South Korean Navy training squadron embarks on 130-day voyage SEOUL, September 11 (AJP) - A South Korean Navy squadron carrying about 140 cadets on Friday embarked on a roughly 130-day voyage to seven countries across the Pacific Ocean for practical naval training and to strengthen defense cooperation abroad. About 390 people, including cadets, crew members and support personnel, boarded the 4,500-ton training ship Hansando. The ship is scheduled to return to Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province on Jan. 22 next year after a roughly 50,000-kil September 11, 2026

Coast Guard rewards officers for Chinese fishing boat crackdown SEOUL, September 11 (AJP) - The Korea Coast Guard said Friday it awarded a record amount in bonuses to officers involved in a crackdown on illegal Chinese fishing near the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea. A total of 18 million won ($13,348) was awarded to six officers who helped seize eight Chinese fishing vessels during a government-wide joint operation near Yeonpyeong Island on Aug. 11. The six officers, members of the West Sea Five Islands Special Guard Unit under the Ce September 11, 2026

Seoul bus strike looms next week as wage talks stall SEOUL, September 10 (AJP) - A full-scale strike by bus drivers in Seoul is increasingly looming, as they threatened again on Thursday to proceed with their planned strike next week. The union, affiliated with the Korean Automobile Workers' Federation, has held a dozen rounds of wage talks with the city's bus operators since March. But the two sides have still been unable to narrow their differences over the workweek hours used to calculate wages as well as a proposed pay i September 10, 2026

Dozens of foreign envoys evade punishment through diplomatic immunity SEOUL, September 10 (AJP) - Some 49 foreign diplomats assigned to South Korea have effectively avoided punishment for their involvement in criminal or other offenses over the past five years due to diplomatic immunity. According to data submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to a parliamentary committee on Thursday, 10 cases were reported in 2022, followed by 13 in 2023, 10 in 2024, 13 in 2025 and three in the first seven months of this year. These cases ranged from traffic September 10, 2026

One crew member found dead in Pohang, with five still missing SEOUL, September 10 (AJP) - A crew member who went missing after a tugboat capsized off Busan last week has been found dead on a beach in Pohang, coastguards said on Thursday. His body was discovered around 8:50 a.m. the previous day by a sanitation worker on a beach in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, after apparently being swept ashore. It took more than 12 hours to confirm his identity through digital forensic analysis of a cellphone and smartwatch found with the body, alo September 10, 2026

Smilegate divorce sets Korean tycoon record as SK chief partly yields SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) – South Korea saw its two biggest tycoon divorce battles move in opposite directions Wednesday, as Smilegate founder Kwon Hyuk-bin was hit with a record 2.55 trillion won ($1.8 billion) property-division ruling while SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won moved to end most of his own dispute. The Seoul Family Court ordered Kwon to transfer about 2.55 trillion won in assets to his estranged wife, including a 35 percent stake in the privately held gaming compan September 9, 2026

Korea's data breaches get personal as latest exposes cosmetic choices SEOUL, September 8 (AJP) - South Korea has grown accustomed to large-scale data breaches. The latest one is also unusually personal. Nearly 220,000 users of Gangnam Unni, a platform for comparing cosmetic procedures and clinics, were affected by unauthorized access discovered last week. The affected users included about 160,000 in South Korea and roughly 48,000 in Japan. Exposed information could include names, phone numbers, email addresses, clinics and doctors users contacted, September 8, 2026

Seoul beats back fine dust, and the next test: ozone SEOUL, September 8 (AJP) - Ozone has become a bigger pollution headache than fine dust for South Korea. Its capital has sharply reduced particulate air pollution over the past decade, but ground-level ozone concentrations have risen nearly 50 percent, exposing a new challenge after years of policy focused heavily on fine dust. The annual average ozone concentration in Seoul rose from 0.022 parts per million in 2015 to 0.0326 ppm in 2025, an increase of more than 48 percent, accor September 8, 2026

Repeat takers of Korea's CSAT likely highest in 23 years SEOUL, September 08 (AJP) -Nearly 200,000 repeat and non-school test-takers are expected to join South Korea's once-a-year college entrance exam on Nov. 19, the largest number in 23 years and a development likely to intensify competition for a shrinking pool of current high-school seniors. A total of 551,864 people applied to sit the College Scholastic Ability Test, or CSAT, for 2027 admissions, the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation said Tuesday. The total was dow September 8, 2026

PM Han vows to turn peace on Korean Peninsula into regional stability SEOUL, September 08 (AJP) - Prime Minister Han Seong-sook said Tuesday that South Korea will work to turn peace on the Korean Peninsula into broader stability in Northeast Asia and contribute to global peace and shared prosperity. “The peace we seek to build on the Korean Peninsula will not remain confined to the peninsula,” Han said in a keynote speech at the Seoul Defense Dialogue in Seoul. “We will build a foundation that connects peace on the Korean Peninsul September 8, 2026