South Korea's rookie girl group Gugudan will hold its first-ever overseas fan meeting in Singapore next month, its star agency said Monday.The group will meet its international fans in the "Gugudan Live Show in Singapore 2017" at MasterCard Theatres at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, on Sept. 27, Jellyfish Entertainment said.  (Jellyfish Entertainment)Debuting last year, Gugudan has released two albums and recently launched its first sub-unit "Gugudan Ogu Ogu" with members Mina and Hyeyeon, backed

South Korea's new labor minister promised Monday to improve working conditions and treatment for non-regular workers by removing discriminative measures and setting up fair principles in the employment system. "The ministry will work to minimize non-regular jobs that are insecure and make sure the positions in the public sector that deal with the safety of our people are full-time based," Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-joo said in an inauguration speech released by the ministry. The

North Korea warned Monday that any accidental event can develop into a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula, as Seoul and Washington plan to stage annual joint military drills late this month.The North's warning came as Pyongyang earlier threatened to carry out four intermediate-range ballistic missile strikes near the US territory of Guam."Even if no one wants, if a small accidental event flares up, anybody cannot prevent a war," the Korean Central News Agency said in its commentary.South Korea

Sudan condemned North Korea's latest provocations of ballistic missile launches and warlike threats on Monday, affirming that the country is committed to fulfilling its international obligations on the matter."The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Sudan expresses its deep concern toward the prevailing developments in the Korean Peninsula and the exchanged threats of using power, which jeopardize peace and security in the whole region of North East Asia," the ministry said in a p

Prosecutors launched a new investigation Monday into allegations that South Korea's main intelligence agency orchestrated cyber operations to sway voters in the 2012 presidential election, after they were given the findings of an internal probe.The internal investigation team at the National Intelligence Service announced earlier this month that the spy agency operated up to 30 "extra-departmental teams," many involving Internet-savvy civilians, for election-meddling operations.The team put the

A group of forced labor victims and their families on Monday launched a damages suit against the government, seeking to get back funds that Japan provided to South Korea under a 1965 agreement on their diplomatic normalization.The association of forced labor victims and their bereaved families told a press conference that they filed the suit with the Seoul Central District Court to demand the government give back a $300 million grant in the treaty, under which South Korea and Japan normalized th

Kumho Tire Co., South Korea's second-biggest tiremaker by sales, said Monday that it continued to suffer an operating loss in the second quarter of the year, due to sluggish sales in overseas markets.The tiremaker logged an operating loss of 23 billion won ($20 million) in the April-June period following an operating loss of 28 billion won the previous quarter.Sales increased 6.4 percent on-year to reach 712 billion won in the second quarter, it added. (Yonhap)The company also suffered a net los

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday urged both North Korea and the United States to act reasonably and peacefully, saying the North Korean nuclear and missile issues must be resolved peacefully under any circumstances."I urge North Korea to immediately stop all provocations and threats, and stop making the situation worse," Moon said during a weekly meeting with his top aides at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae."I say this again with a strong emphasis. The national interest of the

Naver Corp., South Korea's top Internet portal operator, said Monday that it has added updated images of the Dokdo islets in the East Sea to its online map service just ahead of the 72nd anniversary of the country's liberation from Japan's colonial rule.South Korea celebrates Liberation Day -- a major holiday to mark the anniversary of Korea's independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule -- on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of Naver Corp.) (Yonhap)The new photos include a lot of fascinating underwa

South Korea and the United States are closely consulting each other on everything happening on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, the top US envoy in Seoul said Monday, amid allegations Washington is increasingly bypassing Seoul in its handling of North Korea.Marc Knapper, acting US ambassador to South Korea, made the remark during a visit to Rep. Choo Mi-ae, leader of the ruling Democratic Party, pointing out a series of phone calls and meetings between top officials of the two countries,

TOGANE, Japan -- Korean conscripts of the Japanese Imperial Army who were stricken with mental illness during World War II suffered from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to copies of Japanese hospital-kept clinical records obtained Monday by Yonhap News Agency.Asai Hospital in the city of Togane, Japan's Chiba Prefecture, has kept clinical records on about 8,000 former soldiers who developed mental illness on Japan's battlefields in the Pacific War, including about 100 forme

Foreigners who had been steadily investing in Asian stock markets began to pull out in July, with South Korean stocks ranking as the second most sold, data showed Monday.This year's figures provided by the Korea Exchange said foreigners net purchased between $2.8 billion and $11.9 billion per month in Asian shares from January to June. China and Japan were excluded from the count because they do not provide separate tallies on offshore investors.The buying spree was bucked in July when foreigner

President Moon Jae-in promised Monday to expand government support for national heroes, independence fighters and their families, noting the nation and its people are permanently indebted to them for their sacrifices that allowed the freedom they enjoy now."Each and every person here deserves respect and gratitude. Thanks to your sacrifice, we are able to speak and write in our own language, enjoy our culture and live our precious daily lives," the president said in a meeting with some 250 natio

South Korean tennis player Chung Hyeon has cracked the top 50 in the men's world rankings for the first time.Chung jumped seven spots to reach a career-high No. 49 in the Association of Tennis Professionals world rankings released on Monday. In this Associated Press file photo taken on Aug. 8, 2017, Chung Hyeon of South Korea hits a shot against Feliciano Lopez of Spain during the first round of the Rogers Cup tennis tournament in Montreal. (Yonhap)Chung's previous high had been No. 51 from Octo