A university in Busan has launched an investigation into reports that a professor had expressed intent to kidnap women and distribute anesthetics to students, according to a local media outlet Friday. A university lecture room (Yonhap)According to Dispatch, a student at the university made an anonymous Facebook post Thursday concerning the professors’ alarming comments detailing his experience with chloroform -- a drug used for anesthesia -- during a Wednesday lecture. The student said the profe

Actor Song Seung-heon attended OCN’s upcoming new TV series “Black” production presentation Wednesday at Imperial Palace Hotel to promote his role, according to local media outlets, Thursday. Reporters questioned Song with regards to the high overlap in the grim reaper character between tvN’s popular series “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God” and “Black.”  The cast of the new TV series "Black" on cable channel OCN poses for photos before a press conference in Seoul on Oct. 11, 2017. (Yonhap)“It

A 40-year-old man was arrested on Oct. 6 for secretly filming himself having intercourse with a prostitute, according to a report from The Herald Business, the sister paper of The Korea Herald. Gangnam Police Station reported Wednesday that the suspect was arrested on charges of filming the act without the woman‘s knowledge and was arrested on the spot at a hotel in Gangnam last Friday.  Gangnam Police Station (Yonhap)The suspect is charged with allegedly violating the Special Act on the Punishm

Public interest in former President Park Geun-hye’s life in prison reached another peak following a recent leak of Seoul Detention Center prisoners’ weekly food menu, a local media outlet reported Wednesday.Food at the Seoul Detention Center is better than average school meals provided to students, according to Dispatch. The leaked menu included Western food, such as morning bread, soup and salad, and Korean staples such as rice cake soup, chapjae noodles and pork kimchi stew. Ex-President Park

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's top airline, said Thursday that it suffered a loss in the second quarter on currency-related issues.The country's flag carrier logged a net loss of 200 billion won ($175 million) in the April-June period, the company said in a regulatory filing. But its operating income surged 8.5 percent on-year to reach 173 billion won, with sales also rising 3.1 percent to 2.9 trillion won over the cited period.In the first six months of the year, Korean Air posted an opera

The remains of dozens of Koreans who died in Japan after being forced to work there during World War II have recently been returned home, according to a civic group Thursday.The remains of 33 identified Koreans arrived on Sunday at Gimpo International Airport, from Kokuhei Temple in Higashimurayama, northern Tokyo, where they had been enshrined, the National Commemorative Committee for the Repatriation of Victims of Forced Laborers said during a press conference at a restaurant in central Seoul.

South Korea's National Security Council strongly urged North Korea on Thursday to immediately stop provocations and return to the dialogue table, saying dialogue was still possible should the communist state decide to cooperate."The standing committee of the NSC noted the security condition surrounding the Korean Peninsula was becoming serious due to North Korea's repeated provocations and threats," Park Soo-hyun, a spokesman for the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, told reporters."The NSC cal

The governor of South Korea's central bank said Thursday that he has been closely watching North Korea risks as Pyongyang and Washington traded harsh rhetoric.BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said he remained alert on economic and financial fallout the latest standoff over North Korea's nuclear and missile program could have on Asia's fourth-largest economy.Lee made the comments in an opening ceremony of an exhibition of old books at Seoul National University.  Escalating tensions between North Korea a

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said Thursday he wants to visit North Korea's capital of Pyongyang as part of efforts to bolster exchanges between the two cities so as to contribute to improving inter-Korean relations and eventually unification.Park made the remark during a discussion on North Korea and inter-Korean relations amid heightened tensions in the wake of the North's surprise threat to fire missiles into waters around the US territory of Guam as a warning against Washington. (Yonhap)"I want

Police on Thursday requested a warrant to arrest the chief of a major drugmaker over alleged verbal harassment of his chauffeurs and illegal use of pills.Rhee Jang-han, chairman of Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corp., is accused of hurling swear words at four of his private car drivers and offering his business partners erectile dysfunction pills as gifts without obtaining prescriptions.  Rhee Jang-han (C), surrounded by reporters, enters a police building in central Seoul to face questioning ov

Candidate registration began Thursday in the race to select a new leader of the minor opposition People's Party, with former leader Ahn Cheol-soo seeking to regain the reins despite criticism it's too early for him to return, just a few months after his election defeat.It is expected to be a three-way race with Ahn and two other party heavyweights, Reps. Chung Dong-young and Chun Jung-bae. Ahn and Chung officially registered their bids, while Chun is expected to do so before registration closes

South Korean stocks ended slightly lower Thursday as foreign investors offloaded local stocks on profit-taking amid escalating tensions over North Korea's provocations. The Korean won fell against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 8.92 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,359.47.Foreigners and retail investors offloaded shares worth more than 286 billion won ($250 million) and 168 billion won, respectively, while institutions scooped up more than 429 billion won, keepin

South Korea's foreign ministry urged North Korea on Thursday to stop saber-rattling immediately and repeated the call for Pyongyang to respond to its dialogue offer aimed at easing tensions in the region."The North's recent threatening words have gone too much and run squarely against with the consensus contained in the statement issued after the ARF (ASEAN Regional Forum). It should stop them immediately," Cho June-hyuck, foreign ministry spokesman, said during a regular press briefing."The Nor

CHEONGJU -- A hamburger from McDonald's was found to have an excessive level of a bacteria known to cause food poisoning, a local consumer agency said Thursday, as the US fast-food giant is facing troubles here with a series of complaints filed over its patties.After conducting a survey on the sanitary conditions of 38 hamburgers sold at five local convenience stores and six fast-food franchises, the Korea Consumer Agency said one burger from McDonald's contained three times the standard level o

President Moon Jae-in's newly appointed senior science innovation official said Thursday that she will not step down from the post amid growing calls for her resignation due to her involvement in a stem cell research fraud scandal 11 years ago.Park Ky-young, a biology professor at Sunchon National University, served as a senior advisor to former President Roh Moo-hyun for some two years until 2006 when she resigned over a shocking revelation that Hwang Woo-suk, the country's leading stem cell sc

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, will visit South Korea next week as part of his Northeast Asia tour, a defense source here said Thursday.He is scheduled to arrive on Sunday from Japan, the first leg of his upcoming tour, according to the source who requested anonymity as the Pentagon has yet to announce the schedule. Joseph Dunford (EPA-Yonhap)On Monday, Dunford is expected to pay a courtesy call on President Moon Jae-in and meet with top defense officia

South Korea's automakers on Thursday warned they may have to move their factories offshore pending an imminent court ruling that could increase the cost of salaries by trillions of won.The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, representing the country's five car producers, said in a joint statement that a ruling to include bonuses and other extra stipends as part of regular wages would be a "deadly blow" not only to themselves but to their chain of subcontractors."If the prospects of incre

South Korea on Thursday welcomed North Korea's release of an imprisoned Korean-Canadian pastor, urging the North to free the South Korean citizens still held in captivity."Our government welcomes the release of pastor Lim Hyeon-soo, who had been detained in North Korea," Cho June-hyuck, spokesman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a press briefing. The spokesman said Canada has been in close communication with South Korea on Lim's captivity as it is a like-minded country that supports S

Despite heightened military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the US Navy has no plan yet to send another aircraft carrier here, informed sources said Thursday.They were responding to local news reports that the United States seems to be pushing for rare dual-carrier operations near Korea this month against the North's repeated intercontinental ballistic missile launches and war threats.The forward-deployed flattop, Ronald Reagan, has just returned to its home port in Yokosuka, Japan, from a thr

Two elderly South Korean victims of Japan's sexual slavery during World War II will attend an official government ceremony next week marking the country's liberation from the 1910-45 colonial rule, officials said Thursday.The Ministry of Interior and Safety said it will be the first time that the "comfort women" attend an official Liberation Day ceremony at the invitation of the government, though two victims attended a luncheon in 2010 after the main ceremony. (Yonhap)Liberation Day, which fall