Nine areas hit the hardest by last week's heavy downpours are set to be declared special disaster zones, the home affairs minister said Wednesday, making them eligible for state relief funds. "Twenty out of all the rain-damaged areas have been selected to receive aid toward reconstruction, and of these, nine areas met many of the criteria for special disaster zones," said Public Administration a...

An explosion inside a POSCO plant on Tuesday killed one worker and inured two others. Police and firefighters are investigating the cause of the blast at the company’s stainless steel plant in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. A 28-year-old employee of the steelmaker’s affiliated company was killed at the scene and two colleagues of his in their early 30s were seriously injured, police said. ...

One of South Korea's most treasured relics was damaged during the heaviest downpours in decades last week, government officials said Tuesday. Some parts of the roof ridge of Dongdaemun (Great East Gate) chipped off due to the record-breaking rainfall that killed 62 and left thousands homeless in Seoul and its surrounding areas. Dongdaemun, designated as Treasure No. 1, was the main eastern entr...

South Korea's spy agency has sent summons to several members of a radical labor umbrella group over suspicions of their involvement in an alleged espionage case, sources said Tuesday. According to prosecution and labor group officials, the National Intelligence Service asked about 10 officials of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions to face questioning about whether they were engaged in spying ...

An illegal loan agent was indicted on charges of sending millions of spam messages to mobile phones to lure potential customers, prosecutors said Monday. The 34-year-old man, surnamed Kim, sent unwanted text messages to random cell phone users in violation of the local communications law, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said. Kim pocketed about 770 million won (US$731,591) in com...

Hankuk University of Foreign Studies President Park Chul has received a summons from prosecutors on suspicion that he may have misappropriated school funds for personal use. The Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office issued the summons to Park last week but Park hasn’t responded, an official from the prosecutors’ office said. Park, also chairman of the Korean Council for Presidents of Priv...

Prosecutors have indicted a professor at a military academy on charges of receiving 20 million won ($19,020) in kickbacks from a local defense firm in return for business favors, officials said Tuesday. The 60-year-old professor at the Korea Military Academy, indentified only by his surname Kim, was not detained, the officials at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said. The 31-year-...

Rainfall will be measured hourly through water level gauges at river basins all across the country to increase flood control measures, amid the erratic weather patterns, according to the state’s weather agency Tuesday. The Korea Meteorological Administration is increasing efforts to give citizens and water control facilities a head start to prevent flooding through dam and reservoir maintenance,...

Prosecutors have summoned Park Chul, president of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, to investigate allegations that he may have misappropriated school funds. The summons was issued last week and Park has yet to respond, the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office said on Tuesday. Park, also chairman of the Korean Council for Presidents of Private Universities, is suspected of embezzling...

The minimum wage for North Korean workers being hired by South Korean companies operating at the inter-Korean industrial park in the North’s border town of Kaesong rose by 5 percent this year, the same annual rate of increase since 2007, the Unification Ministry said Monday. Despite frequent cross-border tensions between the two Koreas, the joint industrial park in Kaesong has been in operation ...

The nation is expected to see more rainfall, adding salt to the wound for many still facing restoration work after severe flooding and landslides last week, according to the state’s weather agency Monday. Amid record rainfall, the southwestern provinces of North and South Jeolla, the southern island of Jeju and other parts of the south coast of Korea will be hit with strong gusts, thunderstorms ...

A month after a ban on multiple trade unions was lifted, changes are in the making on the country’s labor scene, long dominated by two umbrella groups, officials at the Labor Ministry said Monday. Some 300 new unions have been formed, most of them not affiliated with neither the Federation of Korean Trade Unions nor the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. “The multiple trade union system appe...

A 39-year-old man was arrested for sexual violence in a series of daybreak attacks on women over the past six months, police said Monday. The offender, only known by his surname Kim, had allegedly attempted to rape a 27 year-old woman near an apartment in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, on July 26, leaving the victim with injuries that would take three weeks to heal completely. An investi...