's Okinawa Island, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. Super Typhoon Kong-rey's expected path (YouTube)It had an atmospheric pressure of 930 hectopascals at its center and winds of up to 180 kph. Kong-rey formed a

Residents in two districts in Seoul -- Songpa and Gangdong -- are protesting the government’s latest home supply plan, which includes building a new residential town in a former prison site in Songpa, saying they were not consulted before the Ministry of Land announcement.　Last month, the central government announced that it would supply some 300,000 public housing units starting from 2021, in an effort to stabilize the overheated housing market. 　Under the plan, 11 areas in Seoul, including the

Case takes a new turn as victim discloses online attacks from those who support man convicted of indecent act

In line with the 70th Armed Forces Day, President Moon Jae-in highlighted strong national defense and the alliance with the US on Monday, as the allies cooperate toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. “Now we have launched our ambitious journey toward lasting peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. The path we are walking on is a path that no one has walked before, and so it is hard to predict what difficulties lie ahead. And therefore, strong defense is more important than ever,” the