BUSAN, May 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's prosecution on Friday sought a death sentence for the leader of a group of Somali pirates as well as lifetime imprisonment for three other pirates for their attack on a South Korean freighter early this year. Capital punishment was sought for Mahomed Arai, 21, who allegedly shot the captain of the ship, the Samho Jewelry, and now faces charges of maritime ...

U.S. tested highly toxic defoliants in 5 countries including Korea in 1960s South Korean and U.S. officials on Friday began collecting groundwater samples near a U.S. army base in the south, a day after agreeing on a joint probe into the alleged burial of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange by American troops about three decades ago. The investigation began after former U.S. soldiers told a U.S. t...

SUN CITY CENTER, Florida (AP) - Authorities say a US man kept his wife's body in a freezer for a decade so he could continue to collect her benefits. Officials say Allan Dunn committed suicide last August at age 86. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office reports that a woman who was helping prepare his estate went to the Sun City Center condo Tuesday to clean. That's when she found the remain...

A Seoul court on Thursday issued a warrant for the arrest of the chairman of Orion Group on charges of ordering executives of the confectionery and media group to create slush funds and pocketing the money. Tam Cheol-gon, a son-in-law of the late Orion founder Lee Yang-gu, is accused of creating a total of some 16 billion won ($13.3 million) in slush funds and exploiting the money for personal p...

A British broker was involved in two separate negotiations to release South Korean ships hijacked by Somali pirates, South Korean prosecutors said Thursday, an indication that the British negotiator was working for the pirates. "We have confirmed that the pirates have employed professional brokers, given that the same British arbitrator, who brokered the Samho Dream deal, approached the shipping...

A three-day international forum to seek solutions to a wide range of global issues will begin on Jeju on Friday, organizers said Thursday. Themed “New Asia for Peace and Prosperity,” the 6th Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity will run through Sunday at Haevichi Hotel & Resort. About 1,200 people will attend the now annual forum, which had so far been held biennially since its inception in 2001...

Four of the five Somali pirates taken alive on a South Korean carrier await their verdict Friday, possibly facing the death penalty or life imprisonment, after a week-long trial in Busan. The Busan District Court is expected to announce the verdict late Friday afternoon, after reviewing photos, interrogation material and witness examinations as evidence, officials said. Although charges of mari...

One of seven hospitalized with unknown virus dies 16 days after first death Another pregnant woman has died of acute pneumonia caused by an unidentified virus, the health authorities confirmed Thursday. She was the second death among the seven pregnant women who had been hospitalized at a Seoul hospital in April for infection with the unknown virus. The 36-year-old woman first visited the hosp...

SEOUL, (Yonhap) -- The U.S. military in South Korea will use ground-penetrating radar devices next week for tests of soil on one of its bases in the South where large amounts of the toxic chemical Agent Orange were said to have been illegally buried in the 1970s, the chief investigator in the claims said Thursday. South Korea and the U.S. launched a joint probe last week following the allegation...

A prosecution investigation is underway into a match rigging case in which brokers bribed some professional soccer players to deliberately lose games, local daily Munhwa Ilbo reported Wednesday. The two brokers, including a former midfielder from a local soccer club, made significant profits from a sports lottery by arranging game scores, the report said. According to Changwon Prosecutor’s Offi...

Amid confirmation that the U.S. military dumped toxic chemicals on Korean soil in 1978, a new testimony has surfaced, saying that orders were given to remove all supplies of dioxins in Korea around the same time. “I was given orders, probably general orders to all units as well, to remove all remaining supplies of dioxin from warehouses throughout all the 2nd Division,” said Larry Anderson, a fo...

Next Thursday, The Korea Herald will launch its new debate page “Voice” with the question: “Should South Korea scrap nuclear energy?” Each week, “Voice” will feature two contributors going head-to-head on a burning issue in Korean society. This space is also for you, the reader, to react to the issue and have your say. We also want to hear your thoughts on other subjects that matter to you, wheth...