Two dozen schools in Gyeonggi Province have been caught installing monitoring devices in private areas including restrooms in violation of regulations, authorities said Friday.The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education carried out an investigation into 177 schools from April to June and discovered that 25 schools operated CCTVs in a way that undermines the students’ privacy or basic human rights.According to the education supervisory body, one middle school was operating four CCTVs inside schoo

China has arrested Chinese-American billionaire blogger Charles Xue, who has attracted 12 million followers with his reform-minded comments, for suspected involvement in prostitution, police said Sunday, as Beijing steps up controls on web users.Venture capitalist Xue, one of the country's most popular bloggers, was detained by Beijing police Friday evening.His arrest comes as authorities have been stepping up controls on the country's freewheeling web users in recent weeks.Billionaire Xue is an

South Korea is not considering holding a summit with North Korea at the moment as conditions are not yet ripe for such a meeting, Seoul's unification minister said Sunday.Pyongyang has recently shifted from a bellicose posture to dialogue mode by agreeing with Seoul to resume a jointly run factory complex in the communist country that has been shuttered since early April amid tension sparked by the North's nuclear test in February.Last week, the Koreas also agreed to hold reunions from Sept. 25-

Prosecutors said Sunday they have seized a bank account belonging to a nephew of former President Chun Doo-hwan as part of their efforts to reclaim concealed assets of the former military dictator convicted of taking bribes while in office in the 1980s.Chun was ordered by the nation's top court in 1997 to return to state coffers some 220 billion won (US$196.8 million) he illegally accumulated through bribery from big businesses during his military-backed rule from 1980-88. Chun, who seized power

Nine out of South Korea's top 10 family-controlled conglomerates saw their stock market capitalizations plunge this year due to weak earnings stemming from a prolonged economic slump, data showed Sunday.The combined market value of the 90 listed companies belonging to the 10 biggest conglomerates, known as chaebol, came to 630.9 trillion won (US$567 billion) as of Friday, down 9.4 percent from the beginning of this year, according to the data by financial information provider FnGuide.During the

Prosecutors said Sunday they have raided the offices of two affiliates of Dohwa Engineering Co. Ltd. as part of their probe into allegations that the major civil engineering firm created huge slush funds while participating in a project to refurbish the country's four major rivers.Dohwa Engineering is accused of amassing secret funds worth nearly 93 billion won (US$83.52 million) at the behest of its imprisoned chairman while contracted to provide engineering services in the controversial mega-b

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observed a maneuver exercise of a newly built warship, the North's state media said Sunday.According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report monitored in Seoul, "(Kim) guided maneuvers of a newly built warship." The date and location of the exercise were not specified. "He was greatly satisfied to see the high maneuverability and striking capability of the warship," the KCNA said in an English dispatch. It added that Kim called on "the need to make many mu

The prosecution's requests for chemical castration for sex offenders rose sharply this year as a revised law allows the hormonal treatment for even those who commit sexual violence against adults, the top prosecution office said Sunday.The Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office (SPPO) said it filed 17 requests for chemical castration with the court in the first seven months of this year, more than double the seven requests for the full year of 2012.The jump results from the amendment to a related ac

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon kicked off a world rowing championship at his hometown in central South Korea Saturday, giving pep talks to nearly 2,000 competitors from around the world."Sports have the power to bring out peace and development," Ban said in a brief speech at the opening ceremony of the 2013 World Rowing Championship in Chungju, a provincial city 100 kilometers south of Seoul.The eight-day championship drew 1,940 athletes from 75 countries, organizers said.Ban's six-day visit

A judge sentenced a high school student on Friday to three to four years in prison for murdering a man who admonished him for his misbehavior.Suwon District Court took the 17-year-old, identified by his surname Kim, into custody after passing down the prison sentence.Kim beat the man in his 30s to death with his friend Shin on a street in Gwonseon-gu, Suwon, when a quarrel erupted after the victim told Kim “not to spit on the street” on July 21, 2012.The victim allegedly fell on the ground durin

자신에게 훈계를 하는 39세 남성을 때려 숨지게 한 혐의로 기소된 17살 고교생 김모군이 법정구속됐다.　수원지법형사11부는 23일 상해치사 혐의로 기소된 김군에게 징역 장기 4년, 단기 3년을 선고했다.　지난해 7월 21일 수원시 권선구의 길거리에서 친구 신씨(20)와 함께 있던 김군은 김씨(39)가 “아무데나 침 뱉지 말라”며 훈계를 하자 말다툼을 벌이던 중, 신씨에게 맞아 쓰러져 있는 김씨를 때려서 숨지게 해 불구속 기소된 바 있다.재판부는 “피고인은 쓰러져 방어능력이 없는 피해자를 발로 차는 등 때려 어린 아들을 비롯한 다섯 식구의 생계를 책임지던 가장을 숨지게 해 죄질이 매우 불량하고 유족들도 엄중한 처벌을 원하고 있다”고 전했다.　한편, 사건 이후 군입대를 해 현재 군복무 중인 신씨는 군사법원에서 재판을 받고 있는 중이다.　(임우정 인턴기자 / 코리아헤럴드)　<관련영문기사>Teen killer gets 3-4 yearsA judge sentenced a high school

South Korean midfielder Ki Sung-yueng is seeking to leave Swansea City in English Premier League, an informed source revealed on Friday."Ki's agent is trying to find a new team in England," said the source, privy to the transfer market in European football. "He's waiting for offers from Premier League clubs and also other European teams."Ki, 24, is in his second season with Swansea City. After joining them from Celtic in Scotland last August, Ki appeared in 38 matches -- 29 in Premier League, tw

A 29-year-old man was charged without detention for allegedly threatening to commit suicide at the military recruitment agency, after his request for an exemption from military service was denied by officials, the police said on Thursday.  According to the Suwon Jungbu Police Agency, a man identified by his surname Park visited Incheon Gyeonggi Regional Military Manpower Administration in Suwon for a consultation on his compulsory military duty on Tuesday. He demanded the exemption, saying that

Workers at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant on Thursday scrambled to check hundreds of tanks storing highly radioactive water, after one sprang a leak that is feared to have seeped into the Pacific.Around 300 tonnes of toxic liquid was believed to have escaped from one of the tanks that hold water used to cool the broken reactors, while operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) warned some of it might have flowed into the ocean."We are hurriedly checking if some 300 tanks of the same type