Students sit on bean bags and read books outdoors at Dong-Eui Institute of Technology in Busan on Oct. 14.YONHAP
Happy Wednesday! Here are the stories you need to know in Korea
In today's news, we look into claims that South Korea shipped fuel to Russia as Seoul and Kyiv clash over how a transfer of North Korean prisoners of war was handled.
In other news, designer bags from Korean brands are growing in popularity among visitors to Korea. Meanwhile, the suspect in a stabbing at an Incheon Homeplus was revealed to have been wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet and had a record of knife crime. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Today's top story
EXPLAINER
Did fuel leave South Korea for Russia? Records raise questions, but proof remains elusive.
Whether South Korea shipped fuel to Russia has emerged as a fresh flashpoint between Seoul and Kyiv after the two sides clashed over the handling of the transfer of North Korean prisoners of war.
The Guardian reported on Oct. 6 that seven tankers loaded more than 176,000 tons of fuel, mostly diesel, at South Korean ports in July and August and made 14 voyages to Russia's Far East. Of them, three were under British and European Union sanctions, and one took on its cargo at sea, a practice that can mask a shipment's origin.
The Lee Jae Myung administration, however, said its trade statistics show no diesel, gasoline or jet fuel exported to Russia from August of last year through this August.
Incheon stabbing suspect was under electronic monitoring, had record of knife crimes and psychiatric treatment
Police are investigating why the 59-year-old accused of injuring eight people at a shopping complex allegedly attacked despite ongoing supervision and psychiatric care.
