The Korea Herald

Navy unveils advanced frigate

Jul 18, 2013

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. on Thursday unveiled the South Korean Navy’s second 2,300-ton frigate with improved warfare capabilities against North Korea. A launching ceremony took place at Hyundai Heavy’s shipyard in the southeastern city of Ulsan, attended by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy chief and other senior officials. The locally made frigate is capable of carrying marit...
Probe launched to find whether Chun hid funds in insurance plans

Jul 18, 2013

Tax officials and prosecutors have launched an investigation into suspicions that assets of former President Chun Doo-hwan might be concealed in diverse insurance products under the names of his family members, relatives and close aides, industry sources said Thursday. The probe is part of intensifying efforts by the government to find concealed assets of the former president who was ordered by ...
Defense Ministry disbands entertainment squad

Jul 18, 2013

The Defense Ministry said Thursday it would abolish its controversial promotion squad of celebrity conscripts following a series of cases of indiscipline that have undermined troop morale and public trust. The squad has been under criticism since a TV program showed several stars-turned-soldiers drinking, leaving their designated accommodation without notice, and visiting an adult massage parlor...
Seoul seen moving to delay wartime control transfer

Jul 17, 2013

Officials say they requested talks with U.S. in the wake of N.K. nuclear threat
Korea pushes to double development aid for Laos

Jul 15, 2013

South Korea is pushing to more than double next year’s budget for aid projects in Laos as part of efforts to boost bilateral cooperation in dealing with North Korean defectors, government sources here said Monday. Seoul’s foreign ministry has asked the finance ministry to earmark 4.84 billion won ($4.3 million) in official development assistance to the Southeast Asian country, more than twice th...
Army to deploy advanced system for communications

Jul 15, 2013

The state arms procurer said Monday it will deploy a new tactical communications system for Army units to improve their effective interchange between battalions. The digital data transmission SPIDER system is over 40 times faster than the analog voice communications system, which has been currently operated by Army battalions, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said. The state procu...
On-base gambling rises 15-fold in 2 years

Jul 14, 2013

The number of soldiers and officers who gamble online in the barracks has soared more than 15 times over the past two years, prompting the military to come up with a set of measures to tackle the problem, military officials said Sunday. A total of some 230 enlisted troops and low-rank officers have been detected for having logged onto online gambling sites on base this year, up sharply from 18 l...
S. Korea, U.S. to hold cyber security talks

Jul 14, 2013

South Korea and the United States will hold a meeting in Washington, D.C. this week to strengthen cooperation on cyber security and other online policy issues that are expected to include how to cope with cyber terrorism by North Korea. The meeting, set for Monday, will be the second of its kind after the first session last year. Choi Sung-joo, the ambassador for international security, will rep...
[Newsmaker] Governor refuses to budge on closed hospital

Jul 11, 2013

Lawmakers are set to file a complaint with the prosecution against South Gyeongsang Province Governor Hong Joon-pyo after he refused to attend a parliamentary hearing on his closure of a provincial public hospital. The Assembly’s special committee on the inquiry into the current status of public medical institutions, which is looking into the shutdown of Jinju Medical Center, will determine whet...
Court upholds sentence of man in ‘body-less murder’

Jul 11, 2013

The nation’s top court on Friday upheld the heavy prison term for a middle-aged defendant in a rare murder case in which the victim’s body remained unfound. The 42-year-old man, surnamed Park, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for burying his 37-year-old business partner alive during a quarrel over money. The victim was last seen sometime in 2008. The absence of the corpse was a big challenge...
Police step up probe over sex bribery case

Jul 11, 2013

Police said Thursday that they will launch a full-fledged investigation into allegations that a detained local construction contractor hired women to provide sexual favors to a number of high-profile figures in return for business benefits. On Wednesday night, the 52-year-old construction contractor, surnamed Yoon, was put under detention immediately after a Seoul court approved the prosecution’...
Japan’s vice foreign minister visits Seoul

Jul 11, 2013

Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki arrived in Seoul on Thursday for a two-day visit to hold talks with his South Korean counterpart, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said. The top bureaucrat at the ministry met Seoul’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun to discuss issues of mutual interest. “Saiki came here to exchange greetings with Kim upon his taking the position late last month,” a...
Remains of soldier killed in Korean War repatriated to family

Jul 11, 2013

After 60 years, a South Korean soldier who was killed during the Korean War was repatriated to his relative Thursday for reburial, a military excavation team said. The Ministry of National Defense’s Agency for Killed in Action Recovery and Identification in May found remains of Jung Cheol-ho near a former battle site in Cherwon, just south of the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas....
Head of N.K. Red Cross replaced amid dialogue with South

Jul 11, 2013

North Korea has recently replaced the head of the Red Cross in the country, a major channel of exchange with South Korea, the international Red Cross group’s member list showed Thursday. Kang Su-rin has recently supplanted Jang Jae-on as the chairman of the central committee of the Red Cross Society of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, according to the member list of the International F...
Ryoo sets terms of Mount Geumgang tours

Jul 11, 2013

Wednesday’s talks were snagged as Seoul stressed the need for strong safeguards to prevent future unilateral disruptions to business operations at the park. It also insisted the North apologize for its action that halted operations and caused considerable damage to South Korean companies. Pyongyang, on the other hand, wanted immediate resumption of operations and blamed the South for the current...