Hundreds of civilian, Coast Guard and Navy divers are putting their lives on the line to search for the missing passengers of the capsized ferry Sewol.Late Saturday, divers successfully entered the wreckage after four days of efforts that were frustrated by dangerous conditions. The rescue divers are taking on the daunting task despite the potentially life-threatening circumstances, in the hopes of finding survivors inside the vessel.Many of the civilian divers view the matter as if the victims

(Yonhap)Three divers mobilized for the rescue operation of the capsized Sewol ferry off the coast of South Korea have been rescued by people on a fishing boat, cable news channel YTN reported.Chung Dong-nam, head of a rescue team at the scene, said the divers went missing at around 2:18 p.m. Thursday while searching for the 287 missing passengers. The navy officials said the rescue operation was being hampered by poor underwater visibility and strong currents. By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldco

“Mom, This might be the last chance to say I love you”“Dad, I can't get out.”“Are you okay son? Son? Answer me...”“The ship is sinking. Dad, I’ll see you outside…”Heartrending messages sent from students on the sinking ferry off the coast of Jindo, South Jeolla Province are offering a vivid picture of the frantic situation inside the stricken vessel.“Mom, this might be the last chance to tell you that I love you,” said one 17-year-old student on the ferry in a text to his mother. Fortunately, th

Prosecutors on Wednesday raided a subsidiary of South Korea’s leading steelmaker POSCO over corruption allegations involving its officials. A team of prosecutors obtained computer hard drives, account books and steel trading records from the offices of POSCO P&S in Gangnam, Seoul, to corroborate the charges, the prosecution said. “The raid is solely focused on POSCO P&S, and not the whole group,” an investigator told media on Wednesday.POSCO P&S officials said in a statement that they would full

Prosecutors are expected to widen the investigation into Lotte Homeshopping’s graft allegations after finding evidence the retailer received kickbacks from suppliers to lobby political officials, local media reported Tuesday.Executives of the country’s fifth-largest retailer, including former head Shin Heon, have been under probe for allegedly taking billions of won in cash in return for business favors, such as securing primetime spots on its home shopping channel. The Seoul Central District Pr

South Korean prosecutors brought charges Tuesday against five former executives of Olympus Korea for their alleged role in misappropriating about 10 billion won ($9.6 million) of company money.The five suspects, including former Olympus Korea head Bang Il-seok, are accused of illegally embezzling company funds for personal use and fabricating sales records from 2005-2012.Prosecutors said that Bang, who was fired by the Japanese firm in 2012 over the incident, is believed to have pulled the strin

The former head of Lotte Homeshopping was questioned on Monday for allegedly receiving billions of won in cash kickbacks from local subcontractors.Shin Heon, 60, who led the retail arm of the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate Lotte Group between 2008 and 2012, was summoned by prosecutors at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office as a suspect in the large-scale corruption case.Shin reportedly claimed his innocence, saying he has never demanded a bribe. He currently serves as CEO of Lot

Just a decade ago, it was socially unacceptable for adolescent and teenage girls in school uniforms to wear makeup in Korea. But nowadays, seeing teen girls as young as 11 wearing some form of makeup is commonplace. The number of girls putting on makeup has significantly increased in Korea, leading to a boom in the beauty market targeting young students and debate on how parents should deal with the change. If the industry is any indication, teenagers are becoming the most important customers fo

Korean courts handed down two high-profile rulings on Friday, finding two women guilty of killing their stepchildren as a result of child abuse amid mounting public anger over the cases. In the first case, the Daegu District Court sentenced a South Korean woman to a 10-year prison term on child abuse charges for beating her 8-year-old stepdaughter to death.The 36-year-old woman, surnamed Lim, was accused of punching and kicking the young girl multiple times last August in their home in Chilgok,

The environment and land ministries on Friday put on public notice a bill to reduce conflict among neighbors over noise traveling between apartment floors, officials said. When the guideline goes into effect on May 14, it will be used for both legal and residential disputes to mediate noise-related problems in multiplex housing. The new regulation shows that shock-associated noise and airborne noise levels will be measured separately, while the sound of running water and toilet flushes will be e

Labor unions on Friday demanded a 28.6 percent increase in the minimum wage next year, from the current 5,210 won ($5.03) per hour, officials said.The Minimum Wage Council, which consists of representatives of the government, labor unions and business, held the first meeting on Friday to set new minimum wage standard by June 29. The Ministry of Labor is scheduled to confirm next year’s minimum wage on Aug. 5.Labor-side delegates said in the meeting that they sought to increase the minimum wage t

A South Korean woman was sentenced to a 10-year prison term on Friday for allegedly beating her 8-year-old stepdaughter to death.The 36-year-old woman, surnamed Lim, is accused of punching and kicking the young girl multiple times in August 2013. The girl died from peritonitis two days after the incident took place. The Daegu District Court also handed down a three-year jail term to the girl’s father, identified by his last name Kim, for abusing his child. By Suk Gee-hyun(monicasuk@heraldcorp.co

The nation’s top court on Thursday threw out a damages suit filed by ailing smokers seeking compensation from the country’s largest tobacco firm, KT&G, citing the absence of a causal connection between smoking and their lung cancer.Ending the two 15-year-long tobacco lawsuits, the South Korean Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that there is a lack of proof that smoking was the specific cause of their cancer.“It can’t be seen that KT&G tried to conceal information about the risk of smok

The prosecution said Thursday that it has launched an internal investigation into a judge involved in a suspicious money transaction with a loan shark.The judge, who works at a district court in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, is suspected of borrowing 600 million won ($577,000) from a private money lender surnamed Choi. It is unknown how the deal was carried out and whether the money was transferred to the judge in exchange for favors. The probe was launched after the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office obta

President Park Geun-hye on Thursday urged local engineering universities to launch sweeping reforms to nurture better talent and develop the new technologies required to lead her vision of a creative economy.“I hope that engineering universities can transform themselves into advanced bases for the creative economy. A creative economy, after all, depends on people,” Park said during a meeting of the presidential advisory panel on science and technology. Park’s mantra of a creative economy is aime

In a landmark ruling, the nation’s top court on Thursday turned down smokers seeking compensation from the country’s largest tobacco firm for causing cancer.Thirty-six cancer patients and family members of smokers who died from cancer filed compensation lawsuits against the government and tobacco and ginseng products maker KT&G Corp. in 1999. Ending a 15-year-long prolonged fight on two rare tobacco lawsuits in Korea, the South Korean Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that there is lac

Police on Wednesday said that 10 people fell victim to phishing scams after their personal information was stolen through a massive data leak at banks last year. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency arrested four members of a voice phishing ring for extorting a total of 37 million won ($35,500) from the victims in two weeks from March 18. Among the suspects is a general manager surnamed Lee, 42, who orchestrated the large-scale scam.The data of up to 16,000 customers of Citibank was leaked in Ap

The drive to shorten the work week to a maximum of 52 hours is gaining momentum, signaling a major change to the country’s notoriously long working hours.Politicians and labor parties have built a consensus to slash the maximum number of work hours from 68 hours to 58 hours a week to improve people’s work-life balance and create more jobs. The subcommittee of the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee has so far made little progress on when and how to reduce the hours but the Suprem

A Seoul court has ruled in favor of singer Seo Taiji in a lawsuit against a tenant in one of his buildings, court officials said Wednesday.The tenant, a hospital owner surnamed Byun, has leased the second to fifth floors of the building in Seoul since July 2011. Byun was to pay monthly rent of 34 million won ($32,600) and a maintenance fee of 9.4 million won, but fell behind in the rent starting in September 2012. Seo filed a suit against the tenant as Byun refused to leave the building, even af

South Korea said Tuesday that it will conduct a survey of inpatient care centers to question whether patients’ personal consent was taken into account prior to hospitalization. The measure comes in the wake of numerous reports on forced hospitalization during family inheritance disputes after crimes motivated by revenge. The government approved the revision of the Habeas Corpus Act in a Cabinet meeting in an apparent effort to improve patients’ rights at inpatient facilities such as psychiatric