North Korea is showing "high-level activity" at its nuclear test site, the 38 North website monitoring the communist nation said Monday.Commercial satellite imagery taken on July 7 of the North's Punggye-ri nuclear test site shows what appears to be supplies and/or equipment stacked on the ground at the site's North Portal, where the North conducted its fourth nuclear test in January, 38 North said.In addition, a small vehicle is present at the support building immediately to the south of the po

 The United States urged North Korea to free detained American citizens Monday after the communist nation said it will deal with the detainees according to wartime law in protest of Washington's sanctions on leader Kim Jong-un.The North also said it would "totally cut off" the dialogue channel between the two sides via the North's mission to the United Nations in New York, accusing the U.S. of impairing the "dignity" of its leader with the sanctions that Pyongyang also labeled as a declaration o

The United States on Monday brushed aside North Korea's threat to take "physical counter-action" against the planned deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system in South Korea, saying such a threat only confirms the deployment decision was right.The North's military issued the threat earlier Monday, claiming that the agreement between the South and the U.S. to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery in the South is part of their efforts to invade the communist nation.The U.S

The Ministry of Unification and horse racing track operator LetsRun Corporation, said Monday that three additional food trucks run by North Korean defectors will be launched at Busan and Jejudo Island’s horse racing grounds, from September. In January, the ministry funded the launch of two food trucks run by North Korean defectors at Seoul’s LetsRun Park horse racing track, along with the LetsRun Corporation and Hyundai Motors.  (123RF)An additional three food trucks -- two in Busan’s LetsRun Pa

A civil servant in his 50s was dismissed from his position at Namyangju City Hall after it was found that he had secretly taken photos of female colleagues’ underwear by wedging a mobile phone inside his shoes. The police investigation took place following a report of the man’s suspicious behavior. They had found an upskirt video of women taken between May and June.  (123RF)Namyangju City Hall had dismissed the accused on July 4 after he was booked without detention by the police. Eleven victims

The second Sinchon Beer Festival will take place on Thursday and Friday in Sinchon’s main street, which stretches from Sinchon Station exits three and four to the front gate of Yonsei University.Hallyu star Song Joong-ki of the hit drama “Descendants of the Sun” will make an appearance at the festival opening as a face for distiller Hite-Jinro, which is sponsoring the festival.   (KBS)The company had said on Facebook two weeks ago that it would set up an artificial beach at the festival and invi

North Korea has sent about 800 security agents to areas bordering China in a bid to beef up monitoring on the North's foreign workers and prevent them from fleeing their posts, a source familiar with the move said Monday.China's authorities have raised their guard against North Korea's move to dispatch hundreds of agents to Chinese cities, including Dandong and Yenji, where tens of thousands of North Koreans are working, according to the source.The North Korean agents, who belong to the Ministry

Hundreds of unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co. held a meeting on Monday to decide whether to go on a strike, union officials said.No details of the meeting that drew about 500 senior union officials in Ulsan were immediately available. Ulsan is home to Hyundai's main assembly plants, located some 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul.The meeting came six days after the union of the largest South Korean carmaker suggested that the unionized workers could stage a strike, citing the collapse of neg

South Korean universities, which are worried about their futures due to dropping birthrates, are studying ways to make inroads abroad, local school sources said Monday. Ewha Womans University in Seoul recently disclosed its plan to branch out into the United States and China. National universities not in Seoul, which are dealing with an ever-falling number of entrants, are also showing deep interest in setting up schools in foreign countries. According to the Education Ministry, the number of hi

Low-credit borrowers sought more loans at savings banks in the first quarter, pushing up the number of lendees at the secondary banks to a four-year on-quarter high, a savings banks' association said Monday.In the January-March period, the number of people who took loans from savings banks jumped 7.41 percent, or 112,886 borrowers, to 1.63 million from 1.52 million a quarter earlier, according to data from the Korea Federation of Savings Bank. It was the biggest on-quarter jump since the first q

Prosecutors indicted the president of South Korea's state-run farmers' cooperative on Monday over allegations he was elected through illegal campaigning.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said Kim Byeong-won is suspected of getting involved in irregularities committed during the January election where he was named the head of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (Nonghyup).During the latest election, three candidates, including Kim, ran for the presidency. Choi Deok-gyu,

South Korean shares sharply increased on Monday as better-than-expected job data from the United States improved investor sentiment here, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 25.43 points, or 1.3 percent, to finish at 1,988.54. Trading volume was moderate at 332 million shares worth 4.23 trillion won ($3.68 billion), with gainers beating losers 530 to 278.The world's largest economy announced the data on Friday that

South Korea will use security guard robots to reinforce safety in and around Olympic stadiums and venues during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, the government said Monday. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it has launched a robot support team led by Oh Joon-ho, a professor of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.The team will draw up a comprehensive plan on the use of security guard robots by next month in the run-up to the winter games scheduled in February 20

More than eight out 10 people use texts provided by mobile carriers for verifying their identities on the Internet, a survey showed Monday.According to the survey on 4,000 people aged over 15 conducted by the Korea Internet & Security Agency, 84 percent of the respondents say they have used short message services for authenticating their IDs.The SMS authentication process is when a user types in their birthday, name and cellphone number and then inputs a security number received through the text

South Korea's four major banks likely posted an 11 percent on-year jump in their first-half net profits on their efforts to boost profits in the nonbanking sector and less exposure to debt-ridden companies, industry people said Monday. The country's four leading lenders -- Shinhan Financial Group, KB Financial Group, Hana Financial Group and Woori Bank – reported 3.883 trillion won ($3.4 billion) in combined net profit for the January-June period, up from 3.494 trillion won a year earlier, accor

South Korean shipyards are likely to suffer difficulties in the second half of this year, a new survey said Monday, amid declining new orders over the protracted global economic slump.South Korean shipbuilders clinched a combined 830,000 compensated gross ton worth of orders in the first half, down 88 percent from 6.85 million CGTs a year earlier, according to the data compiled by global research firm Clarkson Research Services.The first-half new orders mark the lowest figure that South Korean s

Seoul Metropolitan Government on Monday released some 23,000 photos of Seoul taken over 20 years. The photos, compiled in collective efforts with research agency The Seoul Institute, shows how the capital city has changed from 1995 to 2015. The intersection at Gangnam subway station (The Seoul Research Data Service)As long as due credit is given, the photos can be freely altered for commercial use, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, who holds the copyrights. Photos with resolution o

Changdong Sports Culture Complex in Dobong-gu, northeastern Seoul, will open an outdoor swimming pool for a week beginning from Saturday. The opening hours of the pool will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Dobong-gu outdoor swimming poolThe entrance fee is 3,000 won ($2.60). Those under the age of 3 can enter for free if proof of medical insurance or a copy of their resident registration is shown. The pool will have various facilities for children including a 40-meter water slide, sand playground and

Eight male students from Seoul National University’s liberal arts college are being slammed for using sexually abusive language toward fellow female students in a private mobile messenger room. On Monday, SNU’s minority human rights committee and victims’ task force put up a poster accusing eight students of exchanging borderline “rapist” talks about women between February to August in 2015. (Yonhap)The poster by the student committee called for the accused to give a written apology with their f

A main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea lawmaker who has been become the center of controversy for hiring family members to work for her said on Monday that she will leave the party.Rep. Seo Young-kyo made the decision after taking flak for hiring her own daughter as an intern at her parliamentary office for five months in 2014. Her daughter's salary was sent to the lawmaker in the form of political donations.  Rep. Seo Young-kyo, a former lawmaker of the Minjoo Party of Korea (Yonhap)Seo is als