The Seoul government is striving to strengthen measures to ensure the safety of South Korean sailors aboard foreign ships as Somali piracy targeting its citizens continues, a government official said Sunday. Following a recent series of piracy cases involving its nationals, it has toughened security rules on South-Korean registered vessels using maritime routes where piracy is rampant. But it w...

DP leader’s handling of scandals and divisions seen as test of presidential potential Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, is grappling with a spate of political setbacks including an bribery scandal involving Seoul’s liberal education superintendent. Observers said that these setbacks could serve as a test of his political fitness. His failure to weather such stor...

By Bae Hyun-jung The prosecution is set to question Seoul education chief Kwak No-hyun on Monday over allegations that he bought his rival out of the race in last year’s election, after investigators rounded off their preliminary probe on key aides over the weekend. Kwak admitted on Aug. 28 that he handed over 200 million won ($188,324) to his former rival Park Myoung-gee but claimed that it wa...

(AP) -- The United States sent a plane loaded with a small but symbolic shipment of emergency aid that was due to arrive in flood-stricken North Korea on Saturday, in the latest sign of a thaw in relations between the countries. A cargo plane departed Friday from the U.S. packed with $900,000 worth of food, medical aid, soap, blankets and cooking kits, according to the North Carolina-based aid g...

The government should set a quota for the recruitment of high school graduates when hiring new employees, President Lee Myung-bak said Friday. Presiding over a meeting on his “fair society” campaign, he strongly challenged the deep-rooted workplace practice of favoring employees by school diploma rather than by merits. “Professional footballers just need to be good at kicking balls. They don’t ...

The two Koreas may announce a new agreement as they inch toward better ties after months-long tensions, the leader of Seoul’s ruling party said Friday. The agreement “may be disclosed as early as” the Sep. 11-13 Chuseok holiday, Grand National Party chairman Hong Joon-pyo told reporters without elaborating on its contents. For the Korean Thanksgiving Day, family members scattered across the cou...

The government said Friday it will expand benefits for those who have only graduated from high school as they serve in the military or seek employment in an effort to break discrimination against those without college diplomas and to promote the perception that merits matter more than academic background. The labor ministry unveiled a series of support measures for high school graduates during a...

Rival parties agreed Thursday to begin the ratification process for the long-pending free trade agreement with the United States in the same pace with the U.S. Congress, officials said. The last-minute compromise averted a feared clash between the rival parties. Opposition lawmakers had hinted at the possibility of using force to block the bill’s introduction at a parliamentary committee if the ...

A lawmaker who made sexist remarks dodged expulsion on Wednesday as the parliamentary ethics committee’s motion failed to meet the required quorum in the National Assembly on Wednesday. Only 111 out of the 297 lawmakers agreed to the bill, while 198 or two-thirds were required. Rep. Kang Yong-seok thus escaped the disgrace of becoming the first lawmaker ever to be dismissed for ethical reasons ...

Former parliamentary speaker Kim Hyeong-o of the Grand National Party announced that he will not enter candidacy in next year’s 19th general election. “I hope to contribute to the restoration of public trust on the party by remaining humble and low in the next parliamentary term,” Kim told reporters in Busan on Wednesday. “As the biggest pending issues, such as the New Town and the Ocean Renova...