North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not adapt well to an international school in Switzerland in the 1990s and his grades were poor, a news report has said. Kim was absent for 75 days and 105 days in his first and second year at the International School of Bern, respectively, Swiss newspaper Le Matin Dimanche reported Sunday, citing unidentified sources. Kim sometimes came to the school only in ...

The U.S. suggested in an informal meeting in Berlin that North Korea ask China or Russia to launch its satellite Kwangmyongsong-3, but the North refused, a news report said. Japan’s TV Asahi reported that a civilian U.S. delegation, which met with its North Korean counterpart, offered the alternative if the North’s planned rocket launch was for peaceful purposes as claimed. However, the North r...

Ruling party calls for special counsel to probe Roh, Lee governments; opposition rejects proposal Rival parties clashed over the scandal involving government officials spying on civilians, with the ruling party trying to distance itself from the current government and the opposition attempting to further implicate the presidential office and the ruling party. The ruling Saenuri Party on Monday ...

North Korea said Monday its ruling Workers’ Party will hold a special conference on April 11 in Pyongyang where it is expected to name its new leader Kim Jong-un as General Secretary of the Workers’ Party, the party’s highest post. The scheduled conference comes just before Pyongyang’s planned launch of a rocket to put a satellite into orbit between April 12 and 16 and also to mark the 100th yea...

The South Korean government will provide $1 million in humanitarian assistance for the Syrian opposition, joining a series of international efforts to help end the bloody crackdown by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, government officials said. “The Syrian government has been using military force against protesters over a number of months, deepening the humanitarian crisis in the country ...

Allegations that the government conducted illicit surveillance on civilians has emerged as the major issue for the two main parties in the general election. The scandal’s impact is expected to be more conspicuous in Seoul, which embraces 45.5 percent of the nation’s constituencies as well as several of the most heated battle spots. Though the responses from the parties differed, there is genera...

Seoul Metropolitan Government has opened a farm school for the homeless to help them stand on their own as farmers or farm hands. The Seoul Farm School, opened on Monday, is expected to offer agricultural education so that the homeless can support themselves and break free from life on the streets. “I want to start a new life at the farming school. I’ve been living on the streets and eat at hom...

The Korean government banned imports of a Chinese motorcycle brand because it breached limits on harmful emissions, officials said Monday. The Opera motorcycles, imported by local firm Hansom Bike, were found to emit 6.875 grams of carbon monoxide per kilometer, three times more the legally permitted 2 grams, the environment ministry said. A total of 96 units have been imported since October 20...

This month’s long-range rocket launch will cost North Korea some $850 million, the equivalent of feeding 19 million people for one year, intelligence authorities in Seoul estimated Monday. According to the estimate, revealed by a military official, construction of the launch site is expected to cost the North $400 million, while the rocket and its payload will cost $300 million and $150 million,...

The majority of the cases outlined in newly revealed evidence concerning the Prime Minister’s Office placing civilians under illicit surveillance were compiled as part of legitimate police procedure during the previous administration, according to Cheong Wa Dae. About 80 percent of the documents were compiled during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, said the presidential office. In addition, the...

Tuberculosis is still strongly linked to poverty, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. In its study on 42,763 people with practically no income who visited public health centers and other medical facilities for TB checkups in 2008, about 80 were diagnosed with the pneumonic disease. The frequency rate could be translated into 187 out of every 100,000 people who fall ...

Greenpeace East Asia executive director Mario Damato and another employee were denied entry into the country on Monday. Mario Damato was accompanying Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo into the country on Monday when they were denied entry at Incheon International Airport at roughly 2 p.m. on Monday. Naidoo was allowed entry. According to a Korea Immigration Service office...