The prosecution on Monday sought an arrest warrant for Chung Kyung-sim, wife of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, on 10 charges related to her daughter’s university admission and her investments in a private equity fund. It is getting to the bottom of corruption allegations surrounding his family.Given this situation, the ruling Democratic Party has vowed to prioritize its bill to create an agency to investigate irregularities among high-ranking officials -- including the president, lawmake

The word “malnutrition” tends to invoke images of starving children in refugee camps, fleeing conflict or drought in lands far away. While that image does reflect a reality of hunger, it does not solely define malnutrition nor those who suffer from it. Certainly with more than 820 million hungry people in the world, most of them living in our Asia-Pacific region, undernourishment is definitely a huge problem and one that has stubbornly vexed attempts to crack. But there are other mal

The momentum for easing the strained ties between South Korea and Japan is building ahead of Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon’s planned trip to Tokyo this week.During his three-day visit starting Tuesday, Lee is scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after attending Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony. It will be the first high-level meeting in more than a year between the two neighboring nations that are embroiled in a long-running feud that has spread fro

As enjoyable as it is to cook a stir-fry, there is good reason to believe it might be exposing you to a cancer risk. In fact, a slow but steady stream of research now suggests inhaling cooking fumes, especially oily ones, may be hazardous. Homemakers, wok-tossers and barbecue enthusiasts, read on.The first studies supporting a link between cooking fumes and lung cancer were published in 2000 by separate research groups in Taiwan and Singapore. The Taiwanese work, published in the American Journa

Members of a group that identifies itself as a coalition of progressive university students broke into the residence of US Ambassador Harry Harris in Seoul on Friday. They climbed over the wall using ladders and staged a protest against the US presence in South Korea.A photo the group posted on its Facebook account shows the activists unfurling banners accusing the US of demanding a 500 percent hike in costs to South Korea for the upkeep of its troops here. A large banner read, “Leave this

In line with market expectations, the Bank of Korea on Wednesday cut its policy rate by a quarter percentage point to 1.25 percent, which matches the lowest level seen from June 2016 to November 2017.Growing downside risks and low inflation led the central bank to lower the base rate for the second time in three months.The growth momentum of Korea’s economy is expected to further weaken down the road amid slumping exports and sluggish investments. Outbound shipments from Asia’s fourt

According to a recent survey by the Export-Import Bank of Korea, 78.9 percent of 216 domestic companies which took loans from it to expand their businesses abroad said they did not intend to bring their overseas establishments back to the country.Asked about the business environment in South Korea and abroad, 76.9 percent chose a foreign country. This shows the sorry state of economic affairs here. Another survey of 150 companies with overseas business operations, conducted by the Korea Economic

The Cabinet approved measures aimed at reforming the prosecution at a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon on Tuesday.The move came a day after the measures were announced by Justice Minister Cho Kuk, who offered to resign shortly after the announcement, caving in to the mounting pressure to step down in order to distance himself from the widening probe into fraud and corruption allegations involving his family.His wife, a professor, was being questioned by prosecutors at the very

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission discussed closing Unit 1 of the Wolsong nuclear power plant permanently in its meeting Friday, but failed to reach a conclusion. It is unclear if it will discuss the agenda again in the next meeting on Oct. 25.It effectively took into consideration the possibility of the Board of Audit and Inspection releasing audit results against the shutdown of the reactor in North Gyeongsang Province. The power plant has been suspended following a decision by the st