Presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in on Friday announced childcare policy pledges and vowed to build more state-run preschools, seeking to widen the gap with his liberal opponent who has been hit by controversy for hinting at the opposite.The presidential candidate of the liberal Democratic Party said he will expand the number of state-run kindergartens and preschools to have at least 40 percent of all children enrolled at such facilities by the end of his five-year presidency if elected.Moon J

Police said Friday they will beef up security and crack down on illegal electioneering as the official campaign period for the presidential election is slated to begin next week. The National Police Agency said they will set up an election security headquarters that operates 24 hours a day from Monday, when the official campaign period kicks off, until the ballot counting of the May 9 election is completed. (Yonhap)Police will maintain a high level of security until the beginning of voting and r

China's top nuclear envoy has apparently pushed to visit North Korea following his trip to South Korea, but Pyongyang has not answered his request, a diplomatic source in Seoul said Friday.Wu Dawei is to leave for Beijing on Friday after a five-day stay in Seoul during which he met senior government officials and presidential candidates to discuss North Korea and its nuclear and missile threats.Wu Dawei (L) meets with Lee Hee-ho, the wife of late former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, in Se

Presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in stayed ahead of his biggest rival by 3 percentage points after both saw their approval ratings increase by the same margin, a poll showed Friday.Moon of the liberal Democratic Party garnered 40 percent from Tuesday to Thursday, up 2 points from last week, according to Gallup Korea. Ahn Cheol-soo of the center-left People's Party also gained 2 points to 37 percent.The main contenders in South Korea's presidential election (from L to R): Hong Joon-pyo, Ahn Che

Prosecutors on Friday questioned the chief of the state customs agency over allegations a former associate of ousted President Park Geun-hye's friend exerted influence on its personnel issues.Chun Hong-uk of the Korea Customs Service was summoned to appear at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office to bear witness to the suspicions surrounding Ko Young-tae. Chief of the Korea Customs Service Chun Hong-uk speaks during an interview with Yonhap News Agency in Daejeon, central South Korea, o

South Korea will build a new terminal at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul to handle growing travel demand, the transportation ministry said Friday.The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation made the decision as it judged the current facilities at Gimpo unable to meet growing travel demand, particularly on domestic routes, a ministry official said.(Yonhap)The number of passengers who travel on domestic routes are expected to jump to 31.67 million in 2030 from 19.13 millio

Conservative presidential candidate Yoo Seong-min plans to focus on expanding welfare to tackle the troubles of low birth rates and an aging population if elected in the upcoming vote, a list of his top 10 campaign pledges showed Friday.The nominee of the splinter conservative Bareun Party made the pledge as part of his vision to build a nation where people want to have children and receive fair treatment for their labor.Yoo Seong-min, presidential nominee of Bareun Party. (Yonhap)The list obtai

North Korea on Friday sent a radio broadcast of a new combination of mysterious random numbers believed to be coded orders to its spies operating in South Korea, one day ahead of late state founder Kim Il-sung's 105th birthday, one of its key anniversaries.The North's propaganda station Radio Pyongyang began broadcasting the messages at 1:15 a.m. (Seoul time), calling out a series of pages and numbers, such as No. 69 on page 823, No. 92 on page 467 and No. 100 on page 957, before repeating them

Struggling to cope with a sharp drop in Chinese visitors, local tourism organizations have stepped up efforts to release novel tour programs to woo Japanese and Southeast Asian visitors, government and industry sources said Friday. The South Korea tourism and hospitality sectors have been hit by the dearth in Chinese travelers triggered by the apparent retaliation by Beijing against the planned deployment of a US anti-missile system, or the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, on the Korean Peni

JEJU -- The southern island of Jeju is regaining its former popularity as a destination for school trips, helping its business recovery from the plummet in the number of Chinese tourists, local officials said Friday.The Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Tourism Association said some 129,600 students from 525 schools nationwide are expected to visit Jeju in the March-June period.(Jeju World Natural Heritage Management Division)The scenic island is traditionally popular for honeymoon trips an

The state-run National Pension Services, a major bondholder of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., is set to decide later in the day on whether to accept the latest rescue plan for the shipyard, industry sources said Friday.aThe chief investment officer of the state-run National Pension Services (NPS), said Friday that the largest bondholder of troubled Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. is moving to find "common ground" with creditors of the cash-hungry shipyard in negotiati

Foldable smartphones are expected to be slowly commercialized starting in 2019, industry watchers said Friday.According to market researcher Strategy Analytics, the first smartphone of its kind is anticipated to be released in 2019 and take up 0.1 percent of the global market that year. Industry watchers earlier expected such smartphones could be released as early as 2017.(Yonhap)The researcher added the presence of foldable smartphones will gradually rise to 0.7 percent and 2.2 percent in 2020

Ford Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. have been ordered to recall faulty parts in more than 1,000 models in South Korea, the country's transport ministry said Friday. This is part of a broader recall order recently delivered by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in the South Korean automobile market. (Yonhap)Ford Motor and Mitsubishi Motors plan to recall a combined 1,016 units of two vehicles -- the Ford Mondeo sedan and Mitsubishi Pajero sport utility vehicle -- for valve

South Korea plans to set up a museum on North Korea's human rights by 2019 to raise public awareness about Pyongyang's serious human rights violations, government officials said Friday.The envisioned museum is expected to display documents and photos of North Korea's human rights records and introduce testimonies of North Korean defectors on rights abuses, according to the Ministry of Unification.(Yonhap)"As a new law on the North's human rights went into effect, there is the need to call attent

Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers has suffered his second loss of the season in as many starts, unable to get past the Chicago Cubs.Ryu was touched for a pair of home runs while allowing four earned runs in 4 2/3 innings at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Thursday (local time), as the Cubs went on to win 4-0.In this Associated Press photo, Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin winds up during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago on April 13, 2017. (