SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- A local pilot with a South Korean passenger airline is under police investigation on suspicion of uploading pro-North Korean materials on the Internet in breach of the National Security Law, police said Wednesday. The 44-year-old plane captain surnamed Kim posted about 60 articles or video clips that extol or propagandize the virtues of the communist country on his web...

Nine out of every 10 North Korean defectors regard their leader Kim Jong-il’s words as law, contrary to expectations of North Korean citizens’ weakening loyalty to the totalitarian regime, a survey showed Tuesday. About 90 percent of the defectors said the dictator’s instructions “were laws to keep while living in North Korea,” while 74 percent remembered being educated by the regime on how to b...

The national budget to protect defense systems against cyber attacks has been increased for next year amid increasing threats, the defense ministry said Tuesday. The ministry said in a statement that the budget allocated for defending defense information for next year has been pegged at 25.8 billion won ($22.4 million), an increase of 8.6 percent from this year. It said 15 billion won will be s...

ATHENS (Yonhap News) ― A senior North Korean official, who is on a rare trip to the United States, said Monday the security condition on the Korean Peninsula is so unstable that a war may occur again anytime. Rhee Jong-hyuk, a ranking member of the all-powerful Workers’ Party of the communist nation, blamed the conservative government of South Korea, claiming Pyongyang remains committed to peace...

A North Korean defector who formerly served as a key member of Pyongyang’s youth organization was recently appointed a researcher of an organization affiliated with Seoul’s spy agency, a source said Tuesday. The defector, Sol Jong-sik, who had headed the Yanggang Province for the League of Kim Il-sung Socialist Working Youth before defecting to South Korea in 2009, is the highest-ranking North K...

English language private institutions will be required to check the passports, visas and foreign registration cards of foreign teachers before employment, according to a revised law related to private institutions, the Education Ministry said Tuesday. According to the law which will take effect in Oct. 26, private English institutions, called hagwon here, will receive penalties of 3 million won ...

A third umbrella labor group is to launch next month, with nearly 70 trade unions and 30,000 workers as its members, a union activist leading the move said Tuesday. “We plan to hold an inaugural meeting early next month and submit the necessary documents to register with the Labor Ministry,” said Jeong Yeon-soo who leads the preparatory committee for the envisioned labor group. Currently, Korea...

South Korea’s inter-government task force to better deal with crimes by American soldiers will hold its first meeting this week, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. The task force, consisting of senior officials from the foreign ministry, police, the defense ministry and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, was formed last week amid brewing public outrage after two United States soldier...

The government on Tuesday decided to establish new guidelines to better compensate the families of those killed in action during the 1950-53 Korean War amid public criticism of the 5,000-won ($4.36) compensation for their loss. The Ministry of National Defense will finalize the guidelines sometime this week and forward them to the Ministry of Veterans and Patriots Affairs for its implementation,...

Veterans Affairs Ministry, Defense Ministry under fire for ‘passing the buck’ Kim Myung-bok, 63, is enraged when reminded of the havoc the Korean War wreaked on her family. Her brother and two sisters died during the 1950-53 conflict. To add to her agony, after years of struggling to receive proper compensation for her brother, killed in action in November 1950, the government in April gave not...