From as early as next year, people whose spouses give birth will be able to use paid-paternity leave for up to five days. Those who need to look after their sick family members will be also guaranteed 90 days of non-paid leave, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Thursday. The measure is part of the revision of the Act of Gender Equality Employment and Support, which the ministry seeks to...

BEIJING (AP) ― Chinese police are holding a South Korean Bible instructor and his wife following a raid on an underground Protestant church, an activist group said Wednesday, as the government pressures Christians worshipping outside the Communist-controlled church. The instructor, whose Chinese name was given as Jin Yongzhe, was detained Tuesday along with dozens of other Christians during a po...

Police are interrogating a high-ranking official of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission for sexually assaulting one of his female staff workers earlier this month. The man was immediately sacked. According to police in Songpa, southern Seoul, 55-year-old Park raped his subordinate at a motel in Gangdong District around 9:40 p.m., after they shared drinks and the woman went drunk. I...

The full enforcement of the time-off system, which is a salary cap for full-time unionists, might hit a wall as Hyundai Motor said Wednesday that it did not pay the salaries of any of its 233 full-time unionists last month. The company is to provide pay to 90 of them. The conflict is also eminent in other units of the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which still defy the system th...

Police are investigating two explosions at Seoul Station and Gangnam Express Bus Terminal about 30 minutes apart on Thursday. There have been no reports of injuries yet from the two blasts, officials said. The explosions caused chaos with citizens hurriedly leaving the two public transportation hubs. Police have not ruled out the possibility of terrorism, officials said. The blast at the bus t...

BEIJING (AP) - Chinese police are holding a Korean Bible instructor and his wife following a raid on an underground Protestant church, an activist group said Wednesday, as the government pressures Christians worshipping outside the Communist-controlled church. The instructor, whose Chinese name was given as Jin Yongzhe, was detained Tuesday along with dozens of other Christians during a police a...

Judges and prosecutors will be banned from taking cases for a year after retirement at courts where they worked in their last year. The new rule is part of a revised bill on lawyers approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday. The bill is applicable to military judicial officers and lawyers who serve the government as employees, as well as judges and prosecutors. Under the revised law, they are barre...

President Lee opens Global Green Growth Institute in Copenhagen COPENHAGEN ― Korea’s ambitious Global Green Growth Institute opened its first overseas office here Wednesday in a show of strengthened ties with Denmark. Denmark has vowed to contribute $5 million annually for three years to the international organization launched by the Lee Myung-bak administration last June. President Lee attend...

Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, said on Wednesday that he would object to a bill to ratify the free trade agreement with the United States. His remark, coupled with the Grand National Party floor leader Hwang Woo-yeah’s vow not to run in general elections next year if the ruling party railroads the bill, darkens the prospect for its smooth passage this year. “Dam...

A former worker of Ssangyong Motor was found dead Tuesday at a subcontractor’s plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, the company’s union said Wednesday. His death is the 15th among Ssangyong Motor’s former employees or their family members, which recently completed a bailout program after bankruptcy. According to the union, the 45-year-old man identified by the family name Kang was working at...

More than half of Seoul’s citizens believe they belong to society’s lower middle class, marking a slight increase from last year, a survey showed Wednesday. By political, economic and social status, a total of 51.3 percent said they fall under the category of “lower middle class,” while 23.2 percent said they belong to the upper middle class, according to the survey by the Seoul Metropolitan Gov...