South Korean relief organizations and broadcasters said Monday that they will collect donations to help the victims of Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami, adding to the global efforts to support the quake-hit country. The move comes after South Korea has pledged to provide as much support as possible for Japan after a magnitude 9.0 quake struck Japan on Friday, unleashing a gigantic tsun...

Lawmaker calls for joint study with N.K. on Mount Baekdu volcano Cheong Wa Dae held meetings Monday to assess the impact of the explosions at a Japanese nuclear plant and to check the safety of Korea’s atomic power facilities, while lawmakers discussed plans to assist the quake-ridden country. A second hydrogen explosion occurred Monday at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, 240 kilometers...

The leader of South Korea's main opposition party on Monday visited the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to express deep consolation for Japan's enormous human and property losses caused by massive earthquake and tsunami. "I express my deepest consolation to the Japanese people," Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of the Democratic Party (DP), said in his meeting with Masatoshi Muto, Japan's ambassador to South Ko...

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin discussed bilateral military exchanges and cooperation in the defense industry with Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin in Seoul on Monday, officials said. Gazmin, 68, arrived here Sunday for a four-day schedule. During his stay here, he is scheduled to visit Seoul National Cemetery, the monument in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province, which marks the participati...

South Korea’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Monday it was investigating a maintenance problem in the country’s presidential jet after it was forced to make an unprecedented emergency landing. The plane, a Boeing 747-400 leased from Korean Air, bound for the United Arab Emirates carrying President Lee Myung-bak and First Lady Kim Yoon-ok, flew back less than half an hour after taking off...

A government investigation team arrived in Shanghai, China, Sunday, to investigate the sex-for-favors scandal involving several South Korean diplomats and a Chinese woman, officials said. The high-profile probe into the scandal involving at least four of South Korea’s elite officials is to continue through Saturday. The case has seriously eroded public trust in diplomats’ ethical standards. The...

By Kim So-hyun Plans to launch a special agency to probe crimes committed by prosecutors and judges face a rough ride in the National Assembly amid a vehement backlash from the prosecution and judiciary circles. The judicial reform package passed a six-person parliamentary subcommittee Thursday. It calls for abolishing the controversial central investigation unit at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Off...

The massive earthquake that hit Japan's northeastern region has caused telephone traffic to surge between South Korea and its neighbor that effectively made placing calls impossible, the country's largest telephone operator said Friday. KT Corp. said that from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. cellular and landline phone traffic shot up 91 times and 41 times, respectively, compared to normal traffic. Calls were...

President Lee Myung-bak departs for the United Arab Emirates Saturday to hold summit talks, attend a nuclear power plant event and visit the South Korean troops deployed in the Middle Eastern country. Upon his arrival in Abu Dhabi Saturday, Lee will head to the eastern town of Al Ain to meet some 130 Korean troops on a two-year mission to help train UAE‘s special forces. The contingent named “Ak...