Left-wing civic groups again protested massive layoffs by a major construction firm in central Seoul during the weekend, before they were broken up by police using water cannons for the first time in three years. A police-estimated crowd of some 2,500 people from various parts of the country staged overnight protests Saturday, joining the so-called “Hope Bus” campaign led by progressive groups d...

Seoul’s education chief said Sunday that he gave 200 million won to one of his former election rivals purely out of goodwill, denying suspicions that the money was linked to the candidate’s dropping out of race during last year’s election campaign. “After taking office, I learnt about the dire conditions professor Park was in. I provided financial support to him out of goodwill, because I could ...

A college professor was questioned for the second day Saturday on suspicion that he had dropped out of last year's election for Seoul's education chief in exchange for money, prosecutors said. Park Myoung-gee, a professor at Seoul National University of Education, was taken into custody Friday over allegations that he had received 130 million won ($120,147) from then rival and now education chie...

Five people died in a fire at a chemical textile plant in Gumi of North Gyeongsang Province on Saturday. Local police and fire fighters said the fire broke out at TK Chemical plant inside the Gumi Industrial Complex around 1:30 p.m. Witnesses said they heard large explosion and saw dark smoke rise into the sky from the spot. Some 30 fire engines have managed to extinguish the fire, but the inv...

Shin battles muscular atrophy to study computer science In cyberspace, young researcher Shin Hyung-jin feels as though he is Detective Conan, the Japanese manga character who solves criminal cases with brilliant ideas. Though the wheelchair-bound 28-year-old is too disabled to move a finger and is small for his age at 160 cm tall and weighing 45 kg, he says he is as free and active as the boy-d...

Authorities find training missiles, launchers; worried about potential use by terrorists, N.K. Seoul police booked five men without detention Thursday on charges of selling military articles including fake field jackets and scrapped U.S. training missiles. According to Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, a 54-year-old man identified only as Yoon and four others ran unlicensed military surplus sho...

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon lost a politically charged referendum on whether to give free lunches to all students or only to poor students Wednesday as voter turnout was too low for the vote to be valid. The turnout rate was 25.7 percent, far below the 33.3 percent required to open ballot boxes and count the votes. The referendum turnout also fell short of two previous Seoul elections, 31.4 percent f...