UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon may announce his presidential bid in January following his return home, his close acquaintance said Monday.Ban, whose term at the United Nations ends this year, has been gaining popularity here as a potential candidate in next year's presidential election."Ban will return home in mid-January, and make his first public speech to the Korean people in Eumseong, 131 kilometers south of Seoul. It will be around Jan. 15 to 20," said Lee Pil-yong, mayor of Eumseong muni

South Korea's Constitutional Court will kick off the official hearings on the impeachment of scandal-hit President Park Geun-hye next week, it said Tuesday. The court held the second preparatory hearing at the courthouse in central Seoul and set the date for 2 p.m. on Jan. 3.South Korea's parliament voted to oust President Park on Dec. 9 over allegations she let her friend Choi Soon-sil meddle in state affairs and amass profits using her ties to the president. The court has up to six months from

South Korea's independent counsel looking into a corruption case surrounding President Park Geun-hye and her confidante Choi Soon-sil said Tuesday it will request Interpol to put Choi's daughter on the wanted list.The investigators have been searching for the whereabouts of the 20-year-old Chung Yoo-ra, who is presumed to be staying in Germany. The team earlier said it has secured a court warrant to detain Chung for questioning on charges of business obstruction.The team said it decided to make

South Korea's health ministry said Tuesday that it has decided to ask the prosecution to investigate the head of a globally renowned medical group on suspicions of using donated cord blood without authorization.The ministry said it was also revoking its designation of Cha Medical Group as a state cell bank, a move that will force the medical group to return some 500 million won ($414,660) it has received in government support.Cord blood is blood that remains in the umbilical cord after childbirt

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that convicted Seoul's chief educator of running a smear campaign during the 2014 election, however suspended his sentence, allowing him to retain his job.In the decision, the court's First Petty Bench rejected an appeal from prosecutors and the defendant, Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. The Seoul High Court in September 2015 overturned a district court ruling that fined Cho 5 million won ($4,600