A Korean celebrity couple expected to tie the knot next month has been saddened by the death of the bride-to-be’s father on Monday. The father of singer Kim Go-eun, better known as Byul, passed away a month ahead of her wedding to 32-year-old comedian Ha Dong-hoon, known by his stage name Haha. Kim’s father had struggled with paralysis after an accident in 2002.The couple reportedly completed regi

Television Oct. 15, 2012

South Korea's defense minister issued a public apology Monday over the undetected defection early this month of a North Korean soldier through the heavily armed border and announced disciplinary measures against those responsible for the incident. "I acknowledge that the North Korean soldier's defection apparently shows the failure of security and flaws in the emergency reporting system. I sincere

Defense Oct. 15, 2012

An employee at a California seafood plant died after he was cooked in an oven in an industrial accident, authorities said.Jose Melena, a 6-year employee of Bumble Bee Foods, died Thursday when he somehow became stuck in an industrial cooker, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, West Covina, Calif., reported.The initial investigation of the incident found that, "he was fatally injured when he was cooked

World News Oct. 15, 2012

Some 4,000 North Koreans are estimated to be working at major construction sites in a suburb of the Kuwaiti capital and living in military-style camps run by the North's government, a Seoul diplomat said Monday. Impoverished North Korea has recruited its people to work abroad and reportedly kept most of their earnings, one of the few sources of hard currency for the isolated regime. Along with Chi

North Korea Oct. 15, 2012

The U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) said Sunday that South Korea's improved missile range will bolster its "defensive capability" to counter North Korea's ballistic missile threat.It emphasized the communist nation poses the most urgent threat to its area of jurisdiction -- the Pacific Ocean."This improved range distance will provide a defensive capability that will allow the ROK and allies to defend

Defense Oct. 15, 2012

South Korea's top central banker said Friday that the country's potential growth rate is estimated at around 3.8 percent following the global financial crisis and the eurozone debt crisis.South Korea's potential growth rate, or the maximum possible rate at which an economy can grow without triggering inflation, reached around 6.1 percent between 1991 and 2000 and has largely continued to decline,

Oct. 12, 2012

The North Korean soldier who crossed the heavily armed border to defect to South Korea last week has stated that he ran away for fear of retaliation after assaulting his superior, a South Korean lawmaker said Friday.Jo Seong-jik, commander of the front-line unit where the defector first showed up after crossing the border on Oct. 2, quoted the soldier as saying that, Rep. Kim Jin-pyo of the main o

North Korea Oct. 12, 2012

Brain scans can predict children‘s reading ability and the finding may eventually influence the way pre-elementary children learn to read, U.S. researchers say.Scientists at Stanford University scanned the brain anatomy of 39 children once a year for three consecutive years. The students then took standardized tests to gauge their cognitive, language and reading skills.In each case the rate of dev

Technology Oct. 12, 2012

Ruling and opposition parties locked horns on Friday over allegations that late President Roh Moo-hyun disavowed the legitimacy of the de-facto sea border between the two Koreas in 2007, a claim which could influence December's presidential election.The ruling Saenuri Party said it will call for a parliamentary probe to officially investigate the claims made by one of its lawmakers earlier in the

Politics Oct. 12, 2012

The Chicago website CareerBuilder said its annual survey indicates 30 percent of workers have played hooky from work in the past year.The online survey of 3,976 U.S. workers and 2,494 hiring managers and human resources professionals, conducted on behalf of CareerBuilder by Harris Interactive, found 30 percent of respondents admitted calling in sick without an actual illness, while 31 percent of e

Industry Oct. 12, 2012