SEONGNAM, South Korea, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korean singer-actress Sulli was found dead at a residence in Seongnam, south of Seoul, on Monday, police said. The 25-year-old, whose legal name is Choi Jin-ri, was found dead by her agent at around 3:21 p.m. at a two-story house in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, according to the police. Her agent reported the case to the police. Sulli, who debuted as a member of the girl group f(x), suspended her career in 2014 after suffering from malicious online comments and rumors. She resumed her career the following year to focus on acting but left the group.

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SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- The blockbuster TV fantasy series "Arthdal Chronicles" will likely come back with a second season despite its lower-than-expected viewership, its broadcaster tvN said Monday. "We're positively considering making a second season," an official from tvN said. "The decision has not been finalized yet, but the possibility is high." Details of the second season's filming and airing date, staff and cast have not yet been decided, she noted. "Arthdal Chronicles" is about people living in the ancient city of Arthdal in a mythical land called Arth and their power struggles for the throne of the first nation founded on the continent. The 18-episode drama, also available on Netflix, wrapped up its first season on Sunday. Its all-star cast, including movie stars Jang Dong-gun and Song Joong-ki, and its huge production budget, reportedly 40 billion won (US$33.7 million), had attracted high expectations among Korean drama fans at home and abroad. But i

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(ATTN: UPDATES with details throughout) SEONGNAM, South Korea, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korean singer-actress Sulli was found dead at a residence in Seongnam, south of Seoul, on Monday, police said. The 25-year-old, whose legal name is Choi Jin-ri, was found dead by her agent at around 3:21 p.m. at a two-story house in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, according to police. Police are investigating to determine the cause of her death on the assumption that she may have taken her own life. No suicide note has been found so far. "Choi seemed to have lived alone in the house. It seems that she took her own life but we are also looking into other possibilities," a police official said. Sulli debuted as an actress in 2005. In 2009, she began her K-pop career as a member of the girl group f(x), produced by SM Entertainment. She suspended her career in 2014 after suffering from malicious comments and rumors online but resumed activities the following year focused on acting. Sh

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SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired unidentified projectiles toward the East Sea on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, ahead of the envisioned resumption of the stalled denuclearization talks with the United States. The projectiles were launched from an area in the eastern coastal town of Wonsan earlier in the day, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said without providing further details, such as their type, flight range and maximum altitude. "Our military is monitoring the situation in case of additional launches and maintaining a readiness posture," the JCS said in a release. The firing came a day after the North's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said that Pyongyang and Washington agreed to resume working-level nuclear talks this week. The dialogue has been stalled since the breakdown of the Hanoi summit in February. graceoh@yna.co.kr

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SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's worst serial murder case -- the inspiration for the 2003 hit film "Memories of Murder" -- took another dramatic turn when a 56-year-old man who is being probed as the key suspect admitted committing the crimes. Police said Wednesday Lee Choon-jae, who is serving life imprisonment for raping and killing his sister-in-law in 1994, recently admitted his involvement in nine crimes linked to the Hwaseong serial murder case, as well as five other murders, and around 30 rapes and attempted rapes. "Lee made a detailed confession," said a police official at Gyeonggi South Provincial Police Agency who declined to be named due to protocol. "He seems to have gone through a change in attitude last week and made the confession. It wasn't the police inducing the confession but Lee -- in some cases, even drawing pictures to explain the case." The murders of 10 women in rural parts of Hwaseong, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, between 1986-91 ar

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SEOUL, Sept. 20 (Yonhap) -- The southern part of the nation is expected to experience downpours and strong winds over the weekend as a small slow-moving typhoon is approaching from the south, the state-run weather agency said Friday. Typhoon Tapah, this year's 17th, took shape 470 kilometers south of Japan's Okinawa in the western Pacific Ocean the previous day and is currently tracking northward, the Korea Meteorological Administration said. As of 3 a.m., the typhoon's central pressure was 992 hectopascals and the maximum wind speed near its center was 20 meters per second, the agency said. "The small typhoon was moving westward on seas 380 kilometers south-southwest of Okinawa at a speed of 24 kilometers per hour, " the agency said, adding the typhoon is expected to gain force while it approaches the Korean Peninsula. The typhoon is forecast to pass between the mainland and the country's southernmost island of Jeju on Sunday morning, enter waters 170 km south-southwe

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SUWON, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- A man in his 50s, now in jail, has been identified as the prime suspect in South Korea's worst serial murder case, which has remained unsolved for about 30 years, police said Wednesday. The man is suspected of involvement in at least one of the deaths of 10 women who were raped and brutally killed in rural villages of Hwaseong, south of Seoul, between 1986 and 1991. The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said it identified the major suspect after the state forensic agency found that DNA collected from a victim's underwear matched with his. More than 2 million police officers, a record number for a single case, have been mobilized to investigate the incidents. Though the suspect was identified, he will not be punished in the case as the statute of limitations expired in April 2006. Police said they will continue to probe into whether the suspect was responsible for the other women's deaths. The crime was used as the main inspiration

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SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Yonhap) -- Local weather forecasters said Tuesday that Typhoon Mitag will likely land on the southwestern coast of the Korean Peninsula around midnight Wednesday, far earlier than previously expected, due to changes in regional atmospheric pressure. Mitag, the season's 18th typhoon and the seventh to affect the Korean Peninsula this year, was previously expected to make landfall in southwest South Korea around 9 a.m. Thursday. In its latest weather update, however, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said the arrival of the mid-strength typhoon on South Korea's mainland is expected to occur around midnight Wednesday, adding it will then pass over the nation's southern regions before exiting to the East Sea Thursday afternoon. Mitag was moving north from waters 270 kilometers north-northeast of Taipei at a speed of 22 km per hour as of 9 a.m. Tuesday. Its central pressure was reported to be 970 hectopascals, with a maximum wind speed of 35 meters per

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SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- The interior and safety ministry on Saturday elevated the weather alert level to "vigilance" from "attention" as Typhoon Tapah tracking northward is expected to affect parts of the country's southern region over the weekend. Interior Minister Chin Young presided over a meeting of related ministries and provincial governments to make the decision and discuss ways to minimize potential damage from the typhoon, this year's 17th. The officials decided to check vulnerable areas, such as steep slopes, and ensure that measures are well in place to prevent flooding, power outages and other problems that could occur as the typhoon approaches. "I ask citizens to refrain from going outside when the country is under the influence of the typhoon and ensure their safety when there are concerns about the possibilities of landslides or flooding," Chin said. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said that Typhoon Tapah is expected to pass through the

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SEOUL, Oct. 3 (Yonhap) -- Millions of people are expected to turn out at a rally in Seoul this weekend to call for efforts to reform the prosecutorial system and support Justice Minister Cho Kuk, organizers said Thursday, amid a widening investigation into corruption allegations surrounding his family. The candlelight vigil, to be organized by the Civic Coalition for Eliminating Accumulated Ills in the Judicial System, is set to begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday in southern Seoul where the Supreme Prosecutors Office is located. The coalition, spearheaded by Cho's supporters, has held a similar weekend rally twice, on Sept. 21 and Saturday last week. The organizers of the rally, which claimed a turnout of 2 million at last week's gathering, estimated that between 2 and 3 million people will attend the upcoming rally. At the gathering, the protestors are expected to highlight their assertion that the prosecution's ongoing probe into Cho and his family is hindering efforts to reform

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