Days after allegations emerged that the chief prosecutor had been hiding a son born from an extramarital affair, the child's mother on Tuesday denied the report and claimed she used the influential official's name to protect her son. The Chosun Ilbo, the largest-circulation daily, reported on Friday that Prosecutor General Chae Dong-wook met a woman in 1999 and they gave birth to a son in 2002. Chae, who has a daughter and a wife, denied the report as "groundless" and demanded the daily issue a

Social Affairs Sept. 10, 2013

A local court ordered actor-singer Ryu Si-won Tuesday to pay 7 million won ($6,450) in fines for assaulting his wife and tracking her whereabouts with a GPS device.Ryu, 40, was charged with planting a GPS tracking device on his wife's car and tracking her whereabouts for eight months starting in May 2011. He was also indicted on charges of slapping his 29-year-old wife in the face several times when she protested the surveillance."Based on the sound of flesh clashing with flesh in the recording

Social Affairs Sept. 10, 2013

Syria has accepted a Russian proposal to place its chemical weapons under international control for dismantling, the Syrian foreign minister said Tuesday, amid a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at averting Western military action.   Speaking in Moscow, Walid al-Moallem said his government quickly agreed to the plan to “derail U.S. aggression” _ an allusion to possible U.S.-led strikes over a deadly Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack near Damascus that Western powers blame on the Syrian regime.

World News Sept. 10, 2013

The generator room of the Navy's 14,000-ton ship caught fire while the ship was sailing off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula Tuesday, causing a duty officer to suffer second-degree burns. Restoration work is currently underway. A fire broke in the engine room of the Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship which was sailing near the western port of Gunsan around 10:45 a.m. Crew members immediately put out the fire, but a 23-year-old petty officer first class, who was on duty in the engine room,

Social Affairs Sept. 10, 2013

A vice culture minister offered to resign Tuesday over suspicions of document forgery, the culture ministry said.The resignation, if accepted, comes only six months after Park Jong-gil, the vice minister in charge of sports at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, assumed the post in March.The move came after local media raised suspicions that he forged a public document in the process of handing over the ownership of a shooting range in Seoul's western residential area to his wife."I'm r

Social Affairs Sept. 10, 2013

A former vice commerce minister has been indicted on charges of accepting bribes in return for favoring a local builder in its bid to win a nuclear reactor contract, prosecutors said Tuesday.Park Young-june allegedly received 50 million won (US$46,099) in March 2010 from a broker in exchange for peddling his influence for Hankook Jungsoo Industries Co., a local water treatment firm, in its bid to take part in the government's project to build nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirate (UAE).Sou

Social Affairs Sept. 10, 2013

The family of disgraced former President Chun Doo-hwan pledged Tuesday to pay off a huge amount of unpaid fines, making a public apology for "causing public concern."In 1997, the nation's top court convicted the former president of mutiny and treason and ordered him to return to state coffers around 220 billion won ($202.15 million) he illegally received in bribes during his iron-fisted rule. Chun has yet to pay some 167.2 billion won he owes. Chun seized power through a coup in 1979 and ruled u

Social Affairs Sept. 10, 2013

Looking fit as can be and maybe even better than ever, the No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal pulled away from No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Monday in a taut, tense U.S. Open final for his 13th Grand Slam title.“This is probably the most emotional one in my career,” Nadal said. “I know I had to be almost perfect to win.”They started in sunlight and finished at night, a 3-hour, 21-minute match epic punctuated by cliffhangers and plot twists and a pair of protagonists who inspired standing ova

More Sports Sept. 10, 2013

The number of suicides among the youth in South Korea has increased by 57 percent since 2001, data showed Tuesday, growing at a faster pace than that of adults. The number of suicides per 100,000 people aged 10 to 19 rose 57.2 percent to 5.58 in 2011 from 3.19 in 2001, according to the data by the state-run Korea Health Promotion Foundation (KHPF) on the occasion of World Suicide Prevention Day, which falls on Sept. 10. The suicide rate for adults in the 20-64 age group increased 50.5 percent fr

Social Affairs Sept. 10, 2013

A possible diplomatic solution to avoid a U.S. military strike arose Monday when Syria swiftly welcomed a suggestion to turn over all of its chemical weapons for destruction under international control. President Barack Obama said the proposal could be “potentially a significant breakthrough” but he remained skeptical that Syria would follow through.The White House pressed ahead with efforts to persuade Congress to authorize a military strike, and Obama said the day's developments were doubtless

World News Sept. 10, 2013

Many would call Dennis Rodman a propaganda proxy for North Korea. But some may describe the retired NBA player as a potential pioneer for sports diplomacy between the authoritarian country and the United States.Rodman's news conference in Manhattan apparently reflected both those aspects.He reiterated that the North's young dictator, Kim Jong-un, is a "very good guy.""The marshal told me, 'We want people to come here, because we are not a bad country,'" Rodman said. On his second trip to Pyongya

More Sports Sept. 10, 2013

The union of South Korea's largest carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. said Tuesday that its members have endorsed a tentative wage deal reached last week.The agreement was approved by 55.1 percent of the more than 42,300 union members who voted on Monday, the union said. About 4,000 other union members did not vote."It is fortunate that we concluded a deal without anymore disruption," union spokesman Kwon Oh-il said by phone from Ulsan, home to Hyundai's main production facility, located some 410 kilome

Industry Sept. 10, 2013

Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg _ nicknamed “Iron Erna” _ will become Norway's new prime minister as the leader of a center-right coalition government likely including an anti-immigration party.  Preliminary results from the oil-rich Nordic country's parliamentary elections shows the Conservative Party got 26.8 percent of votes, the best result for the party in 28 years. Solberg, who will be Norway's second female prime minister after Gro Harlem Brundtland, thanked the voters Monday for a

World News Sept. 10, 2013