The government said Tuesday it will tighten regulations on the use of asbestos by examining levels of the carcinogenic construction material in public buildings and other sites. Asbestos exposure becomes a health concern when high concentrations of asbestos fibers are inhaled over time, causing asthma, respiratory disease or even lung cancer. South Korea has banned the material’s use in new cons...

It was in the mid-2000s when South Korean plastic surgeon Joo Kwon noticed a trickle of Chinese women walking into his clinic, even though he hadn’t advertised overseas. “They somehow found a way to the clinic ... and nearly all of them said they want the face of Lee Young-ae,” Joo said, referring to a top South Korean actress who starred in the pan-Asian hit drama “Jewel in the Palace.” The tr...

The new intercontinental ballistic missiles displayed in a military parade in North Korea were mock-ups and the presentation was "a nice dog and pony show," according to two German experts on North Korean missiles. The North showed off the missiles on transporter-erector-launchers during the parade to mark the centennial of the April 15 birth of the country's late founder Kim Il-sung, the grandf...

The minority Unified Progressive Party decided Tuesday to simplify its name to the Progressive Party as it seeks to sharpen its leftist identity. The party announced the draft revision of its constitution that included the name change. The name “Progressive Party” had been registered with the National Election Commission as the official abbreviation of another leftist minority party, the New Pr...

South Korea is on high alert over Pyongyang’s latest threat of “special military actions” against the presidential office and media organizations which experts believe may not be empty words. On Monday, North Korea’s state media Korean Central News Agency reported that a “revolutionary military special action” will take place soon, and that the actions will annihilate the targets in “three to fo...

Fire broke out at Mount Halla National Park Tuesday, according to local fire department. Jeju Island Provincial office said they deployed helicopters along with 4,000 civil servants to battle the flames. From news report 한라산에 불..진화 헬기 등 총동원 24일 낮 12시께 세계자연유산인 한라산국립공원 어리목 인근의 해발 1천450m 사제비오름에 발생한 산불이 오후 2시께 대부분 진압됐 다. 한라산국립공원사무소에 따르면 발화지점은 사제비오름 약수터 근처이며, 이 불 로 인근지역 1.6㏊가량이 소실됐다. 산불은 바람을 타고 ...

Kwak Seung-jun, chief of the Presidential Council for Future and Vision, on Tuesday denied allegations that he had received entertainment from CJ chairman Lee Jay-hyun in 2009 in return for business favors. “I met Lee because we have been friends for 30 years. It was not business related and we enjoyed each other’s company. There was no inappropriate third party involved,” said Kwak, one of Pres...

Prosecutors on Tuesday indicted a woman who killed her two daughters at the urging of a supposed member of a non-existent cult. The 38-year-old woman, identified only by her surname Kwon, drowned her 10-year-old daughter in a bathtub and suffocated her 6-year-old daughter with a pillow in a motel on March 8, according to Jeonju District Prosecutors’ Office. Kwon was following the direction of a...

Chinese President Hu Jintao met with a top North Korean envoy in a reaffirmation of traditional ties following Chinese pique over Pyongyang's recent attempted rocket launch. State broadcaster CCTV made no mention of the failed April 13 launch in its report on Hu's meeting Monday with Workers' Party international relations chief Kim Yong Il at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing....

BEIJING (AFP) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday told a visiting North Korean official that the two countries should work towards "peace and stability" after a missile launch by Pyongyang, state media said. Speaking in a meeting with Kim Yong-il, a top official of North Korea's ruling Korean Workers' Party, Hu called for greater cooperation with its traditional ally, the state-run Xinhua n...

North Korea’s military on Monday threatened to take “special actions soon” against the Seoul government and conservative media in response of President Lee Myung-bak’s criticism of the communist regime. The North’s “special action operation unit” said it will take only “three to four minutes” to launch the attacks through “unprecedented means and methods of their own style.” The threat came aft...