South Korea had 14 purported terror threats in the first seven months this year but seven out of 18 regional fire defense headquarters do not have an anti-terrorism squad to respond to them. According to government data revealed by Rep. Hong Chul-ho of minor opposition Bareun Party, the seven without an anti-terrorism response team, as required by law, are Gangwon, North Jeolla, South Gyeongsang and Jeju provinces, and Daejeon, Changwon and Sejong cities. The Act on 119 Rescue and Emergency Medi

“Take a look at this pupa hanging from a leaf.” At the call of the guide, 5-year-olds crowded around to observe the cocooned insect hanging from a shrub inside the “infant’s forest” of Samcheong Park, in the center of the country’s busiest city, Seoul. Each with a magnifying glass in hand, the children freely explored their surroundings, poking at a slug and shrieking in delight at finding a spider hanging on a web in a tree. Amid the drone of city life and strictly planned classroom culture, mo

President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday agreed to work together to pressure North Korea and seek a peaceful resolution to nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula, Cheong Wa Dae said.The two leaders reaffirmed their stance that they would watch closely and analyze provocative actions from North Korea and cooperate with international society, in a 30-minute conversation by phone from 10:40 a.m. to 11:10 a.m. South Korean President Moon Jae-in (left) and Japanese Prime

The South Korean government on Saturday began a formal environmental survey on the advanced US missile defense system deployed in a southern town amid a fierce protest by local residents and activists, officials said.The defense and environment ministries were to conduct their joint study of electromagnetic radiation and noise from the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in Seongju, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to them.Two rocket launchers and a powerful X-band radar

South Korean shares are expected to move in a tight range next week as escalating war rhetoric between North Korea and the United States could continue to weigh in the main index, analysts said Saturday.Cape Investment & Securities said it expected the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index to trade at the 2,300-2,360 range next week. The broader index closed at 2,319.71 points on Friday, down 3.1 percent from a week ago. Heightened tensions between North Korea and the US are negative f

A victim of Japanese sexual slavery, Kil Won-ok, on Thursday announced she will make her debut as a singer on the fifth memorial ceremony in tribute to the comfort women. “Whether others like it or not, I believe singing is my job because I like to sing,” Kil said in a production press conference held at the War and Women’s Human Rights Museum in Mapo-gu, Seoul.  Former “comfort women” Gil Won-ok (center) smiles at a press conference for her new EP at War & Women’s Human Rights Museum in Mapo-gu

Lawmakers are moving to introduce a new law that would ban employers from sending work-related messages outside work hours, amid rising calls to protect the right to disconnect from work. Recently, two bills have been recently submitted to the National Assembly, both intending to revise the labor law to stop employers and managers from giving work-related orders, directly and indirectly via mobile messengers, phone calls and other forms of social network services. “Many South Koreans complain of

The People’s Party is facing a deepening factional feud over former party leader Ahn Cheol-soo’s bid for chairmanship. The party, which holds 40 parliamentary seats, is split mainly between Ahn’s supporters and opponents, but Ahn said Wednesday that the clash is occurring due to differing views on how to salvage the party.Ahn Cheol-soo (Yonhap)“The party is currently in a state of crisis and all of us share the same thoughts that we all need to work together. It is only a matter of how,” Ahn tol

MITROVICA, Kosovo (AFP) -- Kosovo’s Roma minority “are not treated as humans,” laments Florim Masurica, who is seeking justice for his disabled son, one of the children suffering from suspected lead-poisoning contracted at post-war United Nations camps.Kosovo’s pro-independence ethnic Albanian rebels saw Roma people as guilty of cooperation with Serbs during the 1998-1999 conflict -- a gratuitous accusation as Roma largely kept out of the fighting.But some of them faced summary executions, while

BUSAN -- A Japanese man donated a photo of a Korean victim of Japan’s wartime sex slavery to a local museum on Tuesday as an apology for what he said is an act against humanity. Jikai Taketomi, an official from a private war archive in Japan, offered some 30 photos, letters and other articles from World War II to the state-run National Memorial Museum of Forced Mobilization under Japanese Occupation in Busan.  Jikai Taketomi, vice head of the War Archives on Soldiers and Ordinary People in the s

Liberty Korea Party’s reform committee on Monday announced a shift in its economic policy goals, while remaining undecided on former President Park Geun-hye’s party membership.“As we have previously announced in our reform resolution, we will promote our own ‘neo-conservatism’ and come up with detailed plans on issues such as inequality in labor, reducing pension gaps between generations and housing,” Lee Ok-nam, the committee’s spokesperson from the main opposition party said during a press mee

The three-way race for the leadership of the centrist People’s Party effectively kicked off Sunday, with the candidates holding separate press meetings, denouncing each other and laying out their plans to salvage the crisis-hit party. Ahn Cheol-soo, a former chief and previously the party’s presidential candidate, laid out plans to reshape it as a “small but strong opposition party.”  From left: Rep. Chun Jung-bae, former party chairman Ahn Cheol-soo and Rep. Chung Dong-yong (Yonhap)“I made my d

Conflict over equal rights for sexual minorities is flaring up due to the planned constitutional revision. During the presidential election, issues regarding sexual minorities drew attention, and the topic remains a thorny issue that riles up anti-gay sentiment. On Thursday, 300 organizations formed a coalition, announcing their opposition to providing equal rights regardless of sexual orientation. Made up of some 250 members, the group, whose name translates to people’s coalition against homose

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has officially adopted a homeless dog as a presidential pet, his office said Wednesday. Moon received a rescue dog named “Tory” from the animal rights group Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth after signing an adoption agreement, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said, adding that this is the first time that a shelter dog has become a so-called “First Dog.”  Moon and Tory (Yonhap)The four-year-old black mongrel joins Moon‘s two other pets -- a Pungsan dog

PARIS (AFP) -- Sperm count among men in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand has halved in 40 years, according to research warning of fertility risk, though outside experts urged caution about the results.A review of data collected from nearly 43,000 men in 185 previous studies from 1973 to 2011, found a “significant decline” in sperm concentration, according to findings published in the journal Human Reproduction Update.The decline was 52.4 percent -- from 99 million to 47 million s