Two non-commissioned officers died on Friday due to an apparent cardiac arrest while undergoing separate physical tests, Army officials said. A 40-year-old warrant officer, identified only by his surname Kang, suddenly collapsed during a 3-kilometer run, part of an annual fitness test at a military base in Cheorwon, about 80 kilometers northeast of Seoul, they said. Kang was immediately sent t...

In an emotion-charged speech against corruption, President Lee Myung-bak called for a sweeping overhaul of the way the government works, imploring top officials Friday to end long-ingrained irregularities in officialdom. Speaking at a brainstorming meeting that brought together all Cabinet ministers, vice ministers and other top officials, Lee expressed deep frustrations about the bureaucracy, r...

Prosecutors put a former aide to President Lee Myung-bak and state auditor on trial on Friday, accusing him of receiving kickbacks in return for using his influence to help a corruption-ridden savings bank survive inspections by financial regulators. Eun Jin-soo, 50, is suspected of having received 70 million won (US$64,844) from Busan Savings Bank through a broker last year in exchange for lobb...

The South Korean military has deployed to frontline areas near the Demilitarized Zone tactical surface-to-surface missiles that put the North Korean capital of Pyongyang within their striking range, military sources said Friday. The forward-deployment early this year of the U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile Systems came as concerns were rising that the North could provoke again with its long-range...

When he decided to run his own business a few years ago, Bryan Hale, a former English teacher at a local middle school, had no idea about the business culture here. What helped him a lot, he said, was the business start-up program offered by the Seoul Global Center, a support center for foreign residents. “The center offered me the education I need to understand the Korean business culture; not...

Ruling party shelves additional tax cut plan, scrambles to cut tuition The ruling Grand National Party has gone to great lengths to renew its image, even defying the policies of the current administration, but many still regard its moves with a doubtful eye. In a general meeting held Thursday, a majority of GNP lawmakers agreed to withdraw the additional tax cut plan for corporations, which has...

The number of mobile phone users in North Korea has topped 500,000, according to a cell phone service provider's data disclosed Friday, in a sign of growing mobile penetration in the isolated country. Egypt's Orascom Telecom has been providing mobile services in North Korea since 2008 through Koryolink, a joint venture set up with the North. The number of subscribers in the North jumped to more...

South Korea has deployed precision-guided land missiles capable of hitting North Korea's capital of Pyongyang, a military source said Friday. The forward deployment of the surface-to-surface missiles, known as the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), came as tensions rekindled after North Korea vowed a retaliation against the South's military over its use of head-shot photos of Pyongyang's top...

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- U.S. congressmen are rolling up their sleeves to block the Obama administration from resuming food aid to North Korea, arguing it will only help the communist regime bolster its nuclear and other weapons capabilities. "(On Wednesday night) Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, offered an amendment to the Agriculture appropriatio...