DAEGU -- A local court ordered a hospital on Wednesday to pay 100 million won (around $91,660) in damages to the family of a daughter for erroneously diagnosing her condition as cerebral palsy and causing her to be bedridden for about 10 years, the court said. According to the Daegu District Court, the parents visited a university hospital in the southeastern city of Daegu in 2001, when their da...

A former vice culture minister was sentenced to three years in jail Wednesday for his involvement in an influence-peddling scandal that led to the removal of President Park Geun-hye from office in March. The Seoul Central District Court found Kim Chong, an ex-vice minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism from 2013-2016, guilty of abuse of power and other charges. He was indicted i...

South Korea's tax office said Wednesday that it has collected 1.14 trillion won ($1.04 billion) in taxes from suspected offshore tax evaders so far this year. The National Tax Service collected the amount in the first 10 months of the year from 187 offshore tax dodgers. The take is slightly more than the 1.1 trillion won dues collected from evaders in the same period a year earlier, it said. In...

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim promised Wednesday to provide South Korean companies operating in his country with as much support as possible, saying his government will try to treat them as if they were domestic firms. Yildirim made the remark during a joint news conference after talks with South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, where the two sides agreed to bolster cooperation in var...

WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said North Korea has developed its nuclear missile capability at a faster-than-expected pace but has yet to master the technology. In a CNN interview aired Tuesday, Kang spoke about North Korea's launch last week of a new intercontinental ballistic missile it claims is capable of striking the entire US mainland with a nuclear weapo...

South Korea's chief economic policymaker vowed Wednesday to create more jobs even though the employment situation is not favorable at present. In a meeting with a group of employees of a local firm in southern Seoul, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said the government's top priority is to generate good jobs. "This year's economic growth is expected to top 3 percent and exports remain bullish," Ki...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in is set to travel to China next week for a bilateral summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday, a meeting that will likely focus on ways to rein in North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile technologies. The South Korean leader will head to Beijing next Wednesday for a four-day trip that will also take ...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for efforts to further improve his country's ties with Turkey while meeting with the visiting prime minister of the Eurasian country at his office Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim arrived in Seoul on Tuesday on a two-day visit that included talks with his South Korean counterpart Lee Nak-yon. The visit also marked the 60...

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae expressed a wariness to strengthen the punishment for crimes committed under the influence of alcohol Wednesday, noting the move may lead to unnecessarily harsh penalties for all alcohol-related crimes. The reaction came in response to a petition posted on the website of Cheong Wa Dae that drew support from over 200,000 people. The presidential office has pr...

The government will spend 144.5 billion won ($132 million) on projects to rebuild homes and other facilities damaged by last month's earthquake in the southeastern city of Pohang, officials said Wednesday. The Ministry of Interior and Safety unveiled the recovery plan, saying the 5.4 magnitude quake of Nov. 15 caused a total of 55.1 billion won worth of property damage. The quake destroyed 331 h...

The PyeongChang Winter Games will assign various kinds of robots to stadiums, airports and event venues to assist athletes and showcase the latest technology, the commerce ministry said Wednesday. A total of 85 robots will be placed in venues to provide information on schedules, transportation and tourist attractions during the Olympics, which runs from Feb. 9-25, the Ministry of Trade, Industry...

The South Korean economy is expected to grow 2.9 percent next year, slowing down from this year's estimate of a 3.1 percent expansion, as export growth and domestic consumption recovers, while facility investment declines. "Our economy's export growth will be maintained and domestic consumption should recover, but a growth of facility investment and construction will slow down," the KDI said in ...

South Korea's export-led economic recovery is showing signs of slowing down as the growth of outbound shipments decelerates, although consumer sentiment is continuing its upward trend, a state-run think tank said Wednesday. "October posted a sharp contraction in production indicators, but the improvement trend was maintained at a modest pace, given the reduced workdays caused by the long Chuseok...

A private association of cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea said Wednesday that it will voluntarily restrict cryptocurrency transactions with bank accounts starting next year, in a bid to prevent such transactions from being used for money laundering and other crimes. The Blockchain Association, an industry group of some 30 cryptocurrency exchanges, including Bithumb and Korbit, said it wil...

Members of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party boycotted a parliamentary committee meeting Wednesday in protest at the ruling party-led passage of next year's government spending plan, which the opposition party claims is a populist budget. The budget of 428.8 trillion won ($394.4 billion) passed through the National Assembly in a 160-15 vote during a late-night session early Wednesday as th...