Information technology has created a digital culture online and some negative aspects, such as Internet addiction and cyber bullying, should be dealt with professionally, said experts at the 2011 Digital Culture Conference organized by the Public Administration Ministry on Thursday. “Digital culture will be a barometer for civility and dignity in cyberspace and a foundation for social developmen...

Three men were arrested on fraud charges for luring investors into a fake development project on the site of the Indonesian embassy here, said police officials on Wednesday. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the three men falsely led investors into believing that a profitable multi-purpose complex would be built where the embassy currently stands and then disappeared with the in...

Koreans with dual citizenships may now have to renounce them to work in the courts or prosecution, according to a legal revision by the Justice Ministry released to the media on Wednesday. The revision states that a dual citizenship is a reason for automatic disqualification from becoming a judge or prosecutor, citing national security and conflicting interests. The ministry said that the laws ...

Joining in on the popular outrage directed at credit card firms, bar and karaoke owners demanded Wednesday that they benefit from the same reduction in credit card commission rates as restaurant owners. “People in the nightspot business are discriminated against by credit card companies, which excluded us from their plan to lower commission cuts for small proprietors,” said Oh Ho-seok, head of t...

Prosecutors here released guidelines Wednesday regarding the use of social networking services for political campaigning, in an effort to check illegal electoral practices a week before the capital’s mayoral by-election. According to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and the National Election Commission, prosecutors will strictly monitor different SNS including Twitter, to ensure that candidates d...

Korean Air pilot accused of posting pro-Pyongyang messages online About 40 internet users, including a Korean Air pilot, are under investigation for their postings online that praise North Korea, which law enforcement authorities in the South view as a breach of the national security law. According to multiple local reports and sources at the National Police Agency, many of the 40 are members o...

SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- About 40 people, including public officials and soldiers, are under police investigation on suspicion of producing or circulating pro-North Korean materials on the Internet in breach of the National Security Law, police said Wednesday. The people under probe are suspected of making or posting materials that extol or propagandize the virtues of the communist country on ...

SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- Multiple citizenship holders will be barred from joining courts or prosecutors' offices here as part of the government's efforts to better protect national security, the Justice Ministry said Wednesday. Under the legal revision drafted by the ministry earlier this week, multiple citizenship holders must give up their foreign nationality to become judges, prosecutors, o...

SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- A local pilot with a South Korean passenger airline is under police investigation on suspicion of uploading pro-North Korean materials on the Internet in breach of the National Security Law, police said Wednesday. The 44-year-old plane captain surnamed Kim posted about 60 articles or video clips that extol or propagandize the virtues of the communist country on his web...

English language private institutions will be required to check the passports, visas and foreign registration cards of foreign teachers before employment, according to a revised law related to private institutions, the Education Ministry said Tuesday. According to the law which will take effect in Oct. 26, private English institutions, called hagwon here, will receive penalties of 3 million won ...

A third umbrella labor group is to launch next month, with nearly 70 trade unions and 30,000 workers as its members, a union activist leading the move said Tuesday. “We plan to hold an inaugural meeting early next month and submit the necessary documents to register with the Labor Ministry,” said Jeong Yeon-soo who leads the preparatory committee for the envisioned labor group. Currently, Korea...

The government on Tuesday decided to establish new guidelines to better compensate the families of those killed in action during the 1950-53 Korean War amid public criticism of the 5,000-won ($4.36) compensation for their loss. The Ministry of National Defense will finalize the guidelines sometime this week and forward them to the Ministry of Veterans and Patriots Affairs for its implementation,...

Veterans Affairs Ministry, Defense Ministry under fire for ‘passing the buck’ Kim Myung-bok, 63, is enraged when reminded of the havoc the Korean War wreaked on her family. Her brother and two sisters died during the 1950-53 conflict. To add to her agony, after years of struggling to receive proper compensation for her brother, killed in action in November 1950, the government in April gave not...