An English-language autobiography of President Lee Myung-bak will be published in the United States in November, according to online bookstore Amazon.com. Titled “The Uncharted Path: The Autobiography of Lee Myung-Bak,” the book will be out on Nov. 1, published by Chicago-based Sourcebooks, the website said. It is currently available for pre-order online. The 336-page hardcover is priced at $26.99

Former judge Rep. Park says disabled need greater employment supportFor the needy people, welfare is a right given them, not charity, an opposition lawmaker said Sunday, urging the government to expand welfare for the socially and economically marginalized people with disabilities.A polio victim himself, Rep. Park Eun-soo of the main opposition Democratic Party said that one out of 10 South Korean

 

Somali pirates holding four South Koreans in a hijacked chemical tanker are demanding that Seoul pay ransom for the hostages and release five pirates captured during a January raid of a seized Korean freighter, the Associated Press reported Friday.Hassan Abdi, one of the pirates holding 25 crew aboard the MV Gemini, told the AP that his group wants compensation for eight pirates killed in February

Korea-U.S. investigation team finds suspicious spots in Camp CarrollCHILGOK, North Gyeongsang Province ― A joint Korea-U.S. investigation team found signs that metallic objects, shaped like drums, may be buried underground at one of the U.S. military camps in Korea, team officials said Friday. The team will now take samples of soil from as far as 10 meters deep to verify a claim by U.S. veteran St

Toby Dawson felt so proud of being Korean, after PyeongChang won the International Olympic Committee vote in Durban, South Africa, Wednesday, to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. Dawson, a U.S. Olympic bronze medalist in freestyle skiing and Korean adoptee, was the PyeongChang Bid Committee’s last-minute trump card brought in to help the Korean delegation’s final presentation prior to the vote. The s

Kim Yu-naKim Yu-na, Korea’s beloved Olympic gold medalist in figure skating, showed her charm once again ― not on ice this time but on a podium in front of the International Olympic Committee assembly. Presenting the venue plan of PyeongChang ahead of the crucial IOC vote in Durban, South Africa, the 21-year-old spoke in flawless English, vibrant and full of energy. Still, she felt huge pressure n

Chey Jae-won, SK Group’s senior vice chairman and younger brother of Chairman Chey Tae-won, has been banned from travelling overseas on allegations that he amassed tens of billions of won in illicit slush funds. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, which leads the probe, suspects that the younger Chey raised the funds by falsifying the value of transactions between the group’s subsidiar

Starting next year, those who commit cruelty to animals in Korea may face a jail term of up to 1 year or a maximum fine of 10 million won ($9,400). The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Monday that a revision to the animal protection law, which entails the toughened penalties for pet abusers, is to take effect on Jan. 1, 2012. Currently, the heaviest penalty is a fine of 5

PyungChang bid chief Cho Yang-ho(center) talks to reporters in Durban, South Africa(Yonhap News)Lee in South Africa to promote S. Korea for Winter OlympicsSEOUL/DURBAN ― With just two days to go before the selection of the host country of the 2018 Winter Olympics, the South Korean delegation, joined by President Lee Myung-bak, is gearing up for its crucial last-minute pitch to bring the Games to P

South Korea has decided to submit a claim to an extended portion of the continental shelf in the East China Sea to a United Nations commission within this year, the government said Sunday, a move expected to rekindle its dispute with China and Japan over the extent of their respective exclusive economic zones.The submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will claim that t

A Chinese tourism delegation has arrived in North Korea, Pyongyang’s state media said Saturday, amid the North’s efforts to revitalize a stalled tour program to a scenic mountain that once served as its key cash cow.The trip comes weeks after the North announced a law designed to develop Mount Kumgang as a special zone for international tours. It marked the first time Chinese have traveled to Nort

More than four out of every 10 South Koreans are afraid of walking outside late at night, a police poll showed Sunday, indicating a relatively high level of public anxiety over security at night.According to the poll by the National Police Agency, 43.7 percent of the total 28,103 respondents said they feel threatened when walking along streets late at night while only 28 percent responded they don

GOYANG (Yonhap News) ― Four South Korean mechanics died of apparent asphyxiation caused by refrigerant gas in an underground machine room at a major retail outlet near Seoul, officials said Saturday.The four were working to fix a refrigeration system in the machine room in E-Mart in Ilsan, northwest of Seoul, until 2:40 a.m., an E-Mart official said, adding that the ventilation system was working

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― Wendy Sherman, a former senior U.S. official on North Korea, was nominated to a lofty State Department post on Friday despite political controversy over her earlier handling of North Korea affairs.The White House announced that President Barack Obama picked her to serve as under secretary for political affairs, the No. 3 post at the department.Sherman was an adviser to S

Social networking tools become routine of government publicity officialsShortly after Labor Minister Lee Chae-pil met representatives of labor and management for Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction amid the labor confrontation in mid-June, word of an imminent police crackdown on striking workers started spreading via Twitter.“That wasn’t what the minister truly meant. So we responded via Twitte

Demographic shift adds urgency to the need for reformThis is the third and last installment of a three-part series looking into problems in Korea’s tertiary education ― Ed. Earlier this month, professors at Sunghwa College received 136,000 won as their salary and a text message that the rest would be wired once the institution collected tuition fees from students. The college, where about 1,200 st

Long-standing ban on plural unions at company level to be lifted FridayFollowing is the first in a two-part series featuring multiple labor unions that will be introduced in Korea on Friday. ― Ed.After 13 years of hesitation, Korea is finally easing its iron-fisted labor union policy to allow more than one trade union at a single workplace, a move widely expected to open a new page in the country’

Rival parties agree on filibuster, new rules aimed at ending violence on floorRival political parties on Monday agreed on a set of measures, including a filibuster, which they hope would help end legislative violence and upgrade the political process. “A meeting of the ruling Grand National Party and the opposition Democratic Party worked out a tentative agreement on a number of issues, including

The feud between parliamentarians and some of the nation’s corporate leaders escalated Thursday, as politicians threatened legal action if the businessmen defied their request to testify before parliament next week. Members of the National Assembly’s Knowledge Economy Committee decided to call to a public hearing it is organizing three of the nation’s major business organizations’ chiefs ― Huh Cha