Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn is set to visit a port in Mokpo Saturday to meet families of people killed in the Sewol ferry sinking and urge a thorough search of the recently salvaged ship for the remains of those still missing, government officials said.   South Korean Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn (Yonhap)The 6,825-ton ship was recovered from the seabed last week, nearly three years after it sank on April 16, 2014, while en route to the southern resort i

Social Affairs April 1, 2017

South Korean government officials said Saturday the fresh US sanctions on North Korea reflect its resolve to get tough on Pyongyang, which continues to develop nuclear weapons and long-range missiles."It's a resolute warning message," a foreign ministry official said in response to Washington's announcement that it has blacklisted a North Korean trading firm and 11 individuals believed to be involved in the financing of the Kim Jong-un regime's weapons of mass destruction development.Rep. Ed Roy

Diplomatic Circuit April 1, 2017

Just three weeks ago, Park Geun-hye called the presidential palace her home. In a dramatic downfall, the former president now must eat and sleep in a jail cell, locked up in the same prison where her longtime friend and aides are being held. Park, who was the first woman to reach the highest office in South Korea, ended up becoming the nation’s first president to be removed from power by impeachment and the third to be arrested.  Ousted President Park Geun-hye (Yonhap)In the early hours of Frida

Social Affairs March 31, 2017

Disgraced former President Park Geun-hye is awaiting a court decision on whether she should be arrested on corruption and other charges that led to her removal from office. After a nearly nine-hour hearing at the Seoul Central District Court on Thursday, Park was transferred to a makeshift detention facility set up on the 10th floor at Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office just next to the courthouse. The result is expected early Friday morning. Former President Park Geun-hye leaves Seoul C

Social Affairs March 30, 2017

Former President Park Geun-hye fought hard to avoid the shame of being taken into custody during a court hearing on her arrest warrant Thursday. Whether she was successful was not known as of press time.With Park determined to deny all her charges including bribery and abuse of power, the closed-door session continued for about nine hours, the longest yet in the court’s history. Former President Park Geun-hye leaves Seoul Central District Court in Seoul on Thursday after attending a hearing on a

Social Affairs March 30, 2017

A court hearing that will decide whether former President Park Geun-hye will be arrested for corruption is continuing for over six hours as of 5 p.m. in Seoul on Thursday. With Park determined to fight all charges including bribery and abuse of power, the closed-door hearing is expected to take a several more hours. The court decision whether or not to arrest her will likely come on Friday morning.  Former President Park Geun-hye (Yonhap)At 2 p.m., during a recess, one of Park’s lawyers told rep

Social Affairs March 30, 2017

Samsung Group paid large sums of money to a CJ Group employee who blackmailed it with a sex video featuring its ailing Chairman Lee Kun-hee, state prosecutors said Tuesday. Despite speculation that the Samsung-CJ rivalry may have been behind the sex tape scandal, the prosecution said it could not find evidence on whether the blackmailers were acting under the direction of CJ Group, headed by Samsung Group chair‘s nephew Lee Jae-hyun.(Yonhap)Revealed by a local news outlet last year, the video sh

Social Affairs March 29, 2017

Former President Park Geun-hye is set to appear at a local court Thursday to attend a hearing on her arrest warrant, the prosecution said Tuesday.The Seoul Central District Court is scheduled to hold the hearing at 10:30 a.m. to review the writ application. The result will likely come early Friday. Former President Park Geun-hye emerges from the public prosecutors' office in Seoul on March 22, 2017, following an overnight questioning over various corruption allegations that led to her dismissal

Social Affairs March 28, 2017

South Korean government said Tuesday that it found what appears to be the remains of a victim of the Sewol ferry disaster during its ongoing salvage operation, nearly three years after it sank with more than 300 people trapped inside.The Ministry of Oceans and Fishers were in the process of checking whether the six pieces of bones found are of any of the nine passengers whose bodies remain unaccounted for. The ship's crew look around it after they found what appears to be the remains of a victim

Social Affairs March 28, 2017

South Korean lawmakers have failed to reach an agreement on reducing the maximum weekly working hours, leaving the matter up to the next administration.Members of the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee agreed that a proposed reduction to 52 hours from the current 68 hours would help improve working conditions and generate more jobs. But they failed to narrow their differences on some important details, such as weekend pay rates and a grace period to be granted to businesses.Ha T

Social Affairs March 28, 2017

The Sewol ferry was safely placed onto a semisubmersible vessel on Saturday morning, completing the trickiest part of the salvage and increasing the chance of a completion by early April, as scheduled.  "We completed loading the ferry onto the semisubmersible ship at 4:10 a.m.," Lee Cheol-jo, an official in charge of the operation from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said during a briefing. Loading the ferry onto the semisubmersible vessel was one of the most challenging stages of the salv

Social Affairs March 25, 2017

Salvage operators raised the sunken ferry Sewol to the target height in the sea Friday, with the ferry set to be moved onto another vessel later in the day, a major step toward bringing it back to land by early April. 　According to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the salvage team began to carry the 6,825-ton ship connected to two barges at 4:55 p.m. to a semisubmersible ship some 3 kilometers away. 　“If we finish fixing the ferry to the semisubmersible ship, there will be no big risks (in

Social Affairs March 24, 2017

ANSAN, Gyeonggi Province – As the sunken ferry Sewol began to be seen above the water Thursday, South Koreans flocked to Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, home to hundreds of victims of the maritime disaster on April 16, 2014, to pay their respects.As the salvage comes right before the third anniversary of the Sewol's sinking, emotions ran high in the city, where many of the memories about the victims still remain intact.At the joint memorial altar set up in the city, South Koreans left flowers and lett

Social Affairs March 23, 2017

JINDO, South Jeolla Province -- Several hours after rusted parts of the sunken Sewol ferry’s structure finally emerged from the waters on Thursday, the mother of a victim still missing at sea wept aloud at the port nearest the wreckage on the island Jindo. “I really miss you, my son. I hope he gets out of the freezing water and meets me here,” the mother of Yang Seung-jin, a teacher at Danwon High School in Ansan, told The Korea Herald at the Paengmok port. “How handsome my son is! He was a good

Social Affairs March 23, 2017