Two South Koreans were killed when their rental car crashed off a bridge into a river in New Zealand‘s West Coast, local media reported Friday.The married couple, both 59, were the only occupants of the car that plunged into the Wanganui River on Tuesday, Radio New Zealand said in a report.Their bodies were recovered Thursday and family members who arrived in the country earlier in the day confirmed their identity, it said.The couple from Seoul had been in New Zealand for two days before the cra

Hollywood comedy “The Interview” has won a few fans in between sparking apocalyptic warnings from North Korea ― but for defectors who escaped the communist state, there’s nothing funny about it.That’s not to say they’re not watching it. Defectors based in the South have flocked to see the film at the center of an escalating international row thanks to its lurid depiction of the assassination of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.The United States claims that the film’s presentation of Kim ― whose

Organizers of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Friday announced the names of the venues for the quadrennial competition.Venues for ski jumping, biathlon and cross-country skiing will be located inside the Alpensia Resort in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul. They have been named, respectively, Alpensia Ski Jumping Center, Alpensia Biathlon Center and Alpensia Cross-Country Center.Alpensia will also host sledding events and the venue for skeleton, luge and bobsleigh will be ca

The United States has imposed sanctions on a North Korean firm as well as entities from China, Iran and other nations for involvement in proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. State Department said.The North’s Ryongaksan General Trading Corp. was on the list of entities and individuals slapped with sanctions under the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act, according to a State Department notice to the Federal Register.The notice, dated Tuesday, did not provide further

South Korea has ranked seventh in greenhouse gas emissions in the world over the past few years, with its emissions growth rate topping the list of members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.2015 will offer an important point for joining the global community’s efforts to prevent disasters due to climate change.Under the accords of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Korea is obliged to submit its plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions after 2020

A report by a unit of the Constitutional Court is drawing attention as it recommends that the nation’s system of appointing the court’s nine justices be revamped.The report was released by the Constitutional Research Institute, an arm of the Constitutional Court, which drew criticism from civic groups and international attention through its Dec. 19 ruling to dissolve the United Progressive Party.In its analysis of the qualifications, composition and terms of the constitutional justices, the inst

South Korea said Friday it will soon propose talks with North Korea on ways to set the wages for the North’s workers at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.“The government has plans to offer consultations with the North in the near future in order to resolve the issue,” the Unification Ministry’s deputy spokeswoman, Park Soo-jin, told reporters. “The timing has not been decided yet.”The South is upset about the North’s unilateral decision to amend the wage system for its 53,000 workers at the joint

A suspected hacker posted more illegally obtained information on two South Korean nuclear reactors Tuesday, continuing its demand for their suspension amid the growing worries over the cybersecurity of the country‘s critical facilities. Through an unidentified Twitter account around 3 p.m. in the day, the suspect made public four zipped files that contained drawings of some reactors and the URLs of articles on reactor-related technologies, which are held by the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co.Acc

Two major labor advocates estimated Tuesday that about 20,000 security guards at apartment complexes nationwide would face layoffs due to the minimum wage law, which will become fully effective on Jan. 1, 2015.As there are about 180,000 apartment security guards in the country, the estimate would amount to 11 percent to the total.The poll, conducted by the advocates at about 322 apartment complexes, showed that 7.5 percent of the respondents had decided to scale back their guard workforce from t

South Korea’s presidential jet will be fitted with antimissile gear by 2016 under a new project expected to cost more than 30 billion won ($27 million), government and military officials said Sunday.Under a renewed contract with the nation’s flagship carrier, Korean Air Lines Co., a Boeing 747-400 aircraft will be on lease to the presidential office until 2020.“Until now, the presidential jet hasn’t had its own antimissile gear, but the new jet is expected to be fitted with such gear as the miss

The Ministry of Environment on Sunday unveiled a list of hybrid vehicles for which it will provide a state subsidy of 1 million won ($900) per unit starting on Jan. 1, 2015.“They are five models of three auto brands ― Hyundai Motor, Toyota Motor and Ford Motor,” the ministry said. It has set the subsidiaries budget for the eco-friendly cars at 30 billion won for 30,000 units for next year.The models are Hyundai Motor’s Sonata 2.0GDI, Toyota Motor’s Prius, Prius V, Lexus CT200h and Ford Motor’s F

The police agency on Wednesday said that Park Chun-bong, the suspect in a gruesome killing and mutilation in Suwon, may have killed his victim intentionally, contrary to his earlier confession.Before the Nov. 26 death of Park’s ex-girlfriend, whose severed torso was later found in pieces, he rented a room at an inn in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, where he planned to stay for a long while, investigators said.Park, 56, was found to have stayed at the inn after killing the woman, who was 48 years old,