Investigators accelerated their probe on Monday into the cause of a campsite fire that claimed five lives on Sunday, amid escalating concerns over the lack of safety regulations on outdoor camping facilities. Five people, including three children, were killed, while two were injured after a fire engulfed a 16-square-meter tent on Ganghwa Island in Incheon. Two families were sleeping in the tent, police said. Investigators said the electric panel used for heating in the tent appears to have spark

The bodies of two maritime police officers missing from a helicopter crash last week were recovered in southwestern waters of Korea, the Coast Guard said Friday. One was found dead and three went missing after the Coast Guard helicopter crashed in the waters off Gageodo Island on March 13. The 52-year-old captain and 36-year-old copilot were found dead with their seatbelts fastened in the body of the chopper by a rescue team that was recovering the wreckage with a floating crane.Four officers we

 A foreign teacher was found to have forced students to eat detergent as punishment for using Korean language in his class, which is stirring public anger over the lack of monitoring in the classroom. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, a 32-year-old teacher from South Africa forced five elementary school students to taste either dishwashing detergent or bad-tasting medicine for talking in their mother tongue. Facing mounting complaints and criticism from parents, the school

Three out of 10 teenagers have been exposed to school violence, while 1 in 10 has experienced smoking, drinking or gambling, a report showed Thursday.According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, 32 percent of children aged 9 to 17 suffered from school violence. The younger the students were, the more they experienced bullying. About 39 percent of those between 9 and 11 were exposed to bullying, which is 9 percent higher than those between 12 and 17, the report said. The survey

Two Uber Korea officials have been booked for violating the local transport law, Seoul police said Tuesday, amid growing controversy over the legality of the business. Uber Korea’s branch manager and his subordinate official were accused of taking commissions on connecting rental car drivers through a smartphone application since August 2013. The company took a 20 percent commission fee from the ride fares, the police said. Under the Korean transport law, providing unpermitted or unlicensed tran

Foreign visitors to Korea rated Korean cuisine as average, a public survey showed Monday, putting a damper on the government’s campaign to expand “hallyu” with Korean food culture.According to the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, foreign visitors gave 74.44 out of 100 points to the taste of local food. The poll was conducted on 810 foreigners who visited last year, with over half being from Asian countries, the state-run organization said.  Samgyupsal BibimbapAmerican visitors rated Korean f

South Korea was found to have one of the least generous pension systems in the developed world, while suffering its highest rate of senior poverty, a report showed Sunday. According to the Korea Labor Institute, the net replacement rate of the Korean elderly reached 45.2 percent as of 2011, about 10 percent lower than the average rate of countries in the Organization for Economic Corporation and Development. The net replacement rate is to the level of the post-retirement pension income compared

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert on Thursday gave a statement to the police about last week’s attack by a radical activist, as investigators continue to zero in on the motive of the attacker.In his statement, the envoy gave details of the attack, which occurred during a seminar at Sejong Arts Center in Seoul last Thursday. Lippert testified at his home for about 1 1/2 hours after being visited by an investigator and a translator.The authorities are piecing together the assailant’s whe

U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert, who was wounded by a radical activist last week, is expected to give testimony on the attack soon, the authorities said Wednesday. Investigators asked the ambassador to testify on the assault case as part of the ongoing investigation into the motive of his assailant, Kim Ki-jong, the police said. The U.S. Embassy and the authorities are negotiating on how to deliver the testimony, the police added.If Lippert is not available, investigators may receive the victim’s s

 U.S. envoy Mark Lippert thanked Koreans for support and pledged a stronger alliance between the two countries, as he left the hospital on Tuesday, five days after he was attacked by a knife-wielding leftist activist.“It has been incredibly gratifying for me and my family to see such a beautiful expression of empathy and generosity from the Korean People. The signs, offers of food, flowers, cards and well-wishes on Twitter, Facebook and our blogs, these and other acts of kindness have touched us

Kim Ki-jong, who slashed the face and wrist of U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert last week, has praised the North Korea founder during the police probe, authorities said Monday, as the investigation zeros in on whether he also violated the National Security Law.In a press briefing, investigators said the leftist activist stated that North’s former ruler Kim Il-sung was a great national leader of the 20th century, for what he described as “efforts in the anti-Japan movement during the colonial period

Rampant jaywalking is the most common factor in fatal car accidents in Seoul, a report showed Monday.Between December last year and January this year, a total of 70 people were killed in 61 car accidents, the report by the Seoul Metropolitan Government said.Of them, 49 were pedestrians, and 36 died while jaywalking and 23 were senior citizens.City officials said they would fortify measures against jaywalking such as by installing more fences and improving safety facilities along the road.The cit

The prosecution on Friday expanded its investigation into a knife attack on U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert with top officials billing it an act of terrorism by pro-North Korean forces.Police sought an arrest warrant for the attacker, Kim Ki-jong, on charges of attempted murder, violence against a foreign envoy and obstruction of official duty. The 55-year-old leftist activist was detained Thursday after slashing the envoy in the face and wrist with a 25-centimeter-long paring knife. Police said th

Family members of former Korean President Chun Doo-hwan agreed to forfeit assets of more than $1 million laundered in the U.S., as a result of a joint probe by the two countries to seize the funds, U.S. authorities said Thursday. The U.S. Department of Justice said that it had reached a settlement in the forfeiture case involving assets worth $1.2 million belonging to Chun’s family, including a house at Newport Beach, California, and an investment made in a Philadelphia limited partnership. The

A man who was punished for adultery has sought a review of the court’s ruling, marking the first retrial request since the anticheating law was ruled unconstitutional last week, judicial authorities said Wednesday. The 39-year-old man in Daegu, whose information was withheld, submitted a petition to Daegu District Court for a new trial, officials said. He was sentenced to a two-year jail term with eight months of probation for cheating on his wife in July 2013. If he is acquitted in the retrial,

Direct investment from Asian countries in Seoul surged by over 65 percent last year, the city’s report showed Tuesday.According to Seoul Metropolitan Government, direct investment from Asian countries rose to about $2.6 billion last year, showing a 65.4 percent increase on-year. This accounts for 47.3 percent of the total direct investment in the capital. While direct investment from China remained about the same at $63 million as in 2013, detour investment via Singapore and Hong Kong played a m

Foreign workers in Seoul earn less than 2 million won ($1,800) a month on average, a city survey showed Monday, According to Seoul Metropolitan Government, foreign workers earn 1.89 million won a month while working an average of 11 hours a day. The city conducted a one-month survey in December of 700 expat workers for the first time as part of its efforts to improve their work and welfare conditions. Of some 415,000 expats living in the capital, about 90,000 are day laborers or work in the serv

The Seoul education authorities said Monday that foreign teachers would be sent to local schools as part of the city’s efforts to better support students with multicultural backgrounds.The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will dispatch 86 expat teachers who are fluent in both their mother tongue and Korean, officials said. The teachers will hail from China, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Mongolia, Thailand and Central Asia. The teachers are professionally qualified, having completed a ye

Police said Saturday that they would set up an anti-obscenity task force to crack down on lewd behavior by men near schools.The decision is designed to ease concerns among students over those who expose themselves near schools, they said.In South Korea, an act of public indecency can be punished by a prison sentence of up to a year or a fine of up to 5 million won ($4,500).Lewd behaviors by men have often been reported recently near girls’ schools.Last year, the top prosecutor on Jejudo Island w

The public project to confiscate land assets from descendants of pro-Japanese traitors is nearing an end after years of legal battles, law officials said Sunday. According to the Justice Ministry, 94 out of 96 lawsuits have concluded in seizing property from descendants of Koreans who received land assets in return for working in favor of the Japanese government during the colonial period. Two cases are pending in the top court, it said. Since 2008, the government has launched a large-scale prob