독립운동가 출신으로 박정희 독재정권 당시 긴급조치 1호 위반 혐의로 옥고를 치르다 올해 초 재심에서 무죄를 선고받은 고 (故) 장준하 선생의 유가족이 모금활동을 해준 시민들의 덕으로 민사소승을 할 수 있게 되었다.장 선생의 장남인 호권씨는 1일, 언론을 통해 지난달 8월부터 31일까지 4천명으로부터 5천만원이 모금되었다고 밝히며 “오늘부터 국가를 상대로 소송을 시작한다”고 말했다.그는 “후원하고 격려해 주신 분들을 보니 ‘아버님이 잊히지 않았구나’하는 생각 이 들었다”며 감격을 표했다.포털사이트 다음 토론방 ‘아고라’에는 지난달 장 선생의 유가족이 소송비용이 없어 국가를 상대로 손해배상 청구소송을 제기하지 못하고 있다는 소식이 올려졌고, 이로 인해 국민모금이 시작되었다.고인의 유가족은 소송비용을 뺀 나머지 돈을 ‘장준하 재단’(가칭)의 설립을 위해 쓸 계획이다.유신헌법 개정을 주장하며 박정희 독재 정권에 항거했던 장준하 선생은 지난 1974년 긴급조치 1호 위반 혐의로 기소돼 징역

South Korean stocks closed 0.35 percent higher Thursday as investors' sentiment was boosted by better-than-expected economic data from China and the United States, analysts said. The local currency ended flat against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 6.71 points to close at 1,920.74. Trading volume was moderate at 330.3 million shares worth 3.56 trillion won ($3.17 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 420 to 371.Analysts said Seoul shares gathered

A local businessman close to a son of former President Chun Doo-hwan has undergone prosecution questioning over his suspected role in helping Chun's family manage massive slush funds, prosecution sources said Thursday.The recent summons of Ryu Chang-hee, known as a long-time business partner of Chun's second son Jae-yong, is part of the prosecution's extensive search for unpaid fines of some 167.2 billion won (US$149.3 million) levied on the former president for amassing large ill-gotten money d

South Korean stocks traded 0.46 percent higher late Thursday morning, led by gains in techs and financial firms.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 8.82 points to 1,922.85 as of 11:20 a.m.Tech shares gathered ground, with Samsung Electronics rising 0.39 percent and top chipmaker SK hynix adding 0.55 percent. Flat panel maker LG Display gained 0.36 percent.Financial firms also traded higher, with Shinhan Financial moving up 1.46 percent and KB Financial adding 1.83 perce

South Korea's trade surplus slightly widened last month as its overall trade volume grew from a year earlier, the government said Thursday.In July, the country's exports amounted to US$45.84 billion, up 2.6 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The July figure marks a turnaround from a 0.9 percent on-year drop in the previous month.The country's trade surplus came to $2.71 billion with its imports growing 2.7 percent on-year to $43.13 bill

A group of Korean-American community leaders said Wednesday it will meet with White House officials and congressional leaders this week to get their voice heard on key policy issues.The Council of Korean Americans (CKA) is hosting an inaugural "Community+Congressional Leaders Event" in Washington, D.C., later in the day.It will feature panel discussions on South Korea-U.S. relations, immigration reform, the Affordable Care Act, and North Korea, CKA said.Among the participants are Reps. Ed Royce

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Wednesday that the Pentagon may have to stop using up to three Navy aircraft carriers and order additional sharp reductions in the size of the Army and Marine Corps if Congress doesn't act to avoid massive budget cuts beginning in 2014.Hagel told reporters that the sweeping budget cuts over the next 10 years could leave the nation with an ill-prepared, under-equipped military doomed to face more technologically advanced enemies.He laid out a worst-case s

U.N. experts will travel to Syria as soon as possible to investigate three alleged incidents of chemical weapons attacks, the United Nations announced Wednesday.U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said the green light for the investigation followed “the understanding reached with the government of Syria” during last week's visit to Damascus by U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane and the head of the chemical weapons investigation team, Ake Sellstrom.The announcement caps more than four months of behind-

Earthquakes can rip open sub-sea pockets of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, according to a study by German and Swiss scientists published on Sunday.Quake-caused methane should be added to the list of heat-trapping carbon emissions that affect the world‘s climate system, although the scale of this contribution remains unclear, they said.The evidence comes from cores of sediment drilled from the bed of the northern Arabian Sea during a research trip by marine scientists in 2007.One of the

President Barack Obama's national security team acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that, when investigating one suspected terrorist, it can read and store the phone records of millions of Americans.Since it was revealed recently that the National Security Agency puts the phone records of every American into a database, the Obama administration has assured the nation that such records are rarely searched and, when they are, officials target only suspected international terrorists.Meanwhile

South Korean stocks opened lower Thursday as the United States Federal Reserve remained silent over when the central bank will scale back its quantitative easing moves, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 5.28 points, or 0.28 percent, to 1,908.75 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Tech shares traded lower, with top chipmaker SK hynix falling 0.18 percent and handset maker LG Electronics losing 0.41 percent. Market behemoth Samsung Electronics remained unch

South Korea's minimum wage has been set at 5,210 won ($4.66) per hour for next year, up slightly over 7 percent from this year, the labor ministry said Thursday.Earlier this month, a trilateral council of government, labor and management representatives agreed to raise the country's minimum wage for 2014 by 7.2 percent from the current 4,860 won per hour. The increase plan was confirmed as no objections or complaints were raised by labor and management, the ministry said, adding that it will mak