Korean American pastor Kim Dong-chul, who was freed from North Korea last year after about 2 1/2 years in detention, said he had been spying for Seoul and Washington, NK News reported Monday.Kim was arrested in the northeastern city of Rason in October 2015, and was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor on charges of espionage and subversive acts against Pyongyang in April 2016. The North Korean state media at the time said Kim confessed in a press conference to collecting Workers’ Party, go

Drunk driving cases dropped 23 percent in Seoul in the month following the introduction of toughened regulations.The revised traffic law, the Second Yoon Chang-ho Act, lowered the legal limit of drivers’ blood alcohol level and imposes stronger punishments for driving under the influence.Yoon, an Army conscript and college student, was hit by a drunk driver in Busan in September last year. He suffered severe head injuries and died in November. Yoon’s death led the National Assembly t

The World Toilet Association has been granted special consultative status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council for its expertise in health and hygiene. This allows the WTA, currently led by Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young, to take part in meetings and events held by the UN to present ideas, build an international network and engage in lobbying. The WTA applied for special consultative status with the council in May last year and received a recommendation from its Committee on Nongovernme

President Moon Jae-in was expected to replace his top aides, including senior presidential secretary for civil affairs Cho Kuk, as early as Thursday.Cho, the longest serving senior presidential secretary in Moon’s office, will be succeeded by Kim Jo-won, chief executive of Korea Aerospace Industries, sources said.“We are in the final stage of vetting candidates for the three senior presidential secretary posts for civil affairs, jobs and civic society,” a source was quoted as s

Huawei Technologies, which the US has blacklisted as a national security threat, has secretly helped North Korea build and maintain its commercial wireless network, the Washington Post reported Monday.As the report suggests the Chinese tech giant, which uses American technology in its components, may have violated US sanctions by providing equipment to North Korea, it could lead to Washington increasing pressure on Huawei and possibly affect US-China trade negotiations as well as US-North Korea

The man who set fire to a vehicle outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul died from wounds sustained in the incident, police said Friday. The man, whose identity has not been disclosed, set fire to a van and himself in front of the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul at around 3:20 a.m. Friday.According to police and fire authorities, the man stopped his car on the sidewalk outside the entrance of the embassy building, and set fire to the inside of the vehicle. Flammable sub

Korea has exceeded Japan in controlling trade of strategic materials, a report by a US research institute showed, amid a trade spat between the two neighboring countries as Tokyo blamed “weaknesses” in Seoul’s export control system for its latest restrictions in exports to Korea.South Korea ranked No. 17 among 200 countries surveyed in terms of the effectiveness of national strategic trade controls in a study by the Institute for Science and International Security, a nonprofit

The liquidation of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Korean assets is likely to be expedited as it has refused to hold talks on compensation for victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor, according to sources Tuesday.A civic group working with the victims said that the Japanese firm had not responded to the victims’ request for discussions to follow up on the South Korean Supreme Court’s order that it compensate them by the Monday deadline. “Having lost the lawsuit, Mitsub

Jeon Gwang-hoon, a pastor and chief of the Christian Council of Korea who has been accused of seditious conspiracy for repeatedly calling for President Moon Jae-in to step down, is under investigation over other charges, including violation of the banking law and forgery of documents. According to police, Jeon was questioned at Hyehwa Police Station in Seoul on Friday over allegations that he walked away with money he collected from Christians for a “mission bank” that he established

Umbrella unions lambasted the Minimum Wage Commission’s decision on Friday to raise minimum wage by 2.9 percent next year to 8,590 won per hour.The Federation of Korean Trade Unions called it “a minimum wage disaster,” and said it was the lowest increase rate since 2.7 percent in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis and 2.75 percent in 2010 just after the global financial crisis. “If it continues like this, it would be difficult to reach a minimum wage of 10,000 won wit

The UN Children’s Fund used contributions from South Korea to buy drugs and nutritional support for the vulnerable in North Korea, Radio Free Asia reported Thursday.The South Korean government donated $8 million to the World Food Program and UNICEF early last month to support their work in North Korea. Some $3.5 million of the donation went to UNICEF. In response to RFA’s question on how Seoul’s donations were being used, UNICEF’s East Asia and Pacific regional office com

President Moon Jae-in was set to request a report from the National Assembly on Wednesday on the confirmation hearing of Prosecutor General nominee Yoon Seok-youl -- a report that two opposition parties have refused to adopt, accusing Yoon of perjury.A Cheong Wa Dae official told Yonhap News that the president would make the request Wednesday. A day after the main opposition Liberty Korea Party decided not to adopt the report on Yoon’s confirmation hearing, which would have signaled its ap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister Yo-jong appears to have become the ninth most powerful person in the country.The seating arrangements at the memorial service marking the 25th anniversary of the death of North Korea’s founder, Kim Il-sung, Monday at Pyongyang Gymnasium showed her current political status.She was seated just four places to the left of her brother, after vice chairmen of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party Pak Pongju, Ri Man-gon and Ri Su-y

A 23-year-old South Korean man is under investigation for allegedly seeking to join the Islamic State terrorist group, and preparing for a terrorist attack while he was serving in the army. It marks the country’s first case of a “lone wolf” terrorist act being planning.The man surnamed Park, 23, was found to have stolen an ignition device for explosives while being trained at an army engineer school after joining an infantry unit near Seoul in October 2017, broadcaster KBS repo

A presidential council for social dialogue has been crippled due to boycotts by some of its members representing labor, halting discussion on a number of agenda items. The Economic, Social and Labor Council said Thursday that the mandates of four of its committees would expire this month.The committees responsible for improving the social safety net and for ensuring industrial safety and health will stop operating July 11 and 16, respectively. The other two committees, one responsible for improv