All passengers of motor vehicles on all roads will be required to wear seat belts starting late September under revised road traffic rules, the National Police Agency said Tuesday.This means backseat passengers will have to buckle up not just on highways but on any road. From Sept. 28, following a six-month grace period, the driver will be slapped with a fine of 30,000 won ($28) if a passenger aged 13 or older is not wearing a seat belt, and 60,000 won if the passenger is under the age of 13.The

With former President Lee Myung-bak behind bars, his family members and associates are also expected to face charges of abetting him.Prosecutors suspect some of Lee’s family members were involved in the delivery of 2.26 billion won ($2.1 million) in kickbacks from Lee Pal-seung, who headed Woori Finance Holdings from 2008 to 2013, to the former president, and stated them as accomplices of bribery in the request for Lee’s arrest warrant.Lee’s elder brother and former lawmaker Lee Sang-deuk is acc

Former President Park Geun-hye refused to be questioned by the prosecution on allegations that her presidential office lied about the time at which she was first informed of the deadly sinking of the Sewol ferry four years ago.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said that a senior prosecutor visited Park at the Seoul Detention Center on Monday, but could not interrogate her due to her refusal. In October last year, President Moon Jae-in’s office said it found documents showing that Pa

Former leader of the People’s Party Ahn Cheol-soo took up an official post in the Bareun Future Party on Friday, adding weight to speculation he may run for Seoul mayor in the local elections in June. Ahn stepped down from the leadership when the People’s Party merged with the Bareun Party a month ago to form the Bareun Future Party.The new party’s co-leaders Yoo Seong-min and Park Joo-sun have asked Ahn to run for Seoul mayor, hoping he will save the party from single-digit support ratings. Ahn

Prosecutors have investigated nearly 20 close associates and relatives of former President Lee Myung-bak as they look into corruption allegations against Lee.The associates implicated include Choi See-joong, former head of the Korea Communications Commission, known to be Lee’s mentor; Kim Paik-joon, former senior presidential secretary for administrative affairs often dubbed as Lee’s “butler”; and Lee Byung-mo, executive secretary of the Cheonggye Foundation who managed the former president’s as

The prosecution’s investigation into corruption allegations involving former President Lee Myung-bak took a major turn in the past two months, as his close associates began to speak out.While investigating former National Intelligence Service chief Won Sei-hoon, prosecutors last year found that money from the NIS’ audit-free account was delivered to Cheong Wa Dae officials during the Lee administration.Kim Hee-joong, who served as Lee’s presidential secretary for private affairs, told prosecutor

Lee Myung-bak will be the country’s fifth former president to be grilled by the prosecution when he appears at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday for questioning over corruption allegations. After five months of investigation into suspicions of bribery, abuse of power and embezzlement, among other charges, the prosecution summoned Lee for interrogation as a suspect.Former President Park Geun-hye was investigated by the prosecution while she was still in office. Prosecuto

Prosecutors are questioning people close to former President Lee Myung-bak as they prepare for his interrogation Wednesday over a string of corruption allegations that include bribery, abuse of authority, embezzlement and dereliction of duty.The prosecution on Sunday questioned Lee’s son-in-law Lee Sang-joo, former Vice Minister of Knowledge Economy Park Young-joon and the chief of Lee’s Cheonggye Foundation Song Jung-ho as suspects over their alleged involvement in receiving illicit funds on be

Prosecutors on Tuesday detained a human resources officer of KB Kookmin Bank as they investigate allegations that the bank gave favors to well-connected job applicants. It is the first time the prosecution has detained someone since it began looking into the bank’s hiring irregularities early last month. The Seoul Southern District Court issued a warrant Monday to detain the human resources officer, citing concerns that he may destroy evidence. The HR officer is charged with obstruction of busin

Sons of two late former presidents are considering whether to run for office in the June 13 local elections.Kim Hong-gul, the third son of late President Kim Dae-jung, said in a radio interview Monday that he is willing to consider candidacy in the elections.In response to a question on whether he was planning to run for the Yeongam-Muan-Sinan constituency of South Jeolla Province, Kim, a member of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, said nothing has been decided yet. “My father hailed from Si

Police said Thursday that they have arrested a man who ran a prostitution website using an overseas server on charges of arranging sex trade and distributing pornographic material.According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s cybersecurity division, the man, identified only by his surname Choi, earned a total of 280 million won ($257,740) by arranging some 14,000 cases of prostitution through his website from July 2013 to January last year.Choi arranged prostitution for men who contacted h

Prosecutors are looking into additional bribery allegations linked to former President Lee Myung-bak, who is already under probe over an extensive corruption scandal.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office is investigating suspicions that one of Lee’s close aides accepted hundreds of millions of won from Daebo Group, which runs rest areas on expressways, in 2010 in return for helping the company win government contracts, sources said Wednesday. The chairman of Daebo Group is currently ser

Prosecutors on Tuesday demanded 30 years in prison and a fine of 118.5 billion won ($110 million) for former President Park Geun-hye over massive corruption that led to her removal from office last year. The court is expected to deliver its verdict as early as late March.Park did not attend the hearing at the Seoul Central District Court where prosecutors made the sentencing recommendation. She has been refusing to attend her trial after the court extended her detention in October for another si

An association of progressive Catholic priests apologized for sexual assault attempts by one of its members during an overseas mission trip several years ago.The victim, a volunteer at the time, revealed on a KBS news program on Friday that a priest surnamed Han attempted to rape her multiple times during a mission trip to South Sudan in 2011.The Suwon diocese suspended Han, saying he admitted to most of the victim’s claims.  (Yonhap)He also left the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice whe

Seoul City said the amount of fine dust was reduced by a daily average of 0.8 ton during the three days it provided free public transportation to lessen vehicle emissions last month. The city government spent 14.5 billion won ($13.4 million) to offer free public transportation during morning and evening rush hours on Jan. 15, 17 and 18 as part of emergency measures to combat high levels of fine dust.This means it cost the city 4.8 billion won to prevent 800 kilograms of fine dust, or 6 million w