CHANGWON -- A lower court fined an activist Tuesday for vandalizing a photo of former President Park Geun-hye at a pro-democracy memorial hall in December last year.Kim Young-man, 72, was indicted for hurling an egg at and spraying ketchup on the picture, five days after parliament voted on Dec. 9 to impeach her over corruption. It was exhibited in a facility in the southern city of Changwon in commemoration of a 1960 civil uprising against election fraud. A photo of then-President Park Geun-hye

Presidential candidate Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party pledged Tuesday to drastically reduce working hours if elected in the upcoming vote.The former labor activist unveiled a two-stage plan to shorten the legal regular weekly work hours from the current 40 to 35 by 2025. Sim Sang-jeung, the presidential candidate of the far-left Justice Party, waves to citizens on her campaign trail in Incheon, west of Seoul, on April 18, 2017. (Yonhap)"In order to escape from our overwork

South Korea's security alliance with the United States is emerging as a prominent issue for the upcoming election, with Pyongyang ratcheting up cross-border tensions with its unrelenting saber-rattling.Major presidential candidates -- except for a far-left one -- have stressed the need to firm up the defense partnership, but the varying degrees of their support for it are expected to affect voter sentiment in the lead-up to the May 9 poll, observers said.The election, triggered by the March 10 o

The South Korean men's national football team on Tuesday appointed a chief assistant coach to help their beleaguered boss Uli Stielike.The Korea Football Association said Jung Hae-sung will be the top assistant to Stielike and will work with the Taeguk Warriors until the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, should South Korea qualify for football's showpiece event.ung Hae-sung, then-head of the referees committee at the Korea Football Association, speaks at a press conference in Seoul. Jung was named

More than half of young South Koreans do not think they must get married, a report showed Tuesday, amid a decadeslong trend of late marriage and low birthrates.According to the report compiled by Statistics Korea, 51.4 percent of those aged between 13 and 24 answered that marriage is not mandatory in 2016, up from 44.4 percent tallied two years ago. (Yonhap)The data is based on the agency's earlier survey held last year on 38,600 people over 13 years old.The percentage has been on a rise for yea

Presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in and the close second Ahn Cheol-soo continued to exchange vicious attacks Tuesday as the upcoming election has apparently become a two-way race.In most recent polls on the May 9 election, the two liberal candidates together garnered more than 80 percent of all votes. Moon Jae-in (center), the presidential candidate of the liberal Democratic Party, rallies support in the upcoming presidential election while staging a campaign event in downtown Seoul on April 1

South Korea's auto exports rose two months in a row in March on increased global demand for green cars, government data showed Tuesday.The total value of autos shipped overseas reached $4.12 billion last month, up 4.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. (Yonhap)But the number of exported vehicles dropped 5.1 percent on-year to 246,816 units last month.The trade ministry said exports of electric and hybrid cars led the uptick

South Korean companies will seek business opportunities in Japan's mega infrastructure project ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, a state trade agency said Tuesday.In a 10.7 trillion-yen ($98.4 billion) project, Japan started building stadiums late last month, and plans to upgrade hotels and other existing facilities before the Summer Olympic Games that begin in July 2020, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said in a statement.(Yonhap)In a meeting arranged by KOTRA in Tokyo on Tuesday

South Korea's major pharmaceutical firms saw their revenues from exports of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients increase last year, industry sources said Tuesday. API refers to key chemicals used to produce pharmaceutical drugs.Yuhan Corp., a major drug company, said its revenue from overseas shipments of API jumped nearly 30 percent on-year to 250 billion won ($220 million) in 2016, company officials said.(Yonhap)Yuhan said its API business also accounts for 19 percent of the company's total reve

North Korea held a ceremony to mark the sailing of a trade cargo ship, the North's state media on Tuesday reported, amid the country's setbacks in international trade caused by severe UN sanctions for its nuclear and missile development programs.Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, said the 5,000-ton Jaryok set sail during the ceremony held at the Ryongnam Dockyard in the western port city of Nampho on Monday and it "provided another material and technical foundat

Presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo pledged Tuesday to eradicate poverty among the growing number of senior citizens in the country if elected in the upcoming election.The nominee of the center-left People's Party made the pledge during a meeting with representatives of the senior citizens welfare industry in the central city of Daejeon. Ahn Cheol-soo (center), presidential nominee of the People's Party, unveils his election pledges for senior citizens in the central city of Daejeon on April 18

South Korea's top court has ordered the government to disclose the results of a probe on pollution detected in ground water near a US Forces Korea garrison in Seoul, court records showed Tuesday.The US Army base in Yongsan, central Seoul, has been suspected as the source of oil that has contaminated the nearby water table and land for years. (Yonhap)The Seoul Metropolitan Government has been conducting a purification project since 2003, but petroleum-based contaminants above the standard level h

DoubleUGames Co., a South Korean game firm listed on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market, said Tuesday it plans to purchase a US developer at a deal estimated at 942.5 billion ($830 million).DoubleUGames will purchase Double Down Interactive LLC, a developer of social casino games, marking the largest overseas acquisition ever conducted by a South Korean game firm. (Yonhap)Double Down Interactive, the world's top developer of social casino games, posted annual sales of $277 million in 2016. The figure

South Korea has completed the development of new tactical ship-to-ground guided missiles which would enhance its ability to strike North Korea's key military equipment and facilities, the country's arms procurement agency said Tuesday.South Korea will start mass-producing the missiles with two types of launch systems -- inclined and vertical -- next year after a seven-year project led by the Agency for Defense Development, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.A ship-to-gro

LG Electronics Inc. said Tuesday it plans to expand the number of applications customized for the flagship G6 smartphone, allowing users to better utilize the 18:9 screen and other top-notch features.The country's No. 2 tech giant said it plans to provide 300 applications optimized for the G6 smartphone through its own app store by next month. There are currently around 200 apps available in the market.  (Yonhap)The company said the move aims to allow users to better enjoy digital content, such

Sales of Hite Jinro's distilled liquor "soju" exceeded the 1 trillion won ($882 million) mark last year for the first time since its debut in 1998, the company said Tuesday.Chamisul soju sales hit 1.009 trillion won last year with a total of 1.7 billion bottles sold. (Yonhap)The company attributes the rise to people consuming more soju amid the protracted economic slump and the alleged corruption scandal involving then-President Park Geun-hye, senior government officials and owners of big busine

INCHEON -- Hundreds of North Korea's propaganda leaflets have been found in this western port city, police said Tuesday, in the latest propaganda campaign carried out by the reclusive country amid escalating tensions in the Korean Peninsula.Police said about 800 leaflets were found near an apartment complex in Incheon, west of Seoul, on Monday at around 11:10 p.m. This provided photo shows North Korea's propaganda leaflets found in Samcheok, 290 kilometers east of Seoul, on April 15, 2017, glori

South Koreans voiced criticism over Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent remarks on dealing with possible refugees amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, comments on social media showed Tuesday.During a parliamentary session Monday, Abe said Japan is working on contingency plans for a possible influx of refugees from the peninsula in case of a crisis. He earlier said North Korea may have the ability to launch sarin-loaded missiles. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks duri

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump has no "red line" in dealing with North Korea, but he is ready to take "decisive" action when it is deemed appropriate, the White House said Monday.In a regular press briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that China is playing an active role with respect to the North and will continue to apply pressure but noted that Washington will keep urging Beijing to do more. (Yonhap)"I think when we talked about the use of red lines in the

Actress Lee Young-ae has donated 150 million won (US$131,984) to a local hospital here to help new mothers of low-income families, the hospital said Tuesday. (Yonhap)Cheil General Hospital in central Seoul revealed that Lee has made donations on several occasions, asking that the money be used for those mothers.The actress gave birth to her twin babies in the hospital, one of the largest maternity clinics in the country, in February 2011.She has since paid attention to the work of helping new mo