Drug-associated crime has been the most frequent reason for the imprisonment of North Korea defectors in South Korea so far this year, a parliamentary report showed Wednesday.A total of 129 North Korean defectors were behind bars in South Korea as of Aug. 26, compared with 51 recorded in 2011, the report released by Rep. Kang Chang-il of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea showed.Of the 129 imprisoned, 38 were convicted of drug-related crimes while 15 others were guilty of violence, accord

South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Wednesday that it will file a petition against the founder of retail giant Lotte Group with state prosecutors for falsely reporting its overseas affiliates' shareholding.The Fair Trade Commission made the final decision to take the legal punitive step after a months-long review of the case that dates back to when Shin Kyuk-ho was in control of South Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate.Under South Korea's fair trade law, companies with assets exceeding 5 trill

North Korea's exports of mineral resources like anthracite coal and iron ore have lent big support to the country's economy in the past 18 years, with most shipped to China, a report said Wednesday.Outbound shipments of North Korean minerals totaled $1.35 billion last year, shooting up more than thirtyfold from $430 million in 1998, according to the report released by the state-run Korea Development Institute think tank.Its total exports tripled to $2.93 billion from $979 million over the same 1

A magnitude-3.5 aftershock jolted Gyeongju on Wednesday, the country's meteorological agency said, little over a week after two strong earthquakes hit the southern city.The aftershock took place at 11:53 a.m., with the epicenter located some 10 kilometers southwest of the historical city, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. The Ministry of Public Safety and Security said no damage or casualties have been reported as of 12:30 p.m., though there were some 690 reports of people fe

South Korea's ruling and opposition parties on Wednesday continued to debate over whether Seoul should consider its own nuclear armament as an option to defend the country, amid the escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula sparked by Pyongyang's provocations.Following North Korea's launch of submarine-launched ballistic missiles as well as its fifth nuclear test, a rising number of hawkish lawmakers mainly from the ruling Saenuri Party claimed that South Korea must consider developing its own

Heightened activity at North Korea's nuclear test site may indicate that the reclusive country is getting ready to conduct another underground detonation in the near future, military officials here said Wednesday.South Korea's military said it will remain on high alert as the North might launch another long-range missile or conduct a sixth nuclear test or both next month to celebrate the 68th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Worker's Party of Korea on Oct. 10.  "The canopy erected to hi

More than half of high-ranking civil officials' children have received favors in carrying out their compulsory military service, an opposition lawmaker said Wednesday, casting concerns over inequality among soldiers.According to the data compiled by Rep. Kim Joong-ro of the minor opposition People's Party, around 54.1 percent of family members belonging to high ranking public employees were assigned to rear area, non-combat units. He pointed out that on the whole, such positions only account for

Consumers are resorting to packaged kimchi after record summer heat and drought have sent prices of napa cabbage, the side dish's key ingredient, up by more than 230 percent, retailers said Wednesday.At E-Mart, sales of packaged kimchi rose 67 percent so far this month compared to the same period last year, totaling 4 billion won ($3.58 million), company officials said. Such a rise is common during the summer vacation months of July and August, when travelers buy ready-made kimchi for convenienc

South Korea's parliament passed a new resolution Wednesday that urges Pyongyang to drop its nuclear development program, nearly two weeks after Pyongyang tested its fifth nuke underground despite strong opposition and warnings from the international community."We sternly warn North Korea that reckless provocations will only isolate it from the international community, and it will face more pressure," the resolution said, adding Pyongyang must take meaningful steps to give up all nuclear-related

South Korea's chief financial regulator called on the nation's umbrella bank union Wednesday to withdraw its plan to go on a general strike later this week, saying such a collective action will never win public support especially at a time when the local banking industry faces a "life-or-death" crisis.Yim Jong-yong, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, delivered the message in a meeting with the heads of seven major local banks to discuss ways to deal with the move by the Korean Financ

None of the top 30 public enterprises have female executives, a corporate analyst said Wednesday, a finding that defies government efforts to raise women's presence in the business world.According to CEO Score, which tracks companies' performance and management, as of the end of June this year, there were no female executive-level officers among the 139 such officials at the surveyed public firms. There were two women in the C-suite in 2014, but they have retired.The government had said it wants

A new rocket engine that North Korea claims to have successfully tested this week would be powerful enough to range the continental United States if it has the capability to put a satellite into orbit as claimed by Pyongyang, a top US commander said Tuesday.The North claimed earlier Tuesday that it successfully conducted a "ground jet test of a new type high-power engine of a carrier rocket for the geo-stationary satellite." It said the "single engine" has a thrust of 80 tons, which is three tim

North Korea appears to have finished extracting plutonium from spent nuclear fuel, gaining up to four more nuclear weapons worth of plutonium, a US research institute said Tuesday.The Institute for Science and International Studies (ISIS) said that satellite imagery taken of the North's Yongbyon nuclear complex between July and August shows little activity at the North's nuclear reprocessing plant, compared with brisk activity earlier this year when reprocessing was believed to be under way."The

US President Barack Obama said Tuesday North Korea's nuclear test "endangers all of us" and the communist nation must "face consequences."Obama made the remark during his final address to the UN General Assembly, as the UN Security Council is working on fresh sanctions on Pyongyang for its fifth nuclear test."We cannot escape the prospect of nuclear war unless we all commit to stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and pursuing a world without them," Obama said. "When Iran agrees to accept const

A senior Ukrainian official said Tuesday his country wants South Korean satellite TV channels to fill in for blocked Russian ones, according to a news report.Ukraine blocked 77 Russian satellite TV channels over the past two years amid the worst-ever bilateral ties over the Crimea issue.Instead, dozens of new Ukrainian TV channels began services."We don't have enough. So we want Korean (TV satellite channels)," the Interfax news agency quoted Yuri Artemenko, the head of Ukraine's national counci

About four out of 10 teenage girls who have run away from home have at some point provided sexual services mainly for money, a survey showed Tuesday.According to the written survey of 92 runaway teen girls in Daejeon conducted from July-August by Yook Hye-ryon, a professor at Chungnam National University, 38 percent of the surveyed answered that they have engaged in prostitution. (123RF)Asked what age when they became involved in solicitation, 48.6 percent of the polled answered "between 14-16,"

South Korea's Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Tuesday that the country need to focus its efforts on revitalizing the national economy, amid the rising voice among some lawmakers that Seoul should seek to revise the Constitution to change the current presidential system."Although there are talks on Constitution revision, the government believes it is more important to revitalize the economy and stabilize the living quality of ordinary people at present," Hwang said during an interpellation sess

Shinsegae Duty Free said Tuesday that it will open a K-pop concert hall later this week in Seoul in a bid to attract more foreign customers in the early stages of its operation.South Korean retail giant Shinsegae opened its first duty-free outlet on the top four floors in the flagship Shinsegae department store, with about 600 brands, in May. The hall -- situated right next to the duty free shop in Myeongdong, a shopping district in central Seoul -- will be entirely for shows by entertainment gi

Shinhan Bank, South Korea's fourth-largest bank by assets, said Tuesday that it has set up a branch in Myanmar as part of its diversification strategy. Shinhan Bank said it won final approval to start operations in Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar, from the local financial authorities last week.It marked the first time for a South Korean lender to set up a branch in the Southeast Asian country. The latest opening of a branch has raised the number of its global financial network to 147 in 20

Canada's BlackBerry Ltd. began selling its first Android-based smartphone on Tuesday in South Korea, returning to the competitive smartphone market dominated by local brands. It is BlackBerry's first smartphone launched in South Korea since it pulled out of the Korean market three years ago. The launch of the PRIV smartphone in the Korean market came as foreign smartphone makers, such as Japan's Sony and China's Huawei, are seeking to gain market shares in the country's medium-range smartphone m