Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Meong-su said on Monday he was “disappointed” at the recent findings that the judiciary under his predecessor had tried to make deals with the presidential office over trials to get its support to introduce a new appellate court.“I am sorry (the judiciary) has disappointed the people. I am disappointed as well,” Kim told reporters on his way to work. A special inquiry panel under the Supreme Court said in a report on Friday that it found more documents in which th

SINGAPORE -- US President Donald Trump’s cancellation of his June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore threw cold water on civil servants and people in the hotel industry here who had been preparing for the historic event. Singapore had already begun press accreditation to register foreign journalists wishing to cover the summit.Hotels which had blocked off or taken back rooms that were allocated to tour agencies in anticipation of a hike in visitors around the summit peri

Experts who have tracked North Korea’s nuclear tests refuted media reports that the country’s dismantling of its nuclear site is nothing more than the destruction of evidence.“Despite whatever actions may be taken in the next couple of days at the nuclear test site, the forensic evidence will outlast any explosions that may be used to collapse or seal the test tunnels,” experts including Frank Pabian wrote in a commentary for 38 North, a North Korea analysis website run by the US-Korea Institute

Three companies each purchased more monazite, which contains radioactive substances, than the mattress maker for Daijin Bed, a lawmaker said on Wednesday amid rising public anger over mattresses emitting dangerous levels of radioactive material.The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission announced last week that some of Daijin Bed’s mattresses emitted radon at levels of up to 9.3 times the national safety standard.Long-time exposure to radon -- a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas -- can lead t

An appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced two supermarket workers to prison terms for preparing weapons to kill their boss and hurting each other.The Seoul High Court said Wednesday that it sentenced defendants surnamed Lee and Choi to a two-year imprisonment suspended for three years, and a jail term of two years, respectively, on charges including making preparations to murder.The two shopping cart attendants decided to kill their manager, who they thought was condescending t

With longer average life expectancy, courts are increasingly recognizing 65, instead of 60, as the retirement age for physical workers. Until recently, courts have followed a Supreme Court precedent in 1989 that saw 60 as the retirement age for laborers. The Seoul Central District Court said on Tuesday that it ruled in favor of a traffic accident victim who appealed that he should receive more compensation as he could have worked until the age of 65 had it not been for the injury. A lower court

A resident of Gwangju spoke out about how he witnessed a military helicopter firing shots at a building during the deadly crackdown on a 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city, and how he joined the civilian militia at the time.Ji Yong, 76, recently visited the May 18 Memorial Culture Center to testify after learning that a right-wing critic had identified him in a photo as a member of the North Korean special forces, the center’s chief Lim Jong-soo said. (Yonhap)Ji said he saw a h

Top prosecutor Moon Moo-il said Monday the prosecution would improve its decision-making process following internal strife over an investigation into a corruption case involving a lawmaker.A team of prosecutors probing a hiring scandal at casino operator Kangwon Land publicly accused Moon last week of exerting undue influence to keep them from requesting a warrant to detain Rep. Kweon Seong-dong of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party and indicting some senior prosecutors for allegedly interf

Seoul’s presidential office said on Friday it will “wait and see” as North Korea threatened to not hold talks with South Korea unless it stops the ongoing joint military drills with the US.Citing the Max Thunder exercise between South Korean and US air forces as the reason, Pyongyang called off high-level talks with Seoul on Wednesday, and threatened to cancel the summit talks with Washington scheduled to be held next month in Singapore. On Thursday, Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the North’s Committe

North Koreans are upbeat about the economic changes the summit between their leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump might bring, according to a member of a nonprofit group who was in Pyongyang just last week.Singapore-based Choson Exchange, which has trained some 20,000 North Koreans in business since 2007, held its latest workshop in Pyongyang last week, focusing on entrepreneurship and startup skills. A record number of North Koreans -- almost 130 -- signed up for the workshop. North

A collection of women’s groups and labor groups Wednesday called on the government to take stronger action against gender discrimination in employment.The Joint Action to Eliminate Gender Discrimination in Employment urged the Ministry of Employment and Labor to come up with short-term and long-term measures to enforce the law on equal employment opportunities, and correct unfair recruitment practices.“It is hard to overlook the ministry’s dereliction of duty on gender discrimination in employme

Senior officials of North Korea’s ruling party are visiting China, Pyongyang’s state media said Tuesday, in what appears to be a trip to inspect China’s economic development following recent summits between the countries’ leaders.“A friendship visiting group of the Workers’ Party of Korea led by Pak Thae-song, member of the Political Bureau and vice chairman of its Central Committee, left Pyongyang on Monday to visit the People’s Republic of China,” the Korean Central News Agency said.Pak is kno

A group of liberal lawyers filed a complaint with the prosecution on Monday against a spy chief and a unification minister during the Park Geun-hye administration over allegations that Seoul’s spy agency made 12 North Korean restaurant workers defect to the South – some of them against their will -- in 2016.Lawyers for a Democratic Society, also known as Minbyeon, lodged the complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, calling for an investigation into ex-National Intelligence

SINGAPORE – News that Singapore will host the historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un next month made top headlines here, drawing attention to where on the island the two leaders will meet.Local experts say the most likely venue would be the Shangri-La Hotel, which has hosted the annual high-level Shangri-La security dialogue among 28 Asia Pacific states since 2002. The historic meeting between China’s President Xi Jinping and Taiwan’s President Ma Y

Police obtained arrest warrants to interrogate on Thursday a blogger at the center of an online opinion rigging scandal as he has been refusing to be questioned.Kim Dong-won, known by his online alias “Druking,” was detained and indicted last month for allegedly using software in January to jack up the number of “likes” for two internet comments critical of the Moon Jae-in administration on news stories carried by internet portal Naver.After being interrogated twice on April 17 and 19 at the Seo