Scaremongering about an imminent war with North Korea is quickly spreading among residents in the communist state, as the media in Pyongyang have increasingly distorted facts about Seoul’s military drills in recent weeks, sources said. The Korean Central Television, which controls both radio and TV broadcasting, said through its radio station on Monday that South Korea and the U.S. were “getting...

The top U.S. military commander in South Korea on Wednesday offered full support for South Korea in case of future North Korean provocations, an official said. Army Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), attended the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff’s assessment of its operational situations and was briefed on South Korean forces’ postures and recent movements in the...

A documentary exposing the global sex trade is to be screened at a Daegu church on Saturday, Dec. 3. The film “Nefarious: Merchant of Souls” will be shown at Dongshin church in Suseong-Gu at 7 p.m. The film was produced by international anti-trafficking organization Exodus Cry, a movement working to end modern day slavery through prayer and awareness. The non-profit movement also assists the vic...

The Canadian Women’s Club in Korea is to sell home-baked goods to raise cash for two charities next month. The bake sale to benefit Aeranwon and First Steps will be held at the Schofield Hall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Dec. 9. The hall is at the Canadian embassy located closest to Seodaemun and City Hall subway stations. Homemade baked goods including butter tarts, fudge and gingerbread will be ...

A Christian musician is seeking other artists to join him on an international tour to raise awareness about North Korean human rights. David K. O’Hannah is planning to tour church venues in the U.S. and Europe from early 2012. He has written North Korea-related songs that have been used at rights rallies in Seoul and is releasing an album shortly. He is seeking to contact musicians, sound engi...

He cycled more than 3,000 kilometers on a solo Himalayan biking expedition this summer, but now Brian Perich plans to ride another 32,000 km for two non-profit organizations. The English professor in Gangwon-do, who is originally from Canada, aims to cycle from Alaska to Argentina in three 60-day expeditions over the next two years. The 38-year-old who lives in Gangneung with his Korean wife an...

Ethnic Koreans adopted in America support unwed mothers here For several Korean unwed mothers, it has already been a godsend -- providing them with a safe place to give birth when turned away from other facilities. But when the country’s only shelter run for unwed mothers by the mothers themselves was threatened with closure, two Korean adoptees living in America launched a campaign to save the...

The Korea Communications Commission granted KT Corp. permission to end its feature phone service beginning on Dec. 8 on Wednesday. The state telecom regulator said KT will have two weeks to inform its existing 159,000 feature phone users by at least two different methods -- including mail -- that they will need to change to smartphones running on third generation (3G) networks or choose other mo...

COPENHAGEN, Nov 22, 2011 (AFP) - A Copenhagen hotel will continue reserving a whole floor for women, despite a recent ruling that doing so is discriminatory and illegal, the hotel director said Tuesday. Last May, the Bella Sky Hotel in central Copenhagen opened a floor dubbed the Bella Donna with 20 specially decorated rooms for women, and no men allowed. "The only man who can access this floor...

Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government plans to allow men over 30 to pay 30,000 liras ($16,325) to win exemption from compulsory service in the military, the second-largest force in NATO. The change has been on the ruling party's agenda for nine years and was drafted so as not to weaken the armed forces, Erdogan said. Income from the exemption paym...

WASHINGTON, Nov 22, 2011 (AFP) - People who ate canned soup for five days straight saw their urinary levels of the chemical bisphenol A spike 1,200 percent compared to those who ate fresh soup, US researchers said on Tuesday. The randomized study, described as "one of the first to quantify BPA levels in humans after ingestion of canned foods," was done by Harvard University researchers and appea...

Shares of South Korean automakers, technology firms and textile companies are expected to benefit from the bilateral trade pact between South Korea and the United States, analysts said Wednesday. The projection comes a day after the National Assembly approved the long-pending free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries, paving the way for the landmark deal to take effect on Jan. 1 as pl...