Woo Byung-woo, ousted President Park Geun-hye’s former aide, appeared at the prosecution’s office Thursday for questioning over a corruption scandal that led to Park’s removal from power and arrest.Woo, who served Park as a presidential secretary for civil affairs from 2015 to 2016, is suspected of abetting or condoning Choi’s meddling in state affairs and exerting undue influence over the prosecution to disrupt a probe into the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014. Woo, a prosecutor-turned-presid

When Leo Mendoza decided to go shopping with his wife on March 30, he did not imagine that it would lead to one of the most hurtful experiences in his 16-year stay in Korea, all because he wanted to save a child’s life. As they spotted a Korean boy about to be hit by a car in the parking lot, his Korean wife Shin Jin-young instinctively screamed to stop the vehicle, which prevented an accident. The child’s grandparents, who were not paying attention when this happened, started to yell at Mendoza

South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday grilled former President Park Geun-hye at a detention facility, where she is in custody, as part of a continuing investigation into a scandal that led to her removal from office and arrest. Prosecutor Han Woong-jae led the interrogation from 10 a.m. to 8:40 p.m. at a makeshift investigation room at Seoul Detention Center south of Seoul, where she has been jailed since Friday. The session took place inside the facility at Park’s request. It was the first questi

A South Korean cargo ship with eight South Korean and 16 Filipino sailors went missing in the South Atlantic earlier this week after making a distress call, Seoul's foreign ministry said Saturday.The Marshal Islands-flagged ship, Stella Daisy, was sailing in waters near Uruguay after departing Brazil on March 26, it said.At about 11:20 p.m. Friday (Seoul time), the ship's crew members told their South Korean employer, Polaris Shipping, that their ship was sinking, using a mobile phone-based text

Supporters of arrested former President Park Geun-hye have begun rallying in South Korea's capital for her release.Thousands were expected at Saturday's protest near Seoul's City Hall, and more than 10,000 officers were being deployed amid concerns of clashes. Opponents and supporters of Park have filled the capital's streets with passionate rallies in recent months, reflecting the country's deep divide.Park was jailed Friday over allegations that she colluded with a confidante to extort money f

Voting began Saturday in 19 by-elections in Myanmar, in the first test of the popularity of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy since it formed the government a year ago.  Nine of the contested seats are in the Lower House, three are in the Upper House and the rest are in state and regional assemblies in ethnic minority areas.  Some seats became vacant because the lawmakers were promoted to the Cabinet; some because of deaths and others were never filled in the 2015 general election

South Korea's Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn on Saturday called for a painstaking search for the remains of those killed in the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking."The top priority is to recover the remains," he said during a visit to a Mokpo port in the southwestern province of Jeolla. Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn meets with the families of the victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, on April 1, 2017. (Yonhap)It has become the new home of the 6,825-ton ship, which sank

The number of closed-circuit television cameras more than doubled in the country in 2015 compared with five years earlier, data showed Saturday, casting concerns over privacy protection.According to the data compiled by the National Assembly Budget Office and the Ministry of the Interior, the number of CCTV cameras installed in public locations came to a whopping 740,000 as of end-2015, hiking from around 300,000 units posted in 2010. (Yonhap)Of the cameras installed, 49 percent of them were to

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected a military drill of tank units, Pyongyang's state-run news agency said Saturday.The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim guided the Korean People's Army Tank Crews' Competition-2017, where hecalled the country's tank units "iron fists.""(Kim) expressed belief that all the tank crews would rush, sweeping away everything in their way and destroy the enemy positions with their tanks once a war breaks out," the report said in an English di

South Korea's exports rose for the fifth straight month in March on the back of brisk sales of chips, displays and cosmetics, the trade ministry said Saturday.Outbound shipments came to US$48.9 billion last month, up 13.7 from $43 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The country's exports have been on a steady rise since November on an uptick in oil prices. Last month marked the first time sinc December 2011 that exports have risen for five cons

Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn is set to visit a port in Mokpo Saturday to meet families of people killed in the Sewol ferry sinking and urge a thorough search of the recently salvaged ship for the remains of those still missing, government officials said.   South Korean Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn (Yonhap)The 6,825-ton ship was recovered from the seabed last week, nearly three years after it sank on April 16, 2014, while en route to the southern resort i

South Korean government officials said Saturday the fresh US sanctions on North Korea reflect its resolve to get tough on Pyongyang, which continues to develop nuclear weapons and long-range missiles."It's a resolute warning message," a foreign ministry official said in response to Washington's announcement that it has blacklisted a North Korean trading firm and 11 individuals believed to be involved in the financing of the Kim Jong-un regime's weapons of mass destruction development.Rep. Ed Roy

Just three weeks ago, Park Geun-hye called the presidential palace her home. In a dramatic downfall, the former president now must eat and sleep in a jail cell, locked up in the same prison where her longtime friend and aides are being held. Park, who was the first woman to reach the highest office in South Korea, ended up becoming the nation’s first president to be removed from power by impeachment and the third to be arrested.  Ousted President Park Geun-hye (Yonhap)In the early hours of Frida

Disgraced former President Park Geun-hye is awaiting a court decision on whether she should be arrested on corruption and other charges that led to her removal from office. After a nearly nine-hour hearing at the Seoul Central District Court on Thursday, Park was transferred to a makeshift detention facility set up on the 10th floor at Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office just next to the courthouse. The result is expected early Friday morning. Former President Park Geun-hye leaves Seoul C

Former President Park Geun-hye fought hard to avoid the shame of being taken into custody during a court hearing on her arrest warrant Thursday. Whether she was successful was not known as of press time.With Park determined to deny all her charges including bribery and abuse of power, the closed-door session continued for about nine hours, the longest yet in the court’s history. Former President Park Geun-hye leaves Seoul Central District Court in Seoul on Thursday after attending a hearing on a

A court hearing that will decide whether former President Park Geun-hye will be arrested for corruption is continuing for over six hours as of 5 p.m. in Seoul on Thursday. With Park determined to fight all charges including bribery and abuse of power, the closed-door hearing is expected to take a several more hours. The court decision whether or not to arrest her will likely come on Friday morning.  Former President Park Geun-hye (Yonhap)At 2 p.m., during a recess, one of Park’s lawyers told rep

Former President Park Geun-hye turned up at a local court Thursday to fight against the prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant against her on corruption charges. Park arrived at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul at around 10:20 a.m. after a 10-minute drive from her residence to attend the hearing, which will likely continue for several hours. A decision on whether she will be arrested with physical detention is expected to come early Friday.The prosecution asked the court t

Samsung Group paid large sums of money to a CJ Group employee who blackmailed it with a sex video featuring its ailing Chairman Lee Kun-hee, state prosecutors said Tuesday. Despite speculation that the Samsung-CJ rivalry may have been behind the sex tape scandal, the prosecution said it could not find evidence on whether the blackmailers were acting under the direction of CJ Group, headed by Samsung Group chair‘s nephew Lee Jae-hyun.(Yonhap)Revealed by a local news outlet last year, the video sh

Former President Park Geun-hye is set to appear at a local court Thursday to attend a hearing on her arrest warrant, the prosecution said Tuesday.The Seoul Central District Court is scheduled to hold the hearing at 10:30 a.m. to review the writ application. The result will likely come early Friday. Former President Park Geun-hye emerges from the public prosecutors' office in Seoul on March 22, 2017, following an overnight questioning over various corruption allegations that led to her dismissal

South Korean government said Tuesday that it found what appears to be the remains of a victim of the Sewol ferry disaster during its ongoing salvage operation, nearly three years after it sank with more than 300 people trapped inside.The Ministry of Oceans and Fishers were in the process of checking whether the six pieces of bones found are of any of the nine passengers whose bodies remain unaccounted for. The ship's crew look around it after they found what appears to be the remains of a victim