South Korea news stories on Newser

Muslim Group Vows to Stop Gaga Concert

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:28:57 CDT

Conservative Muslims' latest holy war is being waged against Lady Gaga and her Indonesia tour. The extremist Islamic Defenders’ Front (FPI) accuses Gaga of promoting devil worship, and has vowed to mobilize 30,000 protesters to intercept her at the Jakarta airport so she can't perform next month at the...

S. Korea Busts Smuggled Pills—Made of Baby Flesh

Matt Cantor — Mon, 07 May 2012 10:10:02 CDT

South Korean customs authorities have made a highly disturbing find: Thousands of capsules made of powdered baby flesh, believed by some to have healing powers. Smugglers have attempted to get nearly 17,500 such capsules into the country since August, officials say. Made in northeastern China, the pills contain diced...

South Korea: North Is Jamming Planes' GPS

Kevin Spak — Wed, 02 May 2012 07:29:50 CDT

Commercial flights into and out of South Korea found their GPS signals mysteriously jammed this weekend, officials revealed today, and they weren't shy about casting suspicion on their neighbors to the north. More than 250 flights were affected, though officials say none were in danger because they automatically switched to...

S. Korea Stores Yank US Beef Over Mad Cow

Kevin Spak — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:37:05 CDT

Two of South Korea's biggest grocery chains have temporarily halted the sale of US beef in response to the latest mad cow scare . "Not that there were any quality issues in the meat," a spokesman for the country's third-largest chain tells the AP , "but because consumers were worried." Like many...

North Korea: 'Special Actions' Will Crush South's Leadership

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 02:55:43 CDT

North Korea's military says it will launch "special actions" soon meant to wipe out conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's administration. The army statement carried by state media Monday said the actions will last 3 to 4 minutes and be carried out "by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our...

Kim Jong Il's Will: Keep Peace by Building Nukes

Kevin Spak — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:34:53 CDT

Kim Jong Il's last wish was for peace with South Korea—or at least, it was according to a document that a pair of South Korean think tanks claim is the dear leader's will. In it, Kim writes that North Korea should renounce its war with South Korea, but continue...

Could Iran Be Brought to Its Knees by ... Insurance?

Kevin Spak — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 07:56:32 CDT

Could the decisive blow in the West's struggle with Iran involve insurance salesmen? An upcoming European ban on providing maritime insurance for Iran's oil tankers may be the most vexing sanction Tehran has ever faced, experts tell Reuters . That's because 90% of the world's tanker insurance is based in the...

North Korea Digging Tunnel for Nuke Test: Seoul

Matt Cantor — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 07:04:35 CDT

North Korea looks to be preparing a third nuclear test, the AP reports: New photos show work on an underground tunnel—at the site of two earlier such tests—is nearly finished, say South Korean intelligence officials. "North Korea is covertly preparing for a third nuclear test, which would be...

North Korea Puts Rocket Into Place

Neal Colgrass — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 14:44:15 CDT

North Korea has put a new long-range rocket into position as reports circulate that a nuclear test is underway, the BBC reports. Pyongyang insists the Unha-3 rocket will launch a harmless satellite, but South Korean leaders suspect otherwise—especially because the rocket is positioned at the Punggye-ri site, where North...