The suicide rate for men in their 50s has soared, driven by a combination of economic hardship and poor health, reports from Statistics Office and Police Agency showed Tuesday. The suicide rate for men aged 50-54 was 62.4 per 100,000 persons in 2009, quadrupling from 20 years ago. It is the highest since the Statistics Office began recording the suicide rate. During the same period, the suicide...

Report says combat readiness of rapid response forces is poor South Korea will deploy high-tech military monitoring equipment worth 90.3 billion won ($78.7 million) to the western border islands by next year to keep closer tabs on North Korean movements, a Defense Ministry report said Tuesday. According to the report submitted to Rep. Kim Jang-soo of the Grand National Party, the military plans...

L'AQUILA, Italy (AFP) - A group of Italian scientists went on trial Tuesday for failing to predict an earthquake that killed more than 300 people in central Italy in 2009 despite signs of increased seismic activity in the area. The seven defendants -- six scientists and one government official -- are accused of manslaughter in a case that some see as an unfair indictment of science. Prosecutors...

Pastor Cho Yong-gi of the Yoido Full Gospel Church has been charged with embezzling money from the church. Twenty-nine elders of Korea’s biggest church filed a charge on Monday with the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office against their senior pastor Cho and his son Hee-jun, former chairman of daily newspaper Kookmin Ilbo, for misappropriating funds. Church elders claim that Cho gave around 20 bil...

The suicide rate for men in their 50s has soared, driven by a combination of economic hardships and poor health, reports from Statistics Office and Police Agency showed Tuesday. The suicide rate for men aged 50-54 was 62.4 per 100,000 persons in 2009, quadrupling from 20 years ago. It is the highest since the Statistics Office began recording the suicide rate. During the same period, the suicid...

SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors on Monday requested a four-year jail term for a former prime minister under the previous administration on charges of pocketing illegal political funds. Prosecutors also sought a court order for Han Myeong-sook to forfeit 940 million won (US$827,464), the same amount she was alleged to have received in illegal political funds from Han Man-ho, a former head...

President Lee Myung-bak on Monday said his government would invest nearly 100 billion won in stem cell research next year and establish a system compatible with international standards in an effort to facilitate clinical and licensing procedures. “The government has decided to foster the stem cell industry as a new core growth engine following the footsteps of the IT industry,” Lee said in a biw...

The Seoul government gave permission for heads of seven religious orders to visit Pyongyang, the Unification Ministry said Monday, as part of efforts to resume nongovernmental cultural exchanges with the North. A 24-person delegation including the seven religious leaders will travel to Pyongyang via China’s Shenyang on Wednesday, when the two Koreas are set to hold denuclearization talks in Beij...

The amount spent on by-elections over the past three years totaled 61.6 billion won ($54.4 million) and is to exceed 100 billion won with the Oct. 26 elections. According to the state inspection data submitted by the National Election Commission to Rep. Yoon Sang-il of the minority Future Hope Alliance, 137 by-elections took place from 2008 up to the first half of this year. Of the 61.6 million...

Few overseas missions have been properly secured, according to the data submitted by the Foreign Ministry to Rep. Jungwook Hong of the ruling Grand National Party. Among the 166 offices, 53 were classified as dangerous, lacking sensors or devices to respond to terrorist attacks. More than half have no basic metal detector, making it possible for people to enter the premises with weapons or expl...