Regulator assures glitch is minor, no radiation dangers The government will order a safety inspection of the Gori-1 reactor, which was temporarily shut down following a technical glitch last week, officials said Thursday. “It is a welcome decision, risking financial loss,” said Kim Chang-kyung, second vice minister of education, science and technology, in a news conference on Thursday. “The re...

The three young Siberian tigers are expected to arrive here from Russia in the first half of this year, a diplomatic source said Thursday. “The two governments in Seoul and Moscow have decided to seek the delivery of tigers in the first half of this year. This is meaningful in that it is a symbol of friendship between the two countries,” the source said, refusing to be identified. The three tig...

New schools or those that consider reconstruction will be required to build “see-through” fences that can be seen through in order to protect students from sexual and other violent crimes, officials said Thursday. In a meeting with school facility officials nationwide on Thursday, the Ministry of Education, Technology and Science asked schools to install 1.8-meter-high transparent fences. “The ...

A South Korean man nearly cut off his finger and created a commotion in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul Thursday, protesting against Tokyo's renewed territorial claims to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo, police said. The 47-year-old man, identified only by his surname Choi, appeared from behind a building near the embassy with his left pinky almost severed and demanded the Japan...

Indonesia has signed an agreement to join South Korea’s project to develop a new fighter jet, officials at Seoul’s weapons acquisition agency said Wednesday. Under the agreement, Indonesia’s state-run defense research institute, “Balitbang,” will participate in the technology development process for the KF-X project, also known as the “Boramae” project. According to the deal, Balitbang will pay...

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon hinted at his bid for the presidency next year on an official visit to the U.S. this week. “Korea is facing a very critical moment now. Considering the flexible political environment, I feel a strong responsibility (for the presidency),” Oh said Monday after delivering a lecture at Harvard University. It was the first time the mayor has made public his intention to run fo...

A long convoy of lorries believed to be carrying gifts for North Korea’s elite was seen entering the communist state on the eve of a major holiday, according to a South Korean Internet newspaper. The Daily NK, staffed by anti-Pyongyang activists, said Tuesday it had received video footage of more than 200 trucks crossing the Yalu River nose-to-tail from China on April 14. The North celebrates t...

North Korea detained three Japanese men on apparent drug smuggling charges in its special economic zone last month, but it later released one man, a news report said Wednesday. The three Japanese employees of a machine maintenance firm in Tokyo visited the city of Rason, near North Korea’s border with Russia, in March to check machines at a food manufacturing factory, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newsp...