North Korea on Friday denied its involvement in a hacking attack against South Korea's military, saying Seoul is pulling off "a childish plot" to divert public attention from its political crisis.South Korea accused North Korea this week of being behind the first-ever infiltration of the intranet of its cyberwarfare command in August, noting that the Internet Protocol address linked to the attack was traced to a location in China which was previously used by North Korean hackers.North Korea's ma

North Korea Dec. 9, 2016

Japan's military will not enter South Korean territory even in the event of a conflict breaking out unless it receives a request for assistance from Seoul, a Japanese foreign ministry official said."As long as we don't get a request, we will not come to (South Korea) unilaterally ... It definitely requires approval from South Korea," the official told a group of South Korean journalists in a background briefing on Tuesday at the foreign ministry in Tokyo.South Korea is wary of Japan's push for a

Defense Dec. 9, 2016

North Korea's reported appointment of military officer Ri Son-gwon as the head of its state-level committee handling inter-Korean affairs was confirmed on Friday.The same day, the North's leading newspaper Rodong Sinmun carried a story with confirmation that Ri is the chief of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK).An Chan-il, a North Korean defector, claimed on Dec. 1 that Ri, a senior colonel of the North Korean military, has been named to lead the committee, citing his s

North Korea Dec. 9, 2016

The number of public pay phones across the country will be reduced by around 50 percent by 2020, the government said Friday, as most everyone in South Korea owns a cell phone.Between 30,000 and 40,000 public phones will be left across the country by that year, compared with some 70,000 phone booths currently set up, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said."The usage of public phones has rapidly decreased as more people use their individual phones," said Yoo Kyung-tae, a ministry of

Technology Dec. 9, 2016

A new UN human rights report has called for greater efforts to address the suffering of families separated for more than six decades since the Korean War.The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) published the report, titled "Torn Apart: The human rights dimension of the involuntary separation of Korean families," stressing the urgent need to address the issue due to the advanced age of many of the victims."It is estimated that over one million and up to five million Koreans mo

North Korea Dec. 9, 2016

South Korea's state pension operator has registered modest returns from investments in large-cap stocks this year on a surge in Samsung Electronics Co., despite decreased prices in many big-exposure issues, a market tracker said Friday.The value of 281 stocks, of which the National Pension Service (NPS) own 5 percent or more, came to 91.0 trillion won ($78.3 billion) as of Thursday, up from 84.7 trillion won at the end of last year, according to FnGuide.Of the total, 183 issues, or 65 percent, s

Dec. 9, 2016

Some pharmaceutical companies in South Korea chalked up strong sales in the first nine months of this year on the back of their moneymaking subsidiaries, industry sources said Friday.Consolidated sales of Kwangdong Pharmaceutical Co. are expected to exceed the 1 trillion-won mark this year for the first time in its history, bolstered by the rapid growth of its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) unit Korea e-Platform.Kwangdong Pharmaceutical's consolidated top line reached 791.2 billion won (

Industry Dec. 9, 2016

South Korea's unionized railway workers will end their 74-day-long strike and return to work Friday, while vowing to continue their protest against the implementation of a performance-based pay system.The Korean Railway Workers' Union said it will end the walkout as of 2 p.m., concluding its longest-ever railway strike that began with subway services unions on Sept. 27. The strike was the first joint effort by railway-related workers in 22 years, though the subway workers ended their strike with

Industry Dec. 9, 2016

Park Tae-hwan has grabbed his second gold medal at the world's top short course competition.The South Korean star won the men's 200-meter freestyle at the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Windsor, Canada, on Wednesday (local time), with a record time of 1 minute, 41.03 seconds.Park broke the previous meet record, held by Ryan Lochte of the United States since 2010, by 0.05 second. Park also surpassed his own Asian record of 1:42.22, set in Berlin in 2007.On Tuesday, Park won the

More Sports Dec. 8, 2016

South Korea's tax authorities said Thursday they have made public names of two business executives for not reporting their overseas bank accounts, a practice widely seen as an attempt to avoid taxes.The National Tax Service (NTS) published on its web site that Cho Hyun-joon, president of Hyosung Corp., and Kim Hee-geun, president of Byucksan Engineering, failed to report their offshore bank accounts to the authorities.The NTS said Cho, the eldest son of Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Suck-rae, did n

Dec. 8, 2016

A local court on Thursday ordered a 55-year-old woman to pay 90,000 won ($77) for giving rice cakes to a police officer in the first ruling made after the implementation of a much-debated anti-graft law.The Chuncheon District Court found the woman, whose identity was withheld, guilty of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, which bans public servants, educators and journalists from receiving free meals valued at over 30,000 won, gifts worth more than 50,000 won, or congratulatory or

Social Affairs Dec. 8, 2016

South Korea's National Assembly on Thursday officially set the date for the vote on the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye who is at the center of the corruption scandal rocking the country.The anonymous vote will take place on Friday during the parliamentary session at 2:00 p.m., with the fate of the president to be ultimately decided by the country's Constitutional Court.Under the parliamentary law, an impeachment motion can be put up for vote 24 hours after being reported at the parliamen

Politics Dec. 8, 2016